How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend by Monks of New Skete

Author:Monks of New Skete [NEW SKETE]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: WORLD
ISBN: 9780759524385
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2001-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

A guide dog or a well-behaved pet might be able to attend church with you.

23

Radio Training

One piece of equipment in our training collection that looks out of place when lined up with training collars and leashes is the radio. You can use a radio to help train your dog. All you need to do is tune in to a station.

Playing the radio for a litter of puppies is an old breeder socialization technique. We play the radio for our puppies here at New Skete. Since most of our puppies go into a family setting, we feel that it is important for them to hear a variety of voices — men's, women's, and children's. National Public Radio's All Things Considered has been heard by many of our pups. During the day, they may listen to talk shows, children's shows, and many styles of music. Call-in talk shows offer a wide and constantly changing variety of voices. But stay away from "controversial" shows that feature people arguing.

Some say that rock is the best socialization music for pups, and others swear by classical music. The positive effects of Beethoven on dairy cow milk production is well known by farmers. The "Mozart effect" on human beings has been well publicized. In the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest psychiatric patients were lulled into inertia by placid music that was played all the time. As far as we know, no specific studies have been done on the effects of different types of music on dogs, but it is our experience that music can be of value. But pace those who feel rock and heavy metal music are good socializing devices; we advise being careful not to bombard dogs, young or old, constantly with loud, assaulting noise. But do use the radio creatively, especially for problems.

The radio can help a dog spend long periods of time alone. For example, Clancy, a two-year-old Irish setter, had difficulty staying alone while his owner, a young office worker, was at work. He barked incessantly. The desperate woman brought the dog in for training after her neighbors threatened to have her evicted if the barking did not stop. Clancy began obedience training right away, mastering heel, sit, stay, and come very quickly. His owner remarked during one session how attentive Clancy was to the sound of popular records played on the stereo. "The first thing I do when I get home is put on a stack of records to help me unwind. Clancy loves it. He sits right next to the speakers and listens, almost like the famous RCA Victor dog."

This tip helped us figure out an additional tactic to stop the barking. We suggested that the owner begin playing the radio half an hour before leaving home and to leave the radio on all day, tuned to a station featuring the kind of music she usually played. She should continue to play the radio or stereo when she returned home. Greetings and departures were to be kept low-key. Combined with obedience training, the radio seemed to help the setter keep quiet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.