Have you ever looked at those lists of dog breeds, the ones that tell you the which breeds have the most of certain characteristics? It you look at lists for “most intelligent,” “most loyal,” and “most willful/independent/stubborn” you’ll see the same breeds. And most of those breeds ended up in Padfoot’s DNA. 

Please note: anything I say about dogs and dog training is my opinion, based of thirty years with street urchins I have loved. I don’t claim to be a master dog trainer. Anyway, in my experience, the more intelligent a dog is, the less “do it because I say so” will work once they reach adolescence. And the smarter a dog is, the more they are likely to rebel at dominance oriented training and the more you need to build respect. 

Think about every movie you’ve ever seen where the well-meaning do-gooder attempts to help the kid living on the streets. The kid doesn’t trust anyone but himself, lacks discipline, and has little appreciation for structure. If you want to address reactivity, jumpiness, mouthiness and pretty much anything else, it’s essential to get them to accept your leadership. Getting there requires baby steps. 

Core to teaching your dog to control their impulses are Sit, Down, and Stay. Use plenty of praise and treats in a quiet setting with no distractions. (Padfoot picked up Sit in about 5 seconds. Down requires submission and was much harder for him. Stay was impossible. I would tell him to “Stay,” and he thought it meant “Dance.” I gave up and started over with “Freeze,” and that works for us.)

Once they have mastered these commands and understand that good things happen when they listen to you, start using them in your daily routine. Ask them to Sit at the door before you open it, or when friends approach (getting in front of their impulse so they don’t jump). Tell them to Stay while you set their dinner down several feet away, and pick the bowl up if they move before you release them (don’t make them wait too long. 10 seconds is enough to get the point across). 

The more they want what is on the other side (getting to go outside, getting to eat, etc.) the more motivated they will be to listen to you. And the more they listen to you, the more they will listen to you when they encounter distractions or triggers. Progress is only ever by degrees. It’s often one step forward and two back, so mark and celebrate all the tiny wins.

I know this sounds very remedial, and it is. It’s also the path of least resistance to building trust, and it’s so easy to forget basics when you are dealing with the chaos an undisciplined dog creates.

I mentioned my arsenal of aversives earlier, and they are another important tool. I’ll talk more about them next month.