How To Build "The Bond" With Your Dog
Adam G. Katz
Building the bond with your dog is really quite easy. If you
recognize that you have a relationship with your dog, then
building the bond comes down to nothing more than increasing the
strength of that relationship.
And as with any relationship, building a bond requires:
1.) Spending quality time together.
2.) Getting out in the world and experiencing life together.
3.) Establishing and promoting a level of mutual respect.
4.) Developing a way of communicating so that both individuals
understand the other's needs. (Hmmm... maybe I should be writing
self-help books for humans???)
Let's take a look at each of these key points to see how they can
have a positive affect on your daily dog training:
1.) Spending quality time together.
Spending quality time together does not mean sharing a beer with
Fido while the two of you lay in front of the television. Well,
okay... maybe it does.
But more importantly, it means committing to a series of rituals
and behaviors that you and your dog can look forward to.
For example, I often throw Forbes (the Pit Bull) in the back of
the truck when I wake up in the morning and we go for a drive
down to the local McDonald's Drive-thru. For most of the drive,
Forbes is either still wiping the sleep out of his eyes, or he's
doing the guard dog routine if someone walks up to the back of
the truck.
But the highlight of this morning ritual begins when we get home.
It's Forbes' job to hop out of the back of the truck and take the
empty McDonald's brown paper bag in his mouth, walk down the
drive way, around the gate, into the back yard, and then over to
the trash can... where he drops the bag.
Sure, it's a stupid pet trick. But see how disappointed the dog
is when *I* insist on carrying the bag to the trash can!
From the dog's point of view, it's the 30 or 40 little things
throughout the day (that he can help me with) that make his life
worth living. And for the dog, this is spending quality. It all
boils down to being an active participant in each other's lives.
2.) Getting out in the world and experiencing life together:
It had been years since Bud and Janice's kids had grown and left
the house for college and later, corporate jobs. Bud had wanted a
dog for several months and Janice finally gave in.
They decided to adopt a beautiful 5 year-old Golden Retriever and
proceeded to train "Mac," using many of the techniques I describe
in my book, "Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer!"
Janice got scared when Bud came back from his first walk around
the neighborhood with "Mac" and ran into the house yelling,
"Janice! Janice! You won't believe what happened!!!"
"Oh my gawd," though Janice, thinking that perhaps "Mac" had
bitten a child, or run away.
"What happened?" Janice questioned her husband.
"You won't believe it, Janice," said Bud, "I took 'Mac' for a
walk... AND PEOPLE ACTUALLY CAME UP AND TALKED TO ME!!!"
Imagine that! Here's a guy who had lived in the same neighborhood
for eight years and didn't know any of his neighbors until he got
a dog and started taking it for walks. Dogs are a wonderful
excuse to get you out of the house and interacting with the world
around you.
It's also one of the many reasons that handicapped people like
owning service dogs... because it makes it easier for other
people to come up and start a conversation.
And do you think that "Mac" minded all of the attention?
Absolutely not.
As a matter of fact, I think that my dog Forbes is happiest when
we're out in the world, meeting new people and experiencing new
things together. Two best friends, out on the town.
You should see the look on Forbes' face when two or three
beautiful women walk up and start rubbing his belly.
Even better... you should see the look on my face!
3.) Establishing and promoting a level of mutual respect.
Just like with any relationship, there must be mutual trust and
respect.
Trust comes with time, and proving to your dog that you will keep
him safe and happy.
Respect, just like with human relationships, comes from
establishing boundaries and treating any breach of those
boundaries with firmness and fairness. Without enforceable
boundaries, there is no respect. And when there is no respect,
your relationship with your dog will be out of balance. And trust
me, when your relationship with your dog is out of balance...
nobody's having fun.
4.) Developing a way of communicating so that both individuals
understand the other's needs.
Developing a way of communicating gets back to laying a proper
foundation with your dog training. And this relates specifically
to making your praise and your corrections motivational.
Once your dog understands clearly when he's doing something
RIGHT... and when he's doing something WRONG... a magical thing
starts to happen. You find that you are actually COMMUNICATING!!!
And being able to communicate with your dog is what allows you to
go anywhere and do anything with your dog and know that he'll
listen to you.
There are four primary ways that dogs communicate with us, and
with each other:
1.) Body language.
2.) Vocal tonation and voice inflection.
3.) Touch.
4.) Scent.
All of my dog training techniques try to incorporate as many of
these elements as possible. In sum, you can think of dog training
as a word that can be easily substituted for the word,
"communication."
Do you want to be able to take your dog anywhere, and KNOW that
he'll listen to you... even if tempted by another dog, a cat, or
even a piece of food??? Then check out: "Secrets of a
Professional Dog Trainer: An Insider's Guide To The Most
Jealously Guarded Dog Training Secrets In History!" By Adam G.
Katz, Owner of South Bay K-9 Academy. For more information, go
to: http://tinyurl.com/4efaq
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