Why training your dog is not optional anymore

A recent article showed the case of yet another pet dog hurting a mother and her child unprovoked in an apartment building in Gurgaon. What is absurd is the lack of urgency or appropriate reaction from the handler/minder of the dog, as he casually strolls up and tries to catch the dog by his non-existent collar. (Also read: How to choose the right dog)

You might be wondering why dog bite cases are increasing these days. There are a few different reasons for this:

Dog ownership, especially of pet dogs in cities, has increased. A recent survey media survey suggests that nearly 60% of Indians own over 10 million dogs today, and this number could increase to 30 million dogs in 2023 alone.

Our reasons for owning dogs have gradually shifted from security and safety, to companionship and love.

On the other hand, dog training and handling learnings have not been updated, even though the breeds and needs of dogs have changed. Most dog trainers are either too focussed on positive reinforcement as the only way to train, while the traditional bunch is a fan of almost brutal methods like squeezing a dog’s testicles to correct it’s behaviour. The use of all four quadrants of operant conditioning in dog training is almost unheard of in pet training - most trainers wouldn’t know the difference between classical and operant conditioning in the first place.

We as a population have become more comfortable around dogs, often not taking the precautions that millennials learnt in their childhood - don’t approach a strange dog, don’t pass by too close when it is sleeping or eating, don’t make eye contact with an aggressive dog, and please don’t try to feed it your hand in the misguided hope that it will lick it instead of bite.

Dogs are animals that require our passive, and sometimes full active attention, if we are to walk and live with them safely. Yet we are now surrounded by so many distractions, the primary one being the mobile phone that is in every person’s hand when they walk a dog. Dog walkers, owners and even children are no longer mindful of their dog or their surroundings when they take them out.

We often don’t select the right dog for us or our family. Inexperienced owners end up buying large dominant breeds like Rottweilers and huskies. Inbreeding and over-breeding, by both commercial breeders and home breeders, have propagated genetic issues like aggression in Labradors and Beagles.

Most people buy a small dog without knowing that the rate of small dog bites is much higher than that of big dogs. We end up adopting puppies or dogs with no way to know their temperament beforehand, and often end up getting bitten by our own dogs when they get used to living in our home.

With so many things going wrong, what choice does the government have but to ban certain breeds and mandate registration of all pet dogs? The issues are self-propagating in a vicious cycle, led by the increasing number of nuclear families that are looking forward to bringing their first dog home.

And yet, the blame lies with pet owners who think a traditionally benign breed like a Labrador does not need any training or rules. Or that their newly adopted Indie will take to home-living like a duck to water. Or that the beautiful Siberian Husky they paid a lot for will not rip apart their Wi-Fi and phone wires when it’s home alone and bored. It’s like flipping a coin and betting that it will always land on heads, which is a 50:50 bet to begin with and worsening odds as time goes by.

Your dog needs training, no matter how sweet you think he is as a puppy. The longer you wait, the greater the chances of learned bad behaviour such as aggression, jumping, chewing and destructive habits, or simply refusing to come back to you when called. Leaving aside the police K-9s, the pet dogs I have trained usually are most responsive to training between the ages of 3-6 months, after which they often pick up bad habits at home which have to be corrected forcefully. I recommend my clients to train their puppy and themselves when the relationship between them is young, to prevent bad behaviours rather than unlearning them later. With bigger or more energetic dog breeds, additional training is often required when the dog is past it’s teenage years from 9-10 months old up to any age. This is to teach the dog owner how to mentally and physically work-out your pet, using advance obedience, agility courses, tricks and games.

If you are one of the people who have missed the bus on early training of your pup and now have an older, sharper and more stubborn dog who refuses to change at your command, there’s still hope for you. Prioritise the behaviours you want to neutralise, such as aggression or destruction. My own dog training journey started with trying to find a way to teach my 5 year old Rottweiler, Aalu, not to pull me while walking. She passed away last year with the title of “Best Dog Ever” both outside and inside the house. If I can do it, so can you.

In conclusion, dog training is not an optional activity you can outsource at your convenience. Your neighbours, your family, and your government holds you responsible for your dog’s behaviour and the safety of the people around you. Dog trainers are aplenty, and picking the right one for you will take time, effort, and money. But it is always worth it.