Anna and Troy’s Weblog

Caesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer), claims that in order to successfully train your dogs you must relinquish the role of “dog lover” and embody the role of “pack leader.”  I am not quite sure what I think about this theory of puppy raising on a couple of levels.  On a basic and admittedly rather uneducated level, I am not sure that I buy into the whole theory as the singular and only legitimate method of dog training.  And more importantly, I am not sure that even if it is true, that I have the capacity to assume the necessary role.

Currently, I definitely fall into the catergory of “dog lover.”

Our first dog, Booda, was very easy to train.  His natural compliance and sensitive nature combined with his “first dog” status and the fact that we didn’t have cable television at the time (lots of time to train puppies) led to a very obedient dog.

Our second dog, Max, is a crazy dog.  He has many many redeeming qualities, the greatest of which is his outstandingly sweet and loving personality.  However, despite being a pretty smart little guy with a naturally non-malicious nature, Max has NO natural sense of obedience.  He is his OWN dog.  He does what he wants, unless, of course, you are brandishing treats or any type of food.  Fortunately, he is naturally a pretty good dog and doesn’t get into a lot of trouble.  He never chews up anything that isn’t his, or pees in the house, or any of the normal “bad dog” things.

However, as far as actual “obedience” he is a little lacking.  Max has NO sense of tonal differentiation.  If you so much as raise your voice at Booda he immediately stops whatever he is doing and never does it again.  We can yell at Max and he barely raises a little doggy eyebrow.  He is starting to be better with this.  He now rolls over on his back into his “submissive dog” pose, but the energy level never goes down, and when he feels like the reprimand is over he just jumps right back up, happy as a clam.

I think that Max really tries to be a good dog, but he is such a high energy little puppy that he just can’t control himself very well.  He can “sit” and “down” pretty consistently.  It is all the “wait” and “stay” commands that he can’t wrap his little doggy brain around.  We see him trying, but he litterally vibrates out of whatever command we are working on at the moment.

I really think that time will be the solution.  It is my hope that in another year Max will have settled down enough to embrace his obedience training.  Maybe this will happen, or maybe not…..But in truth, I think that I would rather be a “dog lover” with a slightly less well trained dog, than a “pack leader” with a dog that can jump through hoops and run obsticle courses.