Sti can argue about which are the best dog breeds to train. But who are the best masters capable of training? If he asks, disheartened by his failures (with his seven dogs), James Gorman on Washington Post. He therefore wondered what are the characteristics that make a person a good trainer: patience, discipline and consistency seem to be fundamental characteristics. But… what else?
Training a dog. With listening and patience
To find an answer, Gorman interviewed various trainers. Cynthia M. Otto, director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center at the University of Pennsylvania, e Annemarie DeAngelo, who trained police dogs in the New Jersey State Policethey report the importance of listening, patience and adaptation. Any tips? The first part of any training program consists ofobserve what tasks dogs enjoy and which they are suitable for. And every moment of training, to work, must be transformed into a game.
Dogs as children: parenting styles compared
Not only. Recently the effect of human personality on dogs was the subject of one study published in the journal Animal Cognition. The authors applied social science tools to animal training.
Monique Udell, director of the Human-Animal Interaction Laboratory at Oregon State University, who coordinated the work, said interviewed pet owners about their parenting style. She then watched their dogs attempt to solve a puzzle and reunite with their owners after being alone for a few minutes. Dogs whose caretakers had an “authoritative parenting style” performed better. They turned out to be «pmore resistant to stress and able to recover from stress more quickly.
Authoritative, permissive or authoritarian?
“Authoritative” does not mean severe, on the contrary. He is firm, with high expectations of dogs, but also warm-hearted and adaptable. The other educational styles are that permissive, where humans are warm and adaptable but don’t have clear expectations. And that authoritarianin which the human being is firm, with high standards, but rigid and not very warm.
The study did not look specifically at obedience training, but “suggests that having a parent or an authoritative trainer could actually help you be more successful in this type of activity.”
Udel herself has trained dogs, wolves and other animals and said understanding what the animal is doing and thinking is key. “She can really allow us to make better decisions about training, which is not an adversarial relationship but a dance that should be collaborative.”
Training a dog to obedience is no longer of interest
But why are we so interested in obedience training? Of course, our pets do not perform tasks in which they must perform flawlessly: they do not herd sheep or detect drugs. For this the “dog psychologist” Alexandra Horowitz, author of the recent The Year of the Puppy, questioned the need for traditional obedience training for all dogs.
Some instructions, of course, are helpful. For example the command “sit”, which can teach a dog to sit still. But they are few. For the rest, the breeding of pets is really more and more similar to the education of children: we teach and make them part, actively involving them, of all the things we do. Even training, therefore, goes in this direction. And considering how many families the animal is an effective member of the clan, it’s no wonder it’s a very natural process.
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