Ruining good dogs

Im reading a few books and game dog information online and I keep seeing dogmen that refer to other dogmen as ruining good dogs.I've also heard alot of the older heads in my area saying this.."watch out for them they ruin alot of good dogs". I've never actually heard anyone go into detail about how these people are ruining dogs.I would hate to ruin a good dog as I'm still beginning and learning .what do people mean when they say this.is it too strict punishment ? To many rolls? Too early testing ? Too much attention or affection what do they mean and how do I avoid ruining a good dog.

 

Everyone's definition will vary, but the most agreed reason is usually starting too early, a common saying is "let pups be pups". Puppies tend to be pretty...sensitive. Even though it may be a dog's instinct to hunt, retrieve, bay, etc, if they have a bad experience at a young age doing that, they might be less inclined to do it. Despite what some people think, you can't force a dog to do much; it does what it does because it wants to. If it doesn't find enjoyment in an activity because someone pushed it too soon when it was young, it'll probably never enjoy that activity.

For example, I have a friend with an 8 year old dog that refuses to get on treadmills. It's a good a dog, but one bad experience with tripping on a mill when it was young pretty much ruined the dog's feelings towards mills forever.

Of course, you don't want to wait too long before working with your dog, there's a reason "can't teach an old dog new tricks" is a saying. Just watch your dog and take note on its maturity levels. I'm just a newb myself, so I still have a long way to go, but in my opinion, it's really hard to truly ruin a dog. People who ruin dogs tend to be the super impatient type who treat every 6 month old puppy like it's a 6 year old adult. Just be smart, pay attention to what your dog is "telling" you. Remember that they are animals, not machines.

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As an aside, I believe there is no such thing as too much attention or affection. I see this worry come up occasionally, although it seems to mostly be an American thing, curiously (I've know active Russian dogmen always taking selfies with their dogs, while a lot of inactive Americans will talk shit about you if do :confused. These dogs LOVE humans, they were bred to be close to humans. Nothing makes a dog want to work harder than pleasing its human. The only bad thing about too much attention/affection is kennel blindness. You can love your dogs, but if your dogs just aren't working out for whatever reason, don't let that love stop you from doing the right thing to improve your yard...

 

Awesome response man,thanks alot.needed to hear that.I love my dogs to hell and back and I have people who tell me I'm ruining them.I also see people get called ruiners for constantly testing a dog or like you said starting them too early.I'm real new to the game as well

 

Good post! Seen people treat a 3month old like a grown dog lol!(which that is so sad)but I let a pup be a pup.they will let you know when it's time.

 

Someone told me I was ruining my 6mo because she was attacked by my adult dog and I jumped in within seconds .according to him I should have let her be schooled alittle.not to mention my older dog has a really hard mouth smh I might be new but I'm not that stupid.