Dog training philosophy - which one is "right"?

[Anonymous]

Positive training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW, a few tips: eat before your puppy eats. Have the puppy sleep beside you but not on the bed. Teach sit/lay down/come and praise success. Habe your dog walk beside you but never in front.

Most of the disordered dogs I see walk in front of their owners, true story. They feel the burden of being in the lead and problems result.

What about sled dogs or seeing eye dogs? There is no logic to this, plenty of normal dogs walk in front of their owners incl mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW, a few tips: eat before your puppy eats. Have the puppy sleep beside you but not on the bed. Teach sit/lay down/come and praise success. Habe your dog walk beside you but never in front.

Most of the disordered dogs I see walk in front of their owners, true story. They feel the burden of being in the lead and problems result.

What about sled dogs or seeing eye dogs? There is no logic to this, plenty of normal dogs walk in front of their owners incl mine.

+1

My dog is AKC good citizen certified, so he's clearly not a disordered dog, but he knows when we go for a walk or to play ball that he can walk in front of me. On the stairs? No, because it's not safe with our young kids, so he waits, but there's no reason a well behaved dog can't walk in front of its owner on a walk. To be fair, your sentence is still probably technically correct, in that disordered dogs would not likely walk behind their owners, so while it may be true to say that all disordered dogs walk in front of their owners, not all dogs that walk in front of their owners are disordered dogs.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I became a dog owner in my 40s for the first time. I read all about it... bla, bla. I am from Europe. My golden flunked the puppy school! Well, he didn't really flunk it, he did what they wanted to get a piece of hot dog and then acted all frenzied to socialize with people. When certified instructor told me, I am not firm enough, and I am the problem(he was around 4 months old) I told her, here you go, and gave her the leash for a period if time. She did no better. And then made me and her assistant train outside with just one dog and my puppy.
So, we tried to clicker, the food belt, the truth is maybe my dog is defective? Or he was bred to be a lovey dovey towards people?
I then did what made sense to me, more or less German approach. And there dogs will walk ahead of you and stop when you order dog to stop. I guess what? He does. The other day, he escaped through the dog my dd left open, and ran half the street up. DH ran after him, and I just showed up at the door, yelled his name and come, and he came straight back, and I yelled sit and lay down and he did. I can honestly tell you that now he is the best behaved dog on walks, he doesn't pull and I don't make him go behind me. He has a loose leash, pulling the leash tight is how he knows I am not happy. He sits and lays down, he runs with me when I run or runs by my bike like a perfectly trained dog. I say up, and he goes on grass, I say, switch, he goes to the other side of me on walks.
And I say, night, night, he goes to his rug by my bed, I say ""back he goes up the stairs to his spot if we have visitors. And all that nonsense about no walking ahead of you, means you losing status? Nonsense in our case. But, yeah, kindness, and sometimes a strong voice, that worked for my dog in the end. There is no battle of the wills between my dog and me, he is a dog and turning your back to him is alpha behavior, imo. It took a lot of repetition, and a lot of praise, that's all. So, who knows maybe I got a defective golden?