Dog Training Quotes

The dog is a yes-animal. Very popular with people who can't afford a yes man. ~ Robertson Davies

Dogs (like rats) are multitalented but they are also not very smart the way humans are. A recent book, devoted to the intelligence of dogs, is 250+ pages long (Stanley Coren, The Intelligence of Dogs: A Guide to the Thoughts, Emotions, and Inner Lives of Our Canine Companions, 1994). Interestingly, despite careful qualifications by Coren regarding definitions, the ranking of breeds by intelligence literally made newspaper headlines. We are obviously fascinated by the notion that dogs - or at least certain breeds of dog - might, just might, be really, really smart. It all makes as much sense as evaluating humans on our ability to sniff for bombs or echo-locate. ~ Jean Donaldson

Most owners are at length able to teach themselves to obey their dog. ~ Robert Morley

And then there's the personal question so many of Lassie's fans want to ask: Is he allowed on the furniture? Of course he is-but, then, he's the one who paid for it. ~ Julia Glass

As you get better and better working out, there's no one who can keep up with you running. If you don't have a good dog, it's going to be the most lonesome training camp you'll ever have. ~ George Foreman

Guests are people who come to your home to see you whine at the table, bark loudly, jump on women wearing pantyhose, and do other tricks which you wouldn't think of doing just for the family. ~ Peg Kehret

It is a truism to say that the dog is largely what his master makes of him: he can be savage and dangerous, untrustworthy, cringing and fearful; or he can be faithful and loyal, courageous and the best of companions and allies. ~ Ranulph Fiennes

When I'm training a dog, I develop a relationship with that dog. He's my buddy, and I want to make training fun. ~ Ian Dunbar

By and large, people who enjoy teaching animals to roll over will find themselves happier with a dog. ~ Barbara Holland

This is the magic secret of dog training -- lose control over yourself and you at once lose control of the dog. Your strongest and most irresistible weapon is iron patience. ~ Albert Payson Terhune

Dogs like to obey. It gives them security. ~ James Herriot

I would rather have cookies in my jacket pockets than a chain around my dog's neck. ~ Pat Miller

Show me a dog who still cannot perform a task after it has been trained over and over again, and I'll tell you who the slow learner is. ~ Barry McDonald

The best dog training was based on the reward system. You did not punish a dog for doing wrong, you rewarded the dog for doing right. The dog did something you wanted, you reinforced the behavior with a reward - pet'm, tell'm they're a good dog, let'm play with a toy. The standard reward for a K-9 working dog was a hard plastic ball with a hole drilled through it where Leland liked to smear a little peanut butter. ~ Robert Crais

If uncertain, it's best to pass by a possibly good dog than risk injury. ~ Joel M. McMains

She is such a scene-stealer. She's got these lashes and big eyes, and when she walks on to the set everybody just says "ooh." ~ Greg Kinnear

Repetitive, forceful corrections had taught this gentle dog that at a specific spot the handler would always yank the lead. Thus, each time the Newf arrived at that point, she'd freeze for a beat and close her eyes in anticipation of the impending blow. This caused her to lag, which led to another correction, which resulted in more lagging, another correction, ad infinitum.
It was a classic example of canine learned helplessness, whereby a dog learns to accept abuse as a natural, inevitable consequence of living with humans. Repeated corrections had only frightened and confused the animal, and she was trying to protect herself in the only way she knew how. ~ Joel M. McMains

I can train any dog in 5 minutes. It's training the owner that takes longer. ~ Barbara Woodhouse

I like them all-pointers, setters, retrievers, spaniels-what have you. I've had good ones and bad of several kinds. Most of the bad ones were my fault and most of the good ones would have been good under any circumstances. ~ Gene Hill

When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes. ~ E.B. White

If you get to thinking you're a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else's dog around. ~ Will Rogers

To Tom Carlson or his dog-depending on whose taste it best suits. ~ Ogden Nash

A lot of people think I am the one to turn to for dog behavior issues. I'm not. All you have to do is meet Tucker; you'll know that I'm not an expert at training dogs. ~ Bruce Cameron

We had a dog who was named Pushinka, who was given to my father by a Soviet official. And we trained that dog to slide down the slide we had in the back of the White House. Sliding the dog down that slide is probably my first memory. ~ John F. Kennedy

A Canadian psychologist is selling a video that teaches you how to test your dog's IQ. Here's how it works: if you spend $12.99 for the video, your dog is smarter than you. ~ Jay Leno

If you train your explosive dog using a half-ounce target scent, it will miss one pound of the same material because the scent pictures of a half ounce and a pound are different. For humans the scent is the same -a bit stronger or weaker- but for the dog it is the difference between making a detection and not. You need to plan for this and reinforce using targets of different sizes and weights. ~ Resi Gerritsen

