The Evolution of Dog Training For as long as civilized peoples have been around, there have been dogs living in partnership with humans. In earliest days of evolution when humans hunted to survive, people learned that dogs could make their hunting much more effective. That partnership was a natural environment for a mutual respect and understanding to grow between human families and their dogs simply because the working relationship was so mutually dependent.
The training people developed in those times for dogs was designed to make that mutual partnership even more effective. Dogs were trained to assist people in their daily work.
All you have to do is look at archaeological findings like cave drawings and ancient pottery and you will witness that dogs were companions to humans as far back as we have historical records of any kind. The natural conclusion is that the earliest civilizations see man and dog working together to aid each other with jobs that were crucial to life survival like hunting and protection. The two species truly depended on each other and they both learned to rely on each other for food and shelter.
In every society from ancient man forward, dogs had important jobs to do. Not only were dogs loyal protectors of the family unit, they also protected and herded sheep and other livestock expertly. Dogs also quickly demonstrated other skills that caused people to come to rely on them in other areas of commerce including agriculture, military assignments and assistance.
In ancient Turkey the Anatolian sheep dogs protected the vulnerable sheep against predators. Herding dogs in Britain from the Neolithic times gathered or moved sheep around assisting farmers.
Inuit dogs, Huskies and Malamutes were used by Nordic tribes in Alaska, Siberia and Northern Canada. Their strength, endurance and love of running are ideal to pull sleighs full of supplies and food and transport people. First used by Nordic tribes to travel across the snow they were instrumental in many successful polar expeditions. Today sleigh dogs races and skijoring are attracting more and more enthusiasts.
In the historic Roman Empire, dogs played very important roles in every aspect of society. The famed Roman army held the military use of dogs in such high regard that they trained entire battalions of dogs that were battle ready as part of their military personnel.
Later, during World War I, dogs took on missions that were critical to the success of the allied powers doing jobs such as delivering secret messages, guarding prisoners and military outposts. Dogs even did the non traditional job of transporting heavily military equipment to the front. You would be hard pressed to find an important military duty that dogs have not had a role to play including serving as scouts, tracking, detecting explosives and delivering messages in the heat of battle.
There is ample historical documentation to show dogs engaging in assisting the blind and other domestic duties from the first century A.D. and down through the middle ages and to this day. In fact, in 1788, the French opened a hospital at "Quatre Vingts" that pioneered the use of seeing eye dogs. Today we have seen the value of dogs used in this way expanded to where they are enlisted to aid the elderly and people with disabilities and even to help with cancer detection and in therapy with autism or epilepsy.
When you review the broad number of jobs dogs have had in society down through history, its pretty amazing. The relationship between dogs and humans was first forged in working together.
Dog training then was geared towards enhancing and refining the natural instinct of the dog.
However, the role of dogs in society has steadily moved away from just work jobs because as technology developed, dogs were less needed. But the affectionate relationship and bond stayed.
It was the decades of the 1970s and on into the 1980s that saw the way people approached dog training really began to change dramatically. Before this time and probably as a left over from war training, the primary approaches to training still focused on verbal and physical punishment and choker chains to teach a dog how to behave. These ideas still regarded dogs in light of their pack behavior so they were trained to be subservient to people out of fear.
By the time the 1990s came along all of that had changed. Through their research, professionals in animal behavior and psychology got a different understanding of dog pack behavior and dog behavior all together. Dog training approaches that used praise and positive reinforcement rather than punishment started to make ways.
Naturally, because of the explosion of interest in modern dog training methods, there has been a corresponding explosion in availability of dog training materials. Some of the best came from noted experts in dog training such as Karen Prior who gave us the clicker training approach. Ian Dunbar and Cesar Millan also were at the forefront of new kinds of dog training that did as much to training dog owners as it did in training dogs.
The changes in how society views dog training down through history are pretty noticeable. The evolution of human culture has changed the role of dogs in our lives and made them important to people as companions and part of the family. With the rise of the internet, it has become even easier to find great dog training materials in cyberspace. You now can access outstanding dog training guides so you can train your own pooch right in your own back yard and living room.
These days, dogs are far more than just domestic animals. They are valued friends, someone to talk to and they comfort and entertain family members daily. Nonetheless, dogs continue to do important jobs for hunters and even as workers in police and military roles just as they have done for centuries. The use of dogs in a huge variety of medical situations has expanded and continues to expand. Their talent to learn new jobs and do them well means that we will see dogs occupying important places in the lives of many human families for centuries in the future as well.
