Have You Ever Thought of ALL the Benefits of a Well Trained Dog?

By Admin - Deanna, on August 18th, 2008 |

Have you ever thought about why is it so important to train your dog to be obedient, and to know what is acceptable behavior and what is not?

Most people think the biggest benefit of having a dog who is well trained is that you don’t have to worry about your dog ruining anything for you anymore (e.g. chewing up furniture, digging holes, aggression, biting, and so forth) — and that’s what a lot of “experts” will tell you too. But these people are completely missing the Big Picture.

You see, hazard control is a benefit, but it’s hardly the biggest benefit of having a well trained dog.

The REAL biggest benefit of having a well trained dog is that you and your dog can BOTH experience personal growth in your relationship, beyond what you could ever have imagined…

This is an important concept– so let me break it down and explain it in detail.

Let’s say your dog fights aggressively with other dogs whenever it sees them on the street, and you train your dog to curb his aggressive behavior. That means that you are no longer worried about taking your dog out for walks, which in turn means that your dog will get more walks and become healthier and happier, you will love your dog more because he doesn’t frustrate you anymore, you’ll have the dog you always dreamed of having, you won’t be embarrassed by your dogs aggressive behavior anymore and YOUR DOG WILL EXPERIENCE PERSONAL GROWTH from learning to overcome this problem.

So suppose you have a dog that chews your furniture and/or digs holes in your lawn. If you obedience train your dog to know that this is not acceptable and what toys he can chew, and when he can dig (eg. perhaps at the park, or in a specific area), then you’ll gain from not having these problems, your dog will gain from both the personal growth of the learning experience, and from you being happier with him (which means, he won’t get scolded so often!)

But in order to get your dog to obey you, you must first understand the reasons behind why your dog behaves the way he does (meaning you must listen before you can expect him to listen to you). Then you must learn how to communicate to him what you want him to do and why. You must also establish yourself as the alpha dog or “pack leader”.

So as you can imagine, if you understand your dog better, you can become the alpha dog quite quickly (sometimes it can take only a few minutes for your dog to get the picture!).

But if you’re only using instinctive scolding techniques to get what you want from your dog, it will take you months, and it may not happen at all – to get your dog to obey you.

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About the author;

Daniel Stevens is the author of SitStayFetch – Dog Training To Stop Your Dog Behavioral Problems!. He and his dedicated team have spent years putting together SitStayFetch in such a way that you will be able to easily correct your dog’s behavior problems and strengthen the relationship between you and your dog.