Quotes & Sayings About Dog Training

Repetitive, forceful corrections had taught this gentle dog that at a specific spot the handler would always yank the lead. Thus, each time the Newf arrived at that point, she'd freeze for a beat and close her eyes in anticipation of the impending blow. This caused her to lag, which led to another correction, which resulted in more lagging, another correction, ad infinitum.
It was a classic example of canine learned helplessness, whereby a dog learns to accept abuse as a natural, inevitable consequence of living with humans. Repeated corrections had only frightened and confused the animal, and she was trying to protect herself in the only way she knew how. — Joel M. McMains

They were as different as honesty and truth, but it takes experience to see the dissimilarities. Rocky was friendly, outgoing and boisterous; Charger was sullen, withdrawn and paranoid. Rocky liked people; Charger didn't. Rocky could trust; Charger didn't know the meaning of the word. — Joel M. McMains

If you would understand this secret, you must first understand the distinction between training an animal and educating one. Trained animals are relatively easy to turn out. All that is required is a book of instructions, a certain amount of bluff and bluster, something to use for threatening and punishing purposes, and of course the animal. Educating an animal, on the other hand, demands keen intelligence, integrity, imagination, and the gentle touch, mentally, vocally, and physically. — J. Allen Boone

To me dogs are not the students, not the ones that need training. To me a dog is a teacher of life, who teaches us the principles of the most important moral values; honesty, integrity, loyalty, trust, respect and love. — Cesar Millan

Armies have spent a lot of time and effort training their soldiers not to think of the enemy as human beings. It's so much easier to kill them if you think of them as dangerous animals. The trouble is, war isn't about killing. It's about getting the enemy to stop resisting your will. Like training a dog not to bite. Punishing him leaves you with a beaten dog. Killing him is a permanent solution, but you've got no dog. If you can understand why he's biting and remove the conditions that make him bite, sometimes that can solve the problem as well. The dog isn't dead. He isn't even your enemy. — Orson Scott Card

The essence of Druidry is training the mind to both handle contradictory input and construct contradictory output.'
What? Oh. Well

'I continued to lecture a bit more, to disguise the fact that I was getting my ass handed to me by my dog. — Kevin Hearne

Dog training should not be a chore! — Tony Cruse

He wasn't a man, but a tape recorder, repeating catch phrases and old slogans without any thought to the concepts behind them, a dog stuck in the training of his youth and faithfully executing his tasks long after his master had moved on. — Harvey Pekar

An open mind and helpful hands can do much to change a dog's future. — Mary Debono

All my dogs have been scamps and thieves and troublemakers and I've adored them all. — Helen Hayes

The biggest mistake in puppy training, which is also the most common one, is punishing the dog for bad behavior. — Vivaco Books

In dog culture, when someone calls you, you should absolutely not come if that results in the ending of something you like or initiation of something you don't like. — Jean Donaldson

No dog training method should ever be used if it conflicts with how you feel about your dog and how he should be treated. And no advice should ever be heeded if it supersedes your own common sense and intuition. — Paul Owens

Dogs (like rats) are multitalented but they are also not very smart the way humans are. A recent book, devoted to the intelligence of dogs, is 250+ pages long (Stanley Coren, The Intelligence of Dogs: A Guide to the Thoughts, Emotions, and Inner Lives of Our Canine Companions, 1994). Interestingly, despite careful qualifications by Coren regarding definitions, the ranking of breeds by intelligence literally made newspaper headlines. We are obviously fascinated by the notion that dogs - or at least certain breeds of dog - might, just might, be really, really smart. It all makes as much sense as evaluating humans on our ability to sniff for bombs or echo-locate. — Jean Donaldson

1.Ghost hunting
2.Target practice: rifles and handguns
3.Rock collecting
4.Photography-south Carolina wildlife
5.Soap making
6.Fencing
7.Belly dancing
8.Tie dying
9.Dog agility course training
10.Crawdad racing
11.Bull riding
12.Worm collecting — Karla Telega

It's a trickier situation if your dog works primarily for affection, because you certainly don't want to withhold affection from your beloved dog. In brief, you need to give your dog a clear signal that tells her that training has now begun and that she will get affection from you when she does what you need her to do. Such — Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz

It is very easy to forget how much of a pain training is when you have a dog for so long, but trust me, it's not as easy and quick as we all hope. — Jenna Morasca

