Tips From A Pro

Rachel Brix has these thoughts on training your dog. • Not only is punishment inhumane, it’s unnecessary, so why do it? • Dogs are not pack animals. The real problem is the injection of this faulty idea into our training methods with our dogs. • Ask any potential trainer what happens to my dog if she or he does something I don’t like? That will let you know what kind of training you’re getting yourself into. That is singularly the most important question, in my opinion. • You absolutely don’t need to hurt or instill fear into your dog to train her. • We also still tend to think we need to pass through an open door before our dog does. Why? • It’s silly to think we need to control our dogs when what we need to do is live harmoniously with another species. If you’re not having fun with your dog, what’s the point? Who wants to be in a constant power struggle? How exhausting and how unfun. • Most dogs aren’t thrilled about big crowds and loud people and children running around. So my first advice would be to know your dog. If your dog doesn’t like crowds, don’t make him walk in the parade or go to the Fourth of July picnic. Leave him at home or somewhere else safe. • Make it a point to learn something about canine body language. Shaking off, lip licking, head turning are very common stress signals dogs give off to let us know they’re uncomfortable. • If you see your dog’s stress level escalating, remove her from the situation or change the environment for her. • The No. 1 provocation for bites is people reaching out to pet. Dogs usually flinch; this is normal because they don’t like it. We should always — always — allow dogs to approach us on their own terms. If they don’t, they don’t want our attention, and we shouldn’t force it on them. • If you’re a dog, it’s much more fun to play tug with your human than to sit there and chew on the rope by yourself. • The power of play cannot be overstated.