Mindful Manners Dog Training

Let me just say before you read this post that MJ and I do not have any kids and Maverick is our first dog.

Now with that being said let me tell you guys about training your dog. YOU HAVE TO DO IT! You know when you are walking around the grocery store and you see those kids that are loud and misbehaving? Well, chances are that the parent(s) don’t discipline or teach their children how to behave in public. They have no consequences to face  if they misbehave. Oh I am sure they hear “you are going to be in big trouble,” but the parent never follows through.

The same goes for your dog. You have to teach them what you expect and then stick with it. Now I am not saying that there are not occasions for an exception here or there, but they should be far enough apart that your dog should recognize that they are just that…a treat. Trust me, I speak from experience. We had the hardest time with Maverick and sleeping through the night. He just wouldn’t do it. The best we could figure is that in the middle of the night when he woke up to go to the bathroom  he would be teething so bad that he needed to chew on something. So like a good boy he went for his toys. But then we were up in the middle of the night every night while he chewed. OMG ya’ll, it was exhausting. So we decided no more and started to crate train Maverick at night. Oh how our lives improved! He knows he has to sleep in there and he is fine with it, but we had to TRAIN him to get to this point. The same goes for sit, stay, quiet, or anything else you want your dog to do. But it drives me up the wall when I see dogs that do not do what their parents want because the parent hasn’t actually trained them to do it. I hear them say “oh I just can’t make him because he is sooooooooo cute!” UGH! Really? Right up the wall!

So please go to training classes with your dog and learn how to train them. Because let’s face it…training classes are more meant for you and not necessarily your dog. Your job is to learn how to train your dog so you can train them at home. I recommend Mindful Manners if you live in the Charleston, SC area. The owner is fabulous and she holds some classes over at the Pet Helpers shelter on James Island. She was also generous enough to donate a certificate to our community’s dog event!