The History of Dog Training From Survival to Internet Surfing
The history of dog training stretches back to the earliest history of human civilization, showing a remarkable story of mutual dependency. Dogs gathered around the earliest human fires after a day helping our ancestors hunt and helped to protect us from other animals. Both dogs and people are social creatures, and dogs share our instinct for complex social structures and communication, which helped dogs learn new roles and tasks as they settled in with humans. By working together, both prospered.
The importance of dogs in early human history is demonstrated by their appearance in the earliest remnants of art work. Ancient wall etchings and murals as well as pottery have been found showing images of dogs with humans, documenting the beginning days of our history as dog trainers. These scattered bits of art and craft do not give us much detail of how we trained dogs, but clearly we did. The dog's natural ability to pick up on our moods and read our body language would have helped our ancestors teach their dogs, just as it helps us train ours today.
Dogs played a role in our success as hunters and gatherers, and as we moved on to more complex tasks farming and raising livestock, dogs stayed by our side and learned new skills to help us. They learned to protect our homes and farms and to shepherd our livestock.
Dogs demonstrated an ability to learn specialized and complicated tasks, and they quickly took on increasingly important roles in agriculture.
While the German Shepherd and the Old English Sheepdog may be the most recognizable herding dogs and have been established breeds for about one and two centuries respectively, they are newcomers compared to the Anatolian Sheep Dog, whose history goes back 6, 000 years. This dog has roots in early Turkish livestock farming and had a critical role in protecting his humans and his sheep as well as rounding up the sheep.
The German Shepard has famously branched out into police and military work, showing our canine companion's versatility. But this is not the first or only breed to do such work. The Roman Empire used dogs in both the police and the military and even trained whole battalions of dogs. The dog's military service has not been confined to battle, however. They have delivered messages, guarded camps and secrets, minded prisoners and served as scouts. The Bouvier des Flandres, a massive Belgian farm dog used for cattle herding and cart pulling, even helped to transport military equipment in World War I.
The array of tasks dogs have performed through history is staggering. Their sensitivity and intelligence have made them excellent helping dogs, most famously assisting the blind. Ancient artwork shows them performing this role as early as the first century AD, and the earliest known facility for training guide dogs for the blind dates back to 1788. Today, dogs help people with a range of disabilities and medical conditions including deafness, mobility impairment, autism and epilepsy.
Dogs are pack animals by nature, and this sociability has helped them blend into our human homes and lives throughout history. Whatever changes and evolutions human society underwent, our dogs went through right along with us. They have used their natural abilities to work with us as we hunted and farmed, and continue to do so today in our evermore complicated, high-tech society. Their intelligence and affability have made them easy to train, and easy to love.
Fewer and fewer of us need dogs to tend our livestock. We rely more on electronic burglar alarms these days, although burglars dislike being bitten as much as anyone else does so a dog is still a great deterrent to intruders. But for most us, the decision to get a dog is based more in our desire for their company than our need for their assistance. While we generally don't need to teach our dogs how to herd sheep or deliver messages behind enemy lines, we do need to teach our dogs how to behave and follow some basic etiquette.
Our theories on how to train our canine companions have evolved just as the skills we need to impart have evolved. Over the years, we've developed a more sophisticated understanding of how dogs process information and communicate, and this has led to major changes in how we train dogs.
A generation ago, dog trainers believed that dogs learned best with what we thought was the pack mentality. The trainer used physical domination to teach a dog his place in the pack. This approach relied on sharp words, choker chains and even the occasional slap on the nose or worse.
In last ten to fifteen years, dog training theory has evolved. Dog psychology blossomed and new experts emerged to advise that dogs actually learned better with positive reinforcement than brute force. Dogs are smart, sensitive, eager to please and do not like conflicts, making praise more effective/ than punishment. The key to effective dog training is to understand how dogs learn and process information.
Animal behaviorists and trainers developed new techniques based on new research and observation about the dynamic in pack situation. Dogs do not have language like ours, but do have a language on their own. Modern dog training is rooted in that mutual understanding and communication.
Trainers and owners alike saw the wisdom of the approach taken by Ian Dunbar, the research on body language by Turid Rugaas and other dog behaviorist that open the doors to new style of training. Classes started to be designed to educate dog owners as well as their dogs.
While their role has evolved throughout history, dogs through the centuries have earned the title of 'man's best friend'. They helped ensure our survival when we were hunters and gatherers, and now that we spend more time on the couch than we do out hunting or gathering, so do they.
The dog's intelligence, sociable nature and adaptability make him an excellent companion and also make it easy to train and educate him to ensure he fits comfortably into the modern family 'pack'.
A generation ago, responsible dog owners loaded their dogs into the car and drove off to the nearest expert for training classes, but now that expert is no further than your home computer. Training your dog at home is becoming widely popular, thank you to the Internet revolution. Getting the latest information about research or tips on how to train a dog has never been so easy.
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