Originally Posted by B-Line

Vin,

But you miss a big point. Dogs are not robots.
Example, EVERYTIME my dog see's water, a lake, pool, ocean, WHATEVER, as long as it's wet, her head picks up, her tail curls, and she stands at attention.
After years and years of training, she knows, she's not allowed in the water until i take off her collar and give her the ok.
She will literally stare at the pool intensely until I say, "OK, in the water".. Then she jumps in like a kid on Halloween.

When I am with her, she would never jump in the water without my OK..

-- Having said that, there have been times when I have had friends watch her for a few days while I'm traveling.
There was one time, middle of winter (in florida, so it wasn't that cold.) but Nikita had not been in a pool in months. My friend was staying at the house and taking care of her. He told me he walked her into the backyard to pee, she looked at the pool, she looked at him, she looked back at the pool, she looked back at him. And as he was screaming NO !!!!! She was jumping in the pool. Came out with a huge smile on her face and my