How Dog Training Can Keep You and Your Dog Safe

Dog training can be more than just cool and fun tricks to teach your dog. Dog training can be life-saving for you and your dog.

Consider this, you are on a walk with your dog and you come to a crosswalk, but you need to wait to cross until the cars stop. Your dog catches a glimpse of another dog across the way and bolts into traffic. A less ominous but just as likely scenario is where your dog may pull you off balance and you fall to the ground. Less likely to cause a life-and-death situation, but still an unsafe case. My last example will be that your dog is not fantastic with other dogs, and when they see another dog, they become absorbed with getting to that other dog. Whether it is to play or to fight, your dog is going to get to that other dog. Many dogs, when there is an extreme level of excitement and arousal, will be unable to disengage their attention and focus instead on their owner. This can be dangerous for the pair of them when you consider that dogs' body language is their main form of communication, and extreme excitement can easily be misconstrued for aggression and vice versa. So your dog may try to get to a new friend, but the other dog may not want to make friends, leading to a possible dog fight.

Dog training fits into these situations by making it so that when your dog sees another distraction, whether dog, cat, bird, car, bike, or whatever, they can respond to your cues. So if they were to see one of those distractions and you asked them to sit and focus on you, you wouldn't be fighting a losing battle. Instead of lunging into traffic, they would remain by your side. Instead of pulling you to the ground on a walk, they would walk calmly by your side or within a reasonable distance. Instead of fixating on the other dog and forcing an interaction, they look to you for guidance and permission, and if permission is not given, they can move past it with ease.

Those are not impossible goals to have for your canine friend. They are realistic and with training, they are achievable. Your dog may not be able to easily do those things currently, but with time and effort, and maybe some help from a professional, it can be done. Maybe your dog will never be super great with other dogs, but you can make it so that your dog can be safe around other dogs. We love our pets, so let's work together to make their lives and ours the best they can be.