Good Training Advice

The Dog Will Always Pay. 

It is the most loving, rose-coloured glasses owners who one day, can tolerate their monsters no more. They will have ignored all the warning signs, dismissed all training advise, and then when they find themselves in hot water, will have their dog turfed from their home lickety split. 

That dog has now had years rehearsing bad habits, will have no life skills that are needed in a new home, and will somewhere along the way develop separation anxiety as he gets bounced from placement to placement. His life will get way worse once he is turfed. 

So I ask, please, please look at your dog. Honestly see what you are creating, and if you are raising a baby monster, please go to training classes and do your homework. Listen to the warnings that your trainer gives you, and listen to the warnings that your dog gives you too. 

Just because your dog has only ever growled or snarled does not mean that they will not bite. It only means that they have not bitten YET. They will increase. This isn't a 'maybe', it is a guarantee. If you keep doing what you have always done, your dog WILL increase.

Avoiding situations is fixing nothing except allowing your dog to mature and get emotionally stronger. 

Please don't make your dog pay for your lack of guidelines and tolerance. Monstrous Behaviour (aggression towards family members and the like) is never okay. Even though you might not mind it today, you might despise him for it this time next year. You owe him training, now, before you emotionally disengage from him.

Give your dog the time and effort that he deserves. Even if you decide you don't want to keep him, train him so that somebody else can have a chance to love him, and so that he can have a chance to live the remainder of his days out in his next home, rather than being bounced.

Monique Anstee
Victoria, BC