Cesar, Help Me, My Dog is Eating the Couch!!!

Now that I have your attention, here are some notes on Training your Rottweiler:

Well, first of all, this is a touchy subject, mostly because people are sometimes sensitive and defensive about the training methods they use on their pup or adult dog. You know, they only use the clicker and if you use something different on  your dog, god forbid, you are an idiot. Stuff like that. Now, I’m not saying clicker training sucks, but it’s not for everybody. What I am saying is that ultimately, you are the one who is responsible for training your dog. Not the girl at Petsmart, or the guy who claims that you need to pay him 600 bucks for the privelege of watching him heel your dog in a circle in your back yard.

Do you want to know the best way to train your dog? Well, first, hang out with other people who own dogs and who have trained their dogs in obedience. Watch what they do. Ask questions. See what works for your dog before you embark on some gimmick or fad.You can either join a local obedience club or just hang out with friends. Audit a dog training class and see if it’s what you want before you shell out the dough. You get the idea.

You should also read books and watch videos. Lots of them. YouTube is filled with dog training vids. Just watch how handlers handle dogs. You will learn a lot just from watching that.Go to the bookstore and start reading a dog training book. If it inspires you to train your dog, maybe buy it and read all of it, using what you can. Read different books by different authors, so you develop a solid
overview on the subject.

Go with your dog to visit an obedience or agility event in your area. Again, watch what is going on with the dogs and handlers. Don’t just stand around and socialize with the people. Watch and listen and you will learn more in an hour than you would have by paying some schmuck 200 bucks to tell you that your dog is passive-aggressive and needs Prozac.

Remember, dogs are dogs, not humans. Please keep that in mind when you train your dog. If you cannot get the distinction between humans and dogs, you cannot train dogs, period.

Most of all, be patient. I know most people expect a dog to train itself, much less by them, the handler. The truth is, it takes months and years to fully train a dog to a high level and the training never, ever stops. So, please, be patient and do plenty of repetitions, or else you will hang your dog up on an exercise by not doing it until he or she really gets it.

My next post will give you a few actual, specific training tips. Hope it helps!!

Bob

ps thanks to Jennifer in Jersey for bugging me to write this post!

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