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TRUE LOVE
They can also be spoiled brats and a royal pain! Usually when that happens it’s the
human’s fault. One important aspect of the dog-human equation is that we establish
ourselves as boss upfront. Dogs by nature are pack animals and there is always a leader
or “alpha” dog that the others obey and respect. When we adopt a dog, we become pack
members and we must assume the alpha role or live to regret it.
One way of looking at dogs is to compare them to children. They both need rules and
guidelines to function well in life. That doesn’t mean you have to be overbearing or
mean. You can show leadership and respect at the same time. We’ll be talking about
some of the ways to establish boundaries and still love your dog with all of your heart.
It’s all about knowing about the species.
The Canine Communication System is one that is based on the principle of seeking first
to understand your dog, before expecting your dog to understand you!
All too often, we see people jumping right in to obedience training or behaviour
modification and expecting their dog to know exactly what it is they want him to do –
and yet only to get disappointed when they’re not getting the results they’d expected.
The main philosophy behind the Canine Communication System is in the study of the
© 2009 Ray Coleiro 3
www.DogTrainingMasters.net
www.Dog-Training-Academy.com
The Secret To Dog Training
psychology of the dog – which you will be introduced to. Study this! As this is the key
behind successful training, and a long-term loving and enjoyable relationship with your
dog.
In fact the Canine Communication system is one which so many professional dog trainers
out there are furious that I am revealing to you. The secret Dog Training formula is one
which has four main components.
of humans. A dog’s brain is completely different from humans; how their brain interprets
sensory information is an important part of how they learn. For you to understand your
dog and train him well, you need to have an understanding of his brain and how it works.
DOG’S BRAINS
A dog’s brain is far simpler than a human’s brain; it doesn’t have the capacity for speech
or memory. Yet it is a vital part of the dog and how he functions. The dog’s brain is
similar to a human’s in that it interprets and analyzes information, the dog acts based on
how he thinks the information should be processed. Sounds very analytical, doesn’t it?
Basically, it just means that a dog takes in information through his senses.
There are some things to know in order to learn to understand what your dog is telling
you. As you probably know, tail wagging is a big part of a dog’s communication. When
they are first born, puppies learn certain dog behaviour from litter mates and their
mothers. For example, they don’t know how to wag their tails until they’re several weeks
old. That’s because it’s a way of socializing with the other puppies and for the first weeks
they just eat and sleep. Once they start playing then the tail is a signal that they want to
play or that they are ready to feed and aren’t mad at anyone when the crowding at the
nipple starts. Once a human adopts him, he uses his tail early on to signal that he wants
food and that he is feeling friendly.
It is generally believed that dogs think in images. Obviously they don’t speak the same
way that we do, so many interpret this as a lack of intelligence. As we get to know them,
we can get a good idea of what our dog is saying to us. For example if you’re both in the
kitchen and he keeps looking from his food bowl to you, it’s pretty easy to figure out that
it’s dinner time and he wants you to put his dinner in it.
ALPHA DOGS
As already mentioned, every pack has an
alpha dog. He is the undisputed leader who Here’s a TIP!
establishes his dominance early on with his If you learn nothing else, you must
fellow pack mates. There may be a few understand what it means to be the
skirmishes but usually the followers accept ALPHA in your home. Experts say
their roles early on. Each pack member knows that failure to establish yourself as
his or her place in the hierarchy. They learn to the Alpha is the main cause for all
submit to the leader and show it by certain problem dog behaviours.
behaviours, such as rolling onto their backs
or approaching with their heads held low, ears down, tail wagging and licking the muzzle
of the boss.
When you bring a puppy or dog home they are naturally going to try and dominate the
new pack which is you and your family if you have one. It’s up to you to show that you
are in fact the alpha dog here and earn the dog’s respect, and therefore obedience. The
exact methods you use will depend on the dog’s age. You’ll use slightly different
strategies for the very young, adolescent and adult dogs.
What many of us may not think about is that dogs haven’t really changed, but their
environment has. Centuries ago dogs and humans roamed the earth trying to survive by
finding food and avoiding their enemies. Now, humans have become more “civilized”
and the dogs are now our subordinates. At least that’s the ideal situation. It can just as
easily work the other way if you let it.
