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dog store near me- what makes your dog different?
Here’s your word of the day: variables. These are the aspects of your dog that you need to assess to become a confident handler and an effective trainer. For our purposes, variables are your dog’s breed, age, life experiences, and distinct personality. Your dog is also the product of his training, and that’s where you come in. Even though the same basic principles work for all dogs, knowing what makes your pet different will help determine your approach to training. Let’s break this down by category.
Variable 1: Breed
Breed is a massive factor in your dog’s appearance, temperament, intelligence, energy level, and health. In essence, it’s the “nature” side of what makes your dog different. But remember that when it comes to dogs, nature doesn’t necessarily mean natural evolution; it’s genetic design by people who’ve manipulated canine DNA to build a better dog. What defines better depends on the breeder. Some want big, intimidating guard dogs; others are after quiet, loyal retrievers. Some want dogs who can run down rabbits, rats, or deer. Others want breeds to herd cattle, sheep, or even fish.

BREED GROUPS

Long before it was possible to use a computer to order any product or service imaginable and have it at your door in a matter of days (if not hours), dogs were one of the most adaptable tools at man’s disposal. For thousands of years, if a job needed to be done, a breeder would set about designing a dog to do it. Those jobs have ranged from tracker to herder to warrior to companion, and each new “prototype” was followed by more fine-tuned and increasingly specialized breeds, until a small army of dogs of differing size, appearance, and temperament existed to perform the same kind of job.

A collection of breeds created for a specific kind of task is known as a group in the dog world. There are seven recognized groups; five are defined by what the dog was initially bred to do, and two are catchall categories. Here’s a short summary of each:

1. Herding Dogs. These are highly intelligent, independent, energetic dogs originally bred to control livestock. This group includes shepherds, sheepdogs, corgis, collies, and cattle dogs—each bred as one kind of herding specialist or another.

2. Hounds. All hounds were originally bred as hunting dogs, with most considered either sight hounds, with excellent vision, speed, and stamina; or scent hounds, with a powerful sense of smell and tracking ability. This group includes a wide range of breeds, including sight hounds like greyhounds, wolfhounds, and borzois; and scent specialists like basset hounds, bloodhounds, and dachshunds.

3. Sporting Dogs. Dogs in this category aren’t hunters in their own right, but they’ve been bred to be hunters’ helpers by pointing, retrieving, or flushing game. They’re usually 

deeply loyal and highly trainable. Dogs in this group include retrievers, setters, and spaniels.

4. Terriers. In Latin, terrier means “of the earth,” and that neatly sums up the work environment of these typically tenacious and independent dogs. They were originally bred to dig, burrow, and chase pests and prey like rats, badgers, and otters on and below ground. They were the world’s original exterminators, and their group includes the Staffordshire terrier, Scottie, Jack Russell, schnauzer, Westie, and bull terrier.

5. Working Dogs. This group includes many of the most powerful dog breeds, including boxers, Akitas, rottweilers, mastiffs, and Saint Bernards. Traditionally, they’ve performed important and respected jobs like guarding, drafting, or working with police or military personnel. Many still do these jobs today.

6. Nonsporting Dogs. What do the shar-pei, bulldog, Boston terrier, dalmatian, Lhasa apso, and poodle all have in common? To be honest, not very much. But each falls under the catchall nonsporting classification because the jobs they were once bred to do no longer exist.

7. Toy Breeds. The toy category is also a catchall group but with a twist. Dogs in this group have just one thing—size—in common across the board. Many of these dogs, like the Italian greyhound and the Yorkshire terrier, have their roots in other dog groups. Others, like the Pekingese, Maltese, and Havanese, were bred first and foremost to be pint-size companions.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t need my dog to do any of those things. She doesn’t have to chase, dig, herd, or fight. Like most modern-day dog owners, I just need my dog to be a good companion with enough sense and training to be able to live peaceably in the house.

The thing is, just because we don’t need our dogs to do the jobs they were bred for over centuries doesn’t mean we can turn those instincts off—and in many cases we wouldn’t want to. Genetic traits don’t just drive work instincts and their associated behavior problems. They also help determine some of the things we love about our dogs: the way they want to be close to us, the way they play, and even quirky traits like the way some dogs love water or learning a new trick or watching over the kids. A lot of behaviors are hardwired in a dog’s DNA, so as owners and trainers, we’re always trying to find some kind of balance between genetic drive and our modern lives.

Of course, the best time to consider how breed impacts a dog’s behavior and needs is before bringing that dog home. I see the tragic results of ill-fated breed choices every day at animal shelters—dogs who are abandoned because they needed too much exercise, were slow to housebreak, barked nonstop, or had a hard time getting along with a family’s other pets.

There’s a genetic component to all those problems, so pet owners have to learn to either live with a DNA-driven problem or commit the serious time and energy it takes to teach a more acceptable behavior. You know which road I take. Part of my role as a rescuer is making absolutely sure each family I place a dog with is ready, willing, and eager to take on the challenges that might come with a particular breed. I take that matchmaking part of my program very seriously because the dogs on Lucky Dog have all been abandoned before, and I won’t let them go through that again.

