Training My Dog the Easy Way

By Rob L Marshall

Training my dog was one of the most interesting things I've ever done. I originally did it with the idea that if I could train a well-behaved dog, I could raise a child. So, we got our first bundle of joy, a german shepherd/alaskian malamute mix that we named Amanda late one October. Until then, we had bought and read several books covering what I could learn about training my dog.

When it actually came down to it, training my dog was actually pretty easy. In several cases, it seemed like she already knew the commands. Others, it didn't take her long to learn. She's two years old now and knows over 30 commands in two different languages. That's right, she's bilingual!

There were two essential elements to the dog training. First, we had to know a bit about pack psychology. That is, we had to establish an "alpha status" to her. If she got out of line, she got pinned and we stared in her face, and we sometimes growled at her. The second crucial element is that we included commands in German as well as English.

There are two main reasons German is an excellent language to train a dog in. The first is that German is a more gutteral language than English. As long as the commands are kept short, dogs mostly respond better to German. "Nein" rather than "no" has more force to it, and could more easily be thought of as a bark. However, whichever language had the shorter word was the language she first learned the command in. For instance, "speak" vs. "schprechen" shows that English would be a better language to start in because the word is shorter.

In the end, we have one of the most well-behaved dogs ever. She's not food protective, doesn't raid the garbage and isn't aggressive with guests. Now, we have our second bundle of joy on the way, this time it's a human baby. We probably won't bring her up like our dog, but at least the assurance that we've trained a good dog is there.

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