We’ve all seen spoiled or ill-behaved dogs that jump all over everyone, bark when they
want to, and beg from the table. That’s only because he’s been allowed to think all of
those things are okay. Just like children, they will try to get away with anything they can.
Once you start training him and he gets a little more mature, you want to achieve mutual
respect. Maybe he can’t read your mind, but just as you learn about him, he’s also
learning about you.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because he doesn’t speak human, he’s not
intelligent. Your dog can learn a lot about you from your body language, your mood, and
even your facial expressions. If you don’t establish yourself as a qualified pack leader, he
will soon have your number and won’t respect you.
Many of us who love animals credit them with forming whole sentences in their minds
that we would understand if only we each spoke the same language. As I mentioned
before, there is evidence to suggest that dogs think in images. For example when we tell
Fido he’s probably hungry and he starts salivating, he’s probably responding to some
other cues he picked up from you. You may have looked at his food bowl or even been
starting to fix his dinner. If you haven’t started working on his dinner yet, once he picks
BE A “DOG WHISPERER”
There are people who are able to communicate with animals directly, mind-to-mind.
Some of you might think this is a lot of silliness and that the communicator is just out to
take some of your money. In some cases this is definitely true, but it’s more than likely
that there truly are people who have this ability. We are all animals at our core and most
of us don’t use our full potential on the spiritual level. Whatever you believe or don’t
believe there are ways that you can act as a dog whisperer at least to some degree.
Actually the ideas I’m going to suggest have more to do with common sense and above
all respect for animals. They are more than just possessions; they are living beings and
will be an integral part of your life and those of your family, housemates, and friends.
DOG PSYCHOLOGY
In this section we’ll be talking more about how dogs think and address some of the
questions that often come up when people are comparing dog
stories. We’ve all heard some amazing ones about their
incredible feats and it’s time to look at some possible reasons
motivating them.
Going back in time for a minute, we’ve already seen that dogs and man have been
friendly for many generations. It’s likely that dogs decided to be companion animals
based on their pursuit of food. They’d find a group or tribe of humans and hang around
the campfire because the food smelled good. If the humans actually fed them, then that
was a great reason to stay around. It’s been noted that the more wolf-like the breed the
greater it’s able to pick up on human signals and commands. Another way to put it is that
Although scientists have come up with all these theories about dog’s thinking ability,
let’s try to imagine for a minute what it must be like for the dog. Let’s say that you spend
every Saturday morning with your dog in tow while you do a few chores. You start by
making the bed and maybe while you do that you stop and pet Rover and talk baby talk to
him and give him lots of affection both verbally and physically. You may even let him up
on the bed and let him “help” put all the sheets, blankets, pillows and everything else you
keep in place back on the bed. This gets to be a routine with the two of you and may even
extend to weekdays if you have time. Rover follows you around the house while you pick
up things from the floor and generally make things neat and tidy. You’re in a good mood
and you’re feeling especially close to him.
So what happens when you are late getting home? As we’ve discussed, unless you’ve
carefully trained him, you may come home to a mess. The bed that you two “made up”
together is in disarray. The pillows may be on the floor and the covers are disrupted.
Possibly some items like the sofa cushions that he has seen you plump up and place in a
certain way are also on the floor. Maybe a shirt or pair of shoes, belonging to you, that he
can get to have been dragged to another room and chewed on. It is very possible that
while his anxiety increased as he was waiting for you to walk through the door at the
usual time and didn’t, he saw a visual of the happy times you’ve had together. Some part
of his mind is so stressed at your not being there that he tries in his own way to feel closer
to you by retracing the steps and physically interacting with the objects you worked with
together. We can actually put this theory to good use when it comes to shaping how we
want our dogs to behave.
It’s hard for us as humans to know exactly how this works and imagine precisely what
they see. Experiments over the last thirty years or so seem to confirm that dogs remember
not only in pictures, but also through scents and sounds. One thing is certain though, if
we stop to remember that they aren’t humans in different bodies, we can use what we do
know about them to help us communicate with them and teach them appropriate
behaviours.
