Dog Training or training dog?

 We have always tried to train our dogs not to be a nuisance to others and to obey certain commands, with more or less success. All our current dogs ( see above) will come when called (mostly) sit. lie down, together with other basic commands. Toffee and Jilly even went to obedience and agility training at Cherveux, near Niort, each week and were presented with certificates for aptitude to social education, whatever that is. They had demonstrated the ability to obey the above commands and also to walk to heel.
  Ben, our old black Labrador/Alsatian cross, was also trained by an ex-Police dog handler , before his death several years ago. We had him trained, chiefly to try and eradicate an unfortunate urge to fight any other dog not in the family that he met. The dog handler had to give up in the end. It appears that most dogs fight either because they wish to dominate or because they are afraid. Ben however, fought because he enjoyed it, his tail always wagged gaily before he hurled himself into the fray! We could only walk him in public with a muzzle and a wander-lead. In every other respect he was the ideal pet, friendly with all humans and particularly good with children. We had to take the rough with the smooth...
   Laika, in the middle of the photo, has not attended formal training, but we have taught her the same basic commands as the others, plus, as she is a very bright dog. some tricks, However, she also has her Achilles` heel. Being a former hunting dog, she will chase anything that runs and won`t come home for an hour or so. To avoid panic we have had to walk her also on a wander-lead, although we are making some progress.
  Lately, though, I have come more and more to realise that it is SHE who is doing the training. She trained us to let her sleep in our bedroom because she pined downstairs. Lately she has trained us to allow her to jump the door into the sitting-room and to sit on the settee. Not content with invading the bedroom, she has trained us to let her sleep on the bed, by creeping onto it each night and lying still as a stone. She is a much more patient trainer than we are and I think she is proud of her trainees progress!

  Bye for now, got to feed my teacher...