Well Trained or Well Behaved

[Linds]

Both? Or Neither?

I was reading a blog post that was in response to another blog post and in the response they said this:

The fact that this individual has yet to address the dogs’ penchant for garbage reduced their credibility to zero in my book.

And I was once again reminded of the heavy heavy emphasis some dog owners and trainers place on good default behavior (no pulling on a leash, no jumping, no barking etc.) and use it as a bench mark for if you can train or not.

Me? Well, Traveler has horrible manners :rofl1: He pulls on the leash, he'll sleep on the kitchen table, he'll get in the garbage, he jumps on people and is a screaming, jumping banshee when I get home or he's excited. But he's very well trained. He will respond to known commands incredibly fast and almost 100% of the time even in highly distracting and stimulating environments. He loves to think and is a joy to train.

So I put him in the "Well trained, not well behaved" camp

So I was just curious, what is your dog?

 

[HayleyMarie]

good Question, Teagan is pretty well behaved. Actually almost perfect, but training is really not that fun for her. Although she is pretty well trained and listens really well I have slugged off on improving things because she is just so gosh darn well behaved at least for me. She is gosh aweful for other people.

 

[SarahHound]

Todd is both , Lucy is well behaved, and Katy is neither

 

[~Tucker&Me~]

Well I think what is well-behaved to one person is not well-behaved to another, and same goes for training. Spy jumps up on me because I never discouraged it and actually really enjoy when he does it. He does know not to do it on guests, though. I am sure some people would consider that an indicator that he isn't well-behaved. My cousin's retriever is super friendly, and is always sticking his face in my lap and trying to lick me. I would not consider that well-behaved (I like dogs who respect my space), but the rest of my family thinks that because he does that it means he is a nice, well behaved dog.

So idk... I guess Spy is well-trained and well-behaved by my standards :lol-sign:

 

[CaliTerp07]

Well trained, not well behaved. She's a barking banshee in the evenings, and reactive as heck to motorcycles and big trucks/buses.

But she can do a handstand, crawl around on her belly, and dance on her hind legs with the best of 'em

 

[Aleron]

Well trained dogs with no manners here LOL

 

[Dizzy]

Hmmm... Bodhi is mostly well trained, and OK behaved. Variable on her mood.

She likes to embarrass me (like the other week when she screamed and screamed because I walked 2 foot into an OPEN FRONTED shop to buy an ice cream, and my friend held her outside... 2 feet away.. in an open fronted shop... like I was going to never return, ever, ever, and everyone looked... then she snarked at the other female dog for no good reason other than she got herself wound up).

I hate walking her on the lead, but she's OK.. not good. She does not heel, and never pays attention to me, but she's not the worst, and is a LOT better when we're heading home lol.

Off lead - she's great 99.999999% of the time. She responds well, listens, interacts. Can snark at other dogs if they come over and start shoving themselves in her face, and I don't blame her for that one.

She responds to commands, knows tricks, listens amazingly, and non-dog people always think she is super clever and very well behaved/trained. I know different lol

She's not a counter surfer, or a chewer, or n a pain... she's a people pleaser, always has been

 

[Locke]

Well behaved, moderately well trained.

 

[Paige]

Well behaved for sure.

 

[SaraB]

That whole getting into the garbage comment just makes me think that person doesn't really have a good grasp on dog behavior in general. A dog that gets into the garbage to me is a dog that takes advantage of situations and an irresponsible owner. Dogs are always going to do what is rewarding to them, and to some dogs there is no greater reward than garbage and no amount of punishment will discourage them. I have greater respect for an owner that puts the garbage out of the dogs reach and sets them up for success than one that goes through every "trick in the book" to keep their dog out of the garbage.

My dogs are well behaved and well mannered because I don't give them the opportunity not to be. I set my standards to what I know they are capable of achieving and if that's not good enough for me, I adapt my lifestyle to make sure they are. However, I'm sure there are people that don't think my dogs are well-behaved based on their standards and I'm ok with that, they aren't the ones living with them.

 

[JacksonsMom]

Ummm, Jackson is pretty much both for the most part. He's naturally well behaved in the sense that I can bring him anywhere and I'm not worried about him jumping on people, or jumping onto counters, or getting into garbage. He's a very nice house guest. I just don't worry about it. He's also a nice leash walker, he never barks at other dogs when out and about, or people, etc. Just very go with the flow type of guy.

Now, he just just jump on furniture whenever he wants, but that's something I never worked on because I enjoy him coming and going as he pleases... so never cared about it. He also begs, which is something we are working on it, but again... it's something that's never really bothered me.