I'm on good form. I'm an older guy. I feel healthy, I've been training, I'm looking after myself, I get up early. I look after the dogs. I'm happy. — Robbie Williams

Hardly any animal can look as deeply disappointed as a dog to whom one says "no." — Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

I agree with Agassiz that dogs possess something very like conscience. — Charles Darwin

When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes. — E.B. White

I'd rather have a kid come up to me and tell me that he loves dinosaurs or he loves airplanes or he likes training dogs or I like Shakespeare. I mean, just something. — Temple Grandin

It's like training dogs. You want the dog to obey you, but you can't have real respect for a dog that always obeys you. You want a dog that occasionally goes over the wall or bites the postman without your permission; you want to be reminded that you command a subdued yet wild animal, not a crawler. A man should be strong enough to kill you with his bare hands. — Tibor Fischer

A lot of people think I am the one to turn to for dog behavior issues. I'm not. All you have to do is meet Tucker; you'll know that I'm not an expert at training dogs. — Bruce Cameron

I like them all-pointers, setters, retrievers, spaniels-what have you. I've had good ones and bad of several kinds. Most of the bad ones were my fault and most of the good ones would have been good under any circumstances. — Gene Hill

Training is a loop, a two-way communication in which an event at one end of the loop changes events at the other, exactly like a cybernetic feedback system; yet many psychologists treat their work as something they do to a subject, not with the subject. — Karen Pryor

The only food he has ever stolen has been down on a coffee table. He claims that he genuinely believed it to be a table meant for dogs. — Jean Little

He listens to his trainer real good. He just doesn't listen to me. I still can't get him to do nothing. — Evander Holyfield

Training is a good dog, a constant companion and an utterly loyal and devoted friend, and everyone should have one. Education is a nagging counselor. And, I am convinced, everyone does have one. It happens, however, that some nagging counselors have grown strong by a certain kind of nourishment. Others are weak and puny, even infantile, having never been nourished at all. — Richard Mitchell

In spring training prior to his 1995 rookie season, Chipper was already so confident in who he was as a player that he famously deadpanned to veteran slugger Fred McGriff, after the Crime Dog grounded into an inning-ending double play, these two words: "Rally killer." His confidence carried over to the field, just as it had since he began playing as a kid - he batted .265, and he led all rookies with 23 home runs, 87 runs, and 86 RBIs. Hideo Nomo was Rookie of the Year for the Dodgers, but Chipper and the Braves were World Champions. — Tucker Elliot

If uncertain, it's best to pass by a possibly good dog than risk injury. — Joel M. McMains

The thing about computers - it's like training a dog. You have to be smarter than the dog. If you make a computer smarter than you are, that has to be accident, synergy, or divine intervention. — Frank Herbert

My dog watches me on TV. So, if I may take this opportunity, "No! No! No!" — Garry Shandling

To Tom Carlson or his dog-depending on whose taste it best suits. — Ogden Nash

Movement is vital. Whether it's running, cross training, hiking with the dogs, or walking the streets of New York, I am constantly active. — Theo Rossi

Yes, it will go through the disciplines that all puppies go through including house training and puppy walking, then at twelve month old it the training becomes a lot more rigorous which has to be done carefully otherwise you are in danger of stressing the dog. — David Blunkett

She is such a scene-stealer. She's got these lashes and big eyes, and when she walks on to the set everybody just says "ooh." — Greg Kinnear

For several thousand years man has been in contact with animals whose character and habits have been deformed by domestication. He has ended by believing that he understands them. All he means by this is that he is able to rely on certain reflex actions which he himself has implanted in them. He will flatter himself at times on the grasp of animal psychology which has brought him the love of the dog and the purr of the cat; and on the strength of such assumptions he approaches the beasts of the jungle. The old tag about nature being an open book is just not true. What nature offers on a first examination may appear to be simple but it is never as simple as it appears. — Hans Brick

Good dog! Nice fetch!"
"He wasn't fetching."
"Bring her here, boy. Good job!"
The dog looked from Zack to me.
"I've been training him," Zack said. "Up till now he's brought home only dead rabbits, but I guess he's finally getting the hang of it. — Elizabeth Chandler

Most owners are at length able to teach themselves to obey their dog. — Robert Morley

As you get better and better working out, there's no one who can keep up with you running. If you don't have a good dog, it's going to be the most lonesome training camp you'll ever have. — George Foreman

