Proceso de calibración

3.

T

he adult dog—the friend, the companion, the buddy! This is the much-awaited stage of your dog’s life. The season of “me” transforms into the season of “we.” It is the season of friendship and teamwork. It’s the one where he sits in your front yard while you wash the car, jogs with you off-leash, sits quietly by your side in the yard while you lounge in your lawn chair sipping iced tea and reading. He is happy to simply be with you because you’re pals! This stage makes all of the other “raising” stages worthwhile.

Age: Adulthood begins at roughly the age of three. Earlier than three years of age, your dog may have some good skills, but will not be fully mature. Adulthood ranges from three years of age to roughly seven or eight years of age.

G O A L S F O R A D U LT D O G S

In your dog’s adult years, you have many path-ways open to you both. You can pursue any of a number of advanced activities from Therapy Dog Work to Shutzhund Competitions. See the Appendix for details on some of these activities.

Once the active part of your raising, teaching, and modeling is done, you can now enjoy the fun

or creating manners (if you’ve already done your job!), you should pay special attention to main-taining your dog’s daily balance. Don’t set your dog aside simply because the raising is done.

Keep the balance in check!

Maintain your dog’s safety even in adulthood.

Keeping your dog safe means keeping her listen-ing skills, obedience skills, and respect skills tuned. When your dog is tuned in to you and your leadership, you should always have the ability to command her away from danger, as well as pre-vent her from getting into it.

When the skills and responses of your dog remain sharp, not only will you maintain her phys-ical safety, but her mental safety as well. A dog that remains well trained will not develop behav-ioral problems. Therefore your dog remains a safe being to have in society.

E X P E C TAT I O N S F O R A D U LT D O G S

167.

“Look, mom, no leash!” If formative stages have been crafted or modeled well, off-leash training will be developed rela-tively easily. Any other advanced work that you

Limitations

168.

If you’ve not done your “parenting”

job well, you will not have a very close companion. Your friendship will be weak and you run the risk of your dog having little respect for you. You can develop close compan-ionship by continuing to invest time in the rela-tionship with your dog. Go back in and retune or polish any “weak links” in your relationship before going forward.

169.

When the “learning loop” closes, and the circle is complete, your dog may not have drawn her circle around her family;

rather, she will probably have drawn her circle around herself or other dogs. She may remain independent and/or self-serving. If you need to

“open her up” and rebuild concepts, do so gently and patiently.

170.

Tolerance breakdown of the situa-tion can occur. If your dog has been without leadership mentally or socially for too long, her tolerance for social isolation can break and major behavioral problems can occur due to

171.

If there are any unresolved behavior problems that exist from the previ-ous stages, chances are they will not be able to be resolved completely. At this point, behavior prob-lems may be about management instead of solu-tion. Problems may dissipate to a large degree, but their core may remain. Use your best manage-ment “skills” to ease your stress and your dog’s if this is the case.

172.

Any unpolished skills left from the previous stages may remain weak or

“rusty” in adulthood. Some skills like off-leash training may be compromised if the proper atten-tion to detail was not given in the formative stages.

173.

Any misconceptions about her role in the family or her perspective of herself that has not been clarified in adolescence may remain an issue in adulthood. If many incon-sistencies and mixed messages have existed in her upbringing, then they will set in adulthood.

Un-mix any mixed messages to remedy this.

174.

“We don’t talk anymore.” A common pitfall in marriages is forgetting to talk to your spouse and spend quality time together. Likewise, your adult dog became your friend through the time you spent raising her.

Continue to give her quality time each day. Having a positive training session together can be like having a very special conversation together. Stop everything for just ten to fifteen minutes and train your dog. A little one-on-one focused atten-tion goes a long way in reminding your dog that she’s important to you.

175.

Not only will continued training practice keep your relationship healthy, but it will also keep both you and your dog’s skills polished and in good working order for all of the fun adventures upon which you will be embarking!

Y O U R A D U LT D O G ’ S N E E D S

In document ELABORACIÓN DEL MACROMODELO DE LA RED DE ABASTECIMIENTO DE LA CIUDAD DE MURCIA: APLICACIÓN AL CONTROL EN TIEMPO REAL (página 83-93)