Dogs and Boundaries (Personal and Physical)

So after establishing clear communication with our canine friends which includes repetition and consistency, boundary setting is another important training aspect. Our parents set boundaries for us as children, and we set them for our children. Then why don't we do that with our dogs. Dog definately have the intelligence to understand boundaries, they set boundaries for themselves and their young. At a young age, puppies learn quickly how far they can push before the mother corrects them, they learn how far they can wander off, and when they are allowed to eat and when they aren't. These are boundaries established in the wild.

So, why don't we set boundaries for our dogs?

How many of you put food in a bowl for your dogs and just walk away. If you do that you are missing a great opportunity to teach boundary setting. The first type of boundary is a personal one. I don't want my dog to invade my personal space. I want them to have manners and treat me with respect. So, to train the first boundary, put the food in a bowl, the dog must sit quitely in front of you as you set the bowl down, and it may not eat until you give it the command (I use OK - my release command). I vary the length of time the dog has to sit there staring at the bowl before I give the command. But I make sure the amount of time is doable for both of us. I'm not trying to make the dog fail. I just want the dog to understand that I'm in control of the food bowl, and there will be no jumping on me to get the food, eating out of the bowl on the way down to the floor, or any other activity besides a clean sit stay. Then they get their reward, which is their food.

While this is easy to do with dogs with a little bit of training, you may have a more difficult time with small puppies. BUT it's best to start as a puppy. The puppy waits for his bowl to be placed down, and then give them a very short amount of time before you give them the OK command. Then add to it once the dog has learned to sit.

With some of my dogs, I even ask for more. A sit, a dance, a wave, a rollover, then you get to eat. Why not make it a little training session to get their bowl of food. I trained weave poles for agility that way. I set them up outside and the dogs had to do a clean set of poles to get their dinner.

Another boundary is a physical one. I don't like my dogs upstairs. It's saves on cleaning time, makes it easier on our family because the kitchen is up there and I don't like dogs mooching people food, and when people come to our front door, I don't want the dogs to charge to the door barking. So we've set a physical boundary that they can come to the top step, but no further. Setting a physical boundary is simple, just repetition training, and alot of me getting into their space when they put a foot past the top step. This type of boundary setting is really important for you to maintain control of the canine/human relationship. There are simply places that dogs SHOULD NOT be. When you were a kid, did your parents have one room that was off limits to the kids? A fancy room with all the breakables? Its the same premise with your dog, they don't have to have access to the whole house. As long as they have access to the areas that you spend the most time (for us, our downstairs, office, craft room and tv room), it is perfectly fine to deny them access to areas that you don't want them.

One thing to make sure if you are establishing a physical boundary. The boundary may never change. If you pick the top step, then don't think you can change it mid-stream to be the bottom step. If you want to keep the dogs out of carpeted rooms, but you will occassionally let them in the family room on movie night, then you can never again expect to keep them out of the family room. If you set a boundary to keep the dog in your yard, then you can't expect the dog to stay in your yard if you take them outside of the boundary (other than in a trip in the car). Walking the dog out of the boundary, offers the opportunity for the dog to break the boundary because you have done it once. Once the physical boundary is set, it is set for life. Otherwise, you will be retraining it for the rest of the dog's life.