I don't suppose you are aware of this, but a certain London University recently conducted a poll to discover how many groups of dogs there are, and which groups really needed training. The survey cost over ?7,000. Would you like to know what the results were. These were the groups that needed training.



Wild Dogs

Guard Dogs

Guide Dogs

Domestic Pet Dogs.

Wow, and you know what. Apart from wild dogs ,which included foxes and wolves. all groups would benefit from proper training. That's not much of a revelation is it. So my view was, 'What a waste of tax-payers money to tell us the obvious.'

Now, I've just returned from a quick trip stateside, but while in New York ,what a wonderful place. I spent a happy couple of hours wandering around Central Park.

Well, I don't know whether it is the Park Police, the average New Yorker's pride, or the hefty fines that can get slapped on you, but I didn't see any poop lying around, and children and dogs played quite happily side by side with no screams from the dogs either.

The point is, if dogs are properly trained, a whole new experience can be gained by both dogs and owners alike. Forgetting guard dogs and guide dogs, who get trained to work, unless you train a domestic pet dog, how does it know what is expected of it.

It is perfectly natural for a dog to chew, bark, scratch, poop, and run around. So when it gets bawled at by its owner for doing what comes naturally to it, the result is, one neurotic dog, who behaves even more erratically. The same thing could be said for young children, and when you see screaming tantrums in shops with kids hurling themselves on the floor in anger, why is this. It's because they haven't been trained in the basics. Exactly the same goes for dogs.

Only with dogs, it can get worse. They can attack people, bite, and generally cause nuisances to themselves as well as the general public.

So, how do you avoid your dog declining into such a mental state.

Simple, you make sure its is properly trained.

But it doesn't stop there. There's no point getting your dog trained, if you don't get involved yourself. Getting your dog trained is a two way street. Nowadays too many dog owners are sending their animals off for training, thinking that's it. Like, sending the laundry out. They get back a fully trained, well mannered citizen who is a pleasure to be around. But what then. They don't know how to handle the dog so the well mannered dog is then confronted with a whole new set of commands to live with. Result, one very confused dog.

Training a dog is an important decision for both you and the dog, and unless you accept that, not only are you wasting your time and money, you will achieve nothing, nada, zilch.

So what do you do.

If you can possibly avoid it, don't try the so-called easy way out, by sending the dog off to be trained.

No, unless you, the dog's main 'master' is aware what training the dog has had, what commands they respond to and how to give them, you are lost. You must be willing to work along the lines the specialist has recommended, in order to achieve that wonderful experience, where your dog knows, probably before you do, what is expected of him. It's consistency that brings results so unless you carry on with the dog exactly as the trainer did you are wasting your money. It's as important, if not more important, to train the owner as well as the dog.

Try training the dog yourself. Get a book, go to puppy classes and try the experience out for yourself. It can be great fun and a learning experience for you both.

With a well trained dog, and an understanding and well trained owner, all of a sudden, life takes on a new dimension. The mental state of both of you is immediately more relaxed, more fulfilled and straight away, taking your dog for a walk becomes that perfect blend of healthy exercise, understanding, and a time to be at peace with the world.

Remember. There is no such thing as a bad dog, there's only a bad owner.