Why exactly do we train our dogs? So that they don’t destroy the furniture? So that they aren’t a nuisance to others, or a waste of time to us? Because it’s fun? What is that first motivating moment made out of, when you look at the puppy or dog and assume the position – that “yes, I am talking to you” position that says to the dog, let’s work on something together? I think it’s in our genes; just as wanting to work with us is in theirs. I think it’s instinct. You see a dog and you think, let’s discover what I can get him to do. And the dog, I assure you, is going through the same thing on his part. You are, the fact is, training each other.

The training can go all sorts of places. It can be a work for pay experience; or it can be a work for comfort experience, or just goofing around. Or it can be a work for the pure joy of it experience. This last level is what will change your life if you get there with your dog. But it requires a commitment to get it right, and get it right all the time. And that is a commitment that most of us are hesitant to make. Because committing to being a reliable, fair and coherent teacher or mentor to a dog is not an easy thing. After all, we got a dog for fun, and this is a lot of work.

It’s also a life transforming experience. You start off being someone who is kind of willing to get your dog to sit, or come, or stand on his head. And then you find out that if you want him to come when called, say, you need to be serious about it every time you ask. And that whether you have a cookie or a training collar is beside the point. The act itself has value.

Something definitely happens when you make sure your dog comes every time you ask him. The dog starts to do it differently. This means he has mastered it. And he knows it. Some people think that dogs are really simple creatures. I do not. I think they are just as complex as any of us. And that things like achievement and mastery and the ability to handle a challenge matter to many of them. If you get to this point with, say, your recall work, you will find that the way your dog comes back to you inspires awe and respect and a little humbleness. And that you are no longer able to be indifferent to whether he comes or not. It matters now.

It matters because you are at the point where you trust each other. It turns out the, that we train our dogs so that we can trust them. In doing so, we become people who mean what we say, and say what we mean. And here comes love, right there with sit, and stay, and come.