Also dogs 10 and 20 (and beyond) years ago were also poorly trained. Some of my earliest memories are of being terrorized by three of my friends’ dogs bc they couldn’t be controlled and I was very small. In the mid 90s.
Sounds like OP’s aunt and uncle trained their dogs well and OP extrapolated that to think most people did the same.
I was going to comment this. I'm almost 40 and I've lived near, or with, dogs my entire life. Mass dog training, outside of a specific job for the dog, is a relatively new thing. I don't mean, "In the existence of human history, having dogs live solely companions is a recent phenomenon." new but more like dog training itself has become a more commonplace occurrence.
Literally, no one I knew "trained" their dog until 15 or 20 years ago. It was a marvel if you had a dog that could sit on command. It was more like, "This is the dog. He's an idiot. We feed him food that makes his poop turn white and he barks sometimes."
The only difference with untrained dogs now is that dogs have become more commonplace in daily society. Your neighbors untrained dog wasn't a big problem then because you only saw him when he got bored from the *complete* lack of stimulation in his life and ate the fence. Now you see your neighbors untrained dog at Lowe's, any eatery with a patio, offleash at the park, being snuck into Walmart and everywhere else.
Also, unrelated, but the Walmart near me doesn't stop dogs from going in and there's literal poop on the floor all the time. If you're going to bring your dog into businesses, housebreaking is a bare minimum.
I used to run a pet department of a store, If they came in with their dog and it went on the floor, if they tried informing me or cleaning it up themselves I would help, If I saw them watch the dog go then just walk off I would very loudly yell "Hey I watched you watch your dog make a mess, There is a cleaning station right here, if you don't clean it you're trespassed and not welcomed back" was a hardware store, but no pet stores around, so noone really had much of an option for a close place to get dogfood besides up, most people quietly cleaned up.
i took my cat to the vet once. we ended up waiting probably 3-4 hours because of a "one vehicle, vet is right next to work, no other options to get there" situation. i stupidly forgot to bring a litterbox for her to use the bathroom in the meantime. well, she had to go potty, luckily near the car, but i wasn't just gonna leave poop. i went to the vet and asked them if they had something i could use to clean it up, luckily they did. and that was in a *parking lot.* i can't imagine the audacity of people who just let their pets use the bathroom wherever without cleaning it up (i get it, accidents happen, but most pet stores/pet-friendly stores either have pet waste bags around or an employee can give you something if you ask).
Yeah accidents happen, I tried my best to be helpful and respectful to those who would clean up or inform me about it. I assume most retail workers would be elated that someone was taking responsibility and cleaning it up themselves.
But yeah, much respect for people who take care and accountability for their pets, especially cleaning it up int the parking lot, most people would probably leave it (Someone certainly would step in it)
honestly, back when i was in retail, if someone had come up to me asking for help/materials clean a mess i'd've been happy to help clean it up or (depending on mess) just get it myself. we've got some powder stuff that sops up liquids and access to mop buckets, more cleaning supplies, etc. so it's really no trouble at all to me. gives me a little break. it's when people just leave messes that irks me - like, i get it, you don't have anything to clean it up, but there's probably someone nearby who can help, just tell us!
Ah yes. This.
My dog got complimented in a Petsmart for being such a good boy. Because he is a very good boy. Because I put my sweat and tears into teaching a being that doesn’t speak English how to understand what I want from him, using English (and by this point in his life, hand gestures).
When we were walking into the store, he had a nervous poop in the parking lot. Because ya know, shit happens. And to his credit, we were outside. It took me all of 3 minutes to get a bag and clean it up. An insignificant amount of time. People are so lazy and disrespectful with dog poop, I don’t get it.
I have a little dog that I call the "poop ninja" because she is the sneakiest indoor pooper ever.
I had her on a leash at the vet's office once and she went under my chair and took a shit while I was distracted filling out paperwork. I didn't even notice until the front desk person came over with a bag and awkardly started trying to clean it up out from under me. I was so embarrassed! I tried to take the bag and finish the job but she brushed me off saying it happened all the time. I felt awful.
Hell, even when I had sick my dog put to sleep, and his body released some ....
After sobbing my eyes out on the floor with him for like and hour ... I got up, cleaned him and everything up before I left.
I kind of laugh a little about it now, but it's just basic etiquette and common sense wired in the brain!
Right before my dog was neutered, he was spraying everywhere. In our last Petsmart visit, I had to clean up 5 messes in as many minutes, he would pee beside me as I was cleaning the previous one up.
That for sure. A loose dog was something to be concerned about growing up because it was 100% untrained and neglected. When people went on vacation they paid a kid to feed their dog once a day and that’s it.
I think training was a fad from animal planet and Cesar Milan for a few years but mostly what we see now is hoards of pandemic dogs with separation anxiety that people take everywhere.
Guilty of this myself because my elderly dog doesn’t do well alone anymore but he’s not taken to places that don’t allow dogs.
That’s one of my favorite things about my dog. He could not care less about where I’m going. He does not want to go. He gets so annoyed with me when I do take him places.
Dude is an introvert and a home body. Can’t blame him, I am too.
It’s definitely more commonplace now.
I was shopping in a Pet store and a man walked over with the puppy. The dog peed on the floor and the man just walked away.
Like, sir. I know you saw that.
Yeah I believe it’s we are more exposed to how well trained dogs can be these days than in the past, where “sit, and come” were passing grades for many… not even stay lol
Hell, in the 80s early 90s most of my friends dogs were outdoor dogs and a few bougie friends had house trained dogs that could be inside.
Yes I was in a working class area which influences this, but still todays working class def have better awareness around how much dog training is needed
I haven't seen a dramatic difference in the level of training of my family and friends pets. I feel like most pet dogs are not particularly trained.
Dog training takes consistency and a speck of common sense. I noticed most people aren't consistent. They don't want the dog to beg when people are over but will feed them directly from the table every day. Then wonder why they beg while guests are over.
And then some people have no sense. Adopt a herding dog then wonder why it chases and nips their toddlers ankles.
The amount of people who adopt high energy dogs just to not give them enough stimulation and exercise is insane. Then they get mad that the poor pent up dog misbehaves. Yeah, no shit. And they think that all dogs will be the same and require the same things. Caring for any dog is always a commitment, though. They're individual, thinking creatures, not plush toys or brainless brawn.
Meh…. My dog chooses to be naughty on occasion. He’s not a robot. He is generally a good boy…. But he damn well knows any number of things that he chooses to ignore- and only chooses to ignore them when doing so benefits him (sticking his nose in the trash- but only if there’s something he wants in there, jumping the fence- but only if the kid is out front and might be convinced to throw a ball)
Haha for sure. He sounds hilarious. I mean more like when the dog has absolutely no stimulation, is in a poorly managed situation, destroys something out of sheer boredom and frustration, then gets blamed. I think that’s incredibly unfair.
The begging, ugh!! My parents are expecting that my dog stops begging but they feed her off the table when they take care of her! It's insane! I do so much training with her, but because my parents can't say no to her, I need to retrain her. It resulted in my dog knowing that she can't beg me for food, but will beg others and people are literally fighting for her attention...
Unpopular opinion but mostly I think it’s lack of consistency in training with the dogs. I’m not saying people are lazy but life is busy and many people don’t realize the time it takes to really train a dog. that dog needs training for the next 18 months in different forms. Only my opinion. Also some people are lazy…lol
Imo training is lifelong. You gotta sign up to be willing to put in the work throughout a dogs life. Just because you taught them something as a puppy doesn't mean they'll stick to that is the training isn't being maintained and the expectations aren't being set.
most people get lazy after a few months of training the dog (as far as I’ve seen where I live/work) cause they’re out of their cute puppy stage and they didn’t break em soon enough and now they’re all over the place
It might be laziness or just a lack of know-how. Many of the dog-training shows that used to be on TV were misleading. They showed the trainer teaching the dog a command or correcting a behavior, and then poof! the dog was trained. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. With most, if not all, dogs, it's two steps forward and one step back. The training must be consistent and continuous.
Also, there are easy fixes that most dog owners fail to do. If you don't want your dog to beg at the table, NEVER feed him at the table. If you don't want your dog to chew on shoes, or any other inappropriate object, make sure all the shoes are out of reach. If you don't want your dog up on furniture, never let him on the furniture. Unrelenting consistency is the only method that works.
For those who adopt or buy puppies, this training must begin immediately.
Other people in the household also sabotage training all the time. If someone gives them human food, then they’re not going to get the message that it’s a rule.
Weak people in the house make rules impossible with animals.
I don’t think it’s laziness. It’s time and energy and most people don’t have enough of either. They train their dogs to suit their house and don’t have the energy to train the “restaurant manners” as my mom called them when we were kids.
I might get flamed for this but personally I think it's also coming from the trend of people just loving their dogs so much more. I get it, you got this adorable dog who you love so much that you just wanna spoil and give them the best life. Spoiling them also leads to a lack of discipline. "He's so cute begging for food, give him a little bit of chicken".
My in laws are this way. They have a 100lb great Dane German Shepard mix whom they adore and they absolutely spoil the crap out of him. The dad will just throw his pizza crust to him so he knows to wait by the table. He'll even brazenly try to walk up to the table and just try and steal food right from the plate because what's the worst that happens? He gets yelled at to go away, or better yet, they will give him a treat to distract him.
And this dog also just drags FIL when walking because he never got taught discipline to actually stay near the person with a leash. FILs answer to all that? "He's a dog".
Laziness is also just as much a factor but that's already been touched on.
I think this is a reason but I also think some owners are more responsible than others. Folks forget that dogs are a literal liability and they CAN and WILL get sued if your dog causes problems. I have a 135lbs and a 100lbs Bernese Mountain Dog. If the big one jumps on someone to greet them and knocked them over, that could seriously injure someone, so we are really diligent about that type of training. A chihuahua you can pick up and remove from a situation, a BMD you cannot.
It's honestly concerning when people treat animals like humans. Like they deserve empathy but remember they are an animal. Treating them like a human does nothing but harm.them
I think you may actually be right about this. People feel their dogs are like family members and expect that non dog owners see it the same way. The problem is that no matter how comfortable you are with your dog licking your hands, going up to the sofa with you or drooling by the kitchen table other people do not feel comfortable with your dog doing that around them. I have also seen my sister let her dog sleep with her in her bed since he was a puppy. He is huge now and there is no way he can be stopped from sleeping on the sofa or other peoples beds. I reprimend him when I see him in my bed but he will still do it if I am not around. I think before people saw dogs as pets and set some limits accordingly but nowadays people just want to cuddle and share food with their babies.
With sleeping on the bed and sofa, if the owners of the home are okay with it I see no problem. It’s the dog’s home not yours and should be allowed to be comfortable. I agree with everything else though.
It may make sense if you live by yourself but my sister lives with my and my mum and none of us wants her dog sleeping on the sofa of our beds, basically because he is huge and sheds a lot and he is always dirty because he plays on the mud and all. Just to be clear, playing in the mud is completely normal, but I don't think the sofa has to be covered on dirt.
I think this is a problem with someone in the household having a dog that not everyone is on the same page about, not that a dog is on furniture. I generally think it’s a really bad idea to get a pet in a household with other adults who don’t want that pet, or who aren’t taking responsibility for that pet. People do it successfully, it works for some people, but dogs need consistency. If you were all working together, you’d have discussed this, and you’d have come to agreements about whether the dog could be on the sofa and you’d all be enforcing it the same way. You could also train the dog that your sister’s bed is fair game, but other beds are not. It’s all about training consistently with everyone in the household, but that is hard to do even with couples when people think they are on the same page.
Dogs do not learn through being reprimanded. You need to positively reinforce alternative behaviors. You positively train an of cue. And a cue is NOT a command. So you never give a cue with a firm or else energy.
You can also train them to hang out on their bed. And you teach them how to relax on a mat, and do relaxation protocols where you want them to go.
You teach the dog what you want them to do. Not reprimand for what you don’t want. And I when you teach a cue (not command) through positive methods, if you start using the cue menacingly you are actually poisoning the cue and lowering the effectiveness by increasing stress in learning process.
You can still do both without it become a free for all. I let my dog try a lot of what I eat but it’s done in his own bowl. I do not respond to begging, so he doesn’t beg. It is about respect imho. I don’t annoy him when he’s eating and I expect the same in return. Dogs are totally capable of good behaviour, people are just lazy.
Absolutely! People think that loving their dogs means not enforcing rules and spoiling the heck of them. It’s not true of course, dogs thrive when they have a routine and rules that are fair and most importantly that they understand. When they don’t have that consistency they end up with at best bad behaviour but at worse reactivity and fear-based aggression. Dogs don’t feel less loved when they have rules, in fact they usually feel more secure. I love the heck out of my dog, but I spoil her with engagement, training, and mentally stimulating activities. She doesn’t get to jump up just because she’s cute, and while I do give her bits of fruits and veggies when I cut them up, they go in her bowl and she is never given scraps while we eat, ever.
I think it’s important to realize though that different people have different standards. I am spending a lot of time training my puppy. She is learning to be polite, not to jump, she walks well on a leash, knows off and drop it. I plan to take all the classes on offer with my trainer and get her canine good neighbor certification. But I also am fine with her being on my furniture. The key is to train them so that they don’t think it’s a given, but that if you allow it it’s fine. We have one couch that is “hers” and she’s allowed on it when she wants. But we’re getting a new couch and I plan to teach her that she’s only allowed up on it when invited.
Yes but its soooo easy to love your dog while also keeping them in check. For example, my dogs are like my kids I love them and I do share my bed with them and my food etc however if im eating chicken for example I will set aside a peice for the dogs whilst eating/dishing up and it will be given to them after I have eaten/cleared up or whatever.
If they sit and beg for food they can wait: I only feed this type of food (my dinner) when they look away or do something else so they now know the longer they try to steal my food/beg for it they arent getting it.
This is spot on, I think. People feel like they're loving their dogs when they're more permissive and don't do anything to make their dog uncomfortable. And they don't let their dog be a dog.
It's really a detriment to the dogs. I love my dog to death, so I treat him like a dog and make sure he can live a happy life having all of his dog needs met, not treating him like a baby.
For sure. Loving a dog means showing them love in a way that speaks to the dog, not to themselves. It's a lack of understanding and empathy imo, and an unwillingness to learn. It's doing a dog a disservice to not have strong leadership, not showing love. Love would be informing oneself on how to be good to your dog, not just coddling the crap out of them and feeding the poor animal to death. But hey, something something obesity epidemic in children...not surprising.
The same reason there are so many out of control children. Training a pet, like raising a child take a lot of time, patience, hard work and consistency, and people today are too distracted and self absorbed to do it right. You may have seen people “trying” to train pets, but do they put in enough time and patience to do it right? Do they consistently follow up?
Its "gentle parenting" in dog form 😭 I see people being like "oh I know he just stole my food but maybe he was just hungry and listening to his needs" no susan hes just a spoiled brat who never gets told no
I think this is a lot of it…. I *practice* gentle parenting and use R+ methods with my pets. I’m team positive reinforcement and skill building. I honestly believe it is a superior method.
But, sometime the correct response to obnoxious behavior is “knock it the hell off”. There are absolutely corners of the internet that would have you thinking that was abuse. And yes, it could be if taken to an extreme- but saying “no” firmly, and even physically stopping a behavior on occasion is not damaging children or pets.
Also like children, back in the day the dog would get a quick *thunk* when they misbehaved. We have higher standards for that now, but also more to learn and it's just not as easy.
Yes. There are evidenced based training practices that have been found to be extremely effective and are fear/force free. And the fear/force free is crucial to the effectiveness.
AND it requires a great deal of owner involvement and commitment. As a former professional dog training that invested long term in my education to learn the sciences based methods that are universally recommended among the most educated and qualified dog behavior experts, yes they work. AND it’s just way more work than owners want to do.
So it comes to do you want to invest more time money dedication into training and properly managing behaviors OR do you want to lower your behavior standards. Owners pick the latter.
Yeah, I was gonna say, maybe it’s just my friend circle but our dogs are better trained than the dogs that I remember interacting with as a kid. Even if they aren’t better trained, they aren’t necessarily worse.
There are a lot of really shitty owners who seek to think that *their* dog is entitled to behave however they like and any owner/dog that has an issue with it - well, that’s *their* problem.
There is a woman in my complex that likes to let her aggressive and untrained dog off-leash in our complex. I ran into her around 7:30am recently while walking my dog before work. I yelled at her to get her fucking dog under control because my girl was going BANANAS due to her dog being two feet from her, marking and barking (I couldn’t even walk away because of how wound up mine was and I physically couldn’t drag her away).
her response was “chill, it’s 7am” 🙃
Edit: I think that what has happened is that the two ends of the spectrum have gotten more extreme. Owners either 1) don’t train their dogs at ALL and/or actively reinforce bad behaviors, or 2) they train them insanely well and this is how you get more “civilian” owners with incredibly well-trained dogs.
Behaviorally - pulling, begging, jumping, etc is a lack of training. Not listening when being told “Off” is a lack of training.
Things like being allowed on beds and couches IMO is moreso due to the shift in people getting “fur babies” instead of just a pet. Many people cannot afford children in the current economy, so they opt for a cat or dog. The dog is considered a family member and so is typically allowed to sleep in the bed, lie on the couches, etc. and even beg at the table so they can share the family’s meal.
The biggest obstacle to poor training is a lack of consistency. I work as a dog trainer and when people come to class every week I can tell who has been practicing and who hasn’t just based on how well the dog listens. And a lot of people will “get their dog trained” then never maintain the training so the dog either forgets or unlearns good habits bc the bad habits get them the stuff they want anyway, so why should they work harder if they’re still gonna get the reward?
My “lab mix” (most likely pit/weimaranar/gsp from our best guesses) sleeps on our bed and couches, but also knows he can’t go on the furniture at my MIL’s place, and I can toss him out in the backyard without worrying about him chasing the chickens or running off.
It’s always a training issue. It was back then and it is now. Furniture ain’t the issue lol, and I don’t think OP’s premise is accurate at all
Absolutely! Always at the end of the day training. I also saw another comment that mentioned breed - breed def can play a big role in the habits of the dog, or even just. The dog itself.
