The Complete Dog Food & Nutrition Guide - Ebooks And Audios
The history of dog training stretches back to the earliest history of
human civilization, showing a remarkable story of mutual dependency. Dogs
gathered around the earliest human fires after a day helping our ancestors hunt
and helped to protect us from other animals. Both dogs and people are social
creatures, and dogs share our instinct for complex social structures and
communication, which helped dogs learn new roles and tasks as they settled in
with humans. By working together, both prospered.
The importance of dogs in early human history is demonstrated by their
appearance in the earliest remnants of art work. Ancient wall etchings and
murals as well as pottery have been found showing images of dogs with humans,
documenting the beginning days of our history as dog trainers. These scattered
bits of art and craft do not give us much detail of how we trained dogs, but
clearly we did. The dog's natural ability to pick up on our moods and read our
body language would have helped our ancestors teach their dogs, just as it
helps us train ours today.
Dogs played a role in our success as hunters and gatherers, and as we
moved on to more complex tasks farming and raising livestock, dogs stayed by
our side and learned new skills to help us. They learned to protect our homes
and farms and to shepherd our livestock.
Dogs demonstrated an ability to learn specialized and complicated tasks, and
they quickly took on increasingly important roles in agriculture.
While the German Shepherd and the Old English Sheepdog may be the most
recognizable herding dogs and have been established breeds for about one and
two centuries respectively, they are newcomers compared to the Anatolian Sheep
Dog, whose history goes back 6,000 years. This dog has roots in early Turkish
livestock farming and had a critical role in protecting his humans and his
sheep as well as rounding up the sheep.
The German Shepard has famously branched out into police and military
work, showing our canine companion's versatility. But this is not the first or
only breed to do such work. The Roman Empire
used dogs in both the police and the military and even trained whole battalions
of dogs. The dog's military service has not been confined to battle, however.
They have delivered messages, guarded camps and secrets, minded prisoners and
served as scouts. The Bouvier des Flandres, a massive Belgian farm dog used for
cattle herding and cart pulling, even helped to transport military equipment in
World War I.
The array of tasks dogs have performed through history is staggering.
Their sensitivity and intelligence have made them excellent helping dogs, most
famously assisting the blind. Ancient artwork shows them performing this role
as early as the first century AD, and the earliest known facility for training
guide dogs for the blind dates back to 1788. Today, dogs help people with a
range of disabilities and medical conditions including deafness, mobility
impairment, autism and epilepsy.
Dogs are pack animals by nature, and this sociability has helped them
blend into our human homes and lives throughout history. Whatever changes and
evolutions human society underwent, our dogs went through right along with us.
They have used their natural abilities to work with us as we hunted and farmed,
and continue to do so today in our evermore complicated, high-tech society.
Their intelligence and affability have made them easy to train, and easy to
love.
Fewer and fewer of us need dogs to tend our livestock. We rely more on
electronic burglar alarms these days, although burglars dislike being bitten as
much as anyone else does so a dog is still a great deterrent to intruders. But
for most us, the decision to get a dog is based more in our desire for their
company than our need for their assistance. While we generally don't need to
teach our dogs how to herd sheep or deliver messages behind enemy lines, we do
need to teach our dogs how to behave and follow some basic etiquette.
Our theories on how to train our canine companions have evolved just as
the skills we need to impart have evolved. Over the years, we've developed a more
sophisticated understanding of how dogs process information and communicate,
and this has led to major changes in how we train dogs.
A generation ago, dog trainers believed that dogs learned best with what we
thought was the pack mentality. The trainer used physical domination to teach a
dog his place in the pack. This approach relied on sharp words, choker chains
and even the occasional slap on the nose or worse.
In last ten to fifteen years, dog training theory has evolved. Dog psychology
blossomed and new experts emerged to advise that dogs actually learned better
with positive reinforcement than brute force. Dogs are smart, sensitive, eager
to please and do not like conflicts, making praise more effective/ than
punishment. The key to effective dog training is to understand how dogs learn
and process information.
Animal behaviorists and trainers developed new techniques based on new research
and observation about the dynamic in pack situation. Dogs do not have language
like ours, but do have a language on their own. Modern dog training is rooted
in that mutual understanding and communication.
Trainers and owners alike saw the wisdom of the approach taken by Ian
Dunbar, the research on body language by Turid Rugaas and other dog behaviorist
that open the doors to new style of training. Classes started to be designed to
educate dog owners as well as their dogs.
While their role has evolved throughout history, dogs through the centuries
have earned the title of 'man's best friend'. They helped ensure our survival
when we were hunters and gatherers, and now that we spend more time on the
couch than we do out hunting or gathering, so do they.
The dog's intelligence, sociable nature and adaptability make him an
excellent companion and also make it easy to train and educate him to ensure he
fits comfortably into the modern family 'pack'. A generation ago, responsible dog owners loaded their dogs into the car and
drove off to the nearest expert for training classes, but now that expert is no
further than your home computer. Training your dog at home is becoming widely
popular, thank you to the Internet revolution. Getting the latest information
about research or tips on how to train a dog has never been so easy.
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