The Patience Test

My dog is a Portuguese Water Dog, named Gilligan, he is VERY high energy! High energy dogs are easy to train if you have patience for them. If you do not have very much patience, I would not recommend you a dog with tons of energy. Want to know why?

Yelling or scolding your dog does not help him unless he is trained and knows the word "no!". Gilligan seems to know the command, "no!" but if Gilligan is scolded he will usually backfire and make you crazy. I call this, the patience test.

 For example, Gilligan may be digging into trash or chewing on something that are not his toys. I can simply say no, and hope that he will stop. Some dogs may stop, but Gilligan would run away and want to play chase. Now he's testing my patience, isn't he?

Now stop and think really hard... What would prevent your dog from getting into things he shouldn't be getting into? Obviously, don't let him near those things in the first place. If you get a dog you must expect the worst at first and not let him get into trouble. It is your dog and your responsibility, your dog will make you crazy if you don't prevent these things.

So be careful with your dogs, you are the owner and you are able to prevent things from happening. Dogs are dogs and every once in awhile they will get into trouble. You must be patient, don't let your dog give you the patience test!