I'm picking up a pup in July, if the breeding has "taken" (still waiting on word). I know the majority of you guys with dogs also have wives and kids in the house. My concern is the repetition of the training program I'm going to use, and even the obedience training. It's all well and good to say "get everybody in the house on the same page", but realistically that's not going to happen with a 6 year old, teenager, and a hard-headed wife whom I love dearly. Will it be close to consistent? Yep. Will it be perfectly consistent? Some days. But I suspect that overwhelmingly the dog will get different treatment from each member.
This will be a family pet first and foremost, and a hunter second. Even if I had the best, most perfectly trained hunter in the world, he wouldn't stay around long if he couldn't be a pet as well. (Just so you know where I'm coming from) My concern is that each person may put a little different "spin" on something, primarily basic obedience, and what they let the pup "get away with" when it's just them with the dog. My question is, is it realistic to expect the dog to know the difference between how I tell him something and how my 6 year old may tell him the same thing? I don't care what he does with the other members (as long as it is acceptable dog behavior- obviously, I don;t want him acting like a misbehaved hellion with them, just because they aren't me) as long as he "gets it" when it's me and him going to work, so to speak.
Any tips on the best way to handle this would be appreciated. I'm already making it as "fun" for them as possible, i.e. watching Fowl Dawgs together so they can at least see what I'm going for, although some things may be lost in the translation. I will be consistent. But as anybody with a family knows, to expect 100% consistency across the board within a family is probably unrealistic. I know all pups refuse at times, and test their limits at times. How would I best know if this is what's going on, or if he's genuinely confused by some sort of contradicting commands and expectations I'm not even aware of? Reagrdless of anything else which goes on, I want him to listen to me, when he's with me, but I don't know if this is unrealistic given the circumstances I've described.
If this has been answered before (and I'm sure guys like Matt have had to deal with something like this hundreds of times), sorry for being repetitious. I don't venture into dog forums much, other than to argue about mutts
When searching for info on this, 100% of the time the responses/info seem to be "get everybody on the same page". While that's all well and good as far as advice goes, everybody knows that shit just doesn't happen. As cheap as I am, I really want this dog to turn out "right", and not just be a bump on a log to keep The Dingo company. Still got some time left, and trying to stay ahead of the curve.Thanks!
