The Bond is the Most Important Thing

Recently I was watching a panel discussion broadcast from a number of speakers at one of the big dog behaviour conferences (in this case the Lemonade conference). This was one of the free broadcasts put out over the length of the conference, and the topic was the future of R+ training.

It was an interesting discussion, with the participants describing their journeys into reward-based training. Like many trainers and dog pros, including me, two of the speakers described their path as ‘crossover’ trainers, from the older compulsion-based methods. One of the speakers in particular said a couple of things that really hit home with me. They have had me thinking, not so much about the future of training, but the future of our relationships with our dogs.

Rehoming Isn't Always Failure

 

The splodgy one supervising me working as a cheerful start

‘Arrogance and ignorance go hand in hand.’ Metallica, Holier Than Thou.

I’m going to be tackling a topic that many people can find difficult here, and it can be a real taboo topic in many places. It’s a subject that has become intensely personal to me since I encountered this situation for the first time last year. Today I want to talk about rehoming.

Every dog that has entered my life has stayed with me for life – or in the case of one working dog we had when we left the farm went to live and work on another farm with a relative, as she really loved to work. Until the one that didn’t.