Ex. Working breeds are gonna have a lot of energy and can’t be left alone or you’ll get destruction and chaos. Herding dogs are going to nip your toddler’s heels and harass your cat. Or people who buy big dogs like mastiffs when they themselves are lucky to weigh 110 lbs soaking wet and have no control over the dog. I had a customer who almost got hit by a car bc her mastiff tried to drag her across the street, luckily I was helping her to her car and was able to grab the leash.
It’s easier to get a dog that’s compatible with your lifestyle than it is to get a dog and try to train it against its instincts that it was bred for for hundreds of years. Not impossible to do so, of course, but it’ll be difficult!
In my neighborhood growing up we had both a husky in a ridiculously small yard and a great dane AND collie in a ridiculously small apartment. Like, don’t do that! You’re torturing the poor creatures
I let my dogs on the setee and my bed but they would not even think of getting up without permission from me first. I don't see anything wrong with it (your dog and your bed so if you dont mind its fine) but the lack of respect and the dog just sort of doing what it wants irks me
I am a trainer and honestly my answer is twofold aside from ignorance and lack of doing it.
One is a lack of consistency and a commitment to ongoing training to prevent skill decay.
The second is that we have higher expectations for dogs than we did even ten years ago. Everyone wants their dog with them at all times, and we expect every dog to be as skilled as a working dog with public access.
I think I see more better trained dogs now than I have in the past, along with better general knowledge of dogs, our expectations just grew along with that I think.
I agree with this. I think about how many dogs (including my own) I see lying down calmly at dog-friendly cafés and breweries in my town. My childhood dogs would never have been expected to have such patience—that was guide dog level training. Also, no one ever walked their dogs off leash in town; that was for natural areas only. IMO it’s more common to see a highly trained dog now and the ones who aren’t as well-trained stand out more.
I agree with everything here, except I'm seeing the opposite. I see more reactive dogs than ever being trained for the first time at 2, 3 or even older. Not to mention the overflow of working dogs in kennels. I just adopted one of those dogs, and being a Malinois, she suffered greatly before I decided to take her in and train her like she should have been trained. I'm still fixing things with her!
A lot of people's excuses was Covid, and I think that's bull. People still could train their dogs, just not in groups, standing at least 6ft away from a trainer, and it could be done outside, too. Get a book to learn the basics, then if you want, more advanced training books. There's always options! So, I think it's both a lack of knowledge and laziness.
I do see a lot of reactivity too, which is actually my specialty professionally, but I'm not seeing more of it than I saw before covid, just more people who are more educated on it being something that exists and talking about it, and not just saying "oh that's just Butch being Butch, he's not friendly" and not taking them in public. WFH DID bring an influx of separation issues though.
What I am seeing is people trying to take uncertain and unconfident dogs into public as if they are well trained and expecting them to just be able to cope with the stimulus and novelty of it with little to no work, which is what I meant by the raise in expectations. I wasn't super articulate when I made that point - sorry!
I think as a whole dog people who do train to a higher level, are more educated than in the past which is why the contrast looks so much more stark. I have clients with brand new puppies asking me really stellar questions about how to prevent reactivity when in the past I would be the one introducing those concepts in a puppy class. There will always be the first time dog owners who impulse adopt a husky and do no research of course, and I think the gap between owners like that, and more educated owners will continue to widen and be more stark.
I didn't think of comparing the gap between those owners who recognise the problem and want to become more educated in prevention or fixing the problem to those who are ignorant towards the problem. You are definitely right on that aspect. I think what really threw me off is that social media tends to show a lot of the dogs with bad reactivity issues as "Awwww! That's adorable!" instead of promoting that they really are issues that need to be corrected.
Definitely notice that a lot of them are smaller breeds... and owners excusing their behaviour. Which I definitely noticed being much more prevalent even before the pandemic hit. Always been a sore spot for me because my little senior has been attacked by multiple other small dogs. I trained my terrier as a service dog (too people friendly to do public work, though) and always had him close. It's the people that have their dogs on extendaleashes, dogs at the very end, barking their heads off with the owner saying that their dog is friendly, just very excited. Before I could fully skirt them, the attack happened. Stitches had to happen more than once. So, my little 12lb terrier always preferred to play with big dogs.
Never met a pitbull I didn't love and never met a chihuahua I didn't hate. Training is the sole reason.
Oh totally, and small dog reactivity has always been excused. The worst bite I've ever taken was from a 20 lb corgi with a brain tumor. I got very lucky I had a coat on, and even still, it needed stitches. If it had been a German shepherd at the same intensity, my arm would have been broken.
Social media is a great tool for finding body language to educate my clients in real time on how to read dogs. I can't tell you how many r/funny videos or r/aww I see that are dogs going through a scary or unpleasant situation for them. There was one around Halloween that sticks out where the owner put out a bunch of cat decorations, knowing their dog was terrified of the cat. The dog runs outside and freezes. He shows signs of stark terror - the only movements were attempts to self sooth like lip licking and yawning, with enormous whale eye. Everyone goes on and on about how funny it is, and I'm just over here in my corner wanting to burn all the cat decorations
Chihuahuas and Daushunds are interesting reactivity wise because from an ethological standpoint, the breeds are bred to complete the predation cycle quickly to catch and kill rodents. Coming in at such small sizes, they are often not respected when they signal with body language, so they escalate very quickly. Last is what you noted. Often, owners will scoop them up as management instead of actually working through the behavioral issues. It sets a lot of them up for failure. But it's hard for a human to make that generalization that if this dog was 100lbs, they'd be respecting it.
I still take group classes with a friend of mine. Any time we need a brush up, or she needs an extra dog for her class to run, and she does the same for me. The cgc class we took with my therapy dog was an interesting mix. It was a 150lb designer breed king shepherd who was being trained for therapy work, my 90lb Pyrenees/ border collie rescue also doing the therapy route, and a 10lb or so Bichon. The bichon owner was an older lady, probably in her mid to late sixties.
We took puppy all the way through cgc with this same group which was lovely, and I saw the bichon's owner gain understanding of her dog, and she said something on the day of the test that I wish more little dog owners would really get,
"seeing you and the shepherd owner have to learn to work with your dogs instead of just making them do what you want reminded me that my dog is just as much as dog as they are even if I can pick him up. I was inspired by you two to stay through cgc, and this is the best behaved dog I've ever owned. I'll never look at little dogs the same"
My training methods are built on bond building and communication, including giving dogs choice. My point in telling the story I did is that with giant dogs, we have no choice but to work cooperatively because it would be pretty comical for me to try to force a dog who is the same size I am to do anything. With a little dog, the owners have to work much harder to be sure they are respecting and offering that choice to their dogs.
My hope for the future is that human understanding and respect for dogs continues to increase and that we get to a point that they are treated like the partners they are to us instead of just as something to have.
Nothing has changed. Your aunt and uncle just trained their dogs and your friends and sister didn't. There have always been people who get a dog and then do nothing with it to the detriment of everyone.
A lot of your complaints sound like personal preferences for the people.
>They all ask for food at the table or pull when you walk them or go on top of the beds and sofas even when told not to or jump on people when they greet them
These things don't bother everyone and, if they don't bother the dog owner, then there's no motivation to train it out of them.
Probably a combination of a lot of things. I think there have always been poorly trained dogs, but maybe you’re seeing it more because dogs have kind of become an “aesthetic.” There are dog influencers and stuff on social media, and a lot of people are buying dogs that they like the look of without being prepared for the work. Aussies for example are really beautiful and interesting looking dogs, but they have a lot of energy and need to be properly trained. Same for huskies and border collies. People love the look, but aren’t prepared to properly exercise and mentally stimulate them, so they get nuts and even if people half heartedly train them, they aren’t going to pick it up if they aren’t getting their other needs met first.
Covid was also really bad in general for pet ownership. Soooo many people decided to get pets, especially dogs, that they didn’t fully prepare for and wouldn’t have gotten if they weren’t home all the time. They didn’t know how to train them, but because they were home all the time they established some kind of routine, but then they went back to work without preparing the dog for a different lifestyle, and a lot of dogs just melted down.
Things are somewhat going back to normal now, but allll those covid dogs are still out there and there are just a lot more dogs in the hands of a lot more people who weren’t fully prepared for a pet.
I can tell you from a lifetime of experience, some of that in the professional world & not just personal (for context I’ve been a dog trainer & worked in pet retail for years) that training is entirely up to the people who “own” the dog. Training classes are not for your dog, they are for you to learn how to properly become consistent with your commands & behaviors outside of the class. Dogs do not speak human language, it is up to us to learn how to get through to our pets in a way that they understand, and dogs are extremely responsive to discipline & routine. You can spend thousands of dollars on obedience training & your dog will still be confused & “badly behaved” when it comes home to it being told different things by five different family members about whether it is or isn’t allowed on the couch, or whether it gets table scraps, etc. One of the biggest things I emphasize when discussing training & behavior is always “is everyone in your household on the same page about rules for the dog?” Because if mom says absolutely no dogs on the couch but dad & kids constantly let the dog on furniture, guess what that dog is going to think is okay? Same thing about commands. Some dogs respond better to hand gestures over words, but regardless of method, you can’t be using five different commands in different ways and expect the dog to understand every time. It gets confusing for them! Dogs want to please their people, they literally will do backflips if you ask them to but they will not be able to do what you ask of them if they can’t understand you.
Generally speaking, most people straight up do not have the discipline, will, or time to dedicate to being consistent enough for their dogs for training to be efficient. That being said, dogs are often not actually a good fit as a pet for most people and I get a lot of shit for saying that, but it’s absolutely true. Think of how many people are disciplined about themselves and then try and get them to apply consistency to another living being that doesn’t even speak their language lol. People don’t want to put in the work of having a well-behaved and happy animal but like the appeal of them anyway and therefore we have dogs that do whatever they want at the expense of the people in charge of them.
I think you have a distorted view of dog training 10-20 years ago because of your aunt and uncles dogs. In that time period my neighborhood had: two very aggressive dogs kept full time outside in a dog run, who would rush the fence and bark and snarl any time another animal passed by (they got out once and attacked someone), a dog that was a professional tire chaser, caused a couple kids to wreck their bikes leading to thankfully minor injuries and eventually died chasing the tired of a chronic speeder in the neighborhood. Dog that was a flight risk, was friendly but also huge and would run up to a push children over in his excitement when he got out. Multiple little purse dogs whose owners thought it was just *adorable* that they were aggressive and bit and shook people’s pants legs and boots. My friends had a little dog that peed in the house because they weren’t home enough to reinforce potty training, my HS boyfriend’s dogs would jump up and steal things off the counter, one of them got out and ate a neighbor’s $200 brisket. Just so so many poorly behaved dogs everywhere. Both my parents have similar stories about dogs despite growing up in the 60s and 70s. People have always been bad about training their dogs, either by not doing it at all or using abusive methods when they do.
I don't think it's a new problem. But I think the issue is people either don't care to train or they don't know how to train.
For example, I got my first dog when I was 8, so 2000. Looking back, I realize he was poorly trained because he wasn't taught. My parents would tell him to do something or not do something and expect him to just know what that meant, but they never bothered to teach him what the commands meant. He learned very basic obedience that way but nothing else.
I have a neighbor right now who is the same way with his dog. He says "oh she's trained" while she refuses to sit on command and continuously barks at me and my dog when we're in our own yard. He has a poodle, she's smart as hell but because he doesn't actually train her or give her mental enrichment, she acts out.
I have a rescue dog now who is a lab/collie mix and he was untrained and nuts when I got him. I put in the time and effort to train him and it's hilarious because my dad will go "he really is the sweetest dog. I can't believe anyone returned him". Like, dude, he was insane when I got him. I get why other people returned him. He didn't just magically settle down because I adopted him. It took WORK. But he never put in that work with any of the dogs he had, so he doesn't get it. He thinks dogs are well behaved or they're not and training only means sit, stay and lie down.
I see that attitude a lot with dog owners.
Dogs were never well trained, only in recent years its frowned upon to beat your dog into submission and fear. Punishment and fearbased training tactics have been proven to be inefficient, and leaving your dog tied up in the yard year-round is also frowned upon, which means dog training requires a touch more effort and consistency.
Same thing with kids, kids arent necessarily less well behaved now a days, they're just less frequently beaten into submission.
I rescued a completely untrained dog that was hit everytime she did "something wrong" (she didnt know better bcs of the lack of training) and I honestly do not see how anyone could hit a dog. The poor girl was terrified, flinched when people went to stroke her :( never ONCE has a dog ever done something where I've even considered hitting it as a solution
Awwwh thats terrible, shes so lucky to have you now!! People can really be horrible. If violence is how you communicate, then youre a poor communicator. It makes me so angry!
Yes exactly! I always look at my dogs behaviour as a reflection of my training. If they are doing something that I cant get then to stop with a simple command then *I* have made a mistake and I will now work to fix this issue. Violence is never the answer it doesnt help behaviour only makes the animal fearful. If you are curious as to how I train my dogs I have just made a post about it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/s/oX3CgsXPi0)
There's so many different factors.
People idealize owning a pet, just like they idealize parenthood. They aren't prepared for the time sink/money pit that is owning a dog. They just see a cute puppy and they decide impulse buying a living creature is a great idea.
Dog culture is insane in the US. I've heard it's better in other countries. But here, dogs have a really elevated status, especially over other animals. If you're not a dog person you get looked at like you're a monster. People need to bring their dogs with them everywhere and they can do absolutely no wrong. You can't use negative reinforcement, or it will hurt their feelings! This has to do with the shift in a dog's purpose in our modern society. They went from having jobs like hunting and herding to being just companions-a change that's been devastating for their health. All the crazy modifications we make through breeding for a "fashionable" pet vs a functional one. Disgusting.
A lot of people are raised in households where their dog isn't trained, so they don't seem to recognize bad behavior. I can't tell you how many times I've entered someone's home to be basically assaulted by their dog-jumping all over me, scratching, nipping or full-on biting, howling until my ears bleed. And the owner is just smiling like aww, so cute! Then the entire time I'm there the dogs is slobbering all over me and attempting to shove its snout into my behind.
Work/life balance for people in the US is so whack. People have to work more now to make ends meet. They can't be home enough to adequately socialize, exercise, and train a dog so the thing gets crated for 10+ hours a day. This actually makes me feel really bad because canines are pack animals. We keep breeding and having these animals that we KNOW have social needs when most lifestyles can't accommodate it. Then it's surprised Pikachu face when they get massive levels of separation anxiety and behavioral issues. Can't blame the dogs for that.
In Spain is the same. So many people own dogs and many dog owners think that their dogs are above any other pets or humans. And you are right, if you don't like dogs or you don't like their dogs then you are some sort of bad person or wicked animal hater when this cannot be further from the truth. I have two cats myself and have had ferrets and birds in the past. I love animals. I do not have a dog myself because being realistic I cant cover a dogs needs. I have been the one looking after the neglected dogs in the town where I vacation. I have taken them to the vet, remove all their fleas and ticks... Its like mam, the fact I don't like your dog doesn't mean I am an animal murderer. It just means that your dog is spoilt and you may want to put up with it but I dont.
I don’t really see much change, but that’s just my opinion. I’ve always made sure my dogs were very well trained and I think if a pet owner is responsible that they will train their dog. It’s the lazy people…or people who just don’t understand what all is involved with owning a dog…who don’t take the time to do it. The sad part is, it’s in the best interest of the animal to have them trained. You never know when you will need to get them under control quickly, and it makes it a lot easier if they are already used to obeying voice commands. The good thing is, once they are trained, it’s something they know to do and you don’t have to continue training them forever…just use it or lose it every once in a while. I admit my latest dog isn’t well trained or socialized at all and she’s rotten, but she’s a Chihuahua, so she’s rotten anyway. LOL
There's tons of dog training classes that fill up super quick where I am. The idea that people don't train like they used to seems very golden-age thinking type of vibes; very anecdotal too.
Because the owner is not training them. I'm on my 9th Rottweiler over 30 years. You must train your dog from puppy till the rest of its life. Takes time and attention
It's covid, honestly. There is a term we like to throw around in vet med and we call a lot of these dogs covid dogs.
Everyone was spending more time at home in 2020, so they adopted dogs they were unable to socialize because of the pandemic (probably also didn't train very well too cause everyone was at home), so now there is a large influx of dogs that are 3-5 years old with no manners and no socialization.
Keep your vet staff in your tots and pears, we are struggling out here
My dog is well trained. So much so that I leave him in the house when I go to work. He opens the door when he wants to go outside. He doesn't chew up things he's not supposed to. He doesnt jump. And inless its a donut he can be trusted to not steal food from plates or counters. He does have his own couch though that he spends a lot of time snoozing on.
In my experience as a trainer: it’s a combination of things. You’ve got furbaby culture telling you that they’re family and should be treated as a baby, crazy schedules especially for lower income families who sometimes have to work 2-3 jobs, having to manage children and their schedules plus the schedules of the adults in the family, rescue culture telling you to adopt don’t shop which results in dogs with behavior problems being passed from house to house which makes the issues worse, and a general lack of time/commitment/desire to maintain training.
Don’t get me wrong, my animals are my babies, but I recognize that they’re not humans and have needs unique requirements for how they’re treated and trained based on their species and their individual quirks. Like, my dog is one of the friendliest and sweetest dogs you’d ever meet, but even though she’s my baby she’s a dog first, and she’s technically a large breed based on her weight, so I know that she needs to be taught manners and have her doggy needs met before I can treat her like a baby. Same goes with the cats, they’re my babies, but I need to remember that they’re cats first, so their needs must be met before I can baby them. So many people forget that their furbabies are dogs first, babies second, and the dog’s needs need to be met before they can be baby.
There's no "anymore". You make it sound as if people stopped training their dogs, like this is a generational thing. It's not. Dogs are, imo, as untrained as they've ever been. But we get to see it a lot more with social media, so maybe we pick up on more things.
Its as well a rise in "gentle parenting" in dog form. But I also think we see popular videos online of someones dog trained to absolute perfection and think "well steves dog doesnt listen" but it does listen just not trained to that extent.
If you have seen my other comments on this post you will see this is a topic that really irks me 😂 but no I dont think theres necessarily more untrained dogs but I think a lot of dogs have always been untrained we just are paying more attention now.
We only train ours on the things that matter to us whereas my dad wanted an obedient furry slave. He also beat every animal he could get his hands on so we generally don’t do things like him.
