Why Training our Dogs?

       When we take a puppy or a young dog we, being responsible dog owners, start thinking about educating or training them. The first step in this long and enjoyable (maybe more, maybe less) process is obedience. However, what is the goal of teaching obedience? Let’s think it over. For most dog owners the key sense of obedience is to make your life with the pet more comfortable and pleasant. There is no doubt that it is very convenient to walk in a park with a dog who quickly fulfils your command “come” or sits patiently while you talk to your friend. Of course, obedience disciplinises your dog. However, does it develop your dog? It is a big question.

There can be another attitude to obedience, and here again I’d like to refer to Mr.Kipling’s “We be of one blood, thou and I”, and put aside our anthropocentric attitude towards dogs (and animals as a whole). Every dog is a personality and has a lot of talents that we even do not see. Today it is a mainstream topic of a lot of publications. Alexandra Horowitz’s “Inside of a dog. What Dogs See, Smell, and Know” is one of them.

So, it seems better to treat obedience as only the first step for further education of your pet as well as a necessary element in helping your him/her in adaptation, for example, in an urban environment. Taking this as a starting point one will treat lessons on a training ground only as a basic minimum, developing various elements in practice, in real situations. For example, in a city it is very important to teach your dog how to cross streets. Do not doubt that a dog will understand very well the practical importance of commands “foot” and “sit”.