Natural Dog Training

Hi Friends!

I will spare myself the utter humiliation of revealing to you what I look like when I'm "asking my birds Dudley and Sing-Sing to exercise."  You see, I begin to "flap my wings -- or arms rather" in an effort to reach inside for my "inner bird."  All joking aside, I'm a firm believer in accepting others for who they truly are as this is what true, unconditional love is all about.  Since I'm very relationship-oriented always seeking to bring the best out of anyone I come into contact, the principles and values inherit in natural animal training has always been very appealing.  So, today, I will discuss what Natural Dog Training is and the benefits.

Natural Dog Training is simply based on what is most natural about the dog, its wildest essence, is good, and that dogs are social by nature.  Even with the most troubling ‘problem behaviors’, nothing is “broken” and so nothing needs to be “fixed”. This is because dogs perceive the world and respond to it according to its laws, rather than according to human reason.

By appealing to this part of a dog’s mind and centering our training models around this idea, a dog’s cooperative and loving nature can become the most pronounced aspect of its character. While one may come to Natural Dog Training with questions about behavior, or help with obedience, Natural Dog Training’s methods are successful because it is all about working with this aspect, – with your dog’s energy, rather than fighting against it.

The difference in Natural Dog Training is the recognition that energy itself is a form of information: not only does it animate a dog, but it actually informs him how to behave. This means that a dog already knows how to heel, sit, down, stay, come when called, – no matter what! Our actual job in training then, is not to teach him these things, but simply to elicit them and create situations where he can naturally express them. The Natural Dog Training difference is the goal for our pets to feel good when they are expressing these commands.  Finally, NDT contends that the alpha doesn’t teach wolves or dogs to be ‘obedient’, or even to hunt,- they automatically know how to do it because the properties of energy are always informing the dog how to behave, but also because of exposure in a supportive environment.

So, Natural Dog Training simply put, is the art of learning how dogs naturally behave with one another in order to communicate with the dog in its own language.  It takes a special person to fully understand and apply this concept as it requires putting aside human emotions and putting the needs of the animal first.  Many people try to get their dogs to understand human communication so they can continue to act human and communicate human towards the dog. Dogs are less complicated than humans and while it is difficult and sometimes impossible to make a dog understand human, humans can learn the language of the dog if they open their minds to the idea. You must work with the natural instincts of the animal, not against them.

Some of the best horse trainers and owners are those that apply natural horsemanship; they learn how horses communicate towards one another and use the horses’ language to speak to them. Each animal is unique in its own way. For example, horses are flight animals, meaning they have a strong instinct to run when they are afraid of something or their life is at stake. Dogs are fight animals, meaning they have an instinct to fight as their natural defense mechanism. Just knowing this small fact about these two animals should tell you that the way you handle a horse would be different than the way you handle a dog.

This is what we have to recreate with our dog: an emotional group climate which our dogs intuitively synchronizes his actions to, in order to be in harmony with his group. Because dogs are so closely bonded with the human species, most humans forget, or never even think about, their natural instincts. Some even take it as far as seeing those who do speak dog to the dog as cruel. Dogs have a natural instinct to want structure, rules and boundaries. They want to know where they stand among their pack and believe it or not, they want to know the rules and they need consistency with those rules. There are those who believe it is cruel to use natural dogmanship with a dog, but it is actually more cruel to assume your dog is human, overlooking its natural wants and needs.  Any dog that misbehaves is missing something in its life. A dog's temperament is a direct result of the owner’s ability to understand him and give him what he instinctively needs as a canine animal.  It's NEVER too late to turn a dog’s behavior around.

If you would like to learn more and I can be of any assistance in any way, please contact me anytime.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Paul

Paul F. Flotron

Creature Comforts Great & Small, LLC

"Giving your creatures the comfort they deserve"

www.CreatureComfortsGreatnSmall.com

314-200-8561

Cell:  314-775-7107