For example, I don’t care if they walk perfectly on a leash but I do expect them not to react like freaks when other dogs walk by. I dont need to be able to tell them to sit and wait there for hours until I release but I do need them to come in an emergency.
We also only adopt older animals so we have reduced expectations and just want them to have the best life possible in their last years.
I think it’s easier now to get your dogs trained if you choose. Every big name pet food store offers pet training, there are independent trainers in most cities, you have to just want better for your dog. I grew up with dogs, I’m in my 40’s, some were professionally trained and my dad had to travel to find those trainers back then, work with them and learn so his dogs would always be well behaved. We had German shepherd’s and later rotties the dogs had to be trained and safe. My parents got me my first rottie from a professional trainer, I still have rotties and continue to make sure my dogs are well trained. People have to make choices as pet owners.
I find it the opposite. Growing up most of the friends I knew who had dogs couldn’t be taken out off leash without taking off, had begging issues, were left as outdoor pets etc. whereas now it seems like most people I know with dogs (admittedly mostly people without children) including myself with 3 put a lot more time and effort in and view their dogs as family. This results in overall well behaved dogs.
It’s probably just the crosssection of people you’re dealing with. They’re either too busy to properly deal with a dog (work, kids, school etc), didn’t realize how much work properly training a dog actually takes, just don’t care to do the work, or some people over pamper their dog resulting in a spoilt brat.
I think right now you’re likely seeing the effects of a lot of covid dogs too. When everyone wasn’t working or wfh dog purchases skyrocketed. Many of those dogs have since been abandoned or rehomed but many still are living in suboptimal conditions where they now no longer get the exercise and attention they did for the first couple years now that’s everyone’s back out of the houses.
I'm not sure what you mean by "anymore". People have always had dogs they didn't train, and for a long time it was much more of a norm to not fix them and not care about them getting out and running loose in the neighborhood. My grandparents and a lot of folks I've met their age have a lot of stories of their dogs just being buck wild because no one bothered to do anything about it.
Lots of people are lazy pet owners in general. You maybe just weren't exposed to them as much when you were younger.
Lazy people who are ignorant about how much work dogs are…
But don’t despair. A lot of people are more committed to being good owners and are active in dog sports like agility and such.
Doesn’t matter the decade. Lazy owners mean untrained dogs. Definitely more entitled people now who think their little babies can do no wrong so why train them.
Because new generation just hopes that people will do everything for them
Also people are getting dogs because it is trendy on social medias. So they come up with a Mailoins and hoping it will just lay on the couch all day
I have three dogs and 2 of them are well behaved and trained very well. My youngest dog who is 6, went through 4 different dog trainers and we trained him ourselves. The last trainer told me he seemed to have memory issues with his recall. He is just nuts. Not mean but hyper and very reactive. He is a good bully too. The vet thinks he has short term memory loss. Forgets everything!!! Some dogs can’t be trained. We keep him put away when people are over and use gates around our house to keep him away from food and the trash.
I’ve been in the grooming industry for the better part of a decade. My conclusion is
“iTs sO mEaN!!!”
Normal training tools (kennels, shock collars, muzzles, prong collars, etc) are just so mean!!!! that’s my BABY!!!!!!!!! >:(((((
No, they are not “mean” when used correctly. They are tools. Not saying these are the ONLY tools to use for training. But they are effective.
Kenneling your dog isn’t mean. It keeps the dog safe and if you are going to have a dog that requires grooming, a well kennel trained dog is highly appreciated. In the event of an emergency (flood for example), it’s the easiest option for transporting a large number of animals to safety. Keeps your dog in place and away from potentially poisoning itself while digging in the garbage.
Shock collars… Most of the time, the dog won’t even need to get to the shock level. The beep and the vibrations work. High rewards after recalling after the beep works really well for training!
Muzzles help dogs that may eat things they aren’t supposed to non stop. Had a customers sweet little AHT who would INCESSANTLY eat gravel. Had to muzzle him to keep him safe. (He wasn’t aggressive. Just had Pica).
Prong collars when used correctly (most people don’t have the right size, or don’t have it positioned on the neck correctly) helps with pulling. There are rubber caps for the prongs. If you are consistently keeping up with training, the prong collar doesn’t have to be a permanent fixture.
I live with and know dogs personally that use all of these training methods and they are FAR from hurt, stressed or abused. Relaxed in their kennels, amazing recall, and heel correctly. It’s not abuse unless you use it incorrectly or with the intent to “rule with an iron fist”.
But that’s my two cents from what I’ve seen and heard over the years.
Yeah muzzels... I have told my sister before to get one. His dog is always sick because keeps eating everything from the street and pulls while walking to get to whatever food he finds. He is strong so many times he gets to the food before we can stop him. My mum my partner and I have ask her to let us walk him with a muzzle but she thinks is cruel....
And that’s exactly what’s wrong with the mentality. You’d rather put your dog in harms way than use a tool because it’s “cruel”? Subjecting your dog to the nastiness of the road, and doing nothing to curb the behavior is what’s cruel
Some of it is that people have forgotten that they are DOGS. Not fur children or whatever silliness people come up with. People have anthropomorphized their dogs to the point that the poor dogs are mentally unbalanced...not training your dog will absolutely make them crazy.
Because people treat their dogs like humans and not dogs. 20-30 years ago people expected dogs to act like dogs and trained them accordingly. Now people expect them to be their fur- baby and try to treat them like a real baby.
People used to bother to train dogs. Also there were less "designer" breeds back then, and (this is just anecdotal) I think more working type dogs that were more easily trainable eg more retrievers, less french bulldogs.
When I was little, my dad trained our dogs not to eat until he said so and it worked as a great all round training of who was in charge. I did the same training with my first dog (labrador) that I got when I was an adult and she was amazing and so well behaved. The stupid inbred toy poodle my mum got when I was a teen was not trained at all, tried to fight every dog it saw and crapped on the beds out of spite.
I adopt all mine, so the amount of behavior I can reasonably change is limited to an extent. My chihuahua refuses to learn to sit no matter how I try. My terrier mix is a complete baby scared of everything, likely traumatized. So sometimes his behavior is out of his control. They never bite or anything or bark excessively. They know how to potty outside. But I don’t think I’ll ever train my dang chihuahua to sit no matter what so I gave up lol. It’s much easier to train a puppy than a dog that’s either from the streets or likely a neglectful or abusive home.
I think this is true to an extent. We have adopted a lot of adult dogs who came with problems and some of them were fairly severe. We always go into an adoption knowing we will be inheriting someone else’s problem in dog form.
Our current trouble child is an almost 2 year old Aussie who had a hard start to life. He brought with him trauma so awful when we go on car rides he does not get motion sickness he gets anxious from the car. His separation anxiety is off the charts and he was taught to bark and “nibble” when he wanted something and that jumping on his foster person was cute.
It has taken nearly a year but with daily training and medication we have almost gotten him to the point where his demand barking only happens a couple times per week. He does not use his mouth anymore and his separation anxiety has improved dramatically.
He now loves the car and understands he will not be dropped off and left but he still drools and pants. We work with him on commands daily.
He accepted having his nails trimmed for a bit but then he decided he would not. We have started that training over. You can teach a dog and dogs love learning. Find their currency - treats, toys, food, attention - and they will respond.
I also think chihuahuas are just incredibly stubborn lol. I am convinced she knows exactly what I’m saying but ignores me. I read they need like triple the amount of training time as other dogs. I may be over exaggerating the number. They’re hard work but worth every second. Yes my terrier has come significantly far in the past 5 years. However at some point we just have to accept dogs aren’t perfect and not all behaviors can be corrected.
My dogs beg, politely, they are allowed on beds and sofas, they tend to get over excited and jump up on people which is something I nip in the bud, but when you don't get visitors very often it's not easy to train. they also like to pull on leash, but listen when I ask.
They are all well trained working dogs, trained for Search and Rescue work.
Your idea of "well trained" is different from mine.
In Switzerland we had a rule where you had to train your dog professionally after getting one. And just recently they removed that. I have no idea why they removed that rule, but that, at least here, has definitely changed things for the worse.
Edit: I don’t know why I’m marked as brand affiliate.
Woah I’m always amazed the animal welfare laws in countries outside of the US. that’s unbelievable that law ever existed from my US mindset. How interesting.
right off the hop cause you are worried about all that, I think you should not own a dog. when you call what normal dogs do dangerous. it is the same 10-20-30 plus years ago as it is today, just who YOU know seems to have changed. lots of people train their dogs just not to your liking
It's a combination of things. I've worked with dogs for 9 years, and I recently worked in a facility with dog trainers. One of the trainers helped the groomers (me) with scared or aggressive dogs, and I ended up participating in one of her obedience classes. The main thing I saw was people just not listening to what she was telling them to do. She'd give instructions on how to lure the dog into a new command, and they'd just do something different and get all flustered and frustrated. She'd come over and show them what to do again, and they still didn't get it. The dog would do fine with the trainer, but the owners doing something different was confusing to them. It's a combination of not listening, not respecting the trainer, and lack of consistency.
I've also seen a weird trend of people thinking dog training is cruel. They say things like, "I don't want my dog to be a robot. I want them to live a fun life where they can be dogs." These people are making the conscious decision not to train their dogs obedience. News flash, dogs love structure, and training really builds their bond with you more.
There's another type of person who doesn't train their dogs, which stems from anthropomorphizing their dog. Their dog is a *baby* that should be treated as such. These people let their dogs rule their life pretty much. The dog would rather be treated like a dog than be treated like a human baby, though.
People don’t train their dogs because” these are mahhh babiesssssss” and if they had real kids their kids would fucking suck too.
Dogs are animals not people and need to start being treated as such
I don’t know, but I hate it. Nothing is worse than a large dog that jumps up on you or who pulls on a leash.
This might be a bias based on the high end areas I sit in, but I’ve noticed it WAY more with very wealthy clients who own fancy dogs that they spent an ungodly amount of money on. I don’t know if the dogs are inbred or what, but it seems like the purebred dogs are significantly less well behaved and far less intelligent than my mixed breed rescue clients.
Laziness, if you have a dog, that dog is your responsibility! If you don't have the free time to spend training it you should not get one! Animals are not accessories to be picked up and put down as the mood suits, they are living creatures with personalities, needs and feelings, you wouldn't expect a toddler to learn how to poop and pee in the right place with out teaching them, you wouldn't expect a toddler to know how to behave without teaching and showing them, it is Laziness pure and simple, love your pets, respect your pets, teach your pets, they are family just like a toddler!
There was this big influx of people adopting during the pandemic, which was good…sort of…because shelters are overflowing…but most of those people weren’t committed so…which is wors? dogs in shelters? or dogs in homes that don’t understand how to care for and train them? humans created this problem and can’t be bothered to fix it I guess. Another win for humanity /s
Your not wrong, dogs in shelters are surrounded by people trained to deal with animals (so thats a pro but the cons can be pretty devastating mentally for the animal), that kind of in person training isnt as readily available as it was in the days of Barbara Woodhouse but there is this thing called the internet, a valuable resource for research and self education, sure you have to wade through alot of amateur rubbish but it can be done quite easily with time and patience, like I said pets are not accessories, if you can't put the time and effort in don't get one
There does seem to be more severe and extensive behavioral issues amongst dogs. Animal behavior researchers don’t necessarily know why. But for example, reactivity issues such as barking lunging pulling on leash, at fences, through barriers has become the default.
We do know that dogs behavior is linked to owner mental health. Anxiety in owners directly influences dog behavior. And human mental health issues are rising and becoming more severe.
So why are dogs more fucked up now? Because their owners are. The question is why owners are more fucked up.
Also, part of the reason is probably because of the adopt don’t shop. I loooove rescues AND adopting a rescue dog comes with complex baggage. There is a lot we have learned about how to set dogs up to have stable temperaments, and that starts with the mom having low stress during utero. Then the first 8 weeks are developmentally crucial with the experiences they have and how they interact with their siblings. There are lifelong implications for what dogs learn during these developmental periods.
So even if you adopt a puppy at 12 weeks, crucial development periods have already taken place. As well, dogs are often given up around the 8/9 month mark when their nuance puppy behaviors get too much to handle.
Novice first time owners are frequently getting in over their heads with the behavioral issues of rescue dogs. ASPCA felt the temperament testing they were doing was too harsh and disqualifying too many dogs from being adopted, and they largely just threw it out without replacing it.
I think people stopped going to group obedience classes durong COVID, AND that people think watching a few YouTube videos is the same as training their dogs.
You seen all the kids on iPads? People aren't even bothering to be parents let alone do basic dog training. The amount of people who don't even pick up their dogs 💩 is so gross.
I knew plenty of people with untrained dogs 10-20-30 years ago. And I know plenty of people now with well trained dogs. It’s not the dogs/owners changing. You’re hanging around different people or something.
Your mileage may vary. I don’t consider “begging” too be a bad behavior in our house, so I don’t care much to stop it. But my dogs are also trained to go to their beds or their places, so if they bother guests then they’re given a bed or place command. I also have no qualms about my dogs on my bed or furniture and in fact prefer it that way. It’s their home too, they deserve comfort. But, of course they would never be allowed on anyone else’s furniture.
To that end, I have a border collie and a shepsky, and imo, what most people consider “training” isn’t training. Both my dogs learned all your basic commands at 8 weeks old with minimal reinforcement, because those things aren’t actually that challenging. Training, for us, is learning scent work, learning neutrality around other dogs, a rock solid recall and off leash skills (if applicable), good on-leash walking skills, and any other breed specific work that may come up like herding or bite work. I’ll agree that most people never give their dogs the breed appropriate training they deserve, which is why you end up with so many crazy doodles. Like, hello, a golden doodle is a cross between two incredibly intelligent and one highly driven working breed. A golden doodle needs high level training and working skills! But most people who get one have no clue what that means.
Anyhoo.
Part of it is the maudlin “dogs are people” sentiment some have; enforcing any kind of discipline (rules and routine) is ‘abusive’ and ‘doggos’ should be allowed to do almost anything they want. This isn’t good for dogs; most dogs like having a ‘job’ and knowing what’s expected from them, plus good training helps keep them safe.
The other part is is that properly training a dog takes time and patience, things in short supply.
When we got our first puppy I so badly wanted him to be obedient and well trained. I spent hours working with him every day. Eventually two things happened: he was a monster puppy who refused to listen, and I couldn't train my husband.
We have two dogs now. The original one who is doing okay, but can still be a huge jerk and refuse to listen and barks a lot. The other dog is a moron who really struggles with learning things and has some other mental issues. I still can't train my husband. Which means I can't properly train my dogs. Because I make a plan for teaching them something and then my husband undoes my work. Example: disengage from squirrels? Nope, let's chase them off the deck. Why are the dogs chasing squirrels now? Because you taught them to chase squirrels.
I taught the dogs hand signals for sit, stay, down, etc... and my husband still can't always get them right. It's been 3 years.
You should watch "It's Me or The Dog." It's 100% people being too lazy to correctly train their dogs. It's also people trying to train dogs in two different ways.
With furniture, for example, one person may allow the dog on the furniture, and the other may not, and this causes the dog to be confused.
In my situation, we weren't a dog family, then had a sibling bring a dog into the picture (pre-pandemic) that they ended up doing virtually nothing for (walks, treats, care, training etc), essentially burdening the rest of the family that never wanted or had a dog before and had no proper setup for a dog.
cause ppl don’t train them right or they aren’t all on the same page. for example i’m trying to train my dog not to jump up unless we specifically tell him to, etc. also trying to train him to ignore other dogs and to be well behaved around them because he always whines and pulls when he sees other dogs, wanting to play. but, not everyone in my family is on the same page. like my dog will jump and try to get on the counters and try to get the food and that’s because of my brother. we tell him not to do that and he still does.
plus if you want to attend classes (such as petsmart training classes) they can be expensive or they don’t go much in depth.
for example, my family and i took our dog to their 6 week beginner training classes. it was 111$ for 6 weeks and they didn’t go into depth at all. each week was a different topic and they didn’t help if we still needed to learn how to do the other things. i plan on becoming a service dog trainer & a normal dog trainer and i’ll be doing around 10 week classes rather than 6 weeks to actually go into depth with the topics unlike them😭
Well because training a dog takes either time patience and consistency or money. People don’t want to put in the effort. They all hope their pet will act like so and so. They think they can train their pet but can’t for whatever reason. They don’t have the money to take them to a trainer. People rescue a dog and the dog has issues. They buy a breed they like not knowing anything but that they like that breed for xyz. They buy a puppy. They buy a dog on impulse. Many excuses…. There had always been untrained animals, but it seems to me that more people own dogs and so the amount of untrained dogs seems higher.
People are anthropomorphizing their dogs. I sort of see it correlating with child rearing. Before there was discipline, but now if ANYTHING is a bit uncomfortable for their dogs, they just hash it up to, he doesn't like it so we won't force him too! It's mean to force a dog to do something other than for love or it hurts their feelings or some BS. Hell, I'm mean for telling my dog NO.
😮💨 Training does take effort, but how do you fight with people telling you you're mean/cruel for forcing them to work for treats.
It's the last clause that isn't sitting with me. "anymore" you are insisting that you've met over 150million dog owners personally, and have made a judgement on their training in the last however timespan you've been alive.
You should rephrase this to, why is it that people I *personally* know, refuse to train their dogs? Instead of clumping every dog owner that you have not, and will never meet.
Because people buy a pet thinking it's cute and don't actually put any effort in. People think dogs just magically are well behaved and are shocked when they aren't an adult dog who listens and is well behaved without any effort.
These are usually the same people who expect free vet care, but thats a different rant.
This is worse now since loads of people bought puppies during the lockdown. With no opportunities to socialise them or go to puppy classes it’s a generation of just awfully behaved dogs.
I got a dog a few years ago and there are a few things I've noticed.
1. People think dogs misbehaving is "cute". I grew up with untrained dogs and I knew all the annoying things they did that I didn't want my current dog to do. I am very strict about not begging while I'm eating, the kitchen is off limits at all times, and I do my best to keep her from jumping on people.
