Joyce Stranger
Freelance Writer specialising in Dog Subjects
Member of the United Kingdom Registry of Canine Behaviourists
Member of the Institute of Journalists & Society of Authors
Introduction - Dogs Galore
Read examples of training difficult dogs in Case Studies
Read about teaching dogs formal exercises in Situation Training
Want a new puppy? read all about Puppy Training
I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that I would become an agony aunt for dogs. Now much of my time is spent in just this way. I have had a free advice line, via the People and Dogs Society and for the past ten years I have had some twenty dogs a week, mostly for private lessons, as they have problems.
People are beginning to bring pups which is wonderful as you can’t see the problem coming and prevent it happening. It is usually due to human misjudgement. My career change began in 1960, though I did not realise it then. Life as a dog owner is so much easier if you understand the way dogs think. Most of us don’t. It is benefit to do so as then we can often prevent accidents happening.
I will never forget my first ever lesson in thinking like a dog. I had been asked to write an article on police dogs for a boys ' magazine. When I made enquiries about this, the instructor invited me to a first ever lesson for first time police dog handlers with their first dogs. I had expected to stand and watch and instead I was invited to join in. It was a bitterly cold January day and the ground was frozen hard. The dogs were all put in their vans. We were told to remove our gloves and get down on all fours. The frost bit hard. 'That is what your dogs feel,' the instructor said.
We were then asked to look around us. The instructor, who was six feet four inches tall, stood in front of me. He looked enormous from my position with my head just level with his knee. 'Imagine how we look to a tiny pup,' he said. 'Or to a very small dog.' He asked us to lie flat, so that our eyes were level with his ankles and then look up. The effect was even more disconcerting. Our dogs live in a world inhabited by giants, most of whom are remarkably noisy. We were in a public park. I did wonder what people thought of six men in uniform, and a small woman, all down on all fours in a row. We were in a world of legs. Fast moving legs, legs with large boots, legs on high heels. We had to lift our heads to see any higher. Also we could, through our by now very cold hands, feel the vibration in the ground as people thumped past.
Perspectives had changed too. We could no longer see over small bushes. We had no idea what was on the other side of the wall. It might be level ground It might be on the edge of a cliff with a huge drop to rocks beneath. Even more oddly, the white top of a hurdle seemed to have become part of a white house in the distance, so that both merged and looked as if the jump was miles high instead of only three feet. Everything looked different.
The instructor was holding a long leather lead. He whipped it down on the ground in front of me and shouted, so that I jumped. 'You stupid dog. What did you do that for? Haven't you any sense?' I stared at him, terrified, sure he had gone mad. A moment later he smiled and asked me what I had felt. I told him. The men were staring at him too. 'Anyone I catch doing that,' he said, 'will be back in traffic so fast that he wont know what's hit him.' Then he knelt beside me and stroked my back and told me what a wonderful dog I was and how pleased he was with me and that we'd be doing great things together in the future. By the end of the hour we all had a very good idea of the problems the dog might meet, that most people would not recognise as problems. Instead they would be baffled and think the dog stupid. In fact the poor animal had not understood what was wanted from him, or the human could see something the dog could not. At times the dog could see something the human could not. Like a bird in a bush on the ground, in sight if you were low down, out of sight otherwise.
That lesson, in 1960, though I did not know it then, was to start me on a new career. Though, in theory, I retired years ago, in fact I am now busier than ever. So many dogs seem to have problems either with people or with other dogs. I want people to have the kind of dog everyone wants to own. What is so fascinating is that with ingenuity and understanding of the reason for the problem, more than 98% of them do change into lovely companions. Every dog is different and every situation at home is different. What works for a dog in an isolated house in the country does not work for a dog living in a terraced town house with the front door opening straight on to the street. Many dogs suffer from mental neglect. We can teach them so much. That gives them an added dimension and prevents problems due to boredom. Everyone says the same after a couple of weeks of teaching the dog. 'He's so much calmer.' A new dimension has been added to a boring life, especially when they play the games that are a part of the training.
It is always exciting, as I never know what I am going to see when a new dog starts. It is wonderful to watch an out of hand hooligan change, over the weeks, into a sensible dog that the owners now enjoy instead of having very mixed feelings.
Read examples of training difficult dogs in Case Studies
Read about teaching dogs formal exercises in Situation Training
Want a new puppy? read all about Puppy Training
©Copyright 2007 Joyce Stranger
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