I hear it all the time. “I have a cattle dog/German shepherd/Aussie/pit bull/Doberman/labradoodle….and I can tell he just needs a job! He’s bouncing off the walls with energy and honestly, no one in my family can tell him anything.” I ask them what kind of job they have in mind, and they say:
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Dog training is terrible, in fact it can be a giant pain in the ass. Getting a puppy is fun, petting them is great, watching them play with your kids is usually cool. But the thing about dogs is they just keep on….behaving…long after your’e done petting them or playing with them. You have to constantly watch what they’re doing so they don’t destroy any of your shit. They don’t stay put when you tell them to, so you’re constantly wondering where they scampered off to and what God forsaken item they have ingested now. You have to sometimes stop them from doing things they want to do, like running in traffic, because it will hurt them. They tend to throw a fit when you stop them from doing things that will hurt them. None of this is any fun at all, it’s often downright miserable. Despite this, you’re completely besotted by your precious dog and you could never live without them.
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When people tell me that their dog is “distracted” or “stubborn,” I typically want to question them more.
”How is he distracted?”
”What is he usually distracted by?”
”Define stubborn? Describe what stubborn looks like, step by step for me?”
“Well, any time I try to train him, he just won’t even look up at me. I can say his name 1000 times, and he won’t turn around. If we’re in the house, he’ll be more interested in a dust bunny blowing across the room than working with me on obedience. He even turns down bacon!”
Read MoreDear Frances,
!I have a 9 month old long-haired mini dachshund who is driving me to desperation. Samson is not my first dachshund but I fear he may be my last. I need HELP with teaching him to obey. Samson will bolt out of the door or wriggle out of his harness when I’m adjusting the fit and run. He goes next door to terrorize the female German Shepard who is on a tether. Regardless of a friendly request, or a stern command, Samson refuses to come when called. He’s very fast and I’m unable to catch him. When he got out of the door for the second time today, he ran into the farmer’s field behind our house and I had to navigate a barbed wire fence to get him. I called on my French Bulldog to help convince Samson to come and see what we were doing. When his curiosity got the best of him, I was able to grab Samson by his collar. Crawling back through the barbed wire fence while carrying a wriggling puppy could be part of the Olympic triathlon.