Dog training should not be a chore! ~ Tony Cruse

In dog culture, when someone calls you, you should absolutely not come if that results in the ending of something you like or initiation of something you don't like. ~ Jean Donaldson

The only food he has ever stolen has been down on a coffee table. He claims that he genuinely believed it to be a table meant for dogs. ~ Jean Little

Imagine you live on a planet where the dominant species is far more intellectually sophisticated than human beings but often keeps humans as companion animals. They are called the Gorns. They communicate with each other via a complex combination of telepathy, eye movements & high-pitched squeaks, all completely unintelligible & unlearnable by humans, whose brains are prepared for verbal language acquisition only.

Humans sometimes learn the meaning of individual sounds by repeated association with things of relevance to them. The Gorns & humans bond strongly but there are many Gorn rules that humans must try to assimilate with limited information & usually high stakes. You are one of the lucky humans who lives with the Gorns in their dwelling. Many other humans are chained to small cabanas in the yard or kept in outdoor pens of varying size. They are so socially starved they cannot control their emotions when a Gorn goes near them. The Gorns agree that they could never be House-Humans.

The dwelling you share with your Gorn family is filled with water-filled porcelain bowls.Every time you try to urinate in one,nearby Gorn attack you. You learn to only use the toilet when there are no Gorns present. Sometimes they come home & stuff your head down the toilet for no apparent reason. You hate this & start sucking up to the Gorns when they come home to try & stave this off but they view this as evidence of your guilt. You are also ~ Jean Donaldson

Dogs are not people dressed up in fur coats, and to deny them their nature is to do them great harm. ~ Jeanne Schinto

So what is the fallout for dogs of the Lassie myth? As soon as you bestow intelligence and morality, you bestow the responsibility that goes along with them. In other words, if the dog knows it's wrong to destroy furniture yet deliberately and maliciously does it, remembers the wrong he did and feels guilt, it feels like he merits a punishment2, doesn't it? That's just what dogs have been getting - a lot of punishment. We set them up for all kinds of punishment by overestimating their ability to think. Interestingly, it's the "cold" behaviorist model that ends up giving dogs a much better crack at meeting the demands we make of them. The myth gives problems to dogs they cannot solve and then punishes them for failing. And the saddest thing is that the main association most dogs have with that punishment is the presence of their owner. This puts a pretty twisted spin on loooving dogs 'cause they're so smart, doesn't it? ~ Jean Donaldson

The dominance panacea is so out of proportion that entire schools of training are based on the premise that if you can just exert adequate dominance over the dog, everything else will fall into place. Not only does it mean that incredible amounts of abuse are going to be perpetrated against any given dog, probably exacerbating problems like unreliable recalls and biting, but the real issues, like well-executed conditioning and the provision of an adequate environment, are going to go unaddressed, resulting in a still-untrained dog, perpetuating the pointless dominance program. None of this is to say that dogs aren't one of those species whose social life appears to lend itself to beloved hierarchy constructs. But, they also see well at night, and no one is proposing retinal surgery to address their non-compliance or biting behavior. Pack theory is simply not the most elegant model for explaining or, especially, for treating problems like disobedience, misbehavior or aggression. People who use aversives to train with a dominance model in mind would get a better result with less wear and tear on the dog by using aversives with a more thorough understanding of learning theory, or, better yet, forgoing aversives altogether and going with the other tools in the learning theory tool box. The dominance concept is simply unnecessary. ~ Jean Donaldson

Men cannot think like dogs ... [There exists] a sharp difference in the mental capacity of humans and canines. For example, a human who is given an intricate problem will spend all day trying to solve it, but a canine will have the sense to give up and do something else instead. ~ Corey Ford

No dog training method should ever be used if it conflicts with how you feel about your dog and how he should be treated. And no advice should ever be heeded if it supersedes your own common sense and intuition. ~ Paul Owens

We have a saying in K9: "If you put three dog handlers in a room, the only thing that two of them will agree on is that the third is wrong. ~ Mike Dowling

Dachshunds are ideal dogs for small children, as they are already stretched and pulled to such a length that the child cannot do much harm one way or the other. ~ Robert Benchley

No dog is as well bred or as well mannered or as distinguished and handsome. ~ Eugene O'Neill

I got a dog-training book. It says Grendel needs mental stimulation, so I tried to train him, but I think he must be retarded. ~ Ilona Andrews

