How to Improve Your Parenting Through Training Your Dog

By Blue Paw Nation

Dog training has many benefits. No more wet spots on the couch, your shoe collection stays in tact, your arm stays in its socket on daily walks just to name a few. However, some of the most important benefits are the ones received by the trainer not the trainee. You see, in reality dog training is an interaction. And in any interaction, all parties involved take something away from the experience. In the case of dog training, the dog does learn appropriate behaviors. A deeper look into why the owner/parent allowed or even cultivated behaviors is where the real parenting lesson lies.


Owners gain insight into their own personality during the training process. They find their weaknesses amplified by their pet and their personality strengths underlined. They may learn that patience is not their natural strength and that training forced them to be more considerate and calm. Alternatively, they may learn their threshold for frustration was actually higher than they had imagined. These lessons, learned through interaction with a dog, are transferable into other segments of one's life. If you are impatient or inconsistent with your dog, chances are you are similar with your child.

For example, the trainer who has successfully worked with a problem dog may find it easier to deal with a difficult child because they have learned that they can be patient and see a situation through without "losing it." A confident parent is certainly an effective parent.

There is of course, the tremendous sense of satisfaction that comes from training a dog to consider, too. Training requires a commitment over time and a willingness to give of oneself a great deal. Sound familiar Mom and Dad? A trainer may reflect on that experience and discover a selfless aspect to their personality of which they had previously been unaware. Tapping into that component of the personality might spur them to undertake other positive activities with their children as well as their pets.

When one realizes they have successfully completed a long-term task, they may better understand their innate ability to set goals and to achieve them by acting consistently with those goals in mind. Dog training can become a great example of what one can accomplish with clear goals in mind. Children, like pets crave structure and love. Children look to a calm patient parent for guidance the same way dogs look to a calm patient leader to head the "pack". If your dog is not responding to your head of household status, a look inward would do a world of good for you children as well.

Training dogs is not just about teaching "sit, heel, and rollover." It is about working with and interacting with another living being over an extended period of time. It is about giving instruction, of course, but it is also about receiving wisdom. There is much more to it, and there is a great deal a trainer can learn from both his dog and the training process itself.

Dog training is more than an exercise in learning and understanding for a dog. It is an exercise in learning and understanding for the master, too. There is a lot parents can learn from our experiences with dog training if we expand our perspective on the matter to include all of the wisdom and understanding acquired throughout the training process.