Some dog owners are totally convinced that they will not be able to train their dog.
They have been told by friends, family, and sometimes even trainers that their dog is un-trainable.
I don't believe it and I always make it clear to my clients that the principles of behavior apply to all living creatures; that a dog may be a little difficult to train because of his breed, but every dog can learn sit, down, stand, stay, walk on leash and come when called.
A few years back a young guy with a Bassett hound walked into my office.
He informed me that he had told his friends that he was going to train his hound.
He added that they all cracked up laughing and told him that his dog was beyond training, that basset hounds can't be trained.
"We'll show them," I said.
We then started a program that anyone could follow to train their dog.
The program started by having the Bassett hound develop a good bond with his owner.
I told him to spend the next week hiking with his dog, playing, and having no one else feed his dog.
At the same time we began to have him develop the relationship by establishing leadership.
The leadership exercises consisted of having the basset hound do sit stays for all meals.
The owner was to control all the games; he was to have his dog move if he was in his way.
His dog was also required to make eye contact with him before he could get anything that he wanted.
He was to get eye contact before he gave his dog a toy, food, or praise.
We started by teaching his dog a solid down stay command.
We continued working on that command until his dog could do a five minute down stay.
This helped establish leadership and attention.
As the training continued we eventually trained his dog to come when called off-leash and to walk on a loose leash.
We also taught his dog a few tricks.
The Bassett hound learned to play dead, roll over, and speak.
Within a few weeks the Bassett hound was doing an excellent job with his obedience.
The owner informed me that his friends were amazed at how well his dog was doing with his obedience and that he could do tricks.