Whenever I consult with a new client about training, the first thing I do is haul out my old, dog-eared encyclopedia of breed histories and make a copy of the pages that represent his or her dog’s breed or the breeds we believe the dog to be. That’s the starting point for any conversation about what the dog’s been up to, what kind of training will be effective, and how to change unwanted behaviors.

Often, this is an eye-opening conversation because both the behaviors owners love about their dogs and the ones they’re struggling with are right there in black and white. Sometimes the behaviors are obvious, as they are with a rat terrier. That dog’s job is right in its name, and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise when he goes tearing after every chipmunk, squirrel, rabbit (or rat) that crosses his path. But there are several other breeds—like the miniature schnauzer, the German pinscher, and the West Highland terrier—that got their start doing the same kind of work even though their reputations for crittering aren’t as well known.

Do you know what job your dog’s breed was created to do and when? What was the world like back then? And how have conditions and expectations changed since that time? These questions are all key to understanding your pet. Consider a couple of examples.

English bulldog. Although there’s debate about exact dates, the original Old English bulldogs were bred sometime between the 1400s and 1600s, many of them for the sole purpose of being used in the barbaric sport of bull baiting. To bait a bull, a dog needed to be fearless enough to attack an angry beast thirty times its size and tenacious enough to hang on until it either forced the bull off its feet or died trying. The dog needed to be powerfully built, low to the ground, and stubbornly aggressive.

I think it’s fair to say a dog with these personality traits probably would not make an ideal family pet . . . unless you’re trying to get rid of a bull in your backyard.

In 1835, bull baiting was outlawed, but as of this writing—181 years later—many of the Old English bulldog’s personality traits live on. Breeders have made significant changes, like breeding more for protectiveness than aggression. Today’s English bulldog has also been genetically selected for companionship, which makes it a great family pet. But evolution—even the human-made kind—takes a very long time, and today’s version of this once-ferocious fighter still has characteristics that hark back to the old days. English bulldogs are still physically low and broad and powerful. Most are still courageous and often stubborn. And these dogs are well known for tugging on toys, hanging on with a powerful grip, and being prone to excessive chewing. That need for them to grip and pull is hardwired into their DNA—a leftover genetic impulse from their days as champion bull baiters.

Beagle. Excessive barking is the number one reason beagles are abandoned at shelters. I bet there’s not a dog trainer in the country who hasn’t had a beagle owner call to ask, “What is wrong with this dog? He barks all the time.”

From a genetic standpoint, there’s nothing wrong with a barking beagle at all. These dogs, like all hounds, were bred over hundreds of years to chase foxes, rabbits, and other small game, running ahead of their handlers and maintaining a steady stream of barks and bays their owners could follow. Generation after generation, dogs were selected for, among other things, their good, reliable communication skills. So barking and baying—it’s kind of what they’re meant to do.

Maltese. For thousands of years, these little dogs were bred for the job of pampered pet. They were the canine equivalent of a panic alarm—a dog that would stay near, not take up too much space, and make a heck of a lot of noise if a stranger got too close. They sat on very important laps in civilizations from ancient Rome and Egypt to Renaissance England and France, serving as a combination guard dog and companion. They weren’t going to take anyone down, but they’d get very territorial, barking and even biting to protect their owners.

What’s the behavioral legacy of a dog bred to be babied? Maltese make devoted family pets, but they need someone around to keep them company or they can get depressed, anxious, or destructive. And did I mention that these dogs were engineered over centuries to bark? As a result, they’re a very yappy breed, and trying to stop them from barking—loudly, enthusiastically, and often—is about as easy as trying to train them not to eat or sleep or breathe.

So here’s the question: Once you know a little about your pet’s breed, how does this variable factor into training your dog to be a Lucky Dog? There are two things I hope you’ll keep in mind. First, things will go better for everyone if you don’t expect your dog to act like something he’s not. I get a lot of calls from frustrated dog owners dealing with a terrier’s digging, a herder’s nipping, a water dog who won’t stay out of the sprinklers, a husky’s pulling, or a retriever who keeps grabbing at their hands. Each of those behaviors is hardwired into that particular dog.

I’m not saying you can’t teach your dog to manage a behavior. You can. I’ve trained thousands of dogs and have seen firsthand that almost anything can be learned. But there’s a big difference between training a dog to do something that’s new or unfamiliar, and training a dog to do something that goes against an innate behavior. A good rule of thumb is that any behavior your dog has learned can be unlearned. But a behavior your dog was born with will be more difficult to manage. For example, most dogs are born with an instinct to bark. I can train a dog to stop barking on command, but training the dog to not bark at all is a whole different kind of challenge—one that is nearly impossible. Going against genetics is always an uphill battle, and Mother Nature tends to put up a heck of a fight.

The second thing to remember about this variable is that the more you understand the specifics of your dog’s breed, the more in tune you’ll be with his thought process, which will make you a better equipped and more effective trainer. You’ll know which practical methods and tactics to use. You’ll be able to find the perfect motivation to keep your dog focused. You’ll be able to anticipate behavior problems and figure out how to correct them. You’ll even be able to help your dog find acceptable outlets for the activities he instinctively loves.

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