Inside of a Dog_ What Dogs See, Smell, and Know - Alexandra Horowitz [116]
TRAIN THOUGHTFULLY
Teach your dog the things you want in a way he can understand: be clear (about what you want him to do), consistent (in what you ask and how you ask it), and tell him when he has got it right (reward him straightaway and often). Good training comes from understanding the mind of a dog—what he perceives and what motivates him.
Avoid the missteps common to those who have the classic idea of what a dog should do: sit, stay, obey. Your dog is not born knowing what you mean by come here. You must teach it explicitly, in small steps, and reward him when he actually comes. Dogs are attuned to tiny cues from you, cues that may be the same when you call come as when you say go away!: a tone of voice, a body posture. It is up to you to make your request specific and distinctive.
Training can take a long time; be patient. When even a "trained" dog does not come to calling, too often people chase him down and then punish him—forgetting that from the dog's point of view, the punishment is linked with your arrival, not his earlier disobedience. This is a quick, effective way to get him to never come when you call him.
When come here has been learned, a good argument can be made that there is little else by way of commands that an ordinary dog needs to know. Teach them more if you both enjoy it. What a dog most needs to learn is the importance of you—and that is something he is born to see. A dog who cannot "shake hands" on command is just a little more doggy. Make clear what behaviors you dislike and be consistent in not reinforcing them. Few celebrate a dog who jumps at people as they
approach—but start with the premise that it is we who keep ourselves (and our faces) unbearably far away, and we can come to a mutual understanding.
ALLOW FOR HIS DOGNESS
Let him roll in whatever-that-thing-is once in a while. Endure some traipsing through mud puddles. Walk off-leash when you can. When you cannot walk off-leash, do not yank him along by his neck, ever. Learn to distinguish a nip from a bite. Let approaching dogs smell each other's rumps.
CONSIDER THE SOURCE
Why does he do that? I am asked almost daily. Many times my only answer can be that not every behavior a dog does has an explanation. Sometimes when a dog suddenly flops on the ground and looks at you, he is just lying down and looking—and nothing more. Not every behavior signifies something. Those that do mean something should be explained by taking into consideration the natural history of your dog—as an animal, as a canid, and as a particular breed.
Breed matters: A dog that stares down invisible prey or slowly stalks other dogs may be presenting very good "eye" behavior for a herder. So too with the dog who is aggrieved when one person leaves the room or who nips at everyone's heels as they wander down the hallway. Freezing at movement in the bushes slows down your walk, but it is very good pointing behavior. A bred dog with no task may be agitated, restive, keyed up: a drifter, not clearly driven to any activity. Give him some. This is the great science behind "tossing a ball": a retriever is made happy just to do it, over and over. He is fulfilling his capability. On the other hand, if your dog has a short nose and has trouble breathing, don't assume he can run with you. That same dog, with his near, central vision, may not care for the game fetch, while a retriever with a wide visual streak may care only for it. Give your dog a context to play out his innate tendencies—and indulge him a little staring at the bushes now and then.
Animalness matters: adapt to your dog's capacities rather than simply expecting him to adapt to our strange notions of how to be a dog. We want our dogs to heel—I have seen people turn furious