As a dog behaviorist, Tracy is committed to educating the importance of understanding dog psychology to dog owners. She believes commands such as "sit, stay, down, heel are all commands created by humans, for human fulfillment. However, what about your dog? Merely training your dog to do commands will not develop a well-balanced pet and neither will showering your dog with love or buying them the best toys and food. You should only consider them as bonuses. What a dog really needs to be fulfilled is a dominant leader who treats them like an animal, along with exercise and discipline.

When you have established leadership and your dog is your follower, not your leader, you can then apply training principles pertaining to commands and tricks. You will find your dog will follow your direction better and training will be much easier for the both of you.

What if you have a dog who sits on cue flawlessly but digs through the trash and chews up your furniture while you are away? There is a deeper issue to be resolved. Most people need to be educated on how to see the world through a dog's eyes. People are always surprised (and often disappointed in them selves) to find out they didn't understand their dog all the time they thought they did. Remember, when dogs exhibit bad behavior, they are trying to tell you something.

 

You can't blame the dog, their breed, their size, or their age. Ultimately, when it comes to bad behavior, you can only blame yourself! A dog behaviorist can evaluate what went wrong when in the past, create a plan of action for the present, and help you prevent future behavioral issues in your dog for the future.