How to Fall In Love With Your Dog Again

Dory is like shooting fish in a barrel to love. photo: Kelly Gorman Dunbar

Poodles, Oodles, and Bernese, oh my! That'southward how I spent my holidays this year – with my 2d furry family.

Pre-pandemic, it was my tradition to have my very best puppy-raising clients equally guests for long overdue cuddles and training castor-ups. Nosotros'd hike and practice fun training drills, apparel up in holiday garb, trip the light fantastic toe to empty-headed music, eat snacks, and mostly brand merry with a houseful of beloved student dogs that I could not possibly beloved more if they were my own. My dogs loved it too - kind of like cousin time!

 Final year was indeed very solitary without them, only we were all still very isolated within our tiny bubbling in Dec 2020. This year, to my delight, we had a full firm over again! In some cases, I welcomed furry faces that I'd known since they were vi- or viii-weeks-onetime, vii or eight years ago, but hadn't seen in about two years' time.

Plenty of happy tears were shed this year. Only as our reunion wrapped up, it left me acutely aware of all of the preparation I do with my puppy class to make such a fourth dimension possible.

 When you lot recollect of a dog training class, what do you envision? Practice you see dogs and owners marching around in a circle, on-ternion, with owners barking (pun intended) orders to their pups in a militaristic fashion? Or, exercise you see the exact reverse? Puppies running amok, wildly playing, bitter and ignoring their owners, or hiding under the seats, overwhelmed past the cluttered surround?

Eve and Poppy working their magic. photo: Kelly Gorman Dunbar

 In my opinion, a skillful puppy preparation form should be neither of these things. Yes, I teach my students what some would telephone call traditional obedience, though I prefer to telephone call it manners "cues" or ESL (after all, English is a second language to all dogs). And yes, I permit my student pups play a bit with each other, too, merely generally not willy-nilly, without direction.

My classes are non a Lord of the Flies reenactment, only rather are carefully crafted with intention, a keen observational eye, and plenty of interruption to keep things from escalating. To me, preparation requires a solid foundation of security, clarity, and confidence, flecked with a touch of marvel and playfulness, a lot of mutual respect, and often love.

 In fact, training a dog begins with relationship building because if you don't take a genuine connection founded on trust and communication, yous're but building a firm of straw that can be blown away or burned downwardly at any moment.

 Your life with your dog isn't about sit, down, stay, and come up when called. Don't become me wrong - those are important skills for most companion dogs to master, but actually they are pretty darn piece of cake to teach. What's more than challenging from a dog trainer's indicate of view is helping each dog and owner craft a 18-carat connexion where grooming cues are merely the language with which two unlike species communicate to live, piece of work, and play in harmony. Information technology's virtually building a relationship where your dog chooses to be with you, with no training aids present.

Poppy is floppy. photograph: Kelly Gorman Dunbar

 So this year - as I wiped 36 paws every time we came in from romping in the rain, cleaned betwixt their toes, asked them to lie down for a tum toweling (particularly the depression riders), administered meds for some, cleaned ears, groomed knotty $.25, gave in to countless polite requests for hugs, doled out special chews for all on their individual stations - I was reminded of how much piece of work we've done to get to this place. A identify where anybody tin accept a bully ring to chew while we watch a holiday classic cuddled together in the living room. A place where nine dogs, some of whom don't even know each other, can line upward patiently at paw wiping or feeding fourth dimension and calmly look their turn. A place where we can go for a group walk on ternion without pulling, gagging, barking, and lunging.

To me, this is the holy grail of pet dog training. Off leash play is fun, but when I see a dog who can go anywhere with his owner - down city streets, into stores, etc. - because the beings on both ends of the ternion are comfy and connected and the ternion merely a suggestion…that impresses me so much more.

So if I have i bit of communication to give you lot as you commence on a new year with your pooch, it'due south not to train more. It'due south to actually see the domestic dog in front of yous. Admit him equally a sentient being, let go of your needs and expectations a chip, and practise your all-time to just be your dog's trusted friend.

Mind, observe, play. Put your phone away and end relying on repetitive games of fetch or worse, other dogs, to entertain your pup. Stop trying to just wear them out and so you lot can zone out. Be present.

Fall in beloved again and everything else will autumn into identify.

Kelly Gorman Dunbar

Kelly Gorman Dunbar is Training Director for SIRIUS Puppy & Dog Grooming and The Dunbar University, both Bay Expanse-based dog preparation schools that provide in-person and online instruction for pups and their people. Her family includes four Belgian Shepherds, Laz, Mars, Emjay, and Ara, and a tiny Terrier named Villanelle.