Domestic Dogs Archives - Edie MacKenzie

Any study of dog behavior has to start with an analysis of the behavior of the wolf, ancestor of all domestic dogs.

Wolves are exceptional predators with a complex set of behaviors, signals and communication methods guiding their behavior. Their bodies and brains are the result of millions of years of evolution that has resulted in perhaps the ultimate co-operative hunter.

Dogs are directly descended from wolves and have been domesticated for only 15 000 years or so, a mere blip on the evolutionary scale. So it makes sense that many of the wolf’s instincts and drives are still present in dogs.

Understand this, and many of your dog’s strange behaviors will suddenly make sense.

Here are some of the behaviors common to dogs and wolves.

Pack Mentality: As pack animals wolves naturally submit to a leader. Wolf packs usually consist of a mating pair and their offspring, with the alpha male as the leader.

Dogs also look for leadership in their human “pack”. Where none is present, they will feel compelled to take up the role themselves, leading to dominance issues.

Body Language: In the world of the wolf (and the dog), body language trumps vocal cues every time. This is a complex “language” with body posture, movement, facial expression and eye contact all playing a part.

These signals are often misunderstood by humans. For example, many asume that a dog who wags his tail is happy when he may in fact be highly aggitated and ready to bite.

Territorial Aggression: In the wild, wolves will stake out a territory, then patrol and defend it against intruders. The same behavior can be seen in dogs. They will naturally protect what they perceive as their territory, whether it’s their home, a favorite toy, or even a person they regard as “theirs”.

Socialization: Social interaction is very important in a wolf pack as it helps to develop the strong bonds that are vital to the survival of the pack.

You can simulate this with your dog through play, walks and obedience training. But you need to go further, socializing your dog with a broad spectrum of people and other animals, so that he doesn’t start to see everyone outside his immediate circle as a threat.

Pursuit: A wolf pack hunts by pursuing a prey animal until it is exhausted and easily subdued. Their instinct is to chase anything that moves away from them.

Dogs have this same instinct which is why they love to chase cats, cars, and cyclists.

Fleeing: Even powerful, apex predators like lions, would rather back off than get involved in a fight where they could be seriously injured. A wolf or a dog will rather flee than fight if the odds are stacked against him.

Vocalization: Contrary to popular belief, wolves can bark, they are just less inclined to use vocalization as a form of communication. This is perfectly logical, as a hunter that makes a lot of noise is unlikely to be very successful.

Dogs, on the other hand have spent thousands of years in the company of humans and have learned that we communicate mainly by voice. They therefore have no problem expressing themselves with a bark, a while or even a howl if the mood takes them.

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Reward training is considered by many dog training professionals as the most modern method of training a dog, but reward training is probably a lot older than other methods of dog training. It may be that reward training for dogs has been around as long as there have been dogs to train.

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It is believed that the early humans used some informal kind of reward training when taming the wolf pups that eventually evolved into modern dogs.

Reward training or positive dog training generally consists of keeping the attention on what the dog is doing right, is usually recognized as not only the most effective method, and as a method that a positive experience for the dog, but also the most modern method of training a dog, but reward training probably is likely older than the other dog training methods, and probably goes way back thousands of years.

It is quite conceivable that reward training for dogs has been around as long humans have interacted with dogs.

The earliest known domestic dogs go back to the domestication of abandoned wolf puppies the early humans took in from the gray wolf several tens of thousands of years ago. These early domesticated dogs were trained to do task for humans that included acting as a guard animal, or to herd animals.

Early humans probably used some kind of reward training when they started taming the wolf pups that would eventually evolve into modern dogs.

This unique connection existing between dog and man continues up to today. Dogs now usually perform many tasks for their owners, like herding, guarding, hunting, and rescue work or special assistance.

Many advocates of reward training are far less enthusiastic about other methods of dog training, such as those that involve the use of the traditional leash and dog collar training method.

However, as far as many other experts are concerned, the best way to train any individual dog is usually a combination of leash/collar training and reward training.

Something that complicates thing a bit is that a training method that works well for one dog may be totally not be appropriate for another dog.

Some dogs will only respond well when it comes to reward training but not very well with dog leash training or even dog collar training. It the same time there are other dogs that can respond to leash/collar training but may not be motivated by reward training.

It is believed that most dogs will tend to fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.

Clicker training is considered to be one of the most popular forms of reward training used today. While clicker training may not be the correct form of training for every dog, it can be a really effective method of training many dogs.

How clicker training works by teaching the dog to associate a clicking sound with a reward, like a treat.

You can actually teach your dog the learn without any physical compulsion or correcting at all. The clicker is just a toy-like device used in the initial stages of dog draining.

The trainer clicks the clicker when the dog does something good, and is followed immediately by a treat. Over time, the dog will soon learn to respond to the clicker alone.

Positive reinforcement using treats and unlimited praise is the all important key to proper dog training, whether it is with reward training, or dog leash or dog collar training, because it is effective at getting your dog’s respect and attention.

Both you and your dog will benefit, since in time you will have a faithful companion you can be proud of.

J. Mahoney is the owner of Dog Trainers Ideas.com. Just feel free to visit http://www.dog-trainers-ideas.com , where you will find a resource providing you with advice on all aspects of dog training, house training and dog health. If you want to find more info on Reward or Dog Collar Training, visit http://budurl.com/rewardtraining2 .

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Is Reward Training or Dog Collar Training the Best Dog Training Method To Train Your Dog

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