I am imagining this will be a short thread, as to me the answer is perfectly obvous, but I wondered what other's views were on this?

Why does a 'well trained' dog do as it is asked or follow 'commands'?

I think because if you have spent the time training your dog properly it has a great bond with you and knows that you are "top dog" and respects you.

I am currently training our boy for the KC Gold award and I have been his handler from day 1 when we started puppy classes. I only ever have to ask him to do something once and he does it straight away, whereas my OH does occassionally let him get away with stuff so he is more of a challenge for my OH.

I say my boy has more respect for me than my OH...... they way it should be anyway LOL

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I think this is absolutely right in most cases. I think there are some exceptions to this however - especially amongst those dog breeds which have been developed to think independently, assess situations and act accordingly. I am thinking primarily of sled dogs and livestock guardian dogs. For example, you can train a Siberian Husky (or rather it can train itself) to do anything, but it will make its own decision about whether it follows commands. A husky may retrieve a ball the first couple of times it's thrown, for example. But the next time you throw it, your dog is likely to give you an "old fashioned" look which says - "You threw it - you f*$*ing get it!"
These sort of dogs may well be obedient 99% of the time as they like to please you and are probably having fun basking in the attention you are giving them. It is the 1% which is the problem, when they decide that they will do what they feel is right, irrespective of commands from their owner.

Mick

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DREAMCATCHER SIBERIAN HUSKIES
Siberian Husky Welfare Association (UK)
"For I am a raindog too!" - Tom Waits
"Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see" - Benjamin Franklin
"As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities" - Voltaire

I think its more because they have something to gain from it. Whether this is a treat, a game, their breakfast or simply our attention. Dogs are selfish and know what they want so they "obey" even if they dont always the the reward. I'd like to think that dogs do as they are told because they love us and want to make us happy but tbh, i think its more a case of them wanting the reward!

Totally agree. We have Dalmatians and people who don't know the breed straight off think they are stupid and untrainable. That is a load of B*****ks They are super intelligent, but they do question everything. Mine are well behaved liek you say 99% of the time but if they could talk I'm sure they would always be saying "OK so you want me to do that.... but why? You might get something out of me doing this but what difference does it make to me" I think "why?" goes through a Dalmatians head a million times a day

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Agree totally having a very independent breed myself.

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I agree. I think they do it because a past pattern of behaviour has re-inforced that (for example) when you say the word 'sit', if the dogs sits, it gets a food treat, to play fetch or whatever 'reward' you have found that motivates the dog.

I think that is why so many people have problems with a good recall, it is hard to find somethign as rewarding as chasing rabbits, or access to another dog.

Totally agree. We own two intelligent breeds - border collies and bergamaschi. The borders learn quickly and do things because they want to please you - but the bergies are a different kettle of fish. They were bred to think for themselves - they were often sent up into the mountains with the flock without a shepherd, and they had to look after the flock, guard it from predators, and move it on to new pasture when necessary. So it is impossible to train them as we would train the borders - we have to make them understand why we want them to do something, and then they make up their own minds as to whether or not they will comply. It's not a dominance or a disobedience issue - it's just that they view themselves as partners to the humans and make their own decisions accordingly.

A good example is when we went to flyball training with Baggio and Gabby. They were both shown what to do in exactly the same way. Baggio decided it was fun, and was so good on his first attempt that the trainer wouldn't believe he had not done it before. Gabby, however, could not see why she had to slap this thing with her paw and jump to get a ball when she could just go and get one out of the bucket of balls behind the equipment. So because she could see no point in it, she would not do flyball.

Brilliant example Don't you just love them

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I think that's true for all breeds. No dog will follow a command if they are given no reason to follow it. They all think independently, without exception. I do believe some dogs are easier to train than others. Unfortunatly not all dogs follow commands because they get rewarded for good behaviour but because they are punished for bad behaviour.