I watched this video on CNN and realized they were trying to use some of the training techniques we use for dogs on children, with disastrous results. There's nothing wrong with communicating with our dogs and children about the behaviosr we prefer. But when it turns into trying to change who they are at their core, it's going too far.
A dachshund will never be a lab, and a lab will never be a poodle. This is okay. I've been working with Kody long enough to know there are some things that are just traits I need to learn to live with. He's a barker, that's his natural response to new stimuli. I can't change that.
For a long time I've been trying to train Kody, but I've also been trying to change him. I am beginning to see the parts of Kody that can't be changed and I'm starting to find ways to work with that and appreciate him for who he is. I know he's great, but like the straight parent of a gay child, I don't fully understand him.
Most parents get this, but I think with dogs, humans are still at the very beginning of the learning curve on how behavior, personality, and training interact.
For me, what I do know is that Kody can go from alarm barking to calm. So it's less about eliminating the barking and more about learning to communicate to him that whatever his requirements are for calm have been met. And that's the big thing, I still have to learn what those requirements are, and Kody's the only one who can teach me.
I'm so thankful to Kody for helping me learn all this.