The Bonding Process

When I first get my dogs they don’t know that I am their charge at the beginning.  There is a lot of work to be done to gain their trust and their loyalty.  It goes both ways though.  I need to see a few things before I can trust and bond with the dog as well as the dog bonding and trusting me.

When the dog first comes to us and we meet, regardless of how they react, their loyalties still lay with the trainer.  The trainer is the one that has been working with them and they have developed that “bond” through working and training over time.  We need to do the same things.

All of my dogs have been cookie hounds and labs so that means everything is made better with food.  The first few hours with our dogs they are still looking for the trainer.  Once we start feeding the dogs they start to understand that this is where good things come from.  We start grooming the dogs over a few days and working with them and then the dogs start to understand that we are their charge.  They start looking to us for approval and for the pets and treats instead of the trainer.

Shasta and Zora both had the toughest transition.  Shasta was because she had been through a number of handlers and didn’t really trust that I was going to stick around, and Zora was just really bonded with the trainer.  Through time, repetition, and consistance they both learned to look to me.