How do you make a dog do anything?

Good question!

Each dog is different. Each have drivers that make them special, and when you identify their drivers you can start communicating with your dog.

For example, the hound I had growing up would do anything for Doritos. He learned to open doors, beg (of course), roll-over, and jump in circles on his hind legs. These were 'tricks' of course- but my beagle wasn't exactly on top of the intelligence chart. He just wanted to chase bunnies and eat Doritos.

The Shepherd I have now will work for praise and a tennis ball. She's 6 months old and ready to pass her CGC, I expect she will be TDI certified right at one year. I didn't take her to generic puppy obedience, because she would have turned into a dog that wouldn't sit unless I have a treat. She's too smart, and a ton of fun to train...

Basically, dogs work either for praise or correction. The reward must be greater than the task they're being asked to do, or they must have a desire to avoid a correction.

For training purposes, dogs & puppies are sometimes assessed on a scale of soft-to-hard. See http://www.volhard.com/puppy/pat.htm

This is relevant because a soft dog (think border collie) might perceive a verbal "no" as a harsh correction, whereas a bulldog might need a harder correction in order get the same reaction.

The core of training is assessing the individual drivers and characteristics of that dog and assessing the appropriate level of correction.

Hope that helps.

Yes that does sound like an industry thing to say. Think of it like this if everyone today decided to do raw the dog food companies would go out of business. Most raw feeders i have met make their own treats- dehydrated liver, gizzards etc. To them kibble is an EVIL word and they don't even look at the stuff. As far as dogs being genetically different, that is not true. in 1993 the Smithsonian and someone else i can't remember reclassified dogs as a subspecies of gray wolves. There is no reason to hold back on feeding raw. Mind you there is nothing wrong in my opinion with feeding high quality kibble. Dogs don't need fruits and veggies their systems are made to utilize them as we do. Can they? Sure but why give someone something they don't need? And yes dog food is a new invention, table scraps are the last thing dogs need simply because cooking changes food on the cellular level rending nutrients that dogs would find in raw meat useless. We've gone from feeding dogs leftover from hunting kills to table scraps to kibble or raw.

I'm no expert by a long shot but the basic thing is to recognize what motivates your dog. Or what triggers what drives are in your dog. Once that is done then you work from that motivation to either enhance it or to deter it.

I have to think about this a bit more and I'll come back.

OK I'm back!

Now to the Golden being a patrol dog, well I personally can't see that but if the RIGHT Golden came along who showed exception wiliness to do the job than yes I suppose even a Golden would be able to do the job. Golden are more prone to be people pleasers than protectors. Working on each of their individual motivations would get you a very good hunting dog or a very good therapy dog or a very good search and rescue dog. A finally a very good family pet.

Each dog must be evaluated as to what motivates them first before they can go on to do a particular job or task. Whether it is a Golden or a Yorkie or a whatever each dog will do their best if the motivation is there in the first place.

Obviously, it can be done- dogs do plenty of work for people that they were trained to do. Pets also have modified behavior. A dog is not predisposed to peeing where he's told to; his owner teaches him how to do that. Dogs can be trained other ways, but the best way is through positive reinforcement, because dogs learn primarily through pairing events together. So a dog will learn well if he pairs getting a treat with sitting when he's told to, etc.

I don't believe that everything dogs do comes down to their being predisposed to do it. If that was true, dogs would naturally do all the things owners train them to do. I think they are predisposed to some things, such as herding for some breeds. That doesn't have to be shown to them.

It's not an ability that certain people possess. Anyone can learn to train a dog. It is not difficult. The person just has to understand that most dogs learn well when they are rewarded for the behavior the person is seeking. They do not usually learn well from punishment.

Lighting, camera angles, frame croping, time compression, and brilliant script writing, producing, directing and a whole lot of retakes. Then dub a timer in the corner somewhere to create some context of real time and viola, miracles are only one fifteen minute segment away. With the right production crew and budget - even I can make a dog do anything!

