Understanding the nature of dogs is the first step in
effective dog training. How can you expect to change your dog's
behavior without knowing what basic instincts are driving your
pet's actions. Your dog's reaction to obedience training will
be dramatically affected by the nature of the canine - whether
it be basic instints or learned habits.
Here, in a nutshell, are the basic characteristics of your
dog or puppy:
Dogs are complex animals - With the
quantity of breeds estimated as lofty as 800 in Western
countries alone, compared to a comparatively small number of
human 'breeds' which totals around a dozen.
Complicating the picture even further is the well-known
reality that dogs have descended from wolves. Even so, dogs
domestic interaction with people started over 10,000 years ago.
As it has been noted, there are behaviors that develop in spite
of environment and a number that are as unique as the person
the dog is united with. Still, some prevalent traits stand
out.
Dogs are true predators - That doesn't mean
they automatically pursue and assault every transient cat or
rat, but the capacity is always in them. By the same token,
with sharp hearing and head muscles that grant exact placement
of their ears, dogs can pick up a range of sounds and locate
the origin swiftly and with extreme accuracy.
Also, the dog's hunting qualities embody the dog's field of
vision, which is greater than that of people. For instance,
their field of view has been estimated from 180-270 degrees, by
contrast to a human's 100-150 degrees, allowing the dog to
track events an a superior manner.
And let's not forget that famous sense of smell. Citing
numbers such as having 25 times as many scent-receptor cells or
being able to sense concentrations 100 million times smaller
than people, is proof enough.
Dogs are very social animals - That's
everyday knowledge, of course. But, though known, it's often
discounted. Individuals will frequently lock a single dog away
in a garage or pen, or on a cable in the yard for extensive
periods.
This isolation from contact with people and other animals
invariably leads to panic and possible aggression and other
forms of maladjustment. Dogs need companionship in order to
develop healthy behavior.
Isolating a dog for short periods can be a practical
training method. Fear of ejection from the pack can incent
exceedingly assertive, alpha-status seeking dogs into alignment
with the trainer's goals. In any human-dog twosome, the person
needs to be the alpha (leader). The alternative is personal
property destruction, personal frustration and unsafe
conditions for people and dogs.
But excessive intervals devoid of common interaction with
another dog, the person, or even a sociable cat harms the dog's
psyche and leads to undesirable behavior. Even guard dogs have
to be proficient to discriminate between external threats and
members of its own pack.
Dogs love to explore - Like the
two-year-old child, which is roughly of equal intelligence,
dogs learn by exploring their surroundings. And like those
children, the dog can enlist in harmful behavior. Most people
who own dogs would agree, dogs have absolutely no respect for
your possessions. All in all, training and an appropriately
selected set of objects and appropriate location can funnel
that behavior into something more acceptable to humans and
healthy for the dog.
On the whole, providing toys with characteristics very
recognizable from human belongings, such as rawhide bones
instead of rubber balls that are difficult to differentiate
from children's, leads to less confusion and misbehavior. In
numerous cases, nonetheless, the question is solved by scent.
In simpler terms, the dog's toys may look like the child's, but
smell much different.
Unfortunately, some amount of digging may be unpreventable
as part of the dog's exploration. Be ready to patch holes in
turf if the dog is unsupervised for exceedingly long periods.
Plants can generally be protected with cayenne pepper paste,
bitter apple and other concoctions.
Dogs are generally scavengers - Dogs will
eat deer droppings, even when they have completely sound and
abundant diets. They'll gnaw on dead rats, eat grass and ingest
a extensive diversity of things that their own experience shows
causes upset stomachs. And they'll repeat the behavior day
after day.
Acknowledging their reduced aptitude to connect cause and
effect when those are separated in time is a must in order to
keep them well and safe. This is a reason to never correct a
dog after an interval of time has passed between the dog's
negative action and the time of discovery.
In closing, recognizing a dog's nature, and working within
in it rather than against it, leads to less frustration for
both owner and dog. Enjoying the supportive aspects, such as
unannounced dog hugs or licks, offering of the paw, and a head
laid in your lap are just a few of the rewards of dog
ownership.
