Beginning Training

I am not a dog psychologist or even a knowledgeable dog trainer for that matter. I am simply a wife, mom, and grandmother, who always loved dogs! There are so many self-professed dog training experts on TV and YouTube etc. They all want you to bye their training book or plan to train your dog. I can tell you that there is no cookie-cutter plan for training your dog. Dogs very much like humans are individuals and have different learning styles combined with varying traits of their breed. The methods of training have in 10 to 15 years. At one time, the focus of the practice was to correct any deviation from the desired behavior. Today the is a focus on positive and enjoyable training for the dog. Dogs feel emotions, such as love, devotion, boredom, and fear. A dog’s feelings were not taken into consideration before.

Golden Retrievers are recognized for their intelligence and eagerness to please. Typically they are easy to train and frequently are used as service dogs. Candy and Brandy were twins from the same golden retriever litter, and yet their personalities couldn’t have been more different. They also had completely different learning styles and natural talents that I hoped to nurture. Candy was loving and empathetic. Brandy was a super athlete.

Now I have little Teddy, and his higher intelligence level was brought to my attention before I even brought him home. So I want to provide mental stimulation and challenge him as I would for a human child. I have to interject, however, that even though he is supposed to be very smart, he still does doogie dumb stuff! He needs the training to protect him from himself!

We had a trainer come to the home for personal training for Candy and Brandy, and it was very successful. Hoping to copy that successful model once again, we have a trainer coming to the home for Teddy. First thing I learned was that I was doing just about everything wrong and that I talked too much! Geez, I just wanted Teddy to understand why I was asking him to do certain things.

The trainer started working with Teddy when he was only 13 weeks. Typically that is early, but I was confident that Teddy was up to it. Teddy is now 19 weeks and eager to learn. He has mastered some of the basic behaviors, but we have more to learn. Teddy is so enthusiastic that the trainer reminds us not to try to move too fast. Master the basics first.