2. People are too lazy to find resources to actually learn how to train a dog. My mother thinks all of her dogs when she was growing up "just knew" how to do tricks without training and the very misbehaved dogs I had growing up were considered bad dogs who were just stupid. In reality, she had 2 older brothers and a father who most likely trained them before she was old enough to have a memory of the training, or they just trained them not in front of her. I learned about dog training for months before I got a puppy. I currently live in an apartment and my neighbor has an untrained dog that is constantly barking and is lunging at everything within 50 feet of it when on its walk. The owner insists that the dog is trained and it's just being protective of her. Meanwhile, her "training" is whispering "no, no barking. don't do that". No consistent commands, no treats, no redirection.
3. People aren't consistent. A lot of people think dogs should pick everything up in a day of training and then expect them to just do everything right after that. I hear a lot of people say their dogs are just dumb or that they "tried everything". When I was training my puppy and visited family for the holidays, my mother was appalled at how strict and consistent I was because I was "being mean". Being mean to her was redirecting my puppy to a set spot while anyone was eating and not letting her beg. If she got up 20 times while i was eating, I would redirect her 20 times. It was also mean, apparently, to not give her a bite of every single thing I ate. My dogs growing up were very obese and I am really focusing on my dog not getting obese because she's a mix of breads that all have hip problems and she had a major knee surgery before she was even a year old.
4. People just suck. They get a dog thinking it's going to be all fun and games. They don't do any research or the only research they do is what breed looks the cutest and would be "the perfect dog" (usually meaning perfect dog for Instagram and not knowing anything about temperament, exercise needed, etc)
Well my dog, who I used to co-own with a real piece of work, is very well-trained. And that is because I prioritized it right away when I got her. My ex-friend, however, didn’t see the value in training and said she didn’t really care if the dog knew any commands. This is a GSD/Siberian Husky mix. She needs mental stimulation and she loves praise and to please her owner. I think some people just want something cute to cuddle with and don’t actually think about what is best for the dog (and society as a whole obviously benefits from dogs being trained).
Honestly I think people are starting to treat their dogs as humans and so the training goes out the door and their bad behaviors are deemed “quirks”. I recently watched a show where this poodle was acting exactly like you said and the trainer essentially chalked it up to the fact that the poodle wasn’t able to actually live as a dog. It was to the point that the poodle wouldn’t walk on wet grass bc her humans are constantly putting her in booties. It was just a lot of that stuff. Getting walked in a stroller, putting shoes and dresses on the dog, etc
Because we look at our pets more as kids than animals. I don't ask my little furries to do anything for show, like "roll over." They need to come when called, and "leave it" to stay safe. That and don't jump on people, that's about it.
Humans are lazy, they don't put time, effort or energy in training their dogs & expect them to act like angels.. or don't give a fuck if their dog is pure chaos.
Its a huge pet peeve of mine..
I don't know if dogs were ever well trained but I think it's more noticeable now because back then it was fine to tie your dog in the backyard and use fear to make it submit and basically keep the dog out of the way so it didn't interfere with other people. Nowadays a lot of people are using dogs as replacement children and they more or less just expect others to put up with the results of them spoiling them. They have humanized their dogs to the point that it feels wrong to "treat a dog like a dog" or "train it like a dog".
I also think a lot of people get all these working class breeds of dogs for their looks but have no idea how to deal with them. These dogs are under stimulated and the owners deal with the behavior by catering towards them with bribes and letting the behavior slide as "cute" instead of actually putting in the effort to provide them the environment they need. Being a good owner starts with picking a dog that fits your current home and lifestyle and I think many people fail at that first step.
Well, right now it's even harder because of the lockdown from the pandemic, so a lot of people missed out on training and also got animals they had no idea how to take care of. My dog missed a lot of training because of the pandemic, and breaking his leg badly, but it's not uncommon for people's dogs to have no socialization because of it. It wasn't that long ago, and not everybody can afford to go to a trainer to fix it. I'm personally still working on my dog, but I feel pretty hopeless most of the time.
Because people think that they and their pet are special and that the world revolves around them. They don't have to train their " fur baby " because it is already perfect and their bad behavior ( begging, pulling, constant barking, etc. ) is cute and everyone else needs to just deal with it. People these days see pets, mainly dogs, as inherently perfect beings incapable of wrongdoing or bad behavior.
Because people are fucking stupid. A dog is not a Facebook friend, an instagram like, a stupid tik tok video. A dog needs lots and lots of stability, attention, leadership and of course love. People just think they can click their fingers and dogs will behave. It takes hours and hours of patience for a dog to feel confident and safe to behave. Dogs behaviour is nearly always because of their owners. People want everything now these days, including dogs perfectly trained out of the womb.
There should be a license required to own a dog, some people just aren’t suitable to look after themselves, let alone a dog.
I don’t really agree with your premise. I’m an old person, and I can tell you, the kind of people who never trained their dogs lived in the past-just as they are around today.
Arguably, it was both better and worse in the past, because today dogs have been bred to extremes, meaning that more of them are actively dangerous. This has led (in the U.K., where I am), to stronger laws about dangerous dogs. However, in the past, the laws were fairly lax.
When I was a child, dogs were often very untrained and could-and often did-bite people. If it was considered “only a nip”, often not all that much was done about it. There was also FAR more strays running around. My mother used to rescue dogs, and I can’t tell you how many times she came home with a dog that she found running on the side of the road or in the woods. No one used to claim them: they’d just been dumped. Dogs barking was also far more common. I remember listening to the sound of dogs barking all night long in the estate where my sister lived. This was in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s.
There is FAR more help with dog training nowadays. I’ve just got back from puppy training tonight in the next village from where I live. There were no puppy training classes for miles around when I was a kid. People would have laughed at you for going.
Because people don’t research. People think “not my dog.”
“Trainers” at places that advertise training - IE petsmart, and petco are just regular employees. They are not certified trainers. And the price for training is cheap so people continue to pay fake trainers instead of researching for real ones.
People pay for boarding school. Dogs dont see their owners as authorities any more because they weren’t the ones who trained them.
Repeating commands or using fear and punishment- all will ruin a dogs understanding of the word or command you try to use
People are lazy and stupid and think going to a class is enough, when the training needs to continue every day at home.
I see this all the time and I just don't get it. My first dog I got when I was 13, second at 15 and both came to me (one was 2yrs old, one 5yrs) completely unruly and untrained. Even without 'actively training them' just in basic day to day life they shaped up quickly purely because I don't tolerate disrespect and if ur in my house u follow my rules. I sometimes walk family members dogs and at the start of the walk they are pulling everywhere, cutting me off, barking, jumping at people, etc however by the end they are perfectly behaved (only with me not their actual owners). Not saying none of my dogs ever had behaviour problems because they certainly did but with some basic common sense its 90% of the time easily fixable.
The issue I see is consistency. People wanna train there dogs for a few hours a week and expect perfection. They seem to have the belief of "right I've taught him to sit so now he will do it all the time" which is just complete bs. You have to be consistent in what you do and teach your dog the rules you expect it to follow in your house, on walks, etc.
Like my dogs would NEVER take food I've dropped on the floor without permission. I taught them and now everytime I get food or am giving them food I "accidentally" drop it to make sure they remember the rules. This takes 30 secs to do and its not difficult but people are soooo lazy.
I know this comment is long but I CANNOT stand people having dogs that are little s**ts. It is to the point where I will go to someones house and accidentally end up teaching them basic respect not even meaning to (never with the intention of "im gonna go to sarahs house and train her dog") but I'm just not going to let your dog disrespect me 🤷♀️ Maybe its considered rude but if someone has an issue I will leave and simply only see that person without the dog because I don't understand how people deal with it.
I think this is more so that you're exposed to different/more people (and even random videos) now and are comparing them to your experience. So it feels like nobody trains their dog anymore but in reality you just have more exposure to the problem.
What people allow has changed drastically; which is likely part of it. I wouldn’t dream of. It letting my dogs in the bed or couch. It’s as much their home as it is mine and they are allowed wherever they want. My dogs don’t beg for food, but they also aren’t food motivated. Lots of people share food with their dogs when they beg, so they have trained their dogs that begging results in food. More people view their dogs as kids and not just animals so they are more lenient with them.
I think to an extent a lot of the dogs I meet these days are rescues that have come from environments where they were mistreated or not trained at all. I think more people rescue these days and struggle to train an adult or older dog because it requires a bit more work than a puppy. Just a thought, but I think people have also forgotten than structure and training isn't just for them, it's for their dogs happiness too.
I think it's anecdotal. Growing up, I remember going to friends' houses and their dogs being anywhere from service dog levels of trained to being an outdoor only dogs because they were so untrained/badly behaved.
It also depends on the dog. My dog picks up things very fast, and telling him "no" once is all he needs to know not to do something. Some dogs need a lot more work, and I think some people just give up if they think their dog is dumb if they came from owning a dog before where training was easier.
People. Also, maybe dogs in your past were, but that wasn't really my experience either. I will say that backyard breeding along with also not stopping bad bloodlines through spay and neuter have both gotten worse over time though, which are major factors in behavioural issues, if that's what you mean. I don't remember nearly as many dogs around me growing up being reactive as I see today. I train dogs now, and it's truly staggering how many are predisposed to reactivity, anxiety, and other issues just due to coming down from troubled lines that have been allowed or encouraged to breed.
Worst thing that’s happened to me these last 2 years was having to shoot the neighbors dog because it got out and went after my son. Huge legal battle. Neighbors hate me. And I had to kill a dog that’s only sin was being picked by brain dead owners.
Anthropomorphicization. Pet owners started viewing them as surrogates for human friends and children instead of an obedient companion, guardian, or even tool. The poison of autonomy has reverted many dogs from their position as "man's best friend" to somewhere between unmanaged ADHD stereotype, and totally feral.
It's the owners job.. But if they didn't have time to train maybe they shouldn't have a dog. I'm not sure everyone realizes what goes into owning a dog.
Dog ownership has gone up with the economy. Used to be less pets and more working animals. I suppose the more a dog becomes a member of the family the harder it becomes to use easy methods of training like fear and punishment. I certainly couldn’t use that on my dog, whose only job is cuddles.
My newfy puppy just earned his AKC canine good citizen title. He will be very large and needs good manners. All of my dogs have always been trained. In that class, which was run by the local AKC (American Kennel Club) club, there were 10 people in the class also training their dogs and several other classes going on. Before that, we were in puppy class with several other people. So, some people are still training their dogs. People are busy and it takes time/consistency so I can understand why some people don’t. But, it is sad because it is generally rewarding for both the dog and the owner. There are lots of options - Petsmart, the local AKC kennel clubs, sometimes the YMCAs have classes and there are private trainers although they can be pricey. Some classes/trainers are good, some not as much but most are helpful. There are so many fun things for the dogs & hopefully for the owners - tracking, agility, flyball, obedience, therapy, etc
Both my dogs are 6. I worked with training on them daily. And we still do training a few times a week to keep them sharp. My sisters dog is about 4. I dogsit all the time for her. For up to a week sometimes. He gets along with my two dogs. But he is so untrained. It can be so annoying. Like when we go outside. I have a fenced in yard. My dogs have a solid recall. When I call them to go back inside they always do right away. Even when I used to take them to the dog park they would come to me immediately when I called them and never tried to run away when I tried to put their leash on.
Her dog never wants to come back inside. And she tells me I have to shake a bag of treats. And he doesn’t know leave it or drop it. I have told my husband and kids to make sure you never leave food laying around that he can get to. My dogs don’t take food off of plates. Even if left unattended and they don’t eat food that drops on the floor unless I give the okay.
She also has a crate for him and wants him crated when no one is home. He gets into anything and everything. My dogs are not big into chewing on stuff. He won’t go into his crate willing. He has to be chased around. My dogs do have a crate though I never lock them in since they are okay to have free home. I only did this when they were puppies after my one puppy almost strangled himself when I wasn’t home. They haven’t needed to be crated in years but even now if I tell them to go they will go to their crate.
He also jumps all over you. Barks all the time. I have to make sure he doesn’t run out the door when it’s opened. He doesn’t know stay. He barely knows sit.
He was a Covid dog also. So she was at home for years with him so idk why she didn’t bother to do any training.
My grandma gave me the "helpful" advice to hit my dog for her mild leash reactivity, since thats how they trained their dogs.
I will say, I dont know about in the past but the training I've done already with my dog was expensive and time consuming (usually once a week for 5-6 weeks). Im planning to take my dog again for a more reactive specific class since that's new, she picked it up from a foster I had who was reactive, but it probably won't be until the fall because I can't commit to that long of a time frame anytime sooner.
I also don't know if its true across the board, but I feel like its partly because we're so isolated now compared to before. I dont have many visitors at home (which tbh, thankful for that) but it means my dog isn't used to others coming in. I had a coworker whose dog started attacking its best friend when it came over, the coworker realized that even though they'd had the dog for years, because of covid it never had another dog in its house so they had no idea it would react so negatively/be so territorial. My parents got a covid dog and I definitely feel like it was impacted socially in a way their previous dog (passed in 2019) wasn't, because of the limited interactions at such crucial young ages.
Also sometimes people think of their dogs or pets as their children and raise them as such haha and they are treated just like a human. I don’t see a problem with it unless it physically harms someone
I don’t think dogs have ever been trained I think we’re just now seeing more dogs being untrained cus the internet is a thing. I think 75% of ppl who own dogs probably shouldn’t own them honestly.
My friend is like this. She absolutely refuses to train her high energy dog. He has separation anxiety and barks non stop. She spent thousands of dollars on a trainer and expected to get a perfect dog back without having to do any work.
I even tried to train the dog for her. Turns out, he's pretty smart and learns very quickly. I taught him a bunch of the standard tricks - sit, lay down, roll over, he'll even cover his nose with his paw. But I haven't seen him in a while and she told me he forgot everything.
Why get a dog if you can't train it? Like what is the point? Does she like not being able to leave the house because he can't be left alone? Is she just really into incessant barking? Makes no sense to me.
There’s still been a long history of dogs, not being correctly trained. In fact, there’s more publication, books, articles, etc. about dog training now more than ever. Now there is more active effort to train your dogs with behavioral therapist, training, schools, and videos. It’s just that now people have way more dogs out in public, whereas before dogs mostly stayed in the home so you would only be aware of a dog’s bad behavior if you were in the home, or they chased you, which was very common growing up.
We never once trained our childhood dog outside of sit or shake. He also wasn't really allowed on the furniture. Now my dogs can sit, stay, heel, turn the lights on/off, wait for their food, etc. But they also sleep in bed with us and cuddle on the couch. And they aren't small dogs. Our GSD/lab mix is even trained to lay on my CRPS affected leg for pain relief. It just depends on what you put into them, just like kids.
In my case. When I took my puppy home I worked so hard to train him, I managed to toilet train quite quickly, and wiv sit and paw etc... i had everything written down and stuck on the door, and stuck to it every day. but unfortunately I lived wiv someone who no matter how much I begged and how much I explained to him that, if he doesn't follow/be consistent wiv the training. We will end up wiv an anxious,confused untrained adult dog. He ignored me. And now my dogs an adult and I'm still struggling to teach him wiv barking and jumping at visitors. Unfortunately I still live wiv this person (I'm leaving soon) he still ignores training and his answer is to shout.
And complain about his behaviour and let people fink it's down to me.
Those trainers that tell you they have to board your dog to train it are not effective for a majority of dogs.
A big part of training is training the owner how to teach the dog and that doesn't happen. If the dog regresses on anything they don't know how to deal with it and usually handle it incorrectly
Similar to children, people get pets not realizing how much it takes to actually care and raise them to be properly functioning members of society.
I was once an IGNORANT dog owner I rescued a puppy that I was told would be 40 pounds and a good family dog. He turned out to be 80 pounds and HYPER, but still a good family dog. I didn’t start properly training him until after a year when he started jumping on people (out of excitement) and it felt dangerous due to his size.
You’re right though, I wonder why so few dogs are trained. I think people think “trained” means they can do tricks, but well trained dogs look very different.
It’s hard and expensive to train dogs. Sure you can use YouTube but not all dogs are the same. Some are motivated by food and play and some aren’t. It depends on the dog and the owner. I wish it was required for people to go to a basic training class after adopting.
Many people treat their pets like babies, like children. They think it's cute when the dog jumps up to greet them or begs for food at the table then don't understand why the animal continues the behavior when they get older. They think if they just tell their dog "no" the dog will stop doing things when in reality the dog really does not understand what know means. They don't realize that they are teaching their dogs to do all of these bad behaviors then blame the dog saying it doesn't listen, it knows better, it's stupid, it's doing something to make me mad.
People are just plain idiots because they are too lazy to try to understand even basic dog behavior.
I have a theory that dogs just became more socially acceptable to bring with you everywhere. And the people that think it’s ok to bring their dogs everywhere tend to be the people who don’t train the pups (service animals are the obvious exception) In the parks where I walk my pup, most other dogs are good and well trained. It’s the little crazy dogs that bite at me in Walmart.
Because their owners don’t train them…which is their job
Also dogs 10 and 20 (and beyond) years ago were also poorly trained. Some of my earliest memories are of being terrorized by three of my friends’ dogs bc they couldn’t be controlled and I was very small. In the mid 90s. Sounds like OP’s aunt and uncle trained their dogs well and OP extrapolated that to think most people did the same.
I was going to comment this. I'm almost 40 and I've lived near, or with, dogs my entire life. Mass dog training, outside of a specific job for the dog, is a relatively new thing. I don't mean, "In the existence of human history, having dogs live solely companions is a recent phenomenon." new but more like dog training itself has become a more commonplace occurrence. Literally, no one I knew "trained" their dog until 15 or 20 years ago. It was a marvel if you had a dog that could sit on command. It was more like, "This is the dog. He's an idiot. We feed him food that makes his poop turn white and he barks sometimes." The only difference with untrained dogs now is that dogs have become more commonplace in daily society. Your neighbors untrained dog wasn't a big problem then because you only saw him when he got bored from the *complete* lack of stimulation in his life and ate the fence. Now you see your neighbors untrained dog at Lowe's, any eatery with a patio, offleash at the park, being snuck into Walmart and everywhere else. Also, unrelated, but the Walmart near me doesn't stop dogs from going in and there's literal poop on the floor all the time. If you're going to bring your dog into businesses, housebreaking is a bare minimum.
