Okay, this is going to be a bit boring for some of you but may interest those that read a lot of materials from the positive training arena. I have read over and over that some methods make dogs think. This always sticks in my craw because I love to watch dogs and I observe a lot of untrained dogs. Dogs are pretty clever! I had a dog that could shell peanuts very neatly with her paws and her mouth. Try that without thumbs! I had nothing to do with this besides providing the peanuts. She would also trick my other dog into leaving his bone by pretending someone was at the door by barking at front door and quickly doubling back to snatch the bone. Years ago my neighbor’s dog, to call this dog untrained would be an understatement, would steal all of my dog’s expensive toys and chews by only playing with him only if he brought his toy over to the gap under fence and then steal the toy. This dog basically charged my dog the price of his toys in exchange for playtime. Many dogs teach themselves to open fridge doors and open latches that take some finesse. Do dogs need us to think? Nope!!!! Do children need schools to think? Nope!!! Do they need classes to learn what we want them to learn? Yup!! Dogs learn and think on their own but we need to condition and train them how to live in our world.
What is so powerful about positive training, especially using a reward marker is it gives us a very powerful and precise communication with our dogs. You can communicate with your dog, now that is something to celebrate, accurate communication between species. Awesome!
I will say this method does foster a well-mannered dog that doesn’t lose personality through training. The dogs’ eyes sparkle with eagerness to enter this process with us since they are reinforced for doing and trying stuff. So okay, instead of saying positive methods make dogs think, I would say it makes them eager to learn stuff with us. What could be better than that?
