I want to write more about living with dogs, about training them, about their stories.  I am not  a trainer, I am not a vet. I have no idea what dog food or tick medicine you might use. But I am fascinated with the training I do with my dogs, and with what I have learned about communicating with them. I want to share it.

Red has been with us for nearly two months, and he is completely acclimated to our home, our lives, the other dogs. Frieda has become easy around the dogs, our home, even visitors. Lenore is a nearly perfect dog, I think, she can go anywhere be with anyone. I am proud of them, I work hard with them. We have a lot of work to do. It will never stop.

I see I have learned a lot, I see what works and what doesn’t. I do not believe in pack theory training or any of the rigid dogmatic theories of training. I am not the pack leader. I would not make a good dog.  I see my dogs as partners, myself as a teacher showing them how to live in the unnatural human world.

I am as positive as I can be, given my sometimes impatient nature. But training varies constantly depending on personal circumstance and changing conditions. Dogs on farms cannot be trained like dogs in downtown Cleveland. I am not positive when Red runs sheep into me, or Lenore wanders into the road.  I believe dogs understand human moods, and handle them, so long as their people are not abusive, angry and inconsistent. I always choose working dogs from good breeders, and sometimes rescue dogs – Izzy and Frieda, Orson – enter my life.

I know that dogs love routine. They love doing the same thing every day.

I believe dogs ought be given a chance to succeed – to do the right thing and be praised for it. Real training with dogs asks us to be better humans – to be patient, consistent clear. I believe it takes roughly 2,000 repetitions before a dog truly grasps a behavior. Few people are that patient, which is why so many dogs are poorly trained, partially trained, or not trained at all. People want quick and easy answers, lessons in a few hours, books with all the answers.

I know that dogs are animals, not people. They do not think like us, they are not like us. That is the foundation for every good thing I have learned about living with them. Dogs that get food, attention, shelter and exercise settle. Dogs are adaptable, and given the opportunity, they sort out problems with one another without human interference.

I believe our ideas about abuse and mistreatment are substantially exaggerated and overstated. In general, dogs in America are the best treated animals on the earth. I see that many people need to see their dogs as abused because it enables them to avoid proper training and excuse bad behavior,  or because it makes them feel better about themselves. I believe that can be a form of exploitation, the use of animals to meet our needs rather than theirs. Dogs who live with people are asked to abandon almost all natural forms of dog behavior, and this is difficult for them. We owe it to them to show them  how to live in our world safely.

It is very difficult to train or correct a creature one sees as piteous and dependent. Even if I suspect abuse, I move beyond it. I do not label them as abused, or train them any differently than other dogs. It doesn’t matter to me.  Dogs are adaptable. They rise to our needs and expectations. It is their nature, and they have little choice.

I believe it is impossible to train a dog property if we emotionalize or anthropomorphize them. Dogs ought not be treated as children any more than children ought to be treated like dogs, not if people want to train them.

For me, training cannot be understood from expensive training books, or be learned by watching heavily-produced televison entertainers. They do things most of us cannot do, in environments most of us do not live in.

Training is personal, individual, spiritual. It goes on every day, all the time. We are aliens to them, we speak in alien language. Training is our common language, commands, instructions and experiences the way we can truly communicate with them. This is the way they communicate with us, learn to live in our world. Or not.  I love dogs, I love working with them. I am committed to giving them what they need, showing them what I need them to do, letting them make whatever judgements and decisions they can. I want to share what I know.