With those things, I'll bet I could even make Dandie Dinmont Terrier do: Deep nose tracking, the courage test, and a two-kilo flat retrive. I admit, getting the one meter brush jump will take some careful editing ... but I'm guessing it can be done - given the proper motivation.

Oh wait ... your asking as to Dog's motivation, and I'm answering as to the humans motivation to see what he's wanting/willing/desireous to make himself believe. So I shall now click my heels three times and wish my way back to the land of reality ... only to discover that no matter how hard I try, I can't get game out of just any dog.

"Oh, I shower my dog with affection ... I never punish ... and I reward good behavior with plenty of treats and love!" --- we see these words here all the time.

Honestly ... there's no easy way to answer this question because each dog is so different. For me, the trick is to show your dog what he is supposed to be doing that makes you happy. I'm not sure that I've done this the same with any two dogs I ever had. However, it was always (and still is) clear to my dogs whenever I'm pleased or unhappy with their actions. I try to determine whether or not they really understand what I expect of them, and I show them what I want if they don't.

I'm not fully convinced that any dog can be taught a behavior that he is not genetically predisposed to do. I say this because some behaviors have been bred out of certain breeds (ex: Border Collies herding sheep rather than hunt them) for so long that there may be no turning back.

I have found over the years each dog has its own limits and capabilities. Some excel and others will try but fail. If anyone could train ANY dog to do Whatever they wanted there wouldn't be specialty dogs. Dogs have been bred over hundreds of years for specific duties. While I agree there are dogs in every breed that can accomplish the unexpected you have to be realistic in your training goals. Yes, you could train a Yorkie to be an attack dog but, how effective could it be? Training other than basics like lead behavior, housebreaking etc, should keep the dogs breed in mind.

Well, I belive it CAN be done, but it takes a lot more work and you have to accept that the dog may not do as good a job as one that was bred for the task.

For example, I have Basset Hounds (in case you hadn't noticed.....). They are not predisposed to do obedience, they are bred to work independently and think out problems for themselves. Retrieving is not in their job description, nor is walking around looking up rather than sniffing the ground. However, I've had several nice-working basset that heel briskly with good eye contact and do very nice retrieves. The trick is to find a motivation for doing something that is unnatural to them. Fortunately, Bassets work for food.

Chasing bunnies, though, that's not work, that's fun!

what do you mean by 'anything'?

Service dog material? that's somewhat genetic...

My dog Murphy is an Aussie/Chow mix.

I personally think it all has to do with how the dog was raised. Mine was raised very strictly for the first 4-5 years. he's now 12, and has very good behavior. When we went on walks, he wasn't allowed to pull at all, and by the time he was 1 year old, he didn't even need a leash (leash laws, I know, but they aren't enforced in my area)

He learned basic tricks when he was really young too, so that even when he was 10 years old, I was able to teach him advanced ones, like how to weave in and out of your legs as you walk. It's not difficult to train a properly disciplined dog.

Here are a few things Murphy can do:

Play dead, when you make your hand into the shape of a gun.

Roll over numerous times in a row.

Weave in and out of your legs as you walk, (can get very annoying when he thinks you'll reward him for doing it on a regualr basis!)

Hop on hind legs (he's getting too old for this)

Walk distances backwards(he's always been comfortable with walking backwards for some reason)

and of course, he can do the basics, like shake, highfive, sit, liedown, etc.

You need to make them want to do it. Get their attention, show them what you would like them to do, and reward them with treats when they try. It takes patience to teach anyone anything, especially dogs. Stay happy sounding, don't try to scare them, and if a dog isn't willing to please you, don't force it. Accept that some dogs just don't learn. They are a lot like people that way. lol!

You have to be consistent with a dog, just like kids, so know what you want before you start training. If you do not have any luck, try a professional dog trainer.

I spent 4 years trying to train a miniature poodle to do her business outside, to no avail. Eventually, she became so dirty that she began to poop on her own bed! I had to have her put down. It can be impossible to retrain a dog that was not trained as a puppy. It was a very hard decision, but my son was beginning to crawl, and I couldn't have him playing in those messes. In my experience, large dog breeds are far easier to train.