People have many different expectations when they come into a group dog training class or when they want you to give them an in-home session for their misbehaving new puppy.
Some of them remember their idealized dog from their young years, some have watched the Dog Whisperer on Animal Planet, others have been asking everyone in the Craigslist Pet Forum or their friends on Facebook, and have come up with a shopping list of commands they want their pooches to obey.
Their itemized lists are pretty much very achievable, given the proper discipline on their part, but sometimes I wonder what is their final goal, or if they even know exactly what is the best for them and their dogs.
I don't claim to know what is best for everyone, but experience tells me that checking every item of their command list is not necessarily the mark of success. What you want, and what is going to give you a more satisfactory relationship with your dog, are these 5 goals:
- Understand the way your dog communicates with you
- Understand how your dog reads what you do and what you say
- Give your dog calmness
- Create habits that both your dog and you can share
- Exercise your dog's thinking skills to adapt to everything life will throw your way in the future
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