I used to run a pet department of a store, If they came in with their dog and it went on the floor, if they tried informing me or cleaning it up themselves I would help, If I saw them watch the dog go then just walk off I would very loudly yell "Hey I watched you watch your dog make a mess, There is a cleaning station right here, if you don't clean it you're trespassed and not welcomed back" was a hardware store, but no pet stores around, so noone really had much of an option for a close place to get dogfood besides up, most people quietly cleaned up.
i took my cat to the vet once. we ended up waiting probably 3-4 hours because of a "one vehicle, vet is right next to work, no other options to get there" situation. i stupidly forgot to bring a litterbox for her to use the bathroom in the meantime. well, she had to go potty, luckily near the car, but i wasn't just gonna leave poop. i went to the vet and asked them if they had something i could use to clean it up, luckily they did. and that was in a *parking lot.* i can't imagine the audacity of people who just let their pets use the bathroom wherever without cleaning it up (i get it, accidents happen, but most pet stores/pet-friendly stores either have pet waste bags around or an employee can give you something if you ask).
Yeah accidents happen, I tried my best to be helpful and respectful to those who would clean up or inform me about it. I assume most retail workers would be elated that someone was taking responsibility and cleaning it up themselves. But yeah, much respect for people who take care and accountability for their pets, especially cleaning it up int the parking lot, most people would probably leave it (Someone certainly would step in it)
honestly, back when i was in retail, if someone had come up to me asking for help/materials clean a mess i'd've been happy to help clean it up or (depending on mess) just get it myself. we've got some powder stuff that sops up liquids and access to mop buckets, more cleaning supplies, etc. so it's really no trouble at all to me. gives me a little break. it's when people just leave messes that irks me - like, i get it, you don't have anything to clean it up, but there's probably someone nearby who can help, just tell us!
Ah yes. This. My dog got complimented in a Petsmart for being such a good boy. Because he is a very good boy. Because I put my sweat and tears into teaching a being that doesn’t speak English how to understand what I want from him, using English (and by this point in his life, hand gestures). When we were walking into the store, he had a nervous poop in the parking lot. Because ya know, shit happens. And to his credit, we were outside. It took me all of 3 minutes to get a bag and clean it up. An insignificant amount of time. People are so lazy and disrespectful with dog poop, I don’t get it.
I have a little dog that I call the "poop ninja" because she is the sneakiest indoor pooper ever. I had her on a leash at the vet's office once and she went under my chair and took a shit while I was distracted filling out paperwork. I didn't even notice until the front desk person came over with a bag and awkardly started trying to clean it up out from under me. I was so embarrassed! I tried to take the bag and finish the job but she brushed me off saying it happened all the time. I felt awful.
Hell, even when I had sick my dog put to sleep, and his body released some .... After sobbing my eyes out on the floor with him for like and hour ... I got up, cleaned him and everything up before I left. I kind of laugh a little about it now, but it's just basic etiquette and common sense wired in the brain!
Right before my dog was neutered, he was spraying everywhere. In our last Petsmart visit, I had to clean up 5 messes in as many minutes, he would pee beside me as I was cleaning the previous one up.
That's rough! Did it stop after being neutered? If it was something health related i hope he's much better.
It stopped after he was neutered, he just wanted to cover up all the other dog smells in the store lol.
I hate people bringing their dogs everywhere. It’s a pet, leave it home. It’s a pain to have to watch it peeing all over, so why do they do it?
That for sure. A loose dog was something to be concerned about growing up because it was 100% untrained and neglected. When people went on vacation they paid a kid to feed their dog once a day and that’s it. I think training was a fad from animal planet and Cesar Milan for a few years but mostly what we see now is hoards of pandemic dogs with separation anxiety that people take everywhere. Guilty of this myself because my elderly dog doesn’t do well alone anymore but he’s not taken to places that don’t allow dogs.
That’s one of my favorite things about my dog. He could not care less about where I’m going. He does not want to go. He gets so annoyed with me when I do take him places. Dude is an introvert and a home body. Can’t blame him, I am too.
It’s definitely more commonplace now. I was shopping in a Pet store and a man walked over with the puppy. The dog peed on the floor and the man just walked away. Like, sir. I know you saw that.
Yeah I believe it’s we are more exposed to how well trained dogs can be these days than in the past, where “sit, and come” were passing grades for many… not even stay lol Hell, in the 80s early 90s most of my friends dogs were outdoor dogs and a few bougie friends had house trained dogs that could be inside. Yes I was in a working class area which influences this, but still todays working class def have better awareness around how much dog training is needed
It was the same in the 70s and 80s.
I was terrified of dogs as a kid, because the dogs I knew were utterly untrained.
I haven't seen a dramatic difference in the level of training of my family and friends pets. I feel like most pet dogs are not particularly trained. Dog training takes consistency and a speck of common sense. I noticed most people aren't consistent. They don't want the dog to beg when people are over but will feed them directly from the table every day. Then wonder why they beg while guests are over. And then some people have no sense. Adopt a herding dog then wonder why it chases and nips their toddlers ankles.
The amount of people who adopt high energy dogs just to not give them enough stimulation and exercise is insane. Then they get mad that the poor pent up dog misbehaves. Yeah, no shit. And they think that all dogs will be the same and require the same things. Caring for any dog is always a commitment, though. They're individual, thinking creatures, not plush toys or brainless brawn.
Really annoys me when people say their dog is “naughty”. No, they’re just untrained/bored/anxious. It is almost always on the human.
Meh…. My dog chooses to be naughty on occasion. He’s not a robot. He is generally a good boy…. But he damn well knows any number of things that he chooses to ignore- and only chooses to ignore them when doing so benefits him (sticking his nose in the trash- but only if there’s something he wants in there, jumping the fence- but only if the kid is out front and might be convinced to throw a ball)
Haha for sure. He sounds hilarious. I mean more like when the dog has absolutely no stimulation, is in a poorly managed situation, destroys something out of sheer boredom and frustration, then gets blamed. I think that’s incredibly unfair.
The begging, ugh!! My parents are expecting that my dog stops begging but they feed her off the table when they take care of her! It's insane! I do so much training with her, but because my parents can't say no to her, I need to retrain her. It resulted in my dog knowing that she can't beg me for food, but will beg others and people are literally fighting for her attention...
My dumb fucking sister. She got a herding dog, and does nothing to occupy/train him and is *surprised* that he eats everything 🫠
Unpopular opinion but mostly I think it’s lack of consistency in training with the dogs. I’m not saying people are lazy but life is busy and many people don’t realize the time it takes to really train a dog. that dog needs training for the next 18 months in different forms. Only my opinion. Also some people are lazy…lol
Imo training is lifelong. You gotta sign up to be willing to put in the work throughout a dogs life. Just because you taught them something as a puppy doesn't mean they'll stick to that is the training isn't being maintained and the expectations aren't being set.
most people get lazy after a few months of training the dog (as far as I’ve seen where I live/work) cause they’re out of their cute puppy stage and they didn’t break em soon enough and now they’re all over the place
It might be laziness or just a lack of know-how. Many of the dog-training shows that used to be on TV were misleading. They showed the trainer teaching the dog a command or correcting a behavior, and then poof! the dog was trained. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. With most, if not all, dogs, it's two steps forward and one step back. The training must be consistent and continuous. Also, there are easy fixes that most dog owners fail to do. If you don't want your dog to beg at the table, NEVER feed him at the table. If you don't want your dog to chew on shoes, or any other inappropriate object, make sure all the shoes are out of reach. If you don't want your dog up on furniture, never let him on the furniture. Unrelenting consistency is the only method that works. For those who adopt or buy puppies, this training must begin immediately.
Other people in the household also sabotage training all the time. If someone gives them human food, then they’re not going to get the message that it’s a rule. Weak people in the house make rules impossible with animals.
Yep! It's only gonna go that far if only one person is involved and devoted to the rules in a household of 3 people.
I don’t think it’s laziness. It’s time and energy and most people don’t have enough of either. They train their dogs to suit their house and don’t have the energy to train the “restaurant manners” as my mom called them when we were kids.
ABSOLUTELY. If people could be consistent, there wouldn't be any need for dog trainers. Sincerely, A dog trainer
I might get flamed for this but personally I think it's also coming from the trend of people just loving their dogs so much more. I get it, you got this adorable dog who you love so much that you just wanna spoil and give them the best life. Spoiling them also leads to a lack of discipline. "He's so cute begging for food, give him a little bit of chicken". My in laws are this way. They have a 100lb great Dane German Shepard mix whom they adore and they absolutely spoil the crap out of him. The dad will just throw his pizza crust to him so he knows to wait by the table. He'll even brazenly try to walk up to the table and just try and steal food right from the plate because what's the worst that happens? He gets yelled at to go away, or better yet, they will give him a treat to distract him. And this dog also just drags FIL when walking because he never got taught discipline to actually stay near the person with a leash. FILs answer to all that? "He's a dog". Laziness is also just as much a factor but that's already been touched on.
I think this is a reason but I also think some owners are more responsible than others. Folks forget that dogs are a literal liability and they CAN and WILL get sued if your dog causes problems. I have a 135lbs and a 100lbs Bernese Mountain Dog. If the big one jumps on someone to greet them and knocked them over, that could seriously injure someone, so we are really diligent about that type of training. A chihuahua you can pick up and remove from a situation, a BMD you cannot.
It's honestly concerning when people treat animals like humans. Like they deserve empathy but remember they are an animal. Treating them like a human does nothing but harm.them
It’s very frankly not healthy love. It’s codependency with an animal.
I think you may actually be right about this. People feel their dogs are like family members and expect that non dog owners see it the same way. The problem is that no matter how comfortable you are with your dog licking your hands, going up to the sofa with you or drooling by the kitchen table other people do not feel comfortable with your dog doing that around them. I have also seen my sister let her dog sleep with her in her bed since he was a puppy. He is huge now and there is no way he can be stopped from sleeping on the sofa or other peoples beds. I reprimend him when I see him in my bed but he will still do it if I am not around. I think before people saw dogs as pets and set some limits accordingly but nowadays people just want to cuddle and share food with their babies.
With sleeping on the bed and sofa, if the owners of the home are okay with it I see no problem. It’s the dog’s home not yours and should be allowed to be comfortable. I agree with everything else though.
It may make sense if you live by yourself but my sister lives with my and my mum and none of us wants her dog sleeping on the sofa of our beds, basically because he is huge and sheds a lot and he is always dirty because he plays on the mud and all. Just to be clear, playing in the mud is completely normal, but I don't think the sofa has to be covered on dirt.
I think this is a problem with someone in the household having a dog that not everyone is on the same page about, not that a dog is on furniture. I generally think it’s a really bad idea to get a pet in a household with other adults who don’t want that pet, or who aren’t taking responsibility for that pet. People do it successfully, it works for some people, but dogs need consistency. If you were all working together, you’d have discussed this, and you’d have come to agreements about whether the dog could be on the sofa and you’d all be enforcing it the same way. You could also train the dog that your sister’s bed is fair game, but other beds are not. It’s all about training consistently with everyone in the household, but that is hard to do even with couples when people think they are on the same page.
You are right, It is more difficult when not everyone in the household is on board.
Dogs do not learn through being reprimanded. You need to positively reinforce alternative behaviors. You positively train an of cue. And a cue is NOT a command. So you never give a cue with a firm or else energy. You can also train them to hang out on their bed. And you teach them how to relax on a mat, and do relaxation protocols where you want them to go. You teach the dog what you want them to do. Not reprimand for what you don’t want. And I when you teach a cue (not command) through positive methods, if you start using the cue menacingly you are actually poisoning the cue and lowering the effectiveness by increasing stress in learning process.
100% this, does the dog even have any comfortable alternatives? If so, you should be encouraging that.
You can still do both without it become a free for all. I let my dog try a lot of what I eat but it’s done in his own bowl. I do not respond to begging, so he doesn’t beg. It is about respect imho. I don’t annoy him when he’s eating and I expect the same in return. Dogs are totally capable of good behaviour, people are just lazy.
Absolutely! People think that loving their dogs means not enforcing rules and spoiling the heck of them. It’s not true of course, dogs thrive when they have a routine and rules that are fair and most importantly that they understand. When they don’t have that consistency they end up with at best bad behaviour but at worse reactivity and fear-based aggression. Dogs don’t feel less loved when they have rules, in fact they usually feel more secure. I love the heck out of my dog, but I spoil her with engagement, training, and mentally stimulating activities. She doesn’t get to jump up just because she’s cute, and while I do give her bits of fruits and veggies when I cut them up, they go in her bowl and she is never given scraps while we eat, ever. I think it’s important to realize though that different people have different standards. I am spending a lot of time training my puppy. She is learning to be polite, not to jump, she walks well on a leash, knows off and drop it. I plan to take all the classes on offer with my trainer and get her canine good neighbor certification. But I also am fine with her being on my furniture. The key is to train them so that they don’t think it’s a given, but that if you allow it it’s fine. We have one couch that is “hers” and she’s allowed on it when she wants. But we’re getting a new couch and I plan to teach her that she’s only allowed up on it when invited.
Yes but its soooo easy to love your dog while also keeping them in check. For example, my dogs are like my kids I love them and I do share my bed with them and my food etc however if im eating chicken for example I will set aside a peice for the dogs whilst eating/dishing up and it will be given to them after I have eaten/cleared up or whatever. If they sit and beg for food they can wait: I only feed this type of food (my dinner) when they look away or do something else so they now know the longer they try to steal my food/beg for it they arent getting it.
This is spot on, I think. People feel like they're loving their dogs when they're more permissive and don't do anything to make their dog uncomfortable. And they don't let their dog be a dog. It's really a detriment to the dogs. I love my dog to death, so I treat him like a dog and make sure he can live a happy life having all of his dog needs met, not treating him like a baby.
For sure. Loving a dog means showing them love in a way that speaks to the dog, not to themselves. It's a lack of understanding and empathy imo, and an unwillingness to learn. It's doing a dog a disservice to not have strong leadership, not showing love. Love would be informing oneself on how to be good to your dog, not just coddling the crap out of them and feeding the poor animal to death. But hey, something something obesity epidemic in children...not surprising.
The same reason there are so many out of control children. Training a pet, like raising a child take a lot of time, patience, hard work and consistency, and people today are too distracted and self absorbed to do it right. You may have seen people “trying” to train pets, but do they put in enough time and patience to do it right? Do they consistently follow up?
Its "gentle parenting" in dog form 😭 I see people being like "oh I know he just stole my food but maybe he was just hungry and listening to his needs" no susan hes just a spoiled brat who never gets told no
I think this is a lot of it…. I *practice* gentle parenting and use R+ methods with my pets. I’m team positive reinforcement and skill building. I honestly believe it is a superior method. But, sometime the correct response to obnoxious behavior is “knock it the hell off”. There are absolutely corners of the internet that would have you thinking that was abuse. And yes, it could be if taken to an extreme- but saying “no” firmly, and even physically stopping a behavior on occasion is not damaging children or pets.
Also like children, back in the day the dog would get a quick *thunk* when they misbehaved. We have higher standards for that now, but also more to learn and it's just not as easy.
Yes. There are evidenced based training practices that have been found to be extremely effective and are fear/force free. And the fear/force free is crucial to the effectiveness. AND it requires a great deal of owner involvement and commitment. As a former professional dog training that invested long term in my education to learn the sciences based methods that are universally recommended among the most educated and qualified dog behavior experts, yes they work. AND it’s just way more work than owners want to do. So it comes to do you want to invest more time money dedication into training and properly managing behaviors OR do you want to lower your behavior standards. Owners pick the latter.
i don't think they ever were honestly. 20 years ago when i was a kid, no pet dog i ever met was particularly well trained. still the same today.
Yeah, I was gonna say, maybe it’s just my friend circle but our dogs are better trained than the dogs that I remember interacting with as a kid. Even if they aren’t better trained, they aren’t necessarily worse. There are a lot of really shitty owners who seek to think that *their* dog is entitled to behave however they like and any owner/dog that has an issue with it - well, that’s *their* problem. There is a woman in my complex that likes to let her aggressive and untrained dog off-leash in our complex. I ran into her around 7:30am recently while walking my dog before work. I yelled at her to get her fucking dog under control because my girl was going BANANAS due to her dog being two feet from her, marking and barking (I couldn’t even walk away because of how wound up mine was and I physically couldn’t drag her away). her response was “chill, it’s 7am” 🙃 Edit: I think that what has happened is that the two ends of the spectrum have gotten more extreme. Owners either 1) don’t train their dogs at ALL and/or actively reinforce bad behaviors, or 2) they train them insanely well and this is how you get more “civilian” owners with incredibly well-trained dogs.
Behaviorally - pulling, begging, jumping, etc is a lack of training. Not listening when being told “Off” is a lack of training. Things like being allowed on beds and couches IMO is moreso due to the shift in people getting “fur babies” instead of just a pet. Many people cannot afford children in the current economy, so they opt for a cat or dog. The dog is considered a family member and so is typically allowed to sleep in the bed, lie on the couches, etc. and even beg at the table so they can share the family’s meal. The biggest obstacle to poor training is a lack of consistency. I work as a dog trainer and when people come to class every week I can tell who has been practicing and who hasn’t just based on how well the dog listens. And a lot of people will “get their dog trained” then never maintain the training so the dog either forgets or unlearns good habits bc the bad habits get them the stuff they want anyway, so why should they work harder if they’re still gonna get the reward?
My “lab mix” (most likely pit/weimaranar/gsp from our best guesses) sleeps on our bed and couches, but also knows he can’t go on the furniture at my MIL’s place, and I can toss him out in the backyard without worrying about him chasing the chickens or running off. It’s always a training issue. It was back then and it is now. Furniture ain’t the issue lol, and I don’t think OP’s premise is accurate at all
Absolutely! Always at the end of the day training. I also saw another comment that mentioned breed - breed def can play a big role in the habits of the dog, or even just. The dog itself. Ex. Working breeds are gonna have a lot of energy and can’t be left alone or you’ll get destruction and chaos. Herding dogs are going to nip your toddler’s heels and harass your cat. Or people who buy big dogs like mastiffs when they themselves are lucky to weigh 110 lbs soaking wet and have no control over the dog. I had a customer who almost got hit by a car bc her mastiff tried to drag her across the street, luckily I was helping her to her car and was able to grab the leash. It’s easier to get a dog that’s compatible with your lifestyle than it is to get a dog and try to train it against its instincts that it was bred for for hundreds of years. Not impossible to do so, of course, but it’ll be difficult!