Even at 4 months old, I was leaving him basically free roam out in the house while I left and never worried about chewing up cords, or getting into anything (now when we WERE home, he did his fair share of chewing, LOL... but yah, when I left him alone, he was always fine)

He's also always been VERY easy to train; a total joy! He just thrives on it and is always willing to learn anything.

So yeah both.

 

[release the hounds]

I suck ass as a trainer, none of my dogs walk for **** on a loose leash. It's such a PITA, and everything is so much easier when I can just let them off leash.

 

[Linds]

Yeah, Traveler's being ill behaved is mostly in others eyes. I don't mind any of it (except the counter surfing but no one wants to work with me on not leaving food out) but according to a lot of people (like the one who wrote the response blog post) find most of the behaviors I enjoy (jumping, vocalness) or the ones that I just don't care that much to fix (Pulling on the leash) or the ones I deal with by management (lid on the garbage) as a mark of an ill behaved dog and failed trainer.

So yeah, you guys who said it are totally right, it is in the eye of the beholder. I just find it interesting the different measuring stick people use to tell whether or not a dog is trained or well behaved.

 

[Southpaw]

Juno's a slight combination. She doesn't jump on people, walks politely enough on leash, doesn't counter surf... her default manners are pretty good. Except for her habit of getting into the cat litter (which, I literally just finished catching her with her face in it). I don't know how well trained she is. Better than the average dog, at least. But, I'm only going to get out of her the amount of effort I put in... which isn't exactly a WHOLE lot lol.

I do prefer well behaved, though.

 

[release the hounds]

cat cookies are a delicacy

 

[MericoX]

I would have to say a mixture of both. They behave fairly well in the house, minus an issue here or there with some of the dogs. Well-trained? Some know more commands than other, some do more sports. It's a mixed batch for both options.

 

[AllieMackie]

Finn is a little of both.

Behaved? He doesn't get into things at home and will relax in the house, but jumps on people, licks human skin compulsively and has moderate leash manners.

Training? He knows many, many commands and answers well to all of them, but has only half a recall and his brain flies to Timbuktu when there's heavy distractions around.

That said, overall I much prefer a dog who listens well, but isn't an automaton. I want him to make his own decisions a lot of the time, even if some of them are bad, and guide him as he goes.

 

[Doberluv]

That's a hard question to answer for me. I think well behaved dogs are sometimes that way almost just naturally. I mean...some dogs are just not that much trouble because maybe they have a very laid back temperament and just don't do "naughty" things. lol. But for other dogs being well behaved or having good manners happens because of training, even if the owner isn't conscious of having trained those things in the dog. Maybe there isn't any specific "lessons" but just day to day, the dog winds up being trained really, without thinking about it much.

My dogs are quite well behaved with the exception of a few little minor faults. Things that are important to me, I work on with them. They're also, by their own nature very easy dogs to live with. They seem to understand me and are so willing.

They also have some training, but certainly not as advanced as say, Lyric, my Doberman had. They know their basics and a few tricks. But other than that, they don't do anything spectacularly precise or anything. They do have good manners except they yap when people first come in or when they see other dogs outside. They will stop, but they've lost that Johnny on the spot, cease and desist. I've let the regress. But they do what they're asked otherwise very well. I have been working on opening the front door and teaching them to stay in the house and not come out on the porch uninvited. They're doing well with that. That's something they never had to learn when we lived in Idaho. But there is a road here....very, very quiet, but still.....

I'm off on a tangent. But anyhow, my point is my dogs are quite well behaved. They don't do much to bother anyone and walk well on a leash. But they're not perfect. And they are fairly well trained....but not perfect and not very advanced. They're my little pocket pets and we don't do any dog sports or competition, so we suit each other fine. They're also welcome when I take them to someone else's homes. In fact, they're often invited. So, that makes it nice and easy too.

 

[Maliraptor]

My whippets are well behaved. But they don't know very many commands.

My Malinois are well trained, including IPO3 titles. They are not well behaved.

 

[Beanie]

Auggie is mostly well trained and well behaved... mostly...

Payton is well trained and not well behaved, but admittedly, I have sort of, um, encouraged the wild man in him. The terrible leash manners with other people (OH HAI YOU MUST WANT TO PET ME HERE I AAAAAAM) and the barking at other dogs needs to be fixed. Not everybody is here to love and play with the Payton. That one we have to do. =P

Georgie, uh. Well, she knows exactly what I expect out of her and I'm consistent so... she's generally well trained and well behaved with ME at least. XD