Today a lot of people take puppies of German shepherd, malinois, Herder, etc. without any intention to develop their defense talents. I met dog masters who bought malinois only because they liked their exterior.If it is a working dog it is highly desirable to give him/her opportunity to develop the defense talent on the training ground. However, in real life there are a lot of situations when you can sharpen your dogs' skills. For example, you are in the street late in the evening. ..
This video shows how - while going with my dog to a bank and back home late in the evening - several elements of obedience and mondioring were applied.
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”.
To have a dog means to spend a lot of time, a lot of money and to take a considerable responsibility. But what about having two dogs? Two male dogs,and more than that - two Alphas? It might seem strange but it's much easier with the two of them. Of course, they are friends. But being friends between two strong males means a tiny balance, in a moment they can become rivals. It is rather dangerous as can lead to a fight. There is a much better variant - to make a team with an inner hierarchy.
It take time to set these kind of relationships, however it gives valuable results!
