Larto 1

Dharma Larto

English III

Mrs.Ryan

13 March 2018

The Life of Dogs

Most dog training issues and bad dog behaviors are the result of human misunderstanding

or human error. People who train their dogs to do something after the command do a number of

different things. There are at least five different things that the owner could do: they consist of

play, food rewards, rewards, physical punishment, and vocal punishment. While there are

different ways to reward their dog, there are a percentage of people who use each method: eleven

percent play, fifty-one percent give food rewards, sixty percent give rewards, twelve percent use

physical punishment, and finally, sixty-six percent condone vocal punishment (Hiby, Rooney,

and Bradshaw). Everyone who has a dog should have them trained because it is more effective

than having a dog that is not trained.

In the first place, people should have their dog trained by a professional so that the dog

does not get confused by what the owner is doing. People who train their dogs with physical

punishment, for example, have a chance of scaring the dog. If they ever give it away, the dog

would be scared of how the new owners would treat it because of the old owners, and if the

person trains their dog with physical punishment, they should not have the right to keep the dog.

If a dog is trained with physical punishment, then the dog could go to a new home and get taught

things from his new family. While he is learning, he may be completely terrified that they will be

just as cruel as his old owner. When he is being treated with gentle hands and being treated like a
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normal dog, he is scared to get into everything they are giving him because of how he had been

treated before he came to the nice family. If people do not train their dog, then the dog would not

understand what the command being told to them meant. There is a different type of punishment

as well, and that way is used more than physical punishment. The way is known as vocal

punishment. The only reason why it is used more is because of how the owner says they do not

want to harm their dog, yet they do not know that even if they do not touch the dog in a bad way,

there is still a way to harm a dog without touching him (Hiby, Rooney, Bradshaw 64). If people

want to get a dog, then they could do research on the dog and not treat them the way they should

not.

The reason the owner should train a puppy is because they do not know anything since

they are brand new into the world and do not know any tricks or commands. For example, if the

dog is being trained to be a service dog, then they would need to start being trained at six months

to eighteen months old (Yount, Ritchie, Laurent, Chumley, Olment 5-6). They have to start

young so that the puppy does not forget the commands so easily. Yet, only certain types of dogs

can be trained to be a service dog because some people need to have a dog that knows what their

needs are. When training an older dog, they should already know some training, but they do not

know the new commands, and those are the ones they need to learn the most. The older dogs are

also treated differently by everyone because people think that older dogs are just old and useless

and cannot learn new things. However, the owner could help with teaching other people that the

assumptions made about older dogs are wrong.

When there is a good to great bond between a dog and an owner, then the dog will pay

more attention to the commands the owner gives them, as well that if there is that relationship the
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dog will less likely disobey them. Depending on the type of relationship that is between the dog

and the owner, there should be a certain way that the dog can show the owner what type of

relationship what they want rather than not being treated correctly (Hiby, Rooney, Bradshaw 65).

The way to train the dog is with the relationship as well. Positive reinforcement and negative

reinforcement show different aspects of how a dog could be treated (Deldalle and Gaunet 1). If

positive reinforcement is used, the dog shows more attentiveness to the owner rather than

everything happening around them. For example, around schools the dog would most likely pay

attention to all the commotion going on around them with all the students and teachers. Yet, if

they are trained with the positive reinforcement, they would listen to the commands rather than

not listening to them and wanting attention from everyone around. With that said, with

everything happening the dog would have to know that it trust the owner rather than ignore his

owner and pay attention to everything else. The dog would want to trust the owner and

everything they say could mean something but has to have a good meaning within it, so they

know they can listen to what the owner says and does for him (Yount, Olment and Lee 65).

If the relationship is not so great, then the dog will do whatever the dog wants to do

rather than listen to the owner say commands. That relates to the negative reinforcement, that if

the owner used this method to train their dog, the dog would show lowered body postures and

some signals of stress. The dog will not listen to what the owner has to say about the commands

or what the owner wants them to do because of how they do not trust their owners (Yin,

Fernandez, Pagan, Richardson and Snyder 1). The way the dog would be treated with the

different reinforcement determines how the dog can become within the life they will live.
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Training the dog without a professional is a bad idea because some people say the if the

owner did that to the dog, then the dog could get hurt since the owner would train it wrong. If the

owner says the wrong command, the dog could injure themselves because the dog does not know

how to do the command without practice. Usually, if the dog is home-trained, then the owner

does not practice with the dog. They drop the dog right into the training, to get to know the

commands they need to know when they get trained but to know what the owner can do with the

dog and what is the correct way or wrong way. While there are others that think to train their

dogs is a good idea so that they understand what to do when the dog is in a certain area so that

the owner knows what the dog needs to do it, how to do it, and also when to do it. With that said,

some people who want to train their dogs themselves mainly want to train it so that the dog can

do some type of harm with other dogs. The people who get a dog would raise it a certain way,

and sometimes that form of upbringing gets them be the type of dogs that do the dog fights. Yet

that is not the greatest idea for two reasons; the dog could get hurt or worse, and dog fighting is

illegal. People think that it is best to do the training with a professional so that the dog does not

get hurt in any way or worse than getting hurt.

More people need to train their dogs and they need to spend more time with their dogs so

that the dog would be more trustworthy of the owner and not scared of the owner when they

want to do something. More research about the benefits and downfalls of dog training could most

likely lead to helping other people with the training of the dogs. There needs to be more

awareness of the benefits and downfalls of dog training for the owner and for the dog

themselves.
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Works Cited

Hiby, E.F., N.J. Rooney, and J.W.S. Bradshaw. “Dog training methods; their use, effectiveness

and interaction with behaviour and welfare.” ​Universities Federation for Animal Welfare,

vol. 13, 2004, pp. 63-69,

http://dogscouts.org/base/tonto-site/uploads/2014/10/620_art_training_methods.pdf.

Accessed 13 February 2018.

Yount, Rick, Meg Olment, and Mary Lee. “Service Dog Training Program for Treatment of

Posttraumatic Stress in Service Members.” ​The United States Army Medical Department

Journal, ​April-June 2012, pp. 63-67,

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/07f4/3cbd11e2a78da68a1692d8d4266f4279fa26.pdf#pa

ge=65. Accessed 13 February 2018.

Yin, Sophia, Eduardo Fernandez, Sabrina Pagan, Sarah Richardson, and Greg Snyder. “Efficacy

of remote-controlled, positive-reinforcement, dog training system for modifying problem

behaviors exhibited when people arrive at the door.” ​Applied Animal Behaviour Science,

vol. 113, no. 1-3, 2008, pp. 123-138,

http://www.appliedanimalbehaviour.com/article/S0168-1591(07)00360-7/abstract.

Accessed 16 February 2018.

Deldalle, Stéphanie, and Florence Gaunet. “Effects of 2 training methods on stress-related

behaviors of the dog and on the dog-owner relationship.” ​Journal of Veterinary Behavior,

vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 58-65,

http://www.journalvetbehavior.com/article/S1558-7878(14)00007-0/abstract. Accessed

16 February 2018.
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Yount, Rick, Elspeth Ritchie, Matthew Laurent, Perry Chumley, and Meg Olment. “The Role of

Service Dog Training in the Treatment of Combat-Related PTSD.” ​Psychiatric Annals​,

vol. 43, no. 6, 2013,

https://www.healio.com/psychiatry/journals/psycann/2013-6-43-6/%7Bfb860376-5b7d-4

bc5-84f0-f9fb1c720e42%7D/the-role-of-service-dog-training-in-the-treatment-of-combat

-related-ptsd?goback=.gde_4830762_member_251552736. Accessed 13 February 2018.