Dog Training is Essential

Why I Train My Dogs

I was reading a hub about whether or not we really need to train dogs. Many folks that commented said that training dogs was subjugating them to mans will, and not allowing them to be dogs. Basically saying that it is cruel and unusual punishment to deprive the dog of its natural sense of well-being and self. That we domesticated dogs for our own purposes and are using them as entertainment and such.

So I thought about that for a while and decided that these people that are comparing dogs to humans are perhaps looking at things from a very different angle than I am. I will not stand up and declare myself smarter or better or wiser than they are, but I would hope that you can see my point of view from where you stand.

Humans have rules in their lives. Society has standards that all humans are supposed to follow up to a point. Don't throw your garbage out into the street. Hundreds of years ago that was an acceptable behavior, but now we know it spreads disease and smells bad and all sorts of stuff, so we don't do that any more. Common sense says that you don't walk in front of a moving truck, you will get hurt. Laws say that you cannot attack someone else just because they look different or smell different than you do. We have rules.

Domesticated dogs

Dogs need to have rules when they live in our society. A long time ago, before we (humans) domesticated dogs, they lived in their own society and had their own rules. Yes, they had rules, and each member of the pack was expected to follow those rules, and there were punishments for breaking the rules of the pack. There are times that a dogs natural instinct goes against the rules of our society, they might think they need to attack another dog for what we might consider the dumbest reasons Now they live among us where we have rules, and therefore it follows that we need to teach them our rules.

If I have rules, so do they

If I go to my toilet in the bathroom, the dog will go to his toilet in the back yard. If I take a bath the dog will take a bath. If I walk on the sidewalk so I don't get run over by that truck I mentioned earlier, then my dog will walk on the sidewalk so he doesn't get run over either.If I don't yell all the time when I see my neighbor, then my dog will not (yell) bark at the neighbor either.  I am responsible for my dogs behavior because in our society the rules say the dog "belongs" to me, so it is part and parcel that I am responsible for teaching my dog the rules of my society so that he can be a good member. I don't keep my dog on a leash just because I want to control my dog, I keep him on a leash as protection. Dogs forget rules sometimes and I don't want my dog to cause harm or be harmed because he forgot to stay on the sidewalk.

Training a dog to follow the rules of our household or our society does not immediately announce that we are "in control": what it means is that we like having dogs around us; they give companionship, comfort, protection, and unconditional love to us. And if we love or respect our dogs then we have the responsibility to teach them how to get along, how to survive our world, and how to prosper in their own way. We don't have to teach them how to jump through flaming hoops or do other silly doggie tricks, but we do have to show them the basic simple necessities of life in families and societies.

As a responsible pet "owner" we need to care for our animals properly, feed them well, train them well, and love them well.