It Worked For ONE Dog

Growing up, we adopted a beautiful Shiba Inu looking dog from the shelter and named her Codi. When we got her home, we found out that Codi was a cat chaser.

This wasn’t good, since we had two indoor cats.

However, our house had a basement, first floor, and second floor. So Codi would be on one level and the cats would be on another, and they would switch at night.

This worked fine for a few months, until Codi got out of her level and started chasing one of the cats.

My mom happened to be switching papers in a clipboard at that time and yelled “NO!” as the clipboard clacked shut.

That was enough of a deterrent to stop Codi in her tracks.

Hmmm….

For the next few days, we watched Codi and would clack the clipboard if she thought about going after the cats.

To this day, when we get a cat aggressive dog in, my mom asks if we’ve “tried the clipboard.”

You see, everything has worked for at least one dog at one time.

Ignoring it.

Treating the opposite behavior.

Asking the dog to sit.

Everything has worked at least once.

But that isn’t good enough for me.

I want the methods and protocols that we use to work for multiple dogs in multiple situations.

It isn’t good enough if it just worked one time.

And this is where I have a problem with some of the dog training books I see out there, and some of the advice I hear.

Just because it worked for ONE, doesn’t mean that it will work for YOUR dog.

I could write a book on using a clipboard to solve cat aggression in dogs, because it worked for my dog, but it would not be helpful to the vast majority of owners.

Instead, I take what Codi taught me, one good correction is better than management and nagging, and you can stop the thought of the inappropriate behavior before the dog acts on it, and apply that to the dogs I work with every day.