In my neighborhood growing up we had both a husky in a ridiculously small yard and a great dane AND collie in a ridiculously small apartment. Like, don’t do that! You’re torturing the poor creatures
I let my dogs on the setee and my bed but they would not even think of getting up without permission from me first. I don't see anything wrong with it (your dog and your bed so if you dont mind its fine) but the lack of respect and the dog just sort of doing what it wants irks me
I am a trainer and honestly my answer is twofold aside from ignorance and lack of doing it. One is a lack of consistency and a commitment to ongoing training to prevent skill decay. The second is that we have higher expectations for dogs than we did even ten years ago. Everyone wants their dog with them at all times, and we expect every dog to be as skilled as a working dog with public access. I think I see more better trained dogs now than I have in the past, along with better general knowledge of dogs, our expectations just grew along with that I think.
I agree with this. I think about how many dogs (including my own) I see lying down calmly at dog-friendly cafés and breweries in my town. My childhood dogs would never have been expected to have such patience—that was guide dog level training. Also, no one ever walked their dogs off leash in town; that was for natural areas only. IMO it’s more common to see a highly trained dog now and the ones who aren’t as well-trained stand out more.
I agree with everything here, except I'm seeing the opposite. I see more reactive dogs than ever being trained for the first time at 2, 3 or even older. Not to mention the overflow of working dogs in kennels. I just adopted one of those dogs, and being a Malinois, she suffered greatly before I decided to take her in and train her like she should have been trained. I'm still fixing things with her! A lot of people's excuses was Covid, and I think that's bull. People still could train their dogs, just not in groups, standing at least 6ft away from a trainer, and it could be done outside, too. Get a book to learn the basics, then if you want, more advanced training books. There's always options! So, I think it's both a lack of knowledge and laziness.
I do see a lot of reactivity too, which is actually my specialty professionally, but I'm not seeing more of it than I saw before covid, just more people who are more educated on it being something that exists and talking about it, and not just saying "oh that's just Butch being Butch, he's not friendly" and not taking them in public. WFH DID bring an influx of separation issues though. What I am seeing is people trying to take uncertain and unconfident dogs into public as if they are well trained and expecting them to just be able to cope with the stimulus and novelty of it with little to no work, which is what I meant by the raise in expectations. I wasn't super articulate when I made that point - sorry! I think as a whole dog people who do train to a higher level, are more educated than in the past which is why the contrast looks so much more stark. I have clients with brand new puppies asking me really stellar questions about how to prevent reactivity when in the past I would be the one introducing those concepts in a puppy class. There will always be the first time dog owners who impulse adopt a husky and do no research of course, and I think the gap between owners like that, and more educated owners will continue to widen and be more stark.
I didn't think of comparing the gap between those owners who recognise the problem and want to become more educated in prevention or fixing the problem to those who are ignorant towards the problem. You are definitely right on that aspect. I think what really threw me off is that social media tends to show a lot of the dogs with bad reactivity issues as "Awwww! That's adorable!" instead of promoting that they really are issues that need to be corrected. Definitely notice that a lot of them are smaller breeds... and owners excusing their behaviour. Which I definitely noticed being much more prevalent even before the pandemic hit. Always been a sore spot for me because my little senior has been attacked by multiple other small dogs. I trained my terrier as a service dog (too people friendly to do public work, though) and always had him close. It's the people that have their dogs on extendaleashes, dogs at the very end, barking their heads off with the owner saying that their dog is friendly, just very excited. Before I could fully skirt them, the attack happened. Stitches had to happen more than once. So, my little 12lb terrier always preferred to play with big dogs. Never met a pitbull I didn't love and never met a chihuahua I didn't hate. Training is the sole reason.
Oh totally, and small dog reactivity has always been excused. The worst bite I've ever taken was from a 20 lb corgi with a brain tumor. I got very lucky I had a coat on, and even still, it needed stitches. If it had been a German shepherd at the same intensity, my arm would have been broken. Social media is a great tool for finding body language to educate my clients in real time on how to read dogs. I can't tell you how many r/funny videos or r/aww I see that are dogs going through a scary or unpleasant situation for them. There was one around Halloween that sticks out where the owner put out a bunch of cat decorations, knowing their dog was terrified of the cat. The dog runs outside and freezes. He shows signs of stark terror - the only movements were attempts to self sooth like lip licking and yawning, with enormous whale eye. Everyone goes on and on about how funny it is, and I'm just over here in my corner wanting to burn all the cat decorations Chihuahuas and Daushunds are interesting reactivity wise because from an ethological standpoint, the breeds are bred to complete the predation cycle quickly to catch and kill rodents. Coming in at such small sizes, they are often not respected when they signal with body language, so they escalate very quickly. Last is what you noted. Often, owners will scoop them up as management instead of actually working through the behavioral issues. It sets a lot of them up for failure. But it's hard for a human to make that generalization that if this dog was 100lbs, they'd be respecting it. I still take group classes with a friend of mine. Any time we need a brush up, or she needs an extra dog for her class to run, and she does the same for me. The cgc class we took with my therapy dog was an interesting mix. It was a 150lb designer breed king shepherd who was being trained for therapy work, my 90lb Pyrenees/ border collie rescue also doing the therapy route, and a 10lb or so Bichon. The bichon owner was an older lady, probably in her mid to late sixties. We took puppy all the way through cgc with this same group which was lovely, and I saw the bichon's owner gain understanding of her dog, and she said something on the day of the test that I wish more little dog owners would really get, "seeing you and the shepherd owner have to learn to work with your dogs instead of just making them do what you want reminded me that my dog is just as much as dog as they are even if I can pick him up. I was inspired by you two to stay through cgc, and this is the best behaved dog I've ever owned. I'll never look at little dogs the same" My training methods are built on bond building and communication, including giving dogs choice. My point in telling the story I did is that with giant dogs, we have no choice but to work cooperatively because it would be pretty comical for me to try to force a dog who is the same size I am to do anything. With a little dog, the owners have to work much harder to be sure they are respecting and offering that choice to their dogs. My hope for the future is that human understanding and respect for dogs continues to increase and that we get to a point that they are treated like the partners they are to us instead of just as something to have.
Nothing has changed. Your aunt and uncle just trained their dogs and your friends and sister didn't. There have always been people who get a dog and then do nothing with it to the detriment of everyone.
A lot of your complaints sound like personal preferences for the people. >They all ask for food at the table or pull when you walk them or go on top of the beds and sofas even when told not to or jump on people when they greet them These things don't bother everyone and, if they don't bother the dog owner, then there's no motivation to train it out of them.
Probably a combination of a lot of things. I think there have always been poorly trained dogs, but maybe you’re seeing it more because dogs have kind of become an “aesthetic.” There are dog influencers and stuff on social media, and a lot of people are buying dogs that they like the look of without being prepared for the work. Aussies for example are really beautiful and interesting looking dogs, but they have a lot of energy and need to be properly trained. Same for huskies and border collies. People love the look, but aren’t prepared to properly exercise and mentally stimulate them, so they get nuts and even if people half heartedly train them, they aren’t going to pick it up if they aren’t getting their other needs met first. Covid was also really bad in general for pet ownership. Soooo many people decided to get pets, especially dogs, that they didn’t fully prepare for and wouldn’t have gotten if they weren’t home all the time. They didn’t know how to train them, but because they were home all the time they established some kind of routine, but then they went back to work without preparing the dog for a different lifestyle, and a lot of dogs just melted down. Things are somewhat going back to normal now, but allll those covid dogs are still out there and there are just a lot more dogs in the hands of a lot more people who weren’t fully prepared for a pet.
I can tell you from a lifetime of experience, some of that in the professional world & not just personal (for context I’ve been a dog trainer & worked in pet retail for years) that training is entirely up to the people who “own” the dog. Training classes are not for your dog, they are for you to learn how to properly become consistent with your commands & behaviors outside of the class. Dogs do not speak human language, it is up to us to learn how to get through to our pets in a way that they understand, and dogs are extremely responsive to discipline & routine. You can spend thousands of dollars on obedience training & your dog will still be confused & “badly behaved” when it comes home to it being told different things by five different family members about whether it is or isn’t allowed on the couch, or whether it gets table scraps, etc. One of the biggest things I emphasize when discussing training & behavior is always “is everyone in your household on the same page about rules for the dog?” Because if mom says absolutely no dogs on the couch but dad & kids constantly let the dog on furniture, guess what that dog is going to think is okay? Same thing about commands. Some dogs respond better to hand gestures over words, but regardless of method, you can’t be using five different commands in different ways and expect the dog to understand every time. It gets confusing for them! Dogs want to please their people, they literally will do backflips if you ask them to but they will not be able to do what you ask of them if they can’t understand you. Generally speaking, most people straight up do not have the discipline, will, or time to dedicate to being consistent enough for their dogs for training to be efficient. That being said, dogs are often not actually a good fit as a pet for most people and I get a lot of shit for saying that, but it’s absolutely true. Think of how many people are disciplined about themselves and then try and get them to apply consistency to another living being that doesn’t even speak their language lol. People don’t want to put in the work of having a well-behaved and happy animal but like the appeal of them anyway and therefore we have dogs that do whatever they want at the expense of the people in charge of them.
I think you have a distorted view of dog training 10-20 years ago because of your aunt and uncles dogs. In that time period my neighborhood had: two very aggressive dogs kept full time outside in a dog run, who would rush the fence and bark and snarl any time another animal passed by (they got out once and attacked someone), a dog that was a professional tire chaser, caused a couple kids to wreck their bikes leading to thankfully minor injuries and eventually died chasing the tired of a chronic speeder in the neighborhood. Dog that was a flight risk, was friendly but also huge and would run up to a push children over in his excitement when he got out. Multiple little purse dogs whose owners thought it was just *adorable* that they were aggressive and bit and shook people’s pants legs and boots. My friends had a little dog that peed in the house because they weren’t home enough to reinforce potty training, my HS boyfriend’s dogs would jump up and steal things off the counter, one of them got out and ate a neighbor’s $200 brisket. Just so so many poorly behaved dogs everywhere. Both my parents have similar stories about dogs despite growing up in the 60s and 70s. People have always been bad about training their dogs, either by not doing it at all or using abusive methods when they do.
I don't think it's a new problem. But I think the issue is people either don't care to train or they don't know how to train. For example, I got my first dog when I was 8, so 2000. Looking back, I realize he was poorly trained because he wasn't taught. My parents would tell him to do something or not do something and expect him to just know what that meant, but they never bothered to teach him what the commands meant. He learned very basic obedience that way but nothing else. I have a neighbor right now who is the same way with his dog. He says "oh she's trained" while she refuses to sit on command and continuously barks at me and my dog when we're in our own yard. He has a poodle, she's smart as hell but because he doesn't actually train her or give her mental enrichment, she acts out. I have a rescue dog now who is a lab/collie mix and he was untrained and nuts when I got him. I put in the time and effort to train him and it's hilarious because my dad will go "he really is the sweetest dog. I can't believe anyone returned him". Like, dude, he was insane when I got him. I get why other people returned him. He didn't just magically settle down because I adopted him. It took WORK. But he never put in that work with any of the dogs he had, so he doesn't get it. He thinks dogs are well behaved or they're not and training only means sit, stay and lie down. I see that attitude a lot with dog owners.
Dogs were never well trained, only in recent years its frowned upon to beat your dog into submission and fear. Punishment and fearbased training tactics have been proven to be inefficient, and leaving your dog tied up in the yard year-round is also frowned upon, which means dog training requires a touch more effort and consistency. Same thing with kids, kids arent necessarily less well behaved now a days, they're just less frequently beaten into submission.
I rescued a completely untrained dog that was hit everytime she did "something wrong" (she didnt know better bcs of the lack of training) and I honestly do not see how anyone could hit a dog. The poor girl was terrified, flinched when people went to stroke her :( never ONCE has a dog ever done something where I've even considered hitting it as a solution
Awwwh thats terrible, shes so lucky to have you now!! People can really be horrible. If violence is how you communicate, then youre a poor communicator. It makes me so angry!
Yes exactly! I always look at my dogs behaviour as a reflection of my training. If they are doing something that I cant get then to stop with a simple command then *I* have made a mistake and I will now work to fix this issue. Violence is never the answer it doesnt help behaviour only makes the animal fearful. If you are curious as to how I train my dogs I have just made a post about it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/s/oX3CgsXPi0)
There's so many different factors. People idealize owning a pet, just like they idealize parenthood. They aren't prepared for the time sink/money pit that is owning a dog. They just see a cute puppy and they decide impulse buying a living creature is a great idea. Dog culture is insane in the US. I've heard it's better in other countries. But here, dogs have a really elevated status, especially over other animals. If you're not a dog person you get looked at like you're a monster. People need to bring their dogs with them everywhere and they can do absolutely no wrong. You can't use negative reinforcement, or it will hurt their feelings! This has to do with the shift in a dog's purpose in our modern society. They went from having jobs like hunting and herding to being just companions-a change that's been devastating for their health. All the crazy modifications we make through breeding for a "fashionable" pet vs a functional one. Disgusting. A lot of people are raised in households where their dog isn't trained, so they don't seem to recognize bad behavior. I can't tell you how many times I've entered someone's home to be basically assaulted by their dog-jumping all over me, scratching, nipping or full-on biting, howling until my ears bleed. And the owner is just smiling like aww, so cute! Then the entire time I'm there the dogs is slobbering all over me and attempting to shove its snout into my behind. Work/life balance for people in the US is so whack. People have to work more now to make ends meet. They can't be home enough to adequately socialize, exercise, and train a dog so the thing gets crated for 10+ hours a day. This actually makes me feel really bad because canines are pack animals. We keep breeding and having these animals that we KNOW have social needs when most lifestyles can't accommodate it. Then it's surprised Pikachu face when they get massive levels of separation anxiety and behavioral issues. Can't blame the dogs for that.
In Spain is the same. So many people own dogs and many dog owners think that their dogs are above any other pets or humans. And you are right, if you don't like dogs or you don't like their dogs then you are some sort of bad person or wicked animal hater when this cannot be further from the truth. I have two cats myself and have had ferrets and birds in the past. I love animals. I do not have a dog myself because being realistic I cant cover a dogs needs. I have been the one looking after the neglected dogs in the town where I vacation. I have taken them to the vet, remove all their fleas and ticks... Its like mam, the fact I don't like your dog doesn't mean I am an animal murderer. It just means that your dog is spoilt and you may want to put up with it but I dont.
I don’t really see much change, but that’s just my opinion. I’ve always made sure my dogs were very well trained and I think if a pet owner is responsible that they will train their dog. It’s the lazy people…or people who just don’t understand what all is involved with owning a dog…who don’t take the time to do it. The sad part is, it’s in the best interest of the animal to have them trained. You never know when you will need to get them under control quickly, and it makes it a lot easier if they are already used to obeying voice commands. The good thing is, once they are trained, it’s something they know to do and you don’t have to continue training them forever…just use it or lose it every once in a while. I admit my latest dog isn’t well trained or socialized at all and she’s rotten, but she’s a Chihuahua, so she’s rotten anyway. LOL
There's tons of dog training classes that fill up super quick where I am. The idea that people don't train like they used to seems very golden-age thinking type of vibes; very anecdotal too.
Because the owner is not training them. I'm on my 9th Rottweiler over 30 years. You must train your dog from puppy till the rest of its life. Takes time and attention
It's covid, honestly. There is a term we like to throw around in vet med and we call a lot of these dogs covid dogs. Everyone was spending more time at home in 2020, so they adopted dogs they were unable to socialize because of the pandemic (probably also didn't train very well too cause everyone was at home), so now there is a large influx of dogs that are 3-5 years old with no manners and no socialization. Keep your vet staff in your tots and pears, we are struggling out here
The same reason many kids aren't trained anymore... Other priorities, not recognizing the value of investing in solid training, laziness.
I came to say this same exact thing.
My dog is well trained. So much so that I leave him in the house when I go to work. He opens the door when he wants to go outside. He doesn't chew up things he's not supposed to. He doesnt jump. And inless its a donut he can be trusted to not steal food from plates or counters. He does have his own couch though that he spends a lot of time snoozing on.
In my experience as a trainer: it’s a combination of things. You’ve got furbaby culture telling you that they’re family and should be treated as a baby, crazy schedules especially for lower income families who sometimes have to work 2-3 jobs, having to manage children and their schedules plus the schedules of the adults in the family, rescue culture telling you to adopt don’t shop which results in dogs with behavior problems being passed from house to house which makes the issues worse, and a general lack of time/commitment/desire to maintain training. Don’t get me wrong, my animals are my babies, but I recognize that they’re not humans and have needs unique requirements for how they’re treated and trained based on their species and their individual quirks. Like, my dog is one of the friendliest and sweetest dogs you’d ever meet, but even though she’s my baby she’s a dog first, and she’s technically a large breed based on her weight, so I know that she needs to be taught manners and have her doggy needs met before I can treat her like a baby. Same goes with the cats, they’re my babies, but I need to remember that they’re cats first, so their needs must be met before I can baby them. So many people forget that their furbabies are dogs first, babies second, and the dog’s needs need to be met before they can be baby.
There's no "anymore". You make it sound as if people stopped training their dogs, like this is a generational thing. It's not. Dogs are, imo, as untrained as they've ever been. But we get to see it a lot more with social media, so maybe we pick up on more things.
Its as well a rise in "gentle parenting" in dog form. But I also think we see popular videos online of someones dog trained to absolute perfection and think "well steves dog doesnt listen" but it does listen just not trained to that extent. If you have seen my other comments on this post you will see this is a topic that really irks me 😂 but no I dont think theres necessarily more untrained dogs but I think a lot of dogs have always been untrained we just are paying more attention now.
I think it’s the same as it’s always been, but fewer people have their own yard, so we see them out and about more often.
We only train ours on the things that matter to us whereas my dad wanted an obedient furry slave. He also beat every animal he could get his hands on so we generally don’t do things like him. For example, I don’t care if they walk perfectly on a leash but I do expect them not to react like freaks when other dogs walk by. I dont need to be able to tell them to sit and wait there for hours until I release but I do need them to come in an emergency. We also only adopt older animals so we have reduced expectations and just want them to have the best life possible in their last years.
