The video at the bottom is the end result of pure frustration with what dog training is becoming today – that everything can be trained and has to be trained. This ideology that dogs can’t learn with some kind of reward or punishment is driving me over the deep end. The dog has a brain, they have lots of intelligence if we would push them to use it. But it seems today, many dogs are facing a life of “listen to me or I’ll punish you in some way”.
When we go to dog parks, I watch some owners trying to lure their dog to recall using a food reward. If that’s the only reason your dog is coming back to you is for a piece of food you have in your hand – can you not see a problem? Even then, there are no guarantees that the dog is going to come to you. Why? Because it’s found something more interesting than you.
I’ve never trained recall in any dog, never had to. Through a lifetime of dog ownership and all the dogs I’ve worked with, never had any issues with a dog wanting to run away. Why? Because we tend to focus on a solid relationship – a dog that trusts you fully and respects isn’t going to run away from you.