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Family Friendly Dog Training
FAMILY FRIENDLY DOG TRAINING
Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D. and Aimee Moore
Dog's Best Friend, Ltd. Black Earth
IT IS ALL ABOUT YOU!
WHO IS TRAINING WHOM? Given what you've read so far, you can see why "dog training" is as much about people as it is about dogs. And why not? Why should you know how to train dogs just because you love them? Should you be able to repair your car because you love cars? Not necessarily; you might love hot showers, but that doesn't mean you could fix a broken pipe. But you could learn. All great dog trainers start out by understanding that dog training is a science, a sport and a bit of an art. It's not rocket science, honest, it just takes a bit of knowledge and practice to get good at it.
With that in mind, this week focus on your own behavior as much as your dog's. A big parr of becoming a good dog trainer is learning that everything you do means something to your dog. Your actions, no matter how subtle, can either confuse him or help him understand what you want. Because of that, the more you practice moving in specific, precise ways (ones that often don't come naturally), the better behaved your dog will be. Work on establishing clear cues that you use consistently, and on eliminating extraneous 'sounds and actions from your repertoire. We'll emphasize this aspect of training in each exercise of this chapter, because it's so important. Always keep in mind that much of your dog's behavior happens in response to your behavior. Oh the power!
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Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D., is an adjunct assistant professor of zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. Her company, Dog's Best Friend Ltd., specializes in family dog training and treating aggression in dogs, and she is immensely popular as a speaker around the country. She is the co-host of Calling All Pets, an animal behavior advice show syndicated to one hundred public radio stations, and was the animal behaviorist on Animal Planet's Petline. She works daily with four dogs (three Border collies and a Great Pyrenees) on her sheep farm outside of Madison.
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