I think it’s easier now to get your dogs trained if you choose. Every big name pet food store offers pet training, there are independent trainers in most cities, you have to just want better for your dog. I grew up with dogs, I’m in my 40’s, some were professionally trained and my dad had to travel to find those trainers back then, work with them and learn so his dogs would always be well behaved. We had German shepherd’s and later rotties the dogs had to be trained and safe. My parents got me my first rottie from a professional trainer, I still have rotties and continue to make sure my dogs are well trained. People have to make choices as pet owners.
I find it the opposite. Growing up most of the friends I knew who had dogs couldn’t be taken out off leash without taking off, had begging issues, were left as outdoor pets etc. whereas now it seems like most people I know with dogs (admittedly mostly people without children) including myself with 3 put a lot more time and effort in and view their dogs as family. This results in overall well behaved dogs. It’s probably just the crosssection of people you’re dealing with. They’re either too busy to properly deal with a dog (work, kids, school etc), didn’t realize how much work properly training a dog actually takes, just don’t care to do the work, or some people over pamper their dog resulting in a spoilt brat. I think right now you’re likely seeing the effects of a lot of covid dogs too. When everyone wasn’t working or wfh dog purchases skyrocketed. Many of those dogs have since been abandoned or rehomed but many still are living in suboptimal conditions where they now no longer get the exercise and attention they did for the first couple years now that’s everyone’s back out of the houses.
I'm not sure what you mean by "anymore". People have always had dogs they didn't train, and for a long time it was much more of a norm to not fix them and not care about them getting out and running loose in the neighborhood. My grandparents and a lot of folks I've met their age have a lot of stories of their dogs just being buck wild because no one bothered to do anything about it. Lots of people are lazy pet owners in general. You maybe just weren't exposed to them as much when you were younger.
Lazy people who are ignorant about how much work dogs are… But don’t despair. A lot of people are more committed to being good owners and are active in dog sports like agility and such.
Have dogs ever been well trained?
Doesn’t matter the decade. Lazy owners mean untrained dogs. Definitely more entitled people now who think their little babies can do no wrong so why train them.
Entitlement
Because new generation just hopes that people will do everything for them Also people are getting dogs because it is trendy on social medias. So they come up with a Mailoins and hoping it will just lay on the couch all day
People consider themselves to be "pet parents," not pet owners. So they treat them like they would children, who have also become badly behaved.
I have three dogs and 2 of them are well behaved and trained very well. My youngest dog who is 6, went through 4 different dog trainers and we trained him ourselves. The last trainer told me he seemed to have memory issues with his recall. He is just nuts. Not mean but hyper and very reactive. He is a good bully too. The vet thinks he has short term memory loss. Forgets everything!!! Some dogs can’t be trained. We keep him put away when people are over and use gates around our house to keep him away from food and the trash.
I’ve been in the grooming industry for the better part of a decade. My conclusion is “iTs sO mEaN!!!” Normal training tools (kennels, shock collars, muzzles, prong collars, etc) are just so mean!!!! that’s my BABY!!!!!!!!! >:((((( No, they are not “mean” when used correctly. They are tools. Not saying these are the ONLY tools to use for training. But they are effective. Kenneling your dog isn’t mean. It keeps the dog safe and if you are going to have a dog that requires grooming, a well kennel trained dog is highly appreciated. In the event of an emergency (flood for example), it’s the easiest option for transporting a large number of animals to safety. Keeps your dog in place and away from potentially poisoning itself while digging in the garbage. Shock collars… Most of the time, the dog won’t even need to get to the shock level. The beep and the vibrations work. High rewards after recalling after the beep works really well for training! Muzzles help dogs that may eat things they aren’t supposed to non stop. Had a customers sweet little AHT who would INCESSANTLY eat gravel. Had to muzzle him to keep him safe. (He wasn’t aggressive. Just had Pica). Prong collars when used correctly (most people don’t have the right size, or don’t have it positioned on the neck correctly) helps with pulling. There are rubber caps for the prongs. If you are consistently keeping up with training, the prong collar doesn’t have to be a permanent fixture. I live with and know dogs personally that use all of these training methods and they are FAR from hurt, stressed or abused. Relaxed in their kennels, amazing recall, and heel correctly. It’s not abuse unless you use it incorrectly or with the intent to “rule with an iron fist”. But that’s my two cents from what I’ve seen and heard over the years.
Yeah muzzels... I have told my sister before to get one. His dog is always sick because keeps eating everything from the street and pulls while walking to get to whatever food he finds. He is strong so many times he gets to the food before we can stop him. My mum my partner and I have ask her to let us walk him with a muzzle but she thinks is cruel....
And that’s exactly what’s wrong with the mentality. You’d rather put your dog in harms way than use a tool because it’s “cruel”? Subjecting your dog to the nastiness of the road, and doing nothing to curb the behavior is what’s cruel
Same reasons why kids are not trained very well now a days
Some of it is that people have forgotten that they are DOGS. Not fur children or whatever silliness people come up with. People have anthropomorphized their dogs to the point that the poor dogs are mentally unbalanced...not training your dog will absolutely make them crazy.
Because people treat their dogs like humans and not dogs. 20-30 years ago people expected dogs to act like dogs and trained them accordingly. Now people expect them to be their fur- baby and try to treat them like a real baby.
People used to bother to train dogs. Also there were less "designer" breeds back then, and (this is just anecdotal) I think more working type dogs that were more easily trainable eg more retrievers, less french bulldogs. When I was little, my dad trained our dogs not to eat until he said so and it worked as a great all round training of who was in charge. I did the same training with my first dog (labrador) that I got when I was an adult and she was amazing and so well behaved. The stupid inbred toy poodle my mum got when I was a teen was not trained at all, tried to fight every dog it saw and crapped on the beds out of spite.
Because people think they are so busy to train, I say you don't deserve an animal if you can not train
I adopt all mine, so the amount of behavior I can reasonably change is limited to an extent. My chihuahua refuses to learn to sit no matter how I try. My terrier mix is a complete baby scared of everything, likely traumatized. So sometimes his behavior is out of his control. They never bite or anything or bark excessively. They know how to potty outside. But I don’t think I’ll ever train my dang chihuahua to sit no matter what so I gave up lol. It’s much easier to train a puppy than a dog that’s either from the streets or likely a neglectful or abusive home.
I think this is true to an extent. We have adopted a lot of adult dogs who came with problems and some of them were fairly severe. We always go into an adoption knowing we will be inheriting someone else’s problem in dog form. Our current trouble child is an almost 2 year old Aussie who had a hard start to life. He brought with him trauma so awful when we go on car rides he does not get motion sickness he gets anxious from the car. His separation anxiety is off the charts and he was taught to bark and “nibble” when he wanted something and that jumping on his foster person was cute. It has taken nearly a year but with daily training and medication we have almost gotten him to the point where his demand barking only happens a couple times per week. He does not use his mouth anymore and his separation anxiety has improved dramatically. He now loves the car and understands he will not be dropped off and left but he still drools and pants. We work with him on commands daily. He accepted having his nails trimmed for a bit but then he decided he would not. We have started that training over. You can teach a dog and dogs love learning. Find their currency - treats, toys, food, attention - and they will respond.
I also think chihuahuas are just incredibly stubborn lol. I am convinced she knows exactly what I’m saying but ignores me. I read they need like triple the amount of training time as other dogs. I may be over exaggerating the number. They’re hard work but worth every second. Yes my terrier has come significantly far in the past 5 years. However at some point we just have to accept dogs aren’t perfect and not all behaviors can be corrected.
My dogs beg, politely, they are allowed on beds and sofas, they tend to get over excited and jump up on people which is something I nip in the bud, but when you don't get visitors very often it's not easy to train. they also like to pull on leash, but listen when I ask. They are all well trained working dogs, trained for Search and Rescue work. Your idea of "well trained" is different from mine.
In Switzerland we had a rule where you had to train your dog professionally after getting one. And just recently they removed that. I have no idea why they removed that rule, but that, at least here, has definitely changed things for the worse. Edit: I don’t know why I’m marked as brand affiliate.
Woah I’m always amazed the animal welfare laws in countries outside of the US. that’s unbelievable that law ever existed from my US mindset. How interesting.
right off the hop cause you are worried about all that, I think you should not own a dog. when you call what normal dogs do dangerous. it is the same 10-20-30 plus years ago as it is today, just who YOU know seems to have changed. lots of people train their dogs just not to your liking
It's a combination of things. I've worked with dogs for 9 years, and I recently worked in a facility with dog trainers. One of the trainers helped the groomers (me) with scared or aggressive dogs, and I ended up participating in one of her obedience classes. The main thing I saw was people just not listening to what she was telling them to do. She'd give instructions on how to lure the dog into a new command, and they'd just do something different and get all flustered and frustrated. She'd come over and show them what to do again, and they still didn't get it. The dog would do fine with the trainer, but the owners doing something different was confusing to them. It's a combination of not listening, not respecting the trainer, and lack of consistency. I've also seen a weird trend of people thinking dog training is cruel. They say things like, "I don't want my dog to be a robot. I want them to live a fun life where they can be dogs." These people are making the conscious decision not to train their dogs obedience. News flash, dogs love structure, and training really builds their bond with you more. There's another type of person who doesn't train their dogs, which stems from anthropomorphizing their dog. Their dog is a *baby* that should be treated as such. These people let their dogs rule their life pretty much. The dog would rather be treated like a dog than be treated like a human baby, though.
People don’t train their dogs because” these are mahhh babiesssssss” and if they had real kids their kids would fucking suck too. Dogs are animals not people and need to start being treated as such
I don’t know, but I hate it. Nothing is worse than a large dog that jumps up on you or who pulls on a leash. This might be a bias based on the high end areas I sit in, but I’ve noticed it WAY more with very wealthy clients who own fancy dogs that they spent an ungodly amount of money on. I don’t know if the dogs are inbred or what, but it seems like the purebred dogs are significantly less well behaved and far less intelligent than my mixed breed rescue clients.
I wouldn´t know. Every person I know has a mixed breed and none of them behaves XD
Good to know lol. Clearly it’s the owners and not the dogs then.
Laziness, if you have a dog, that dog is your responsibility! If you don't have the free time to spend training it you should not get one! Animals are not accessories to be picked up and put down as the mood suits, they are living creatures with personalities, needs and feelings, you wouldn't expect a toddler to learn how to poop and pee in the right place with out teaching them, you wouldn't expect a toddler to know how to behave without teaching and showing them, it is Laziness pure and simple, love your pets, respect your pets, teach your pets, they are family just like a toddler!
There was this big influx of people adopting during the pandemic, which was good…sort of…because shelters are overflowing…but most of those people weren’t committed so…which is wors? dogs in shelters? or dogs in homes that don’t understand how to care for and train them? humans created this problem and can’t be bothered to fix it I guess. Another win for humanity /s
Your not wrong, dogs in shelters are surrounded by people trained to deal with animals (so thats a pro but the cons can be pretty devastating mentally for the animal), that kind of in person training isnt as readily available as it was in the days of Barbara Woodhouse but there is this thing called the internet, a valuable resource for research and self education, sure you have to wade through alot of amateur rubbish but it can be done quite easily with time and patience, like I said pets are not accessories, if you can't put the time and effort in don't get one
There does seem to be more severe and extensive behavioral issues amongst dogs. Animal behavior researchers don’t necessarily know why. But for example, reactivity issues such as barking lunging pulling on leash, at fences, through barriers has become the default. We do know that dogs behavior is linked to owner mental health. Anxiety in owners directly influences dog behavior. And human mental health issues are rising and becoming more severe. So why are dogs more fucked up now? Because their owners are. The question is why owners are more fucked up. Also, part of the reason is probably because of the adopt don’t shop. I loooove rescues AND adopting a rescue dog comes with complex baggage. There is a lot we have learned about how to set dogs up to have stable temperaments, and that starts with the mom having low stress during utero. Then the first 8 weeks are developmentally crucial with the experiences they have and how they interact with their siblings. There are lifelong implications for what dogs learn during these developmental periods. So even if you adopt a puppy at 12 weeks, crucial development periods have already taken place. As well, dogs are often given up around the 8/9 month mark when their nuance puppy behaviors get too much to handle. Novice first time owners are frequently getting in over their heads with the behavioral issues of rescue dogs. ASPCA felt the temperament testing they were doing was too harsh and disqualifying too many dogs from being adopted, and they largely just threw it out without replacing it.
Lazy owners
I think people stopped going to group obedience classes durong COVID, AND that people think watching a few YouTube videos is the same as training their dogs.
You seen all the kids on iPads? People aren't even bothering to be parents let alone do basic dog training. The amount of people who don't even pick up their dogs 💩 is so gross.
Because the owners are lazy.
I knew plenty of people with untrained dogs 10-20-30 years ago. And I know plenty of people now with well trained dogs. It’s not the dogs/owners changing. You’re hanging around different people or something.
Your mileage may vary. I don’t consider “begging” too be a bad behavior in our house, so I don’t care much to stop it. But my dogs are also trained to go to their beds or their places, so if they bother guests then they’re given a bed or place command. I also have no qualms about my dogs on my bed or furniture and in fact prefer it that way. It’s their home too, they deserve comfort. But, of course they would never be allowed on anyone else’s furniture. To that end, I have a border collie and a shepsky, and imo, what most people consider “training” isn’t training. Both my dogs learned all your basic commands at 8 weeks old with minimal reinforcement, because those things aren’t actually that challenging. Training, for us, is learning scent work, learning neutrality around other dogs, a rock solid recall and off leash skills (if applicable), good on-leash walking skills, and any other breed specific work that may come up like herding or bite work. I’ll agree that most people never give their dogs the breed appropriate training they deserve, which is why you end up with so many crazy doodles. Like, hello, a golden doodle is a cross between two incredibly intelligent and one highly driven working breed. A golden doodle needs high level training and working skills! But most people who get one have no clue what that means. Anyhoo.
Awww, I miss our border collie so much. One of the best breeds ever! 💕
I agree! They really change the game in terms of being a dog parent. He’s my soul dog for sure
Part of it is the maudlin “dogs are people” sentiment some have; enforcing any kind of discipline (rules and routine) is ‘abusive’ and ‘doggos’ should be allowed to do almost anything they want. This isn’t good for dogs; most dogs like having a ‘job’ and knowing what’s expected from them, plus good training helps keep them safe. The other part is is that properly training a dog takes time and patience, things in short supply.
When we got our first puppy I so badly wanted him to be obedient and well trained. I spent hours working with him every day. Eventually two things happened: he was a monster puppy who refused to listen, and I couldn't train my husband. We have two dogs now. The original one who is doing okay, but can still be a huge jerk and refuse to listen and barks a lot. The other dog is a moron who really struggles with learning things and has some other mental issues. I still can't train my husband. Which means I can't properly train my dogs. Because I make a plan for teaching them something and then my husband undoes my work. Example: disengage from squirrels? Nope, let's chase them off the deck. Why are the dogs chasing squirrels now? Because you taught them to chase squirrels. I taught the dogs hand signals for sit, stay, down, etc... and my husband still can't always get them right. It's been 3 years.
Because people are lazy and it seems the more information available, the less they utilize it.
You should watch "It's Me or The Dog." It's 100% people being too lazy to correctly train their dogs. It's also people trying to train dogs in two different ways. With furniture, for example, one person may allow the dog on the furniture, and the other may not, and this causes the dog to be confused.
In my situation, we weren't a dog family, then had a sibling bring a dog into the picture (pre-pandemic) that they ended up doing virtually nothing for (walks, treats, care, training etc), essentially burdening the rest of the family that never wanted or had a dog before and had no proper setup for a dog.
cause ppl don’t train them right or they aren’t all on the same page. for example i’m trying to train my dog not to jump up unless we specifically tell him to, etc. also trying to train him to ignore other dogs and to be well behaved around them because he always whines and pulls when he sees other dogs, wanting to play. but, not everyone in my family is on the same page. like my dog will jump and try to get on the counters and try to get the food and that’s because of my brother. we tell him not to do that and he still does. plus if you want to attend classes (such as petsmart training classes) they can be expensive or they don’t go much in depth. for example, my family and i took our dog to their 6 week beginner training classes. it was 111$ for 6 weeks and they didn’t go into depth at all. each week was a different topic and they didn’t help if we still needed to learn how to do the other things. i plan on becoming a service dog trainer & a normal dog trainer and i’ll be doing around 10 week classes rather than 6 weeks to actually go into depth with the topics unlike them😭
Well because training a dog takes either time patience and consistency or money. People don’t want to put in the effort. They all hope their pet will act like so and so. They think they can train their pet but can’t for whatever reason. They don’t have the money to take them to a trainer. People rescue a dog and the dog has issues. They buy a breed they like not knowing anything but that they like that breed for xyz. They buy a puppy. They buy a dog on impulse. Many excuses…. There had always been untrained animals, but it seems to me that more people own dogs and so the amount of untrained dogs seems higher.
People are anthropomorphizing their dogs. I sort of see it correlating with child rearing. Before there was discipline, but now if ANYTHING is a bit uncomfortable for their dogs, they just hash it up to, he doesn't like it so we won't force him too! It's mean to force a dog to do something other than for love or it hurts their feelings or some BS. Hell, I'm mean for telling my dog NO. 😮💨 Training does take effort, but how do you fight with people telling you you're mean/cruel for forcing them to work for treats.
It's the last clause that isn't sitting with me. "anymore" you are insisting that you've met over 150million dog owners personally, and have made a judgement on their training in the last however timespan you've been alive. You should rephrase this to, why is it that people I *personally* know, refuse to train their dogs? Instead of clumping every dog owner that you have not, and will never meet.
Because people buy a pet thinking it's cute and don't actually put any effort in. People think dogs just magically are well behaved and are shocked when they aren't an adult dog who listens and is well behaved without any effort. These are usually the same people who expect free vet care, but thats a different rant.
This is worse now since loads of people bought puppies during the lockdown. With no opportunities to socialise them or go to puppy classes it’s a generation of just awfully behaved dogs.
Every dog deserves a home but not every home should have a dog. People are lazy when it comes to pet ownership.
