Working Dogs

When you have a working breed dog with big nerve (nothing bothers him, everything excites him) and big drive (good luck tiring this dog out with exercise alone and no trained ‘off switch’) living in a pet home we have to be crystal clear about boundaries and expectations.

One of the very first ways I like to introduce the concept of boundaries is through place command training and the structured heel. In both of these exercises we create lines and positions that the dog isn’t allowed to cross without permission or invitation. And once a dog starts to understand these concepts, we can start generalizing the concepts of impulse control, respecting boundaries, checking in with handler before acting, etc. to a variety of other tasks and situations and thus create an ‘off switch’.

In this video, you’ll see how I define the boundaries of the place cot for Ace using leash and prong collar and how once he understands what and where these boundaries are, he’s more than happy to respect them and wait for further instructions. I find most often that dogs are more than willing to respect boundaries and follow rules and give us polite manners and behaviour once we humans have learned how to communicate this information to the dog consistently and clearly and in a way that he understands and motivates him. Without the right communication, dog and human usually feel confused, frustrated and very disconnected from one another.