the puppy wizard

DOG THINK

Date: 2001-03-05 10:54:03 PST

Hello People,

Here's a post with a P-HOWERFUL message
sent to me from a person who is not a reader
of rpdb:

Thanks Jerry,

Maybe I should have been beat, or at the very least
intimidated for not following the instructor correctly.

Most of the mistakes I have made with my own two
dogs was from following advice of AKC dog clubs..

Dok and I still go to the club but I train him my way
(gentle hand, and lots of praise).. He is willing to do
what I ask only because he has confidence in me
and the knowledge that I won't ask him to do anything
that he can't or doesn't understand..

I have a good friend that once told me to pretend that
I was thrown into a room full of people all speaking a
foreign language and they got on me every time I didn't
do what they said even if I didn't understand it.

That told me a lot and I try to keep it in mind at
all times with my two. I did have to laugh at myself
recently for forgetting to "dog think."

I have had a problem with Dok jumping up on
the door and scratching it when I come back.

I would hurry as fast as I could to get the door
unlocked and get inside before he did too much
damage. Naturally I didn't scold him as he was
only trying to greet the returning pack member.

This went on for a long time and I was pretty
frustrated trying to figure out the correct method
to use and it was so simple in DOG THINK.

I now come up to the door and if Dok jumps up
I drop my hands. The message is clear to Dok,
"if I jump that delays the door opening." My
hurrying before only increased the problem.

According to Dok, the more he jumped the
faster the pack leader came in. Like I said
it was a very simple problem as far as training
and DOG THINKING, but it took me a long
time to figure it out.

I find that for myself, DOG THINK is hard,
but at the same time it will correct an
unwanted behavior faster than any type
of force or punishment..

Nope I don't think I want to check out
their training methods, I will proceed
taxing my brain with DOG THINK!

Thanks Elaine