If you would understand this secret, you must first understand the distinction between training an animal and educating one. Trained animals are relatively easy to turn out. All that is required is a book of instructions, a certain amount of bluff and bluster, something to use for threatening and punishing purposes, and of course the animal. Educating an animal, on the other hand, demands keen intelligence, integrity, imagination, and the gentle touch, mentally, vocally, and physically. ~ J. Allen Boone

All my dogs have been scamps and thieves and troublemakers and I've adored them all. ~ Helen Hayes

He listens to his trainer real good. He just doesn't listen to me. I still can't get him to do nothing. ~ Evander Holyfield

Never trust a dog to watch your food. ~ Saint Patrick

It's too late Savannah, you already let Carlos grow into a full-grown dog. You should have trained his ass when he was a puppy, when the pussy was still new to him. Now, now he's gonna continue to shit in the house no matter how many times you rub his nose into it. ~ Fabiola Joseph

During my undergraduate training at UCLA, I was studying finance and securities; my particular interest was with mutual funds. Wanting to get into a high position at some of the companies that were doing that, I knew that law would be useful. ~ Robert Shapiro

You call me misbeliever, cut-throat, dog, And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine, ~ Stephen Greenblatt

The dog lives here, Pete. You're just visiting. ~ Marge Schott

The fight unfolded like background noise. White noise. In the foreground, even with his ghastly pale face looking dead in my hands, my fingers clenching his ragged hair, all I could see was random images of Fang, not dead.

Fang telling me stupid fart jokes from the dog crate next to mine at the school, trying to make me laugh.

Fang asleep at Jeb's old house, and me jumping wildly on his bed to wake him up. Him pretending to be asleep. Me laughing when I "accidentally" kicked him where it counts. Him dumping me off the bed.

Fang gagging on my first attempt at cooking dinner after Jeb disappeared. Him spitting out the mac and cheese. Me dumping the rest of the bowl on him in response.

Fang on the beach, that first time he was badly injured. Me realizing how I felt about him.

Fang kissing me. So close I couldn't even see his dark eyes anymore. The first time. The second time. The third.

I could always remember each and every one of them. Would always remember them.

Fang.

Not.

Dead. ~ James Patterson

If you want a friend, buy a dog. ~ Kevin O'Leary

Doctors and nurses, with their training and their experiences, they would be able to detect unusual patterns of disease. That's why we say it is important for every country to have a proper surveillance system. The function of the surveillance system is to detect unusual patterns of diseases. ~ Margaret Chan

Sprang on your nerves with all the abruptness of a normal night's dream turning to nightmare. Dog into wolf, light into twilight, emptiness into waiting presence, here were your underage Marine barfing in the street, barmaid with a ship's propeller tattooed on each buttock, one potential berserk studying the best technique for jumping through a plate glass window (when to scream Geronimo? before or after the glass breaks?), a drunken deck ape crying back in the alley because last time the SP's caught him like this they put him in a strait jacket. ~ Anonymous

I can see why you opted out of Knight training," I countered. "They'd have 'accidentally' killed you before you made it to adulthood. ~ Jenna Black

It is possible I can make very little of myself; but this little is everything, and better than what I allow to be made out of me by the might of others, by the training of custom, religion, the laws, the State. ~ Max Stirner

Always keep in mind that training stimulates growth, but that actual growth takes place while you are resting. ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

First, there was 2 Stupid Dogs. Then, Dexter's Laboratory. And now, Powerpuff Girls. There were a lot of little things in between, but those were the main ones. ~ Craig McCracken

Lord Emsworth could conceive of no way in which Freddie could be of value to a dog-biscuit firm, except possibly as a taster. ~ P.G. Wodehouse

Your success in life does not altogether depend on ability and training; it also depends on your determination to grasp opportunities that are presented to you. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda

Eve was good, he conceded, adding the file he'd just finished to the growing stack on the floor at his feet. Given the proper education and training, she could be great. He stretched the kinks out of limbs stiffened from too much time spent in one position.
Why didn't she do more with her talent?
He started to ask her, then realized she was sound asleep, curled up in the overstuffed chair. The sun no longer shone through the front window, and his stomach told him it was getting close to lunchtime, but she looked so adorable curled up with her hands under her cheek and her tanned knees against her chest that Matt was in no hurry to leave. ~ Paula Altenburg

I'm doing four hours of gymnastics training a day, six days a week and then an extra two to three hours in a fitness center as well. ~ Shawn Johnson

Dear Lord, please make me the kind of person my dog thinks I am ~ Anonymous

Absolute devotion to God leads to absolute joy! ~ Leila Grandemange

Scratch a dog and you'll find a permanent job. ~ Franklin P. Jones

Does not the gratitude of the dog put to shame any man who is ungrateful to his benefactors? ~ Saint Basil

