Obedient, Smart and Trainable

Obedient - Smart - Trainable Pets

These dogs are considered trainable. Whether a pet is obedient, smart or trainable will depend on the personality of the pet. Some birds can be trained to speak some words - sometimes on command. Puppies are taught to sit and stay. Fish will also swim to the surface when they see someone approaching with food, - but is it training - or simply an environmental response. Perhaps both training and environmental response are the same for a pet.

We typically train a pet by rewarding them for an action that we desire. Soon they respond with the action to get the reward. Almost any pet can be trained to some degree. Some, however, are able to remember and respond to more commands; and some, by nature, are too stubborn and prideful to respond to a command from "a mere human". (This comment was not aimed at cats! We once owned a dog - a retriever - that was so stubborn, she would refuse to do anything she didn't want to do.) And cats can be trained - see our article Cat Tricks.

If you want a pet that will do Obedience, Agility, Hunting, Tracking, or any specific thing; you need to seek a pet that exhibits a natural talent for that thing. For instance, if you really want a great tracking dog, consider a bloodhound. If you want a "buddy" to chase the frisbee, think about a retriever. The Border Collie is considered to be one of the best dogs to train for agility, but they have an incredibly high energy level and you may prefer to train a Golden Retriever or another breed for this sport.

The personality traits of individual breeds has been the subject of many books. It is a complex subject. I would suggest a trip to the library or bookstore to read up on the breed that you're considering. There is a good book by Benjamin Hart and Lynette Hart called "The Perfect Puppy" that you might consider reading.

Most important! Every puppy has it's own personality. All puppies of the same breed will not be identical. Their rank in the puppy litter will have an effect on them. Meet the puppy! Meet its mother! If it seems eager to please as a puppy, it will probably be eager to please as an adult.