I heard a well known trainer say that the hardest thing for many owners to do is to stop putting their dogs into situations where they react inappropriately. Her recommendation that they find alternatives to the ways they are currently managing their pets routinely goes unheeded.
In some cases a certain level of management may always be required to keep our dogs and others around them safe. It’s a bitter pill to swallow at first, not only might it not be how we’re used to dealing with our dogs but it can also impact our lives in ways we hadn’t planned on, nor enjoy. I try to look at it this way-
If I wanted someone to learn to play a piece of music, it wouldn’t make any sense for me to give them the score with errors in it. After they’d learned the piece, errors and all, I’d have to send them back to learn it correctly. What a waste of time and chances are the originally learned mistakes would surface one time or another.
Would I expect them to enjoy learning the piece in front of a crowd, or with me standing over them shouting whenever they made a mistake?
Like a puppy that must be limited access to the oriental rug on the floor, the hope is that one day the rug will be safe and puppy will have the freedom to be wherever he wants to be in a home. But until that time, my failure to manage my dog can cost us both prices it would be better not to pay.