No dog is as well bred or as well mannered or as distinguished and handsome. — Eugene O'Neill

I exercise about 40 minutes a day, and I'll run one day and do circuit training the next day. I live in an area where there are brilliant hills and mountains, so I get a good hill run with my dog. At home, I'll do the circuit training with old weights, along with pull-ups in the trees and that sort of stuff. — Bear Grylls

And not only did he learn by experience, but instincts long dead became alive again. The domesticated generations fell from him. In vague ways he remembered back to the youth of the breed, to the time the wild dogs ranged in packs through the primeval forest and killed their meat as they ran it down. — Jack London

While observing some people with their dogs, it is often a question of who is training whom. It is not uncommon to see an owner with their arms extended, holding on for dear life, while their dog runs wild. Unfortunately, I was becoming one of those owners. — Elizabeth Parker

Feeding the media is like training a dog. You can't throw an entire steak at a dog to train it to sit. You have to give it little bits of steak over and over again until it learns. — Andrew Breitbart

Usually they are quick to discover that I cannot see or hear ... It is not training but love which impels them to break their silence about me with the thud of a tail rippling against my chair on gambols round the study, or news conveyed by expressive ear, nose, and paw. Often I yearn to give them speech, their motions are so eloquent with things they cannot say. — Helen Keller

Occasionally, a dog will be presented as some training method for having a baby. "My girlfriend and I got a dog. We are going to see if we can handle that before we have kids." This is a little like testing the waters of being a vegetarian by having lettuce on your burger. Okay, maybe that metaphor doesn't make sense, but neither does using a dog as a training method for having a baby. — Jim Gaffigan

Gordie: Alright, alright, Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?
Vern: If I could only have one food for the rest of my life? That's easy-Pez. Cherry-flavored Pez. No question about it.
Teddy: Goofy's a dog. He's definitely a dog.
Gordie: I knew the $64,000 question was fixed. There's no way anybody could know that much about opera!
Chris: He can't be a dog. He drives a car and wears a hat.
Gordie: Wagon Train's a really cool show, but did you notice they never get anywhere? They just keep wagon training.
Vern: Oh, God. That's weird. What the hell is Goofy? — Stephen King

In training a dog you must reward only those behaviors you desire the dog to repeat endlessly. — Alexandra Horowitz

Do not feed that beggar. Hamlet, lie down." The dog ignored her.
"Down," Viktor ordered, his deep voice stern. The dog whined and then lay down. The prince looked at her. "You need to be more forceful."
"I suppose my forcefulness will improve once my voice changes. Sopranos get no respect. — Patricia Grasso

Because behavior is under the control of its consequences, obedience training is about providing consequences to the dog. Life is a never-ending series of:"If you do this, this happens, if you do that, another thing happens." There are two kinds of things that happen in life, good things and bad things, so there are four kinds of consequences: good stuff can 1) start and 2) end; bad stuff can 1) start and 2) end. Your dog is constantly trying to start the good stuff, end the bad stuff, avoid ending the good stuff, and avoid starting the bad stuff. He's playing his entire environment, including you, this way. If you can recognize this and exploit it, *voila!* Control of the dog. — Jean Donaldson

The best dog training was based on the reward system. You did not punish a dog for doing wrong, you rewarded the dog for doing right. The dog did something you wanted, you reinforced the behavior with a reward - pet'm, tell'm they're a good dog, let'm play with a toy. The standard reward for a K-9 working dog was a hard plastic ball with a hole drilled through it where Leland liked to smear a little peanut butter. — Robert Crais

I deliberately returned slowly to training after Raphael was born and everything, apart from being bitten by a dog whilst out training in Monaco at the beginning of the year, has gone pretty well. — Paula Radcliffe

Where are the dogs?" I asked.
"At training," he said. "I have a friend who's an expert dog trainer, and he's giving them some stealth lessons. He used to work for a local K-9 unit."
I didn't think it was in the Chihuahua genetic code to ever be stealthy. — Richelle Mead

Training a dog, to me, is on a par with learning to dance with my wife or teaching my son to ski. These are fun things we do together. If anyone even talks about dominating the dog or hurting him or fighting him or punishing him, don't go there. — Ian Dunbar

A Canadian psychologist is selling a video that teaches you how to test your dog's IQ. Here's how it works: if you spend $12.99 for the video, your dog is smarter than you. — Jay Leno

Show me a dog who still cannot perform a task after it has been trained over and over again, and I'll tell you who the slow learner is. — Barry McDonald

Dogs are not people dressed up in fur coats, and to deny them their nature is to do them great harm. — Jeanne Schinto

Huh," she said in a neutral voice, then looked out over the pasture again, at the sheep racing through the grass like frantic clouds. A defiant expression crossed her face, and she took a breath.
"Razor!" she barked, making Keirran jump. "No! Bad gremlin! You stop that, right now!"
The gremlin, shockingly, looked up from where he was bouncing on a rock, sheep scattering around him. He blinked and cocked his head, looking confused. Kenzie pointed to the ground in front of her.
"I want to see you. Come here, Razor,. Now!"
And, he did. Blipping into sight at her feet, he gazed up expectantly, looking like a mutant Chihuahua awaiting commands. Keirran blinked in astonishment as she snapped her fingers and pointed at him, and Razor scurried up his arm to perch on his shoulder. She smiled, giving us both a smug look, and crossed her arms.
"Dog training classes," She explained. — Julie Kagawa

Dogs like to obey. It gives them security. — James Herriot

I would rather have cookies in my jacket pockets than a chain around my dog's neck. — Pat Miller

So what is the fallout for dogs of the Lassie myth? As soon as you bestow intelligence and morality, you bestow the responsibility that goes along with them. In other words, if the dog knows it's wrong to destroy furniture yet deliberately and maliciously does it, remembers the wrong he did and feels guilt, it feels like he merits a punishment2, doesn't it? That's just what dogs have been getting - a lot of punishment. We set them up for all kinds of punishment by overestimating their ability to think. Interestingly, it's the "cold" behaviorist model that ends up giving dogs a much better crack at meeting the demands we make of them. The myth gives problems to dogs they cannot solve and then punishes them for failing. And the saddest thing is that the main association most dogs have with that punishment is the presence of their owner. This puts a pretty twisted spin on loooving dogs 'cause they're so smart, doesn't it? — Jean Donaldson

When I'm training a dog, I develop a relationship with that dog. He's my buddy, and I want to make training fun. — Ian Dunbar

And then there's the personal question so many of Lassie's fans want to ask: Is he allowed on the furniture? Of course he is-but, then, he's the one who paid for it. — Julia Glass

A dog-it was a dog I saw for certain. Or thought I saw. It was snowing pretty hard by then, and you can see things in the snow that aren't there, or aren't exactly there, so that by God when you do see something, you react anyhow, erring on the distaff side, if you get my drift. That's my training as a driver, but it's also my temperament as a mother of two grown sons and wife to an invalid, and that way when I'm wrong at least I'm wrong on the side of the angels. — Russell Banks

Our first point of discussion is the hunt. ( ... ) My idea is to start the film with an image of the vixen locked out of her lair which has been plugged up. Her terror as she's pursued across the country. This is a big deal. It means training a fox from birth or dressing up a dog to look like a fox. Or hiring David Attenbrorough, who probably knows a few foxes well enough to ask a favour. — Emma Thompson

I can train any dog in 5 minutes. It's training the owner that takes longer. — Barbara Woodhouse

I got a dog-training book. It says Grendel needs mental stimulation, so I tried to train him, but I think he must be retarded. — Ilona Andrews

So a dog's value came from the training AND the breeding. And by breeding, Edgar supposed he meant both the bloodlines - the particular dogs in their ancestry - and all the information in the file cabinets. Because the files, with their photographs, measurements, notes, charts, cross-references, and scores, told the STORY of the dog - what a MEANT as his father put it. — David Wroblewski

You don't train a dog in a training hall, jerking his neck or even giving him food treats. You train him using life rewards. — Ian Dunbar

untrained dogs and they will urinate over them. Purchase a crate or cage that is big enough for your pup to lie down, turn around, and stand up in. Create a food and potty schedule. It should include: Meal Potty Time Play Time Training Time Sleep in Crate Repeat from A Every Four Hours No matter what, don't leave your poor pup in the crate all the time. At the same time, though, the crate should give it time to relax and nap between potty and play sessions. Walk the dog about 15-30 minutes after every meal. Always praise the dog for going outside. Never ever use hitting or yelling if the dog has an accident in the house. Now, as far as behavior training, you will need to follow a schedule to make sure neither you nor the pup gets too tired or frustrated. That's what we are going to talk about next. — Cynthia Lynden