Fool-Proof Method Of Raising A Good Dog

If I were to write a book on raising a happy, loving dog, it’d be too short to publish. In fact, all I’d recommend is to include your dog in everything. You don’t have to pay attention to him all the time, just have him with you. Sound impractical? Try tethering the dog to you whenever you’re home!

Bad Dog Basics

Let’s look at what a “bad” dog really is. There’s disobedience, unwanted behavior, and aggression. Any of these can be divided into further subcategories of dominance, owner negligence, fear, etc.—but these are the basics.

First, let’s look at disobedience. Suppose you’re consistent with your training, and the dog still won’t listen [1]. What you have is a dominance issue, or more accurately, a problem asserting your dominance. The last thing you’d want to do is to physically punish your dog to assert dominance—you’d risk opening a whole new can of worms by inviting aggression. Aggressive worms, no good. The possibility of replacing a problem with an even greater one is plain stupid.

The solution is ridiculously simple. First, stop obedience training for a couple weeks. For the next two weeks, tether the dog to your belt when you’re at home. This forces the dog to follow you wherever you go and makes him wait for you to complete your chores before moving onto your next activity. When it becomes automatic for the dog to follow with a slacked lead, the dog has accepted your dominance. You can now continue obedience training. If the dog still doesn’t learn, then you’d better take lessons from a professional, because it’s not your dog’s fault!

Now for unwanted behaviors. If your dog tears up furniture and your belongings, has a tunnel-plan to China, or herds the children in your house, then it’s pretty much your fault. Assuming that the dog isn’t teething, chewing is a normal activity that canines do to occupy an under-stimulated mind. If you can’t take your dog for regular, long walks to tire him out, then he’ll just keep chewing. Again: tether, tether, tether! Your walks around the house, from room to room, will supplement the walks necessary to get his mind going. It’ll also force him to focus on your actions, which is better than focusing on your slippers.

Aggression is a tricky issue, because it is conditioned from infinite factors. Only dominance-aggression can be overcome with this method. For all other cases, you should seek guidance from a professional behavioralist.

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[1] In most cases, this is a paradox. Consistent obedience training asserts your dominant role. Still, there are hard dogs in the world that’ll look at your corrections and ask, “Is that ALL you’ve got?”.

A Few Tips While Tethered

1. Don’t correct your dog for pulling when tethered. Ignore his efforts and stay firmly planted. Better yet, start walking opposite and work on something in another room. Within a couple days, he’ll recognize the futility of trying to lead you.

2. Don’t shower your dog with attention while tethered. All you have to do is praise your dog every few minutes for being beside you.

3. Though this seems small and effortless, remember that a praise every two minutes is more interaction than most dog-owners give their dogs. And get this: it’s all positive!