The Importance Of Having Faith In Your Dog

We do not need to develop the virtue of patience for its own sake. There is nothing to be gained by being patient with a dog who is obviously headed in the wrong direction.

On the other hand, when the dog owner is guided by knowledge and understanding, it is so easy to be patient that he can't even call it a virtue. The dog owner only has to see that his dog's drive is flowing; with such evidence plainly before him, he is confident of his inevitable success in training his pet.

Therefore, the real virtue in dog training is not patience, but faith. It is faith in your dog, a perfect animal that is genetically programmed to be in harmony with you. No matter how botched up his training may have been until now, you are confident that you can fix it. That is the message that dogs bring to us.