Gentle Is Sustainable

Trust.

Kind training leads to fast, sticky results.

Roxy was already roughly 6 months old and fearful of people when I first met her. On the day I brought Roxy home, we had to catch a ferry to the island where we lived. Once off the ferry and on the pier, Roxy laid down on the ground, head low, legs tucked in and refused to budge. No amount of cajoling, bribing with food, calling her name, or tugging on the leash could convince her to stand up and walk. In the end, I took matters into my own hands, literally, and carried all 15kg of her up-hill to my home (and decided not to hike Annapurna after all). Once at home, Roxy promptly scuttled beneath a bench on the balcony and there she stayed for the whole day, then the whole night, and into the morning. Eventually she did come out of hiding, and over time, she did learn to trust me and my family. But it took quite some work. Roxy was, and still is, not a dog that one can boss around. Only the most gentle handling has succeeded in bringing Roxy out of her shell. I’m relieved to say that she is now a truly easy dog - a relaxed housemate, great with kids, friendly to other dogs/animals and fantastic hiking companion. She still has her quirks and is wary of strangers but she has come a long way since that moment on the pier. I thank Roxy for teaching me the power of positive training methods.

Positive-based training does not mean no discipline. There’s nothing wrong with letting your dog know that a behaviour is undesirable matter-of-factly, then showing them the correct behaviour and letting them know what’s in it for them when they play by the rules.

As dog lovers and owners, we want to develop a wonderful and genuine bond with our dogs. We want our dogs to be easy and behave well but we also want them to want to behave well. Otherwise the training will not stick. Positive training is the path to trust and trust is the path to love and long-lasting training results.

Over To You!