Zack Bartel

Unarguably, one of the greatest responsibilities in my life right now is taking care of my dog Reggie. He is a great dog I am very glad that I got him and he constantly makes me happy. I must say, however, that it is a lot of work raising a dog. I feel it is my responsibility to give him a happy life and provide him with everything he needs to be healthy from food, and environment to training and grooming. I really try hard to do my best to take care of Reggie and research as much as I believe I need to provide all of these things. But I must say that since I got Reggie I’ve noticed that it seems like everyone has an opinion on how dogs should be raised and are convinced that their way is the best. It is also astonishing how these views seem to directly contradict one another. A lot of these people don’t even own dogs! Well let me be the first one to come forward and say that although I have owned Reggie for about a year, I try and try but I still don’t know squat and I’m not going to pretend like I’m some expert.

I recall well a night at Chi Phi when my good friend Lisa and I were talking (and somewhat laughing) about this phenomenon. I had just adopted Reggie and I was knee deep in books, articles and conversations with people about how to properly raise and train dogs. We both noticed how it seemed like everyone who met Reggie for the first time had one of those quick tips about the “best” way to do something. Lisa and I had been in the same area for quite a while and noticed how it was strange that almost every person seemed to be an expert on the subject and how varying and far out some of the ideas were. One such tid bit included the phrase “the only way to get him to learn is to tackle him when he does something wrong and put him on his back. This way he knows who’s boss and when he did something wrong”… Okay…

I’d get so confused on just what the “best” way to do some of these things was. Our obedience trainer, who you’d think could be the definitive guide, taught us a reward intensive method of training. Reggie seemed to respond well to a few of these methods but not all. On the other hand the acclaimed book “Family Dog” by Richard A. Wolters seems to directly contradict the obedience instructor. Mr. Wolters says that a dog should not be rewarded for doing what he is supposed to do. So now I have two “experts” telling me the exact opposite thing!

The obedience trainer highly suggested the prong (or pinch) collar for Reggie to keep him from pulling on his leash. Looking back on it now I’d bet that had something to do with her reward system that didn’t exactly work when something more interesting was going on for the dog. In any event the collar did seem to work. I even put it around my neck just to make sure I wasn’t hurting the dog. Ok, cool I’ve found one solution… If only it was that simple. Yesterday, my neighbor (you guessed it) the self-proclaimed dog training expert practically tore my head off about the damn collar. She was basically yelling at me telling me how inhumane and cruel it was to “torture” my dog with a prong collar. Now what the heck do I do? To make matters worse her ultimate solution to the problem was to use a choke chain, which she said, was the (you guessed it again) “BEST” way to correct his on-leash behavior. Now, I have heard over and over from other “experts” that choke chains are harmful to the dog.

Recently I took a trip to Missouri to visit my family and attend my cousin Kate’s wedding. My grandparents from Columbia have raised and trained dogs pretty much their whole lives. My grandfather even worked for the AKC (American Kennel Club) as a field judge for a great deal of his life. He has raised many dogs and been around some of the greatest dog minds in the world. Finally! I could get the answer that I was looking for. All of the “best” methods and super dog training secrets of the stars were within my grasp.

So what were this brilliant man’s words of wisdom? What was the end all solution for raising the perfect dog? When I spoke with him about it he responded with…

“Ehh, it really depends on the dog” as he shrugged his shoulders.

Oh no, you mean I really have to get to know my dog and figure out what works best for the both of us? I can’t just read some book or ask some asshole and have a great relationship with my dog?!?

Ok, ok, I’m really not trying to make this into a joke or rant about my experience in this situation (ok maybe a little) but that really made me realize something. If something isn’t working for you or the dog try something else! If he shuns away every time you pick up the collar he obviously doesn’t like it. If you’re shoving treats in his mouth trying to get him to stay and he’s running the opposite direction, maybe that’s just not what works for him or her.

Those words of my grandpa really were the best thing I could have heard. It made me realize that I need to focus on spending time experimenting with different methods rather than reading stuff out of a book from a guy who is probably just trying to make a buck. That’s what I’ll do! I’ll publish a book called “The BEST Dog Training Methods” and use my grandpa’s great career as a reference. It will cost $45 at Border’s and will contain one freakin’ sentence.

“It just depends on the dog”.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 2nd, 2006 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Blog, What Can't Zack Complain About. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.