Dogs by ancestry are also den animals, which is why we are able to housebreak and crate
train them. Their early socialization instilled habits of cleanliness as well as being used to
© 2009 Ray Coleiro 8
www.DogTrainingMasters.net
www.Dog-Training-Academy.com
The Secret To Dog Training
living in close quarters.
DOG INTELLIGENCE
There are a lot of people who naturally assume that a dog that learns quickly and easily is
more intelligent than one who takes longer to train. Some people believe that the dog that
learns faster is just more willing to obey and that it has nothing to do with how smart they
are. They often think that dogs who are escape artists or wily hunters are actually the
ones with the brains. Opinions vary as to the intelligence of guide dogs as well. One
school of thought says that since they learn certain cues and signals they are just trying to
please their masters each time they perform. The other school would remind us that in
fact they must learn a lot of complex commands and must constantly be on the alert.
They are responsible for the safety of their human companion and new situations arise all
the time.
Various ways of measuring a dog’s intelligence have been devised. Some of them
evaluate how they respond to specific events, while others see how many human words
they can recognize, a vocabulary test of sorts. How intelligent is your dog? Want to find
out?
Your goals should be to find someone who understands what motivates dogs, how to
reinforce or eliminate certain actions without punishing them, can teach your dog to
perform any task you wish him to, and knows the difference behind bribing him to do
something and rewarding him for doing it right.
To gain this knowledge there are some basics they need to study that are at a much
deeper level than they formerly did. For instance they should understand the specific
ways that dogs learn, how the various learning theories have evolved, how to use
psychology in training, and the differences that breeds will make in dog behaviour.
Since we’ve been talking about dog psychology, some terms to be aware of are classical
and operant conditioning techniques. These are terms commonly heard in the psych
world.
SHAPING BEHAVIOUR
You’re apt to see the word “shaping” when you read about dog training in books or on
the web. It’s actually the latest buzzword for training your dog or shaping his behaviour
by taking it one step at a time. It started out being used when talking about show training,
but you’ll see the word creeping into all kinds of discussions about teaching your dog
how to perform, whether it’s for you or in the show ring.
Clicker training is often used in shaping. It starts by you Most of us know that the
teaching the dog to obey a command by using a treat as a stunning Dalmatian is famous
reward. Gradually he will respond to the sound of the for living with fire fighters
clicker. Studies have shown that dogs do even better with a
family member using this technique than they do with
professional trainer. Dogs seem to enjoy learning this way,
probably because the sound soon means praise to them. Not
only that, but when they don’t do it right the first time; they
don’t have to endure a physical correction. It also calls on
their usual strong desire to learn new things. The sound
becomes more important than lavish praise and treats or toys
because it happens at the exact moment the dog performed the
task. This increases the odds that the dog will do the correct
thing next time he hears it.
There are few un-trainable dogs, just owners that are unwilling to spend the time on
training the dogs properly. Dogs are just like kids, they learn skills in increments. Dogs
have to learn the first skills first, and then from there they can learn additional skills to
build on the base of those early skills. All of this training, even the most basics of skills,
creates a foundation for the dogs to prosper in and learn additional skills.
Once a dog has mastered the first steps of obedience training, he will quickly learn the
skills necessary to acquire additional skills. Remember, just be patient – your dog is a
baby when it comes to learning (whether your dog is a puppy or an adult). He’s going to
learn first steps first, and with lots of reinforcement and praise, he’ll be mastering tricks
and agility in no time.
> It establishes a bond of communication between you and your dog. Your dog
learns that when you give commands, he needs to respond. When he responds
appropriately, he’s rewarded for his behaviour. What he wants most is to please
you, when you’re happy, he’s happy. Obedience training keeps your dog active,
thinking and involved. Dogs that are active and well exercised are less likely to
be destructive as well.
> Basic obedience skills are the skills you’ll need to correct disruptive or
disobedient actions. When you encounter problems with a dog that jumps up on
visitors, you can turn to your “sit” command to get the dog to behave properly
around company. The “stay” command will keep your dog from bolting out the
door, “stand” is a good command to use to wipe the dogs dirty paws off before he
tracks all over the house.
TRAINING METHODS
Your decision to train your dog is a very smart one. Everyone enjoys a well-behaved
dog. If you’ve done any research, you know that there are a variety of different methods
for training dogs, almost all of them promise great results.