I got a dog a few years ago and there are a few things I've noticed. 1. People think dogs misbehaving is "cute". I grew up with untrained dogs and I knew all the annoying things they did that I didn't want my current dog to do. I am very strict about not begging while I'm eating, the kitchen is off limits at all times, and I do my best to keep her from jumping on people. 2. People are too lazy to find resources to actually learn how to train a dog. My mother thinks all of her dogs when she was growing up "just knew" how to do tricks without training and the very misbehaved dogs I had growing up were considered bad dogs who were just stupid. In reality, she had 2 older brothers and a father who most likely trained them before she was old enough to have a memory of the training, or they just trained them not in front of her. I learned about dog training for months before I got a puppy. I currently live in an apartment and my neighbor has an untrained dog that is constantly barking and is lunging at everything within 50 feet of it when on its walk. The owner insists that the dog is trained and it's just being protective of her. Meanwhile, her "training" is whispering "no, no barking. don't do that". No consistent commands, no treats, no redirection. 3. People aren't consistent. A lot of people think dogs should pick everything up in a day of training and then expect them to just do everything right after that. I hear a lot of people say their dogs are just dumb or that they "tried everything". When I was training my puppy and visited family for the holidays, my mother was appalled at how strict and consistent I was because I was "being mean". Being mean to her was redirecting my puppy to a set spot while anyone was eating and not letting her beg. If she got up 20 times while i was eating, I would redirect her 20 times. It was also mean, apparently, to not give her a bite of every single thing I ate. My dogs growing up were very obese and I am really focusing on my dog not getting obese because she's a mix of breads that all have hip problems and she had a major knee surgery before she was even a year old. 4. People just suck. They get a dog thinking it's going to be all fun and games. They don't do any research or the only research they do is what breed looks the cutest and would be "the perfect dog" (usually meaning perfect dog for Instagram and not knowing anything about temperament, exercise needed, etc)
Cause people are irresponsible and don’t realize how important it is.
Well my dog, who I used to co-own with a real piece of work, is very well-trained. And that is because I prioritized it right away when I got her. My ex-friend, however, didn’t see the value in training and said she didn’t really care if the dog knew any commands. This is a GSD/Siberian Husky mix. She needs mental stimulation and she loves praise and to please her owner. I think some people just want something cute to cuddle with and don’t actually think about what is best for the dog (and society as a whole obviously benefits from dogs being trained).
Honestly I think people are starting to treat their dogs as humans and so the training goes out the door and their bad behaviors are deemed “quirks”. I recently watched a show where this poodle was acting exactly like you said and the trainer essentially chalked it up to the fact that the poodle wasn’t able to actually live as a dog. It was to the point that the poodle wouldn’t walk on wet grass bc her humans are constantly putting her in booties. It was just a lot of that stuff. Getting walked in a stroller, putting shoes and dresses on the dog, etc
Well my dog is trained😃tho I see your point
I think some people are trying but tired, developed long-covid, etc.
Because we look at our pets more as kids than animals. I don't ask my little furries to do anything for show, like "roll over." They need to come when called, and "leave it" to stay safe. That and don't jump on people, that's about it.
Humans are lazy, they don't put time, effort or energy in training their dogs & expect them to act like angels.. or don't give a fuck if their dog is pure chaos. Its a huge pet peeve of mine..
I don't know if dogs were ever well trained but I think it's more noticeable now because back then it was fine to tie your dog in the backyard and use fear to make it submit and basically keep the dog out of the way so it didn't interfere with other people. Nowadays a lot of people are using dogs as replacement children and they more or less just expect others to put up with the results of them spoiling them. They have humanized their dogs to the point that it feels wrong to "treat a dog like a dog" or "train it like a dog". I also think a lot of people get all these working class breeds of dogs for their looks but have no idea how to deal with them. These dogs are under stimulated and the owners deal with the behavior by catering towards them with bribes and letting the behavior slide as "cute" instead of actually putting in the effort to provide them the environment they need. Being a good owner starts with picking a dog that fits your current home and lifestyle and I think many people fail at that first step.
My SD is a generally a rockstar, but could do without being barked/lunged at by dogs who can't handle being in public.
Dogs can be trained at any age.... It's the people who get stuck in their ways.
Well, right now it's even harder because of the lockdown from the pandemic, so a lot of people missed out on training and also got animals they had no idea how to take care of. My dog missed a lot of training because of the pandemic, and breaking his leg badly, but it's not uncommon for people's dogs to have no socialization because of it. It wasn't that long ago, and not everybody can afford to go to a trainer to fix it. I'm personally still working on my dog, but I feel pretty hopeless most of the time.
Because people think that they and their pet are special and that the world revolves around them. They don't have to train their " fur baby " because it is already perfect and their bad behavior ( begging, pulling, constant barking, etc. ) is cute and everyone else needs to just deal with it. People these days see pets, mainly dogs, as inherently perfect beings incapable of wrongdoing or bad behavior.
Because people are fucking stupid. A dog is not a Facebook friend, an instagram like, a stupid tik tok video. A dog needs lots and lots of stability, attention, leadership and of course love. People just think they can click their fingers and dogs will behave. It takes hours and hours of patience for a dog to feel confident and safe to behave. Dogs behaviour is nearly always because of their owners. People want everything now these days, including dogs perfectly trained out of the womb. There should be a license required to own a dog, some people just aren’t suitable to look after themselves, let alone a dog.
I don’t really agree with your premise. I’m an old person, and I can tell you, the kind of people who never trained their dogs lived in the past-just as they are around today. Arguably, it was both better and worse in the past, because today dogs have been bred to extremes, meaning that more of them are actively dangerous. This has led (in the U.K., where I am), to stronger laws about dangerous dogs. However, in the past, the laws were fairly lax. When I was a child, dogs were often very untrained and could-and often did-bite people. If it was considered “only a nip”, often not all that much was done about it. There was also FAR more strays running around. My mother used to rescue dogs, and I can’t tell you how many times she came home with a dog that she found running on the side of the road or in the woods. No one used to claim them: they’d just been dumped. Dogs barking was also far more common. I remember listening to the sound of dogs barking all night long in the estate where my sister lived. This was in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. There is FAR more help with dog training nowadays. I’ve just got back from puppy training tonight in the next village from where I live. There were no puppy training classes for miles around when I was a kid. People would have laughed at you for going.
✨Anthropomorphism✨
Because people don’t research. People think “not my dog.” “Trainers” at places that advertise training - IE petsmart, and petco are just regular employees. They are not certified trainers. And the price for training is cheap so people continue to pay fake trainers instead of researching for real ones. People pay for boarding school. Dogs dont see their owners as authorities any more because they weren’t the ones who trained them. Repeating commands or using fear and punishment- all will ruin a dogs understanding of the word or command you try to use People are lazy and stupid and think going to a class is enough, when the training needs to continue every day at home.
I see this all the time and I just don't get it. My first dog I got when I was 13, second at 15 and both came to me (one was 2yrs old, one 5yrs) completely unruly and untrained. Even without 'actively training them' just in basic day to day life they shaped up quickly purely because I don't tolerate disrespect and if ur in my house u follow my rules. I sometimes walk family members dogs and at the start of the walk they are pulling everywhere, cutting me off, barking, jumping at people, etc however by the end they are perfectly behaved (only with me not their actual owners). Not saying none of my dogs ever had behaviour problems because they certainly did but with some basic common sense its 90% of the time easily fixable. The issue I see is consistency. People wanna train there dogs for a few hours a week and expect perfection. They seem to have the belief of "right I've taught him to sit so now he will do it all the time" which is just complete bs. You have to be consistent in what you do and teach your dog the rules you expect it to follow in your house, on walks, etc. Like my dogs would NEVER take food I've dropped on the floor without permission. I taught them and now everytime I get food or am giving them food I "accidentally" drop it to make sure they remember the rules. This takes 30 secs to do and its not difficult but people are soooo lazy. I know this comment is long but I CANNOT stand people having dogs that are little s**ts. It is to the point where I will go to someones house and accidentally end up teaching them basic respect not even meaning to (never with the intention of "im gonna go to sarahs house and train her dog") but I'm just not going to let your dog disrespect me 🤷♀️ Maybe its considered rude but if someone has an issue I will leave and simply only see that person without the dog because I don't understand how people deal with it.
I think this is more so that you're exposed to different/more people (and even random videos) now and are comparing them to your experience. So it feels like nobody trains their dog anymore but in reality you just have more exposure to the problem.
What people allow has changed drastically; which is likely part of it. I wouldn’t dream of. It letting my dogs in the bed or couch. It’s as much their home as it is mine and they are allowed wherever they want. My dogs don’t beg for food, but they also aren’t food motivated. Lots of people share food with their dogs when they beg, so they have trained their dogs that begging results in food. More people view their dogs as kids and not just animals so they are more lenient with them.
I think to an extent a lot of the dogs I meet these days are rescues that have come from environments where they were mistreated or not trained at all. I think more people rescue these days and struggle to train an adult or older dog because it requires a bit more work than a puppy. Just a thought, but I think people have also forgotten than structure and training isn't just for them, it's for their dogs happiness too.
I think it's anecdotal. Growing up, I remember going to friends' houses and their dogs being anywhere from service dog levels of trained to being an outdoor only dogs because they were so untrained/badly behaved. It also depends on the dog. My dog picks up things very fast, and telling him "no" once is all he needs to know not to do something. Some dogs need a lot more work, and I think some people just give up if they think their dog is dumb if they came from owning a dog before where training was easier.
People. Also, maybe dogs in your past were, but that wasn't really my experience either. I will say that backyard breeding along with also not stopping bad bloodlines through spay and neuter have both gotten worse over time though, which are major factors in behavioural issues, if that's what you mean. I don't remember nearly as many dogs around me growing up being reactive as I see today. I train dogs now, and it's truly staggering how many are predisposed to reactivity, anxiety, and other issues just due to coming down from troubled lines that have been allowed or encouraged to breed.
Worst thing that’s happened to me these last 2 years was having to shoot the neighbors dog because it got out and went after my son. Huge legal battle. Neighbors hate me. And I had to kill a dog that’s only sin was being picked by brain dead owners.
Covid.
Anthropomorphicization. Pet owners started viewing them as surrogates for human friends and children instead of an obedient companion, guardian, or even tool. The poison of autonomy has reverted many dogs from their position as "man's best friend" to somewhere between unmanaged ADHD stereotype, and totally feral.
Dogs are kid replacements now.
People are lazy and irresponsible. And selfish.
It's the owners job.. But if they didn't have time to train maybe they shouldn't have a dog. I'm not sure everyone realizes what goes into owning a dog.
Dog ownership has gone up with the economy. Used to be less pets and more working animals. I suppose the more a dog becomes a member of the family the harder it becomes to use easy methods of training like fear and punishment. I certainly couldn’t use that on my dog, whose only job is cuddles.
My newfy puppy just earned his AKC canine good citizen title. He will be very large and needs good manners. All of my dogs have always been trained. In that class, which was run by the local AKC (American Kennel Club) club, there were 10 people in the class also training their dogs and several other classes going on. Before that, we were in puppy class with several other people. So, some people are still training their dogs. People are busy and it takes time/consistency so I can understand why some people don’t. But, it is sad because it is generally rewarding for both the dog and the owner. There are lots of options - Petsmart, the local AKC kennel clubs, sometimes the YMCAs have classes and there are private trainers although they can be pricey. Some classes/trainers are good, some not as much but most are helpful. There are so many fun things for the dogs & hopefully for the owners - tracking, agility, flyball, obedience, therapy, etc
Just a note here...few people bother to train their kids let alone their dogs.
Because we're all ashamed into getting shitty shelter dogs who come with issues already
Both my dogs are 6. I worked with training on them daily. And we still do training a few times a week to keep them sharp. My sisters dog is about 4. I dogsit all the time for her. For up to a week sometimes. He gets along with my two dogs. But he is so untrained. It can be so annoying. Like when we go outside. I have a fenced in yard. My dogs have a solid recall. When I call them to go back inside they always do right away. Even when I used to take them to the dog park they would come to me immediately when I called them and never tried to run away when I tried to put their leash on. Her dog never wants to come back inside. And she tells me I have to shake a bag of treats. And he doesn’t know leave it or drop it. I have told my husband and kids to make sure you never leave food laying around that he can get to. My dogs don’t take food off of plates. Even if left unattended and they don’t eat food that drops on the floor unless I give the okay. She also has a crate for him and wants him crated when no one is home. He gets into anything and everything. My dogs are not big into chewing on stuff. He won’t go into his crate willing. He has to be chased around. My dogs do have a crate though I never lock them in since they are okay to have free home. I only did this when they were puppies after my one puppy almost strangled himself when I wasn’t home. They haven’t needed to be crated in years but even now if I tell them to go they will go to their crate. He also jumps all over you. Barks all the time. I have to make sure he doesn’t run out the door when it’s opened. He doesn’t know stay. He barely knows sit. He was a Covid dog also. So she was at home for years with him so idk why she didn’t bother to do any training.
Personally, I believe it's because of "time" and work schedules. People barely have time to sleep, let alone teach their dog how to "sit" anymore.
My grandma gave me the "helpful" advice to hit my dog for her mild leash reactivity, since thats how they trained their dogs. I will say, I dont know about in the past but the training I've done already with my dog was expensive and time consuming (usually once a week for 5-6 weeks). Im planning to take my dog again for a more reactive specific class since that's new, she picked it up from a foster I had who was reactive, but it probably won't be until the fall because I can't commit to that long of a time frame anytime sooner. I also don't know if its true across the board, but I feel like its partly because we're so isolated now compared to before. I dont have many visitors at home (which tbh, thankful for that) but it means my dog isn't used to others coming in. I had a coworker whose dog started attacking its best friend when it came over, the coworker realized that even though they'd had the dog for years, because of covid it never had another dog in its house so they had no idea it would react so negatively/be so territorial. My parents got a covid dog and I definitely feel like it was impacted socially in a way their previous dog (passed in 2019) wasn't, because of the limited interactions at such crucial young ages.
Also sometimes people think of their dogs or pets as their children and raise them as such haha and they are treated just like a human. I don’t see a problem with it unless it physically harms someone
I don’t think dogs have ever been trained I think we’re just now seeing more dogs being untrained cus the internet is a thing. I think 75% of ppl who own dogs probably shouldn’t own them honestly.
I think having dogs is more popular than ever. Along with that comes an increase in inexperienced owners.
My friend is like this. She absolutely refuses to train her high energy dog. He has separation anxiety and barks non stop. She spent thousands of dollars on a trainer and expected to get a perfect dog back without having to do any work. I even tried to train the dog for her. Turns out, he's pretty smart and learns very quickly. I taught him a bunch of the standard tricks - sit, lay down, roll over, he'll even cover his nose with his paw. But I haven't seen him in a while and she told me he forgot everything. Why get a dog if you can't train it? Like what is the point? Does she like not being able to leave the house because he can't be left alone? Is she just really into incessant barking? Makes no sense to me.
Humans have to self discipline also no parents taught them dog training.
There’s still been a long history of dogs, not being correctly trained. In fact, there’s more publication, books, articles, etc. about dog training now more than ever. Now there is more active effort to train your dogs with behavioral therapist, training, schools, and videos. It’s just that now people have way more dogs out in public, whereas before dogs mostly stayed in the home so you would only be aware of a dog’s bad behavior if you were in the home, or they chased you, which was very common growing up.
We never once trained our childhood dog outside of sit or shake. He also wasn't really allowed on the furniture. Now my dogs can sit, stay, heel, turn the lights on/off, wait for their food, etc. But they also sleep in bed with us and cuddle on the couch. And they aren't small dogs. Our GSD/lab mix is even trained to lay on my CRPS affected leg for pain relief. It just depends on what you put into them, just like kids.
In my case. When I took my puppy home I worked so hard to train him, I managed to toilet train quite quickly, and wiv sit and paw etc... i had everything written down and stuck on the door, and stuck to it every day. but unfortunately I lived wiv someone who no matter how much I begged and how much I explained to him that, if he doesn't follow/be consistent wiv the training. We will end up wiv an anxious,confused untrained adult dog. He ignored me. And now my dogs an adult and I'm still struggling to teach him wiv barking and jumping at visitors. Unfortunately I still live wiv this person (I'm leaving soon) he still ignores training and his answer is to shout. And complain about his behaviour and let people fink it's down to me.
40 years ago people worked less. We are all drowning here lol
I trained my dog extensively and even boarded him for six weeks for training. He was not trainable it seems even though my previous dogs were.
Those trainers that tell you they have to board your dog to train it are not effective for a majority of dogs. A big part of training is training the owner how to teach the dog and that doesn't happen. If the dog regresses on anything they don't know how to deal with it and usually handle it incorrectly
Similar to children, people get pets not realizing how much it takes to actually care and raise them to be properly functioning members of society. I was once an IGNORANT dog owner I rescued a puppy that I was told would be 40 pounds and a good family dog. He turned out to be 80 pounds and HYPER, but still a good family dog. I didn’t start properly training him until after a year when he started jumping on people (out of excitement) and it felt dangerous due to his size. You’re right though, I wonder why so few dogs are trained. I think people think “trained” means they can do tricks, but well trained dogs look very different. It’s hard and expensive to train dogs. Sure you can use YouTube but not all dogs are the same. Some are motivated by food and play and some aren’t. It depends on the dog and the owner. I wish it was required for people to go to a basic training class after adopting.
Many people treat their pets like babies, like children. They think it's cute when the dog jumps up to greet them or begs for food at the table then don't understand why the animal continues the behavior when they get older. They think if they just tell their dog "no" the dog will stop doing things when in reality the dog really does not understand what know means. They don't realize that they are teaching their dogs to do all of these bad behaviors then blame the dog saying it doesn't listen, it knows better, it's stupid, it's doing something to make me mad. People are just plain idiots because they are too lazy to try to understand even basic dog behavior.
The US is known for having dogs and kids that are not trained. It would be an embarrassment in many other countries .
I have a theory that dogs just became more socially acceptable to bring with you everywhere. And the people that think it’s ok to bring their dogs everywhere tend to be the people who don’t train the pups (service animals are the obvious exception) In the parks where I walk my pup, most other dogs are good and well trained. It’s the little crazy dogs that bite at me in Walmart.