Discipline
Remember the rule for education in this order:
Exercise - Discipline - Affection
In Education 1 I started with the exercise and now I talk about the Discipline. Very important it is to practise Discipline in a dogs daily life.
Discipline means setting limitations and boundaries by the Pack Leader (dog owner). Important with practising Discipline is staying calm assertive and patient.
Patience is the key to successful dog psychology and training.
Remember:
Discipline doesn't mean punishment, it only means being calm assertive and guiding.
When you discipline you have to make sure at the same time not to loose your packs trust.
Lets start with an example:
You open a door (any door) and you walk through the door first, no matter what.
The Pack Leader does everything first, eating, walking and just everything, and only after him the pack is allowed to do the same, when he tells his pack.
Over several years I learned by observing the behaviour of dog packs, especially the communication between the bitch and her litter. The bitch starts educating her puppies right after they open their eyes at 4 weeks.
There is no yelling, spanking, beating and shouting involved when dogs are educating or disciplining eachother. There is only a quick correction, a touch, a look, a grunt and that is all it needs.
If you watch a pack of wild dogs, ie wolves, you can clearly see the communication between the pack leader and the pack. There is no loud language, just low volume grunts and talks, calm assertive and submissive behaviour and energy.
We humans can learn from that. As soon as we can understand the inter- communication of dogs, we are a step closer to educate our dog.
The humans tend to punish, the dog world doesn't know punishment.
There is correction but no punishment. The correction takes place immediately and is just a reaction. The correction is always a touch or a grunt.
By correcting the pack, the pack leader (dog owner) receives the ultimate respect from his pack. When the respect is achieved, the dog owner can start with obedience training and only then.
After the correction is done, there is peace between the dogs and there is never any aggression following.
Domesticated dogs who are acting like that, are well socialized.
If there is aggression appearing amongst dogs, it is usually the result of human influence.
What have you learned so far:
Always stay calm assertive, set your limitations and boundaries, correct immediately and never punish your dog, only award it when it has done right.
Stay with me and learn in the next issue about Affection.
Remember education works in this order:
Exercise - Discipline - Affection
If you want help, call me on +34 626 165 567 for advice
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Remember only calm and submissive dogs are obedient and happy dogs !!!
Thank you for reading,
Sabina Farnhill, Canine Coaching
Dog Training on the Costa Blanca from Calpe, Benissa to Javea
