John Fisher - Dogwise: The Natural Way to Train Your Dog

THE EXPERIMENT

For many years now I have been quite forthright in my views that dog training is out of date.

There are many genuinely concerned dog owners who regularly attend dog training classes and religiously practise what they have been told to do, but still find that they have no control over their dogs when visitors arrive, or in the presence of other dogs, or when children are about. Some dogs, who behave perfectly within a class situation, still pull on the lead, jump up at the owners when they return home, run off when they are let off the lead, defecate, urinate, howl and bark when they are left, or become destructive in the owners' absence. All this, despite the fact that the owners are regularly drilling their dogs in the heelwork, sit stay, down stay and retrieve exercises that are taught within a class situation.

This book is about the successful training of a ten-month-old German Shepherd Dog called Major, using a completely reward-based programme, and explains how this approach can be used to train your own dog.

It follows Major's progress from his selection, through his training to the equivalent of the Home Office Police Dog standard; at the same time it relates the way he was trained to the training of the pet dog. Major was handled by Robert Cox, a dog handler with the City of London (Hampstead Heath Dept). (The Hampstead Heath dog section is not connected to the City of London Police Dog section; under an Act of Parliament the police have no powers on the Heath except by invitation or in pursuit.)

My copy of the Home Office Manual, Police Dogs, training and care, was written in 1963, but the current manual is almost exactly the same. The photographs are more up to date and the words 'choke chain' have been replaced by 'check chain', but the methods of training have not changed. I cannot think of any other area, be it medicine, child care or education, that has not advanced over recent years. Certainly there is a wealth of new knowledge available on training techniques and particularly on dog behaviour, but in general, when it comes to training dogs this new knowledge is not being utilised properly. The following extract nicely sums up what the Home Office Manual suggests the handler's attitude should be towards training his dog.

Complete control is the groundwork on which all succeeding training is based. The successful teaching of obedience is brought about by a series of repetitive habit-forming exercises.

The dog from the first day of training must never be allowed to ignore a command or fail to complete one given. The dog must never be allowed to suspect that there is even the possibility of being able to avoid a command. It is for this reason that training in all exercises must be commenced when the dog is restrained on the leash and therefore can be instantly guided into the action required. At the commencement of training the word of command may be accompanied by physical influence.

Disobedience must be met with firmness.

The use of physical punishment should only be resorted to in cases of emergency, and under no circumstances should it ever be considered a training measure. Proper use of the check chain, the verbal command or admonition and the withholding of praise are usually sufficient correctives.

It would be hard for anyone to disagree with these principles, but it is my belief that by following them we are expressing the attitude 'me human, you dogI say, you do' . Of course, that is our ultimate aim, but by adopting this stance at the commencement of training we risk causing resentment and resistance. If the dog responds in either of these ways, then he is not learning what we are trying to teach him. If we are trying to express our dominance over him by making him walk to heelat the same time as teaching him what the word 'heel' means then we are expecting him to learn two different concepts in one. The more the dog resists or resents the handler's dominant actions, the firmer those actions will have to be, and the more physical the training method becomes, the less will the dog enjoy the exercise.

We also run the risk of being unsuccessful in our initial attempts to influence the dog's actions by physical means. To a dominant dog, this would show that we had entered into a test of strength and had lost it, which would effectively demote the human and promote the dog. We would then be embarking on an uphill battle to form the proper partnership.