5 Habits of Highly Successful Dog Owners
A friend of mine, who trains and competes with his dogs professionally - recently had a litter of Malinois puppies that are all going to be going to homes with experienced dog owners and trainers. The mix of homes varies from police dog handlers, to pet owners, to agility dogs to sport dogs - but what all of the owners have in common is that they are highly experienced when it comes to handling difficult breeds and raising exceptional dogs. Spending time with them reminded me of all of the ways in which these highly successful dog owners approach dog ownership differently, and the things they do - alongside other professional trainers and behaviourists, that stand out.
In this article, I’ve reduced down the five most important things that these dog owners do differently to the normal dog owning public. The things that stand out the most when it comes to making the biggest positive difference on how these dogs are raised and what makes them succeed.
They choose the very best puppies that are most compatible with their lifestyles.
When it comes to important decision making, the thing that stands out as overwhelmingly the biggest is the selection of the right puppy for their family, lifestyle and needs - and it goes way beyond just picking a compatible breed. When it comes to the parents of the puppy, highly successful dog owners want to meet both parents - they want to know their history and genetics. They want to see them in action, and they want to be confident that both parents complement each other to give every puppy in the litter the best change of success. In the case of these Malionois puppies, not only are both parents highly accomplished sport dogs, but the father also does therapy dog work. Both parents are notably very friendly with people as much as they are proven in multiple disciplinces - meaning that the starting point for every puppy in the litter is strong.
When it comes to picking a puppy from the litter, highly successful dog owners also take their time to study every puppy and pick the right personality for their needs. If you have ever been to pick out a puppy, and the breeder cannot tell you the differences in the personalities, or says lines like “they’re all great, all wonderful, all good dogs” - they are lying to you. By 2 weeks old, there are notable behavioural differences in the puppies, and by 6 weeks old, it is easy to identify which is the most confident, most sensitive, most excitable, and even the most vocal. Behavioural traits continue to develop from 6-10 weeks, and highly successful dog owners watch the puppies carefully to find out what they are, and which puppies are going to be the best for them. They’ll visit the puppies multiple times, from halfway across the country - and spend several hours watching all of the puppies, discussing their observations. The professional police dog handlers want the more confident, driven, excitable puppies. The tracking dog trainers want calmer, more level headed puppies. Those looking for a guard want the calmest most confident puppies and those who want an agility dog pick a softer, more sensitive temperament.
With my own dogs, I pick for a range of key characteristcs - Théo was chosen for his confidence, his energy and his independence as a contrast to my other dogs which are all much more sensitive as personalities - so that he can help me with client dogs that my others wouldn’t be compatible with. When it comes to highly successful dog owners, essential decisions have been made about temperament and personality that set the dogs and their owners up in the best way possible for success - long before the puppies arrive home.
“...they approach their dogs learning in a highly pragmatic, unemotional way. When it comes to a training challenge, professional dog owners don’t take issues personally. They look objectively at what factors may becausing the issue, and they immediately begin to implement changes to address it. ”
They have a clear and consistent routine in the home, with regular Crate Rest at its centre.
Another very notable difference compared to many novice dog owners is a clear structure and routine in the home. These expert dog owners get their crate training and sleep routine cracked on day one - and they use this to structure sleep and rest around exercise, play, food and training time. Proper sleep structure is a vital component to setting these young dogs up for success, because it also ensures that the dogs are safe when unsurpervised - and that they are not given the opportunity to make mistakes. It’s one of those things that seems obvious to an experienced dog owner, but the absolute best way to deal with behavioural issues in young dogs is to not let them practice or develop them in the first place, which means their routine is always planned, their free time is always supervised, and their self regulation and rest is a necessary component of every day. Highly successful dog owners don’t use the crate as a last resort when everything is going wrong, or as a “punishment” for undesirable behaviour. Crate rest is used as the scaffold and framework that all of the other parts of their dogs day is built around throughout their puppyhood. This consistent utilisation of the crate for downtime and rest prevents separation anxiety, destructive behaviour, toileting issues, and potential conflicts with other adult dogs in the house - and for many professional dog owners and trainers, it also allows them to much more effectively keep their dogs calm and comfortable when travelling for training weekends and competitions.
