Hi, I'm Steve Dalton. I have over 30 years experience training dogs and was a dog handler with West Midlands Police, training and working a German Shepherd Dog called Max and a Springer Spaniel bomb detection dog called Bracken. You can see the dogs in the articles below.
Working with Max was a massive leap forward in my dog training knowledge, Max was a nervous dog and would not respond to the old fashioned, sometimes cruel methods of the past. Most dog training in years gone by was done with force and coercion and the dogs were made to perform tasks on threat of punishment alone. In these more enlightened days, dogs are trained with positive rewards and with science backed methods, which I fully support and use. However, I do believe that we have thrown the baby out with the bathwater so to speak and there is a swing to the opposite side of the dog training spectrum, in that dog owners will now not tell their dogs that they are wrong and that leads to some real issues and often the dog being rehomed.
Sometimes the dog has to do as it is told. An example of this is when the dog is humping your visitors, or jumping up and scratching your chest, dirtying your clothes, or growling at your visitors or god forbid biting them! Whilst we always want to use the kindest, nicest method, this should always be backed up with your dog knowing that you do not accept that behaviour and that it will lead to a negative consequence for the dog, such as you withdrawing your attention or affection for a short period immediately after the bad behaviour. When the dog returns to a good behaviour, your attention and affection is clearly shown and the dog can make a decision as to which tactic to use and it will always opt for the reward option if it is clearly communicated.
I am here for any customer of Lookafteryourdog home dog boarding service, to offer help, advice and guidance if you are experiencing any problems with your dog. Most problems are easily trained away and are usually always our fault as dog owners, not communicating our wishes to our dogs clearly. Please feel free to get in touch with me, by using the details on our contact page and i will be glad to help you.
This page will be populated with articles to help you to care for your dog and train them to be great members of your family. The key foundation to a good relationship with a dog is trust and respect. These provide the structure that your dog is desperately looking for in it's relationship with humans and will be dealt with by an article to follow.
