The ins and outs of dog obedience training
Dog lovers are found anywhere around the world. Since the ancient times until the modern age and from the most primitive lifestyle to the most elite and well known personalities, dogs remarkably found its way as one of the most well loved animal in the world. From the naughty little pup kids used to play with, dogs aren't good as household pets alone. They play different roles and serve different purposes to a lot of people.
Dogs usually serve as watch dogs and guard dogs to protect and alert their owner for any sign of danger or a presence of an intruder. While watch dogs would just normally bark to scare the intruder, guard dogs are trained to do more. They are trained to attack and drive away intruders that's, why size and strength matters most in choosing a potential guard dog. We are as well aware of dogs working to detect explosives and illegal drugs. Using its senses, detection dogs are trained to do that. They are often times deployed in airports or other crime scenes to search for signs and scents to prove the existence of illegal substances.
Dogs have been widely used as assistance dogs for centuries now. To blind people or those who are visually impaired, traveling isn't a problem anymore. Guide dogs or Seeing Eye dogs are trained to lead them around obstacles. There is also what we call hearing dogs or signal dogs specifically trained to assist people who are deaf or with hearing impairment. They work by alerting their handler to important sounds such as doorbells, smoke alarms, sirens, alarm clocks and others.
Service dog is another term for dogs trained to serve people with disabilities other than those with visual or hearing impairment. These services include psychiatric service dogs (assist people with psychiatric disability); mobility assistance dog (assist physically disabled person) and medical response dogs (assist people with medical disability).
Dogs don't just assist disable! They help find missing people too. They are known as search and rescue dogs. St. Bernard, the Newfoundland and the Bernese Mountain Dog are some of the breeds ideal for this purpose. Humans trapped in snow or those who have fallen off boats are often times retrieved by these dogs.
Even in television shows and silver screens, dogs stole the spotlight being the number one most featured animal. Nobody forgets the hilarious Scooby-Doo and friends in its mystery-solving escapades that usually involves encounter with ghosts and other natural forces. Or Odie, whose role is simply to be abused by Garfield. They are just dogs! But look, they manage to climb the ladder of fame in entertainment industry. There must be something in these dogs that made people love them.
Yes! People love them that they even consider their dog as member of the family, giving them attention and care the way they would normally do to their very own children or other family member. One can say that it is not just a typical dog-owner relationship but a lasting friendship built out of patience and understanding and doing things together.
The list of how could possibly are dogs be of service to people goes on and on. Different breeds of dogs are trained to do different things that are sometimes beyond our expectation. From the hunting dogs they once were, to police dogs therapy dogs, war dogs and show dogs, nobody can tell when and how the dogs use and popularity will end. Their importance to human grows deeper, without us realizing sometimes.
Educated dogs, as some may call it are the type of dogs most people would love to have. An educated dog has good manners, understands his boundaries and knows what is expected of him. He has few or no anxieties. He will also allow you to handle every part of his body, whether to check and treat an injury or illness, or to just affectionately touch him. He can as well stay near you, will walk or run beside you on a leash without pulling or dragging and understands and follows every command you are giving him. He will immediately sit or stay because you say so.
But dogs don't naturally develop as fine dogs on their own. Various training is done in order for them to behave and act as expected and to be of use to people. There are lots of training methods and supplies to choose from that will surely bring positive result once applied properly. It is the owner or the trainer's responsibility to choose what type of training to that type or breed of dog. What's important is, the one who will handle the dog's training is well-equipped with knowledge and ideas and he really knows his stuff. Training a dog can be very easy but can also be as frustrating as it seems, so it is better to brace yourself for what ever things that may yet to come.
Dr. Alfonso
