OBEDIENCE IN DOGS. IT'S ALL IN HOW WE THINK ABOUT IT.
Original Post July 19, 2022
WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF OBEDIENCE?
AND CAN WE EVEN GET TOTAL OBEDIENCE FROM OUR DOGS?
According to Dictionary.com obedience is defined as:
…..the state or quality of being obedient. · the act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance: Military service demands obedience from its members.
This definition and others I found all contain the aspect of performing an act on command without regard to the conditions of the given situation. Those conditions could be external ones in the environment or internal to the individual being asked to perform the behavior.
We as humans with our much bigger brains cannot perform perfectly at all times, so having this expectation of our dogs puts an undue burden on them and on ourselves. Dogs have the reasoning power of a human two year old. If we keep that in mind we can get great responses from our dogs in most circumstances. When training is not yet enough we can implement safety and management measures for situations that their toddler brains can’t manage yet or may never be able to manage.
Because of this, at PumpkinPups we think a bit differently about the words we use when we talk about dogs and training them. We actually use different words.
Obedience Training is called Good Manners Training and what was a Command we call a Cue. Where others might use the word Leadership we think of that leader as a benevolent parent overseeing the safety and learning of a very young child.
When dogs don’t do what we ask we give consideration to the factors that may be getting in the way of the animal performing a behavior.
Things that can affect a dog’s responsiveness to cues or requests from their guardians include:
Training and Learning History
Clarity of the cue asked of the dog
Generalization of learned behaviors
Emotional factors – arousal, distraction, fear, panic
Genetic factors of the dog in question
Age – very young or very old
Health status
Hunger
Thirst
Pain
So if your pup is not doing the things you are expecting or hoping for, feel free to ask us to help you look to the above things. Using these clues we can figure out how to effectively help your animal be the best they can be!!
