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Celebrate life with your well-behaved dog!
This site is for people who love dogs, and also for those who dream of having a dog.
My hope is that what you learn here will accomplish seven things:
- Help you
and the dog you have enjoy each other even more.
- Help you decide if you really want a dog.
- Show you the responsibilities that go
along with enjoying a dog
- Encourage you to consider adopting a rescue dog from a
shelter.
- Give you tips on how to choose the pet dog who is right for you.
- Encourage you to invest in dog obedience classes.
- Convince you that spay and neuter is the only humane choice.
When you tell friends you're thinking of getting a dog you'll get plenty of
advice... ... and my advice is to listen,
consider, and then use your common sense combined with "gut instincts."
From
choosing a dog, to feeding, to care, to obedience training - everyone has an opinion. For instance,
some will tell you to choose the most aggressive pup in the litter, while others will tell
you to choose the one who hangs back and waits to see what kind of person you are rather
than rushing over to greet you.
Some (like me) will encourage you to have your new dog spayed
or neutered to prevent ovr population and the resultant homeless dogs. Others will tell
you (falsely) that the operation will ruin your dog's personality.
Some will tell you that you must absolutely never
let your dog on the furniture - as if your home was theirs and they had a right to tell
you that!
And some will tell you to train with punishment, while others (like me)
find that reward training combined with fearful consequences for really bad behavior works
best. (By fearful consequences I mean being banished to solitary confinement in the kennel with a strong
dose of disapproval and maybe even a swat on the behind for trying to chase a car going by.)
What many dog trainers (both amateur and professional) forget is this: Dogs, like humans,
each have their own personality. And rescued dogs have even more than a personality - they
have memories of past treatment. So no two dogs can be treated exactly the same way.
The most important ingredient in your relationship with your dog is love.
Not the "spoiling" kind of love, but the same kind that children should have - the kind
that combines affection with well understood rules and guidelines to give them security
and confidence.
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