Why Train Your Dog
Inevitably I’m asked, “Why do you train your dog? Can’t he just be happy and run around? Do you feel the need to control him?” The answer to all of these questions can be summed up by one simple explanation:
“I train my dog because I want what’s best for him.”
Training your dog has nothing to do with controlling him, it has to do with one thing and that is to form a bond with him. Since we can’t have a conversation with our dogs, we have to figure out other ways to interact with them. Yes playing ball, frisbee or exercising with your dog forms a bond, but nothing forms the same bond with your dog like training. Whether it’s teaching your dog a silly trick or competing in obedience. All training with your dog forms a solid bond that makes your dog happier and more mentally alert. Training your dog makes him think and focus, it’s like reading a book for us. Dogs that are trained live happier healthier lives than other dogs because they are stimulated and interacted with.
See: online dog training
Teaching your dog simple exercises like SIT, COME and STAY can be a lifesaver as well. But that being besides the point I focus on the quality of the interaction more than the time of the interaction itself. We have an English Bull Dog named Stella. Stella is a very nice girl but had crazy drives and would just go nutty if a toy was brought out. You couldn’t get it out of her mouth and if you did, you were probably gonna get bit, not out of aggression, but mainly frustration. I started training Stella a few minutes a day for a few weeks. I found that after that training she looked forward to it more and more. She learned basic obedience and connected much closer to my girlfriend and me. She is a happy ball of joy when I say, “Do you wanna go train?” She has learned her basics of COME, SIT, and STAY, she’s learned to OUT the toy and she is a happy happy dog. All of that for perhaps 5-10 minutes of training a day. You can even break it up into 5 minutes of training 2x per day.
I encourage you to consider training your dog because it is the very best thing you can do for him or her. It will create a relationship that you never imagined. Remember if you only exercised your body but never did anything to stimulate your mind, you’d be a blob inside and that is what happens to many dogs. Dogs want to learn, they want to be challenged and they want to interact with their humans. They are working animals and working to make their humans happy is the best job they’ll ever have.
