Why Do Dog Trainers Exist?
Why do dog trainers exist?
Have you ever thought about that?
Apart from the ‘obvious’ reason: Training a dog to perform certain skills and helping dogs and humans live harmoniously together - as you will hear from most trainers.
Wikipedia defines dog training as:
“Dog training is the act of teaching a dog particular skills or behaviors. Dog training includes teaching a dog to react to particular commands and cues as well as to act independently by deliberately changing their natural behavior.”
I don’t know about you - but I have a problem with that last sentence, “by deliberately changing their natural behavior.”. This is why I have become a Certified Family Dog Mediator and refer to myself as such, rather than a ‘trainer’
According to Wikipedia:
“Dog training is the application of behavior analysis which uses the environmental events of antecedents (trigger for a behavior) and consequences to modify the dog behavior, either for it to assist in specific activities or undertake particular tasks, or for it to participate effectively in contemporary domestic life. While training dogs for specific roles dates back to Roman times at least, the training of dogs to be compatible household pets developed with suburbanization in the 1950s.”
The problem with dog ‘training’
Yes, educated dog trainers and behavior consultants will use behavior analysis to try to change a dog’s behavior. It has become the ‘thing we do’ - without giving it much thought or even contemplating WHY we are doing it - or, indeed, IF we should do it in the first place.
We have become so ‘blind’, if you will, to what is actually taking place. We are told it is our ‘job’ to change and modify a dog’s behavior so he or she may become the perfect ‘pet’ who will be a great companion to our human clients. This is what they expect and why they call a dog trainer in the first place.
Dogs are family and so we expect and want them to be pets we can take with us everywhere as we assume that dogs will love going wherever we go - just as they will love meeting new people, other dogs, and be petted by strangers. We also expect and want them to be ok with being indoors all day because we spend the majority of our time indoors.
We basically expect and want a dog who will conform to being a ‘cuddle bug’, understand that when we don’t have time or are not in the mood, they should lie down and be quiet while we get to do what WE want.
The DOG Truth
Dog trainers exist, in my opinion, because we humans have failed to understand WHO the dog we have chosen to share our life with really is and what his needs are. Because of our failure to understand and to meet those needs, we have seen an explosion of dog behavior related problems in the last many decades.
Those of us trainers, behavior consultants, veterinarians, etc who have seen the TRUTH - and so far we are close to 600 - have invested in, not only our own future, but in the dogs’, in YOURS - to become Certified Family Dog Mediators to help people understand that the REAL problem is not our dogs’ behavior - but essentially ours, the human kind.
Once you get an understanding of WHO your dog really is, WHY she does what she does, you realize that what we really need to change is NOT THE DOG but the environment in which the dog lives with his human family. This includes the relationships he has with each family member, how we communicate with him, and not least our oftentimes unrealistic expectations of how the dog should behave in different contexts. This is the key to resolving your dog’s behavior ‘problems’.
Family Dog Mediators have that knowledge and skills - to help YOU & YOUR DOG navigate life in a new, enlightened way. We focus on changing the environment - the literal and the social - we help you communicate better, understand and know your dog better, and ultimately realize that what you thought needed ‘obedience training’ needs something entirely different that goes ‘beyond dog training’.
Find out more about Family Dog Mediation here or browse around on my website while you are here.