Tethering Your Dog
Tethering is the practice of keeping your dog with you 100% of the time so that you can follow the principle of Inspect / Respect. Do not let your dog out of your sight for the six weeks after you bring your dog home. Keep your dog in the same room with you so that you can prevent the dog from peeing or engaging in behavior that is not consistent with the Dog’s Basic Obedience Program that you enrolled your dog. This act of Tethering insures that you are able to praise your dog for the good he does and correct your dog if he is not behaving. If you get busy or need to multi-task, put your dog in his crate until you can give him your undivided attention. When in doubt, put your dog in his crate. For the first six weeks after returning home from training at Whispering Oaks Kennel, your dog will need to be in his crate more than you feel comfortable. Keep in mind that this is a short term investment so that you might enjoy your dog for the next 15 years. This practice of Tethering is well worth the result of a well-trained dog whose behavior becomes consistent with the Basic Obedience level. Tethering is an important part of Proofing your dog so that his default behavior is consistent with his training program.
Importance of Imprinting and Proofing in Basic Obedience
Two very important concepts are introduced during our Train the Trainer Program; the Understanding and implementation of these concepts is the difference between success and failure in your dog’s continued successful behavior at home. We use these approaches in all our Certified Dog Training Programs here at Whispering Oaks Kennel.
Imprinting is introducing the new acceptable behavior to your dog. We do this over a 14-21 day process that is cumulative. Each day we either introduce a new behavior to your dog or review over and over each basic obedience concept each day until your dog knows that this is the acceptable behavior. Generally dogs want to “please” you and does want to know the correct parameters for his behavior. Through practice, over and over again, each day of his training, your dog adopts this new “correct behavior”.
Proofing is the act of holding your dog to this level of behavior long enough that it becomes his default behavior. This is why the Two Weeks of practice 20 minutes per day and the Six Weeks of Tethering is so important to your dog’s long term behavior. When you hold your dog to the acceptable behavior over the Six Week period, you are following the principle of proofing. Now your dog behaves in this “New Way” naturally because this behavior has been lived for so long that it becomes his default, normal behavior. If you have any questions about this principle please give us a call at 404-444-9329 and feel free to call Teresa, Megan, or Mike with any questions.