Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART FOUR

by Dino Dogan

Time for a review. Put on your spectacles, here we go.

While I have pulled my information from many sources -dog training, human evolution and neurosciences, dog and human psychology, Buddhism, and the list goes on- I should add that I am unaware of any books, DVDs, etc that have explored this subject from as many angles as I intend to.

I believe that both dog trainers and dog owners will find valuable information in these pages not found anywhere else.

I want to thank you for your attention, patience and criticism while I present my ideas and hope we all learn a lot in the process.

In part one; I've laid out the bird’s eye view of the thesis, which can be summarized in the following.

There has never been more information on human-dog relationships, usually expressed in the form of dog training books, DVDs, TV show, etc.

Conversely, the human-dog relationship has never been in worse shape. Why?

We will explore exactly that in these pages.

I have laid out the issues –as I see them- in a three branched problem tree.

First branch related to dog owners receiving partial information from dog professionals. This is not an accusation, but rather a study in the game of telephones.

Second branch related to the fact that our biology is ill-suited for modern life style. We will explore these issues in later articles.

The third branch of the problem tree is related to human nature, preconceived notions and sub-standard mind-set as dog-owners “enter” the training session. We will explore these issues in later articles.

In part two, we talked about the importance of spending actual time with your dog (companionship). Its one of 4 things that is crucial to dog trainers being successful at what they do. At the same time, its one piece of the puzzle missing from most dog/dog-owner relationships.

Why is this important?

I maintain that the extent of your (dog owner’s) success will depend directly on the extent to which a dog owner is able to replicate these invisible attributes possessed by dog trainers.

In Part three (we are still in the first branch of the problem tree) we talked about the issue of indoctrination. Having a firm belief in one “style” of dog training can be very detrimental to dog trainers. But more importantly, it can be detrimental to dogs and dog owners.

In part four we are taking some time to review, however in part five we will talk about “detachment”.

Dog professionals are detached from the process of dog training. This may sound like a bad thing or even an accusation, but as you will see, nothing could be farther from the truth.

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Dino Dogan is a blogger, writer, biker, dog trainer, singer/songwriter, Martial Artist. Dino is now busy with his DIY Blogger Net blog. He is also behind the great social media tool, Triberr. Hopefully one day he'll return to dog blogging. Meanwhile, you can connect with Dino on Twitter or Facebook.

Related articles:
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART ONE
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART TWO
Human-Dog Problem Tree - PART THREE