Where problem dogs are no problem

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Training versus management

There is more to dog training than obedience training.  There is also a part that is known as management.  Any one who has raised children is familiar with this although it seems very few people know that we need to use this with our dogs, too.  Right now I have a dog in my kennel, Koda, who was surrendered because he growled at his sister after dinner.  The whole rest of the day the got along.  These people did not believe in obedience training.  They apparently did not believe in crate training either.  This is a management problem and I see it as an easy fix.  I have a newfie puppy who likes to cause trouble.  She is also my best trained dog and does obedience competition.  When she is causing trouble, I tell her "Crate" and she gets in her crate for a time out.  This would work for Koda, too.  We recently had Emma spayed and this upset the pack order and Emma and one of her sisters started fighting.  This called for management, not training.  A week later and the girls are no longer fighting.  Once in a while, they need to be reminded who is really in charge here.