When NOT to Punish Your Dog

There are, wrong as it may sound, times when your dog doesn't do exactly what you want him to do and you should reward him even though every cell in your body is screaming at you to give him a scolding, put him in the other room and ignore him for awhile. There are situations, though, when that's completely counter productive.

One of those situations is when your dog ignores you the first one hundred and thirtyseven times you call him to come to you. After you holler his name that one hundred and thirty-eighth time and he decides, after giving you a long look and making a feint as if he's going to dart off in the opposite direction or stick his head back down that unauthorized excavation he's been working on, to saunter your way as if it had just registered in his brain that you were calling and you meant him, not some other dog with the same name.

Suck it up. Your first mistake was to keep on calling rather than stopping and figuring out a way to get him to do what you want without reinforcing the notion that's dawning on him that he doesn't always have to mind. When he does come you have to give him the Good Dog Treatment, even though he doesn't deserve it.

You have to stick with the program that coming to you when you call is going to have pleasant results. If you scold him or give him any other sort of negative enforcement you've given him a good reason NOT to come when you call. You've taught him to ignore you -- or at least handed him the perfect excuse.

What you will have to do is some re-training on his recall, most likely changing the command you use since he's figured out that he doesn't have to come the first time on the old one. You might be able to stick with the old command if you up the ante on the reward, but go back to the beginning, on lead, and be patient.

It may even take longer to re-train a solid recall than it took initially, now that your dog's figured out it's not the end of the world if he doesn't drop what he's got going on and come like the wind as soon as he hears you calling.

Growling is another one of those circumstances when your knee-jerk reaction is to scold your dog, but hold off on that. A growl is your dog's communication to you that he's uncomfortable with something and wants it to stop. Really, really wants it to stop. Don't take that option for communication away from him. Better he tells you he's not liking something and feels confident in your understanding than for him to endure whatever it is until he's pushed past his breaking point -- and someone gets bitten, whether it's you, someone else or another dog.

Respect your dog's boundaries. It's one thing to work with your dog to enlarge or even remove those boundaries, especially when they are rooted in fear, but never disregard them. They are real and to be reckoned with, gently and patiently, by desensitizing and building your dog's trust in you and his confidence in himself.

Beware of trainers who tell you they can break your dog of his fears quickly and easily; the most typical method for a quick -- and unsustainable fix is commonly referred to as flooding and involves forcing your dog into the very thing he's most afraid of; it rarely ends well in the long run, although it's impressive and splashy and dramatic right away. All it's done is deepened your dog's fear and taken away his early warning system. That's a terrible dilemma to put your dog into, not to mention an egregious breach of trust to allow it to happen.

Provided by Nathan Tanner of www.pet-super-store.com: where you can find great deals on dog tracking collars such as the garmin astro combo.