They do not spend any time with untrained dogs, or let their dogs interact with people who aren’t behaving appropriately. Period.
When it comes to socialisation, Highly Successful dog owners are incredibly boundaried when it comes to what other dogs their puppies spend time with - and it almost exclusively means well trained adult dogs that are setting a top notch example for their puppies. They don’t let their puppies spend time with other puppies, or boisterous adolescents. They don’t let them get into interactions with strange dogs they don’t know either. Which means they aren’t taking their dogs down to the local park, or interacting with strange dogs on a walk. Why? Because they know that its highly likely that the dogs they would meet in those places are untrained, bad mannered, or have behavioural issues - and they know that there is absolutely nothing to gain from spending time with those dogs.
The advantage that they all have, is that they often have solid networks with other dog owners and professionals who do have well trained adult dogs - and they regularly train alongside these dogs in private, controlled settings - so that their puppies get the very best of social experiences. Contrary to the belief that a dog can only be well socialised with lots of dog interactions, highly successful dog owners instead take an approach focused on mitigating negative experiences and maximising on quality interactions.
With my clients dogs, I advise a 70/30 rule whereby you ignore 70% of the dogs you interact with, and spend time with the 30% that are the most well behaved. In professional circles, this ration goes further - 90/10 or 95/5 in some cases. Highly successful dog owners know that there is nothing to gain from a poor interaction, and they avoid them like the plague.
The same is true when it comes to interacting with people. A group of experienced dog owners could spend an entire afternoon together training, and never touch or speak to each others dogs. You’ll never see them baby talking or making high pitched noises, you’ll never see them approach each others dogs uninvited. The dogs are always treated with a high level of respect - and as a result, the dogs are all steady and predictable. They may spend huge amounts of time taking their dogs into busy environments with lotsa of people and dogs, but they won’t tolerate uninvited interaction. i’ve heard the sentiment expressed many times - they want their dogs to know that they will take care of everything, protect their space for them and manage their safety so that the dogs don’t have to.
They set boundaries early and consistently.
One of the most notable things that all professional trainers do, is set clear boundaries with their dogs as puppies. When it comes to punishment and consequence, simple expressions of disagreement are all that is necessary when a young puppy is small, as long as you consistently follow through to the outcome you want. And because these boundaries are set at a young age, the dogs never grow up learning to use their strength or aggression to manage conflict. In fact, the dogs never learn to get into intense conflict, because they learn that ‘no means no’ long before it gets to that point.
In my behaviour work, the scenarios where strong aversives end up being a normal component of an owners relationship with their dog always occur when there has been a repeated failure to set healthy boundaries in a calm way at a young age - and the relationship ends up degrading into a situation where owners believe that their dogs will only listen to them if they are very loud or firm. Increasingly concerning is the number of clients I work with who have absolutely no ability to set boundaries with their dogs, because their dogs control the entire home with serious aggression.
This principle is almost identical in the human world. Children who are raised with boundaries and a healthy structure of discipline rarely find themselves on the wrong side of the law in later life, whilst children who are raised without any concept of authority consistently end up on the receiving end of far more serious punishments as adults - punishments which they are often unresponsive too.
They are highly pragmatic in their approach to training.
The final trait that highly successful dog owners share, is that they approach their dogs learning in a highly pragmatic, unemotional way. When it comes to a training challenge, professional dog owners don’t take issues personally. They look objectively at what factors may becausing the issue, and they immediately begin to implement changes to address it. They don’t get upset when their dog’s aren’t listening to them - they create a training opportunity and spend a couple of weeks working through their specific skills to help the dogs understand them better and respond more consistently.
If their dogs are becoming more boisterous or unregulated in adolescence, they will adapt their exercise and sleep plan to better suit their dogs needs in the moment. If their dogs show a paticular fear or avoidance, they will dedicate time to counter conditioning and building confidence, before the issue becomes generalised. If something is going wrong, they will actively go and speak to other experts and get a range of different ideas as to how best to combat the problem.
And when it comes to “good” and “bad” behaviour? It isn’t personal - and they know that their dogs are just dogs, and that they don’t have some great moral compass driving their decision making. Which means in reality, they don’t talk about good and bad behaviour at all. None of them have naughty dogs, or badly behaved dogs. Just things that they can improve on in their own training to help their dogs be better.
