It's Not Fair to the dog to have two sets of rules

Question: What do you normally do when your dog is surrounded by people that do not follow the same thoughts on dog training? I'm trying so hard on training and he's doing great, but family around him always rough house and teach him bad tendencies. I'd love your input!!!

Answer: I think this is a great question and one that I hear often (at least in some way similar to your situation). I think consistency is key...that's both with the dog as well as those around the dog. I don't think it's fair to expect a dog to understand two different sets of rules predicated on who they are with at the moment. That being said, training dogs is often times "easy" in comparison to train people. I think you need to do everything you can do to get everyone on the same page. Oftentimes that means simply explaining the reasoning and painting a more complete picture of the process for those around you. I think it's usually easier to get others on board when they understand the "wherefore and the why" rather than just being told "because I said so".

If you dig into our podcasts, I think we have recorded a few episodes that touch on very similar questions and that might be of value to listen to as well.

Best of luck and keep me posted.
Jeremy

DB Podcasts on this subject: How To Get Your Kids Involved In Your Dog Training? | Ep: #180 | Incorporating Family Into Dog Training: Finding Balance | Ep: #99

Next Journal: "Adding Difficulty to Deer Tracking Dog Training Tracks"