Before you can even begin your obedience training, you have to understand a little about
getting the best results from your dog. Basically, what we are talking about is what
motivates the dog – what can you do to get the dog to perform in the desired behaviour?
Of course, earlier in this book we discussed a variety of philosophies of dog psychology.
This section is all about using those basic theories and applying them to the practical
needs of obedience training.
Before you begin training your dog, you need to have the supplies ready on hand to begin
training. There are a variety of different training methods. Some dog owners swear by
one method as the best to ensure success for their dogs, others say it’s most effective to
use a combination of methods, based on what skill you are trying to teach your dog and
also what is most likely to motivate your dog. Your first job is to think about your dog,
to observe him or her with other family members, see how he or she reacts to you and, if
you have other pets, how he or she reacts to you pets. I will tell you where to find more
about the different methods to training your dog in a little bit.
It’s crucial that dog’s master some basic obedience skills. One of the primary reasons to
teach a dog these skills is not only to have a well-mannered dog, but also to save his life.
Think about it, if your dog runs into the street you want him to respond to “Come”
immediately – otherwise, it could be a horrible accident. Obedience training has saved
the life of many a dog.
Dog’s learn basic obedience skills somewhat like a child learns – a baby learns to roll
over, then crawl, then stand while holding onto tables, then stand alone, walk and run.
For a child, this path of learning skills will take a couple of years. Fortunately, a dog
learns skills a little faster than a child, but we’ll still use the same premise of building on
skills, but instead we’ll group the skills into sets. First your dog will learn some basics
skills, then some more intermediate ones, and finally advanced skills.
The following are some of the basic skills we’ll cover first:
> Sit
> Down
> Come
> Stay
> Heel
> Take and drop
> Off
> Fetch
> Ouch/Leave it
MORE ADVANCED OBEDIENCE TRAINING
When your dog has the basic skills down, it’s time to
stretch his abilities a little farther. You can take each of
the above commands, and can combine them and ask more
from your dog to complete these skills. Did you know that
you could teach your dog to follow a command simply
with a special hand signal? I’ll show you exactly where
you can learn to do this in a minute.
When the dog’s needs aren’t met or he’s confused, he’s likely to act out with very
negative behaviours. Without even getting into the specifics of the activities, there are
some basic steps you can take to improve your dog’s obedience.
Not enough challenges – Most dogs need some kind of stimulation, either
from interactions with their owners or interactions with other dogs
Health problems – Sometimes dogs are suffering from poor nutrition or other
health related problems
CONCLUSION
If you are a person that loves dogs, you no doubt put a lot of thought
in to selecting a dog and developing a relationship with that dog.
Owning a dog is never a decision to take lightly. Of course, when
you bring a new living being into your family, you have to give him
the attention, love and devotion he deserves. And, the dog is able to
reciprocate in many ways – he’ll eagerly show you the same love and
adoration.
Hopefully this book has shown you some of the complexities of dogs.
They are far different than many people assume. They are neither the
simple, unthinking creatures many people assume nor are they animals that have the same
thought process as humans.
All dogs have similarities and differences. Some of the similarities are dependent on
breed, but still, these dogs offer unique personalities and drives. Your dog is just like
that, a unique thinking being with feelings and emotions.
When you try to understand your dog’s emotions, motivations, drives and instincts, you
go a long way to establishing a relationship with your dog. Your dog will try to figure
out what it is you want, and what makes you happy. Together, you can form a
relationship that will last for years and provide you and your family with endless
pleasure. Before long, your dog will be an integral part of your family and you won’t be
able to imagine how you lived without him.
1. How can you tap into your dog’s mind, understand what he is thinking, and then
make a few tiny changes that’ll completely transform your dogs behavior
overnight?
2. How can you teach your dog the right behavior in such a powerful way, that he
will learn it in a flash, and become the most obedient and well trained dog on the
block?
3. How can you Quickly and Easily STOP any unwanted problem behavior, and
transform your dog into the perfectly behaved companion you dreamt about?
Curious?
Well here is the web site again that you must visit now!
www.dogtrainingmasters.net