We didn't use the shuttle robot arm before, so this has been a training flow to get ready for that. ~ Linda M. Godwin

Don't always carry your Toy dog. Small dogs have four on the floor and they can use them. ~ Darlene Arden

when they first met. It was just past the end of the third month of training, the midpoint, before they were interrupted again. Spring should have come, but this far north, and in the Low Lands in particular, the only indication of this was a sprinkle of rain mixing with the snow occasionally. Such a storm was passing through toward the end of the daily training session in the tower when a commotion could be heard in the main room down stairs. The sound alone was enough to put Myn on guard. ~ Joseph R. Lallo

I gave myself to you sooner than I ever did to any man, I swear to you; and do you know why? Because when you saw me spitting blood you took my hand; because you wept; because you are the only human being who has ever pitied me. I am going to say a mad thing to you: I once had a little dog who looked at me with a sad look when I coughed; that is the only creature I ever loved. When he died I cried more than when my mother died. It is true that for twelve years of her life she used to beat me. Well, I loved you all at once, as much as my dog. If men knew what they can have for a tear, they would be better loved and we should be less ruinous to them. ~ Alexandre Dumas-fils

You're never the same after you run the Iditarod, and I still lust to go out and run with dogs, even though I know that I shouldn't. But I'd give just about anything to be able to do it again. To see the horizon again from the back of a dog team would be wonderful. ~ Gary Paulsen

I imagine fucking that mouth to distract myself from all thoughts of hunger. Yes, her mouth needs training, and I imagine her on her knees before me. Now, that thought is appealing. ~ E.L. James

Beauty and the Illiterate"

Often, in the Repose of Evening her soul took a lightness from
the mountains across, although the day was harsh and
tomorrow foreign.

But, when it darkened well and out came the priest's hand over
the little garden of the dead, She

Alone, Standing, with the few domestics of the night - the blowing
rosemary and the murmur of smoke from the kilns -
at sea's entry, wakeful

Otherly beauty!

Only the waves' words half-guessed or in a rustle, and others
resembling the dead's that startle in the cypress, strange
zodiacs that lit up her magnetic moon-turned head.
And one

Unbelievable cleanliness allowed, to great depth in her, the real
landscape to be seen,

Where, near the river, the dark ones fought against the Angel,
exactly showing how she's born, Beauty

Or what we otherwise call tear.

And long as her thinking lasted, you could feel it overflow the
glowing sight bitterly in the eyes and the huge, like an
ancient prostitute's, cheekbones

Stretched to the extreme points of the Large Dog and of the Virgin.

"Far from the pestilential city I dreamed of her deserted plac ~ Odysseus Elytis

Train everyone lavishly. You can't overspend on training. ~ Tom Peters

You should have heard the boatman who brought me up here from the Glades. Fire in the northern sky, lights in the marshes, a black dog heard barking through the night. Doesn't occur to anyone to wonder how exactly you can tell it's a black dog just from the fucking bark it makes. ~ Richard K. Morgan

A dog creates, transcribes, a new landscape for you. A dog like Colter sharpens your joy of all the seasons, and for a while, sometimes a long while, such a dog seems capable, by himself alone, of holding time in place--of pinning it, and holding it taught. And then when he is gone, it is as if the world is taken away.

Dogs like that are young for what seems like a very long time....

One you have lost a dog--especially the first you trained from a pup, the one you first set sail into the world with--you can never fully give of yourself to another dog. You can never again look at a dog you love without hedging a tiny bit, if only subconsciously, against the day when that dog, too, must leave. You can never again hunt or enter the future so recklessly, so joyously, with that weight of forethought....

As I sleep restlessly, night after night, or more often, as I lie there awake, I can see him running and I feel guilty that I am not there to honor the birds he is finding... One way or the other, he is still out there running. He will never rest.... I will always want him to know a moment's rest, and peace, and he will always know in his hot heart that the only peace to be gotten is by never resting, by always pushing on.

He is my Colter.... I am still his, and he is still mine. ~ Rick Bass

Pigs are smarter than dogs, and both are smarter than Congress. ~ Elayne Boosler

I should get a dog. I would get a rescue dog. I like mutts; I don't care. I would probably get a three-legged dog no one else would want. ~ Simon Cowell

The best thing I ever bought is my dog Stitch. He's the best friend & companion. ~ Travie McCoy

I love 'Training Day' - that's a great movie. ~ Jake Gyllenhaal

A child may be "spoiled" by a lack of training or by inappropriate love that gives or trains incorrectly. ~ Garry Chapman

Around them peddlers were selling dog sausages, roast onions, and unborn puppies on a stick, but Dany had no need of such. ~ George R R Martin