Forming a Bond is Vital to Success
Forming a Bond is an "Intangible" Element, that may (or may not) affect Success
Forming a Bond has nothing to do with Success
There is a thread about this topic on PedsOnline, to which I have devoted too much of my attention already, so I felt I would make this a poll on here.
How many of you believe that a bond is one of the many intangibles to success ... that a dogman can stack in his dog's favor ... or who, through negligence, can stack against his dog?
How many of you believe a dog is what it is ... and that a bond has nothing to do with success?
If you have strong feelings/beliefs one way or the other, why?
Jack
I have always thought it was very important. But in time i got to know successful kennels who keep their yards miles from home, just come to feed once a day and for the rest they do nothing with them. Just bring them to school 1/2/3 times. The only real bond that can be developed is within the keep then. Well i find it easy to bond with a dog fast, but does one form a true bond with a dog within 8/9 weeks?
IMO, a bond is an intangible that can be vital in some dogs, not so vital in others, but that will never hurt a dog.
Just like calling a weight right, depending on how talented your dog is (and how talented his opponent is), pegging the exact weight right may prove to be vital ... not so vital ... or make no difference whatsoever. But it will never hurt your dog to get his weight exactly right ... and yet not doing so can ruin him. This is why both of these are "intangibles" to my way of thinking, because their effect can vary, but making sure these elements are in place is always good for a dog a never bad.
If a pit dog is a fighting dog, and as such it has a collection of traits, then (aside from speed, timing, reflexes, coordination, natural wind, stamina, mouth, etc.) there is the key trait of DESIRE in a combat dog that fuels the rest of everything. Certainly, we all want that desire to come from the dog's genetics, no question about it, but we cannot ignore the fact that part of what makes a dog "a dog" is LOYALTY ... and that loyalty is where trying to maximize the bond comes into play. A dog may be "naturally" loyal, sure, but that loyalty can be increased (or decreased), based on the amount of time/love an owner spends with his dog ... just the same as any other natural trait can be increased/decreased through dedicated effort (or lack thereof).
This subject is huge, and open to a wide variety of interpretation and thought, but I for one think that the effort to form a bond is the "cherry on top" that distinguishes great from good dogmen. A dogman maybe "technically proficient," but (while he may have a lot of solid dogs) if he's not bonding with his dogs, I believe a truly great dog will forever be elusive to him ...
Jack
I do feel, that no matter what, a bond between a coach and his athlete, will produce better training conditions, so I am all for it.
I gotta agree with Jack on this one. There's only so much you could do for a dog. It's in their genes to scratch or not.
i ran a pup on for a yr 5/2yr ago & he was the housedog for that yr. Brought up with the family,gr-daughters etc & was as he should be. I passed him on for his next chapter in life & the new owner died earlier in the yr. His daughter took him on for several month & couldnt cope with exercising him,with having a wee baby.
I brought him here on the promise that he would stay until i found a perfect home,as rumour had it that he was available & i didnt want him getting in the wrong hands. He has never left my side. I turn,he turns. I go upstairs to the jimmy. He follows & lies outside. My shadow is all i can explain.
I truly got the feeling & still do,that everytime i go out of sight,he feels i won't come back. Just like his last owner. I have slept downstairs on a 2 seater sofa (i am over 6ft hehe) in the spare room with him every night. I am still having a wee
problem of him being at ease to go in the
backyard without me to relieve himself,but he is
improving,albeit slowly. Other than all this,the
dog is all what i would expect.
Bond.............for sure this dog had a bond with his
previous owner & that man must have had
likewise. I just get the impression this dog has
really took it hard & i have to give him a wee bit
credit for his loyalty. Time & patience too.
Sorry for going on but i thought he deserved a
mention on the thread.
Back to the thread,i think it is imperative.
I can understand a wee problem with bonding
when you have a large yard & i would not know
where to start !!
Regardless of whose dog it was. If i was putting
him through a keep then for sure i would want to
forge a bond.
Personally i do forge a bond with my dogs & i
wouldnt have it anything else. If i didn't have a
bond then i would not see a reason in having that
dog. Not one for letting him on my lap or fussing
over them. Long as you look after that pup/adult
& treat,care & feed them then a high majority of
them will worship what few hairs you have on
your head.
A bond is a emotion. Although dogs can sense emotion only humans can comprehend and control it to the fullest. In animals emotion reverts back into a animals INSTINCTS because its all genetically bred into them.
I do not consider love intangible. Love does not affect the dog in his performance , its just that the dog seems to love you that's it as a dogs concept of love is very limited.
Things like calling the right weight and feed etc. is what I call intangibles as they are scientific facts that have been proven to actually affect/enhance a dogs physical performance to some degree.
Plus what does everyone consider a BOND? To me a bond is when you take in and care for and raise that dog and treat it properly , that's a bond right there. Even if you spend only 5 min. a day with each dog when feeding or picking up dog shit and giving him a good pat on his head that's enough bond right there IMO. Unless some of you feel you need to cuddle with a dog for hours at a time to accomplish that bond? LOL
it depends on how close of a bond u have. will a bond make a dog scratch sometimes i beleive in certain dogs yes. what i beleive a bond can definitely do is make the dog fight harder and help in times of need i beleive a bond can can help in a situation of your dog being on the bottom and him seeing u there and you are talking him through it and get him to his feet a bond will also help relax certain dogs in those situations so they do not panic. believe me my dog no know and trust me and they definitely form trust in their owners and that trust can and does help them through situations
Not sure we totally agree ... because it's also in their genes to form a bond, and the effort to maximize this effect is part of the raising/grooming process IMOOriginally Posted by OGDOGG
We humans have our emotions/instincts bred into us as well ... and psychiatric institutions all over the world prove that very few humans can really control their emotions well at all either ...
We fundamentally disagree. There is nothing on earth more "intangible" than love and the formation of a bond. And if you don't think "how you feel" that day can affect your performance, then your beliefs are in polar opposition to most coaches/athletic experts on earth.
Your understanding of the word "intangible" needs revision. Scientific facts are not intangibles. Intangible means "there, but hard to quantify," while a scientific fact is absolutely certain and unambiguous.
The bond a man gets from tossing food at his dog is the bare minimal, at best. It is the lazy man's bond.
The bond a man gets from hand-raising his dogs from puppyhood, from schooling and socializing them, from basic training so the dog learns to "pay attention" when the man points to something, to (in many cases) sleeping with that man ... is going to be FAR greater than the bond a man receives from an idiot/unsocialized dog who just gets food thrown at it and put on a mill.
Jack
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