subject: When It Comes To Training Dogs [print this page] Would you believe a dog psychologist who once prescribed a box turtle to fulfill a poodle's maternal instincts. When it comes to his profession, he takes it seriously and so he wrote a book entitled understanding your dog. From this doctor who is not only an associate professor of psychology at local university but an associate director for research at the local zoo as well is an explanation in his book of how animals are individuals too. He is rather honest in expressing himself even if people do imagine a lot of things.
One young couple, as he mentioned, owned a dog but the dog refused to allow the husband to enter the bedroom. When they fought, the couple's dachshund had a catatonic fit and this was mentioned in his book. Similar to that of humans is the body language of dogs and he says that they develop like young children. In terms of tolerating closeness, he said that dogs like humans possess different abilities.
Considering how dogs usually develop through several stages, the doctor points out that getting a puppy is best done when it is between six and eight weeks old. Unless a puppy has been raised with a lot of people around then getting one puppy older than 10 weeks is not advised. It is necessary to see how well it interacts with other puppies before you buy a dog. The most outgoing one can easily be the most aggressive so watch out.
Considering taking along an old scarf or a glove and see if he will play a game of tug of war after investigating it. He says there is no point in discipline training for a puppy at five or six weeks, because he won't remember it, but he says that's a good time for tender, loving care and seeing that the puppy has a lot of different experiences so his environment will be enriched.
He mentions how there is a sensitive fear period at eight weeks wherein owners should avoid any traumatic situations for their puppy including a visit to the doctor. It will take 12 weeks before the dog will be emotionally bonded to his owner and this is when discipline training will not break his spirit or attachment. For different people, this doctor who holds a veterinary degree and a doctorate in psychology from a London university has a number of varying suggestions for dog breeds to consider.
If a family has children in the house then their best bet would be a golden retriever, when it comes to a young couple terriers work best, a schnauzer, a Yorkshire terrier, or a poodle will be great for apartment couples, and older couples will find a Yorkshire terrier, pekingese, or pug amazing. But, he says, you used to be able to tell the temperament of a dog from the breed, now you can't. That's because there is less quality in breeding which is rather tragic.
There are dog breeders who make a joint effort in changing the standards of breed and he calls them cranks. He says that a person who is unaware of the results should not attempt to make changes to standards. The need for mandatory testing is being emphasized nowadays in terms of prize dogs before any of them are named the best in the breed. In this case, you would know that the winner was no frankenstein.
