I adopted my dog from a rescue back in Fall 2021. She was a 6-month old street dog at the time and came to me a nervous, malnourished wreck. I was surrounded by people who told me to use all sorts of aversive behavior to train her: spray bottles, coin cans, leash pops, even hitting the dog.
This was my first dog and it would have been so easy to listen to their advice. I trust them in other facets of my life after all, these are close friends and relatives. I would have a fearful “carpet dog” today if I had listened to them. But their advice just felt wrong.
In this sub I found logic: why make your dog afraid of you when you can use positivity and love instead? Why discourage & be mean when you can encourage & be kind? This reasoning made SO much more sense to me.
On the advice of this sub I picked up positive reinforcement books like The Power of Positive Dog Training and The Other End of the Leash. In those books I found the same logic, expanded with so many stories of beautiful dog & owner relationships. I modeled my relationship with my dog after what I found in those books and this subreddit.
8 months later I have a dog who is super bonded to me and extremely content. She has a spunky and sweet personality that I haven’t diluted. And she trusts me completely. It’s an amazing feeling.
Thank you, /r/dogtraining folks. You’re all amazing. I’m so lucky to have found this community. My doggo doesn’t know it, but she’s very grateful too!
Dog tax:
This was my first dog and it would have been so easy to listen to their advice. I trust them in other facets of my life after all, these are close friends and relatives. I would have a fearful “carpet dog” today if I had listened to them. But their advice just felt wrong.
In this sub I found logic: why make your dog afraid of you when you can use positivity and love instead? Why discourage & be mean when you can encourage & be kind? This reasoning made SO much more sense to me.
On the advice of this sub I picked up positive reinforcement books like The Power of Positive Dog Training and The Other End of the Leash. In those books I found the same logic, expanded with so many stories of beautiful dog & owner relationships. I modeled my relationship with my dog after what I found in those books and this subreddit.
8 months later I have a dog who is super bonded to me and extremely content. She has a spunky and sweet personality that I haven’t diluted. And she trusts me completely. It’s an amazing feeling.
Thank you, /r/dogtraining folks. You’re all amazing. I’m so lucky to have found this community. My doggo doesn’t know it, but she’s very grateful too!
Dog tax: