Did you know what you were getting yourself into?

[HangingOver]

Me and my friend were musing on this yesterday. For context we both have absolutely gorgeous but difficult rescue dogs, both large breeds, and we spend an enormous amount of time trying to keep them happy and safe, and wandering around deserted moors and fields.

If you'd asked me when I adopted DDog I'd have said I have no expectations but with hindsight there are some things I was hugely naive about.

I guess the main one is that training isn't a magic bullet and, in the case of certain behaviours, only makes a dent.

I assumed going into this that if I read the book, paid for the training and put the hours in doing the exercises then everything would be hunky dory.

In fact you see it all the time on here, people saying: "Just train your dog". I train my dog every. single. day. Rehearsing what our trainer asks us to work on over and over again every walk. I carry a backpack on every walk with distraction toys, treats, spare leads, everything we might need to make his life easier. And while certain behaviours have changed for the better, they're also MASSIVELY context dependant, or sometimes he literally just wakes up in a weird mood. So actually a lot of the time what we're doing is management strategies.

We agreed that in the case of our DDogs training is an ongoing thing forever, it's not a journey you arrive at and then stop.

On the other hand though, it's a good thing I didn't know what I was getting myself into , because I'd have never been brave enough to adopt him and now I wouldn't have the world's most gorgeous, if "quirky" doggo. And he probably would still be in a shelter.

Anyway, what do you wish you'd known?

my dog has some brain damage it is not possible to lead walk him but he is happy pottering round. being a small dog i am lucky he does not need long hikes as i have health problems too so we suit each other!
he is very timid but has not got a nasty bone in his body. i do miss having a cuddly dog who is happy to sit by me or have a cuddle anytime, he usually lies behind his baskets for some odd reason but again its more about me so something i have had to get used to.
the other thing is it is hard to get him to toilet outside; since moving here he is a little better but i have to accept that he needs puppy pads constantly. again luckily here it is mainly vinyl floor so i can manage easily. after lifting up the pads i can just quickly wipe over with disinfectant. its not a problem to me at least he does not wee or pooh on the carpet in the lounge. occasionally he will miss the pad but again on vinyl does not matter so much.
for all this i would not swap him for the world

We had cats for a long time, I thought that dogs were self-cleaning like cats, oh my...

he usually lies behind his baskets for some odd reason

🥹

Yup every dog is different. My current dog was trained like the previous ones- had him from pup, did RKC Good citizen up to silver award... but for some reason this one hates other dogs. He'll lunge when on the lead, picks fights when off the lead. (He's 16kg of gorgeousness - so not particularly big or strong.) Don't get me wrong, I am managing this. He's actually good at walking past dogs unless it's a specific neighbourhood dog or one walking/ running/ looking straight at him, or some other imaginary offence. Then all hell breaks loose. Obviously I try to avoid these situations as much as possible, but it's not something I thought would happen with a dog that I had from pup.

Oh and not all secure fields are actually secure if DDog is a flight risk 🤣

Both of my dogs were born 'in the wild' and likely come from generations of dogs that didn't live in homes. They are just wired differently from a Labrador or poodle which has generations of a different kind of domestication! I wish I had known this (the first time, I mean, I went back for another). Like you OP, I thought doing all the training and reading all the stuff would work, but breed, upbringing and early experiences have so much to do with how they turn out. I've learned SO much about dogs and have no regrets. I find my mutts so rewarding and interesting. I feel like I'm in a daily wildlife documentary 😁. I really love seeing them happy and feeling safe with us. I wouldn't change them, but do wonder what a relaxing walk would be like sometimes!

Oh yes. One of my dogs cleared my mum's 5ft wall from a stand still....she came back!

I got my younger dog when she was 10 months old, I had a lot experience of the breed, already had an older confident male (same breed) lived quietly no children etc so was considered ideal. 4 people had been deemed unsuitable. I was told she was good with other dogs (true) good with cats (also true) and “shy” with people (understatement) terrified is a more appropriate description. The breed was bred to herd/watch/guard livestock and are naturally suspicious of strangers so need early socialisation she didn’t get this.
A year in and I have learnt alot. I’ve been round farm animals dogs and horses all my life. Unfortunately I have a weakness for a breed of horses who their admirers would describe as sensitive and intelligent but whose detractors would describe as highly strung neurotic and unpredictable. I think the many years I spent training them has helped me with my dog. I found it’s 1 step forward 6 steps back, youre not going to make significant changes in behaviour over night, some things you may have to live with. You need to have realistic expectation and your dog needs to believe that you are not gong to ask to do do something it simply can’t do. My dog has some odd little habits I just live with them, If possible you need to look at your dog breeds traits; one the characteristics of my breed is that they are independent thinkers not people pleasers, they are very much why? Is there any point to this? She doesn’t want to sit cuddled up on the sofa with me, that’s just not how she’s wired up. She has a tendency to bark because she is a watch/guard dog, I might be able to curb it but when the chips are down and a stranger approaches what she sees as has her home she will bark and growl madly. She never going to retrieve a ball that’s just not her. I guess what I’m saying is don’t compare your dog to others especially if it’s an unrelated breed treat it as an individual.
You’ll make mistakes that’s normal I remember the first time I let her off the lead I couldn’t catch her for 20 mins but that didn’t mean she could never be let off, now I can let her off and she has very good recall, she likes me enough to want to come to me when I call her, dogs are forgiving as long as your not cruel or unkind. The one thing I learnt from horses is that sometimes you have to keep moving on with training. It’s very easy to say I can’t teach Y because they can’t do X but sometimes teaching Y means X becomes clearer. All animals have good days and bad days, for example there is no such a thing as perfect recall dogs (horses/cows) are not machines. But don’t dwell on it, tomorrow is another day.
Finally the last thing I learnt from horses is that improvement are often tiny and we don’t always notice them, it’s easy to become demoralised, its worth sometimes stopping and looking for little changes in your dog for example in my case when my dog took a treat from a stranger this may not seem much but for her this was a big step forward.
My dog is never going to Miss Friendly it’s not a trait of the breed and she was poorly socialised but I’m pleased that she now no longer freaks out when strangers come with 10m of her I feel this is for quite an achievement. I’ve owned her for over year and I sometimes catch her watching me looking for cues that everything is ok, This is a huge step forward when I first got her I only had to move and she panicked and hid.
@Thehungryhungrylandsharks said on another thread if your getting a trainer/behaviourist to help get one that knows and understands your breed. I haven’t had any help with my dog she is a very rare breed but I can see how important can be if you are getting outside help in.

Patience kindness and consistency are essential for training any animals.