{"id":4496,"date":"2025-01-13T12:46:49","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T12:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/?page_id=4496"},"modified":"2025-12-28T19:22:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T00:22:18","slug":"training","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/index.php\/training\/","title":{"rendered":"Training"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Training<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Training dogs is a very personal activity.  As in parenting, we come to dog training with a default style that can be adapted, but is always there in the background &#8230;just like one&#8217;s mother tongue.  When we are not mindful (tired, agitated or distracted), we tend to slide into that style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On my worst days, when the the dogs act up in seeming unison, I feel like the prison captain in Cool Hand Luke. I have to catch myself, lest I utter his infamous words, or something like them. With as many dogs and pups as I sometimes have, it is easy to lose one&#8217;s cool. Apologizing afterwards does work. Dogs are more forgiving than most humans &#8230;but better to catch oneself before an apology is necessary.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Get Your Mind Right!\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fXRaR7ErjEA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some good books on dog training.  I don&#8217;t really have any favorites.  There are more bad books than good ones.  Good mentors are better than books and videos.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My advice to people is to be mindful of (attentive to) the situation. Focus on your dog and yourself (and how the dogs sees you). Take a step back and think about your approach, what is working and what is not, then try some of the devices and styles you might have read about or seen on a video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My training method for working skills is rapport-based. I first establish a rapport with a pup or dog, before we start training on sheep. The dog needs to know and trust me. I may try 8-week-old pups out on sheep, but I won&#8217;t begin training a pup until months later. We have to develop a rapport and the pup needs to mature before we begin serious training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Training a working dog is different from obedience training. Obedience training is all a variant of Pavlov&#8217;s Dog.  It is all reward and\/or punishment.  Training my dogs not to bark is a matter of getting their attention to what I am asking them not to do and choosing appropriate methods to express my approval or disapproval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Working stock is different.  I am collaborating with the dog using his\/her instinct.  Yes, I am directing the larger scope of the work.  The dog is managing the situation close up, watching and responding to the stock.  A dog without instinct or sense of sheep relying only on obedience commands is useless.  Working stock is a <em>pas de deux<\/em> between handler and dog.  Obedience is not enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Training Training dogs is a very personal activity. As in parenting, we come to dog training with a default style that can be adapted, but is always there in the background &#8230;just like one&#8217;s mother tongue. When we are not mindful (tired, agitated or distracted), we tend to slide into that style. On my worst<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/index.php\/training\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8220;Training&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4496","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4496"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8733,"href":"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4496\/revisions\/8733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderingpawsfarm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}