Every breed of dog has a different set of behaviors that they are innately good at performing. For instance border collies are good at herding. Beagles are good at tracking. Huskies are good at pulling sleds.
Therefore, when you are training your dog it is important to take into consideration the breed of your dog and what your breed is capable of doing. For example, if you are training your beagle to leash walk you would have the expectation that their nose will be to the ground more often than a maltese.
I speak from experience on this. I own a border collie. When I first received him we did much on leash training work and soon enough he was off leash. He came when I called him and did not wonder off too frequently. This even occurred during off leash hikes.
In time as he became more confident in his own home and hiking environments ( I adopted him when he was about 1 year old) he began to run farther away from me. Border collies love to herd. As he began to realize how much fun it is herd other dogs and animals in the mountains especially birds in the sky (yes, he herds the birds as they fly above him), he began to run farther away from me. I began to remember about breeds.
Now we hike on leash for more training in the mountains. I will work with him on a long line for better comes in those environments. We hike off leash in fenced areas such as Tanner Park. I heavily reward him every time he voluntarily comes to me without any command and when he comes on command.
What I did….I took the breed into consideration and lowered my expectations for a bit. Will my dog, Seiki, ever hike off leash again?Probably. In my mind it will take tons of training for him to realize that it is more fun to stay around me than to herd.
Please take the breed into consideration whenever you are training any behavior or are wanting to adopt a new dog.
Happy Training!
Four Legged Scholars LLC, Johanna Teresi
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