It gets there eventually

Hi, my name is Wenzdi and I've been dog training (professionally) now for around 5 years.

My business is still in its infancy, but it's been a dream I've been working towards my whole life.

So, why this blog?

To show you that you're not alone! Dogs are nightmares.

They lure you into this false sense of security then BAM! You've got a 30kg pain in the backside reacting to every sound, dog or random wheelie bin that dares to cross your paths!

It happens, and I wrote this to help you understand your dog and discuss the 'nurture over nature' argument

. So, what does 'nurture over nature ' mean?

Essentially, this means that dogs are born a blank slate and the behaviour of the dog solely reflects the upbringing we give them. But is this true? Let's look at this from a behaviour

standpoint. We don't teach dogs to be dogs.

Different breeds have different traits yet we are happy to accept this as a natural occurrence. For example, we accept a border collie to heard the children, or a golden retriever to bring us socks, or even a spaniel to ferret through the bushes with their nose to the ground

, but when it comes to reactivity and aggression, rather than seeing this as a breed trait or a result of selective breeding, people jump on their high horses and exclaim it's the upbringing of the dog that's caused this behaviour.

Now I'm not saying that it's always the breeding of the dog that causes a specific response, but it's something that is rarely discussed.

Dogs are bred to have strong traits to ensure they can carry out a job.

We call this the 'breed-specific behaviour' and this plays a huge role in the actions of dogs. For example, pointers are bred with a strong stalking drive, greyhounds are bred with a strong chase drive, and terriers, well they are bred to kill. Yes, rodents mainly, but how can these behaviours result in an undesirable trait in our world?

Remember that dogs have been bred over thousands of years to do specific jobs, yet we have only really kept dogs as pets for the last few hundred, and only really seen a real influx of pet dogs in more modern times. We are expecting them to adapt to this life and unfortunately, it's not always going to happen.

Yes, we might get lucky, but breeding plays a huge role in behaviour.

So, when your dog does something that makes you want to drop him at the nearest pound, try taking a step back and looking at the behaviour from adog'ss point of view:

1. What breed traits are apparent in the behaviour?

2. Am I providing a safe outlet for that behaviou. Hence,o it's less likely to occur in an uncontrollable environment?

3. What can I do to help prevent this behaviour from occurring randomly? Remember, it's unlikely that we can prevent a breed trait completely, and it' unfair to expect our dogs to just adapt to our way of living

. What makes sense to you may not do to your dog and vice versa. If we stifle a breed trait it's likely to leak into chaos, so let's work with our dogs and not against them. And many factors can influence dog behaviour, such as experience, diet, breed traits and breeding in general.

It's important to build the understanding and enlist the help of a qualified, ethical trainer.

Some of the most common issues I'm called out for is reactivity, recall and lead pulling, and all of these issues can be improved by building relationships, structure and understanding.

To learn more about my accredited training options or to book my FREE mixed ability class taster session visit my Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yesboytreatsandtraining Or email: info@yesboytreatsandtraining.co.uk “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” —Henry Ford