ADVICE: The Common Sense Dog

Finding tangible dog-training advice is more difficult than ever.

There are so many opinions and labels out there that the average dog owner can become overwhelmed, and even worse, be made to feel like a bad pet owner for not following a specific ideology.

We hear terms like compulsion training, positive reinforcement training, pure positive training, scientific training, clicker training, balanced training, and model-rival training, but at the end of the day, they’re all just labels.

I’ve been training dogs professionally for 10 years, and I can tell you that it’s not rocket science. I specialize in the rehabilitation of fearful, anxious, and aggressive dogs, and regardless of the severity of the dog’s issue, the answer is always rooted in common sense.

This column will help shed light on those common-sense solutions and provide hope to struggling owners and their dogs. Feel free to email me with questions about dog behavior, psychology, or training. There is no such thing as a stupid question, so please don’t hesitate to reach out for help.

Each week I will choose an email question and discuss the answer at length, but before we get there, let’s take a moment to clarify why we take so much time training our dogs.

The simple answer is--they deserve it.

Sometimes we develop a skewed way of looking at the training process because we are so eager to have a compliant dog.

Some clients come to me for the sole purpose of having a dog with flawless obedience. This is a perfectly acceptable goal, and it’s often a comfort source to owners who have felt as if they had no control. However, this shouldn’t be our only motivation.

Training isn’t a power tool or a means of stroking our egos. It is a stepping stone to teaching our dogs to safely navigate life when we give them more freedom. No different than raising children. We don’t constantly battle with them to do their homework or clean their rooms because those things are critical parts of life, but because they help create good habits and a healthy mindset in our children who will eventually be adults and need those healthy habits and mindsets.

Our goals should address the dog as a whole. We should be utilizing obedience and behavioral modification not to create dominance or intimidation, but to eventually give our dogs healthy outlets where they can be dogs.

That being said, dogs are only half of the equation. You matter too. Your wants, needs, and understanding are just as important to the training process as your dog’s. You are not the lesser half, and you are not a poor pet owner every time your dog struggles.

Every problem has a solution. Let’s figure it out together!

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Stephanie Vichinsky is the owner/head trainer of United K9, LLC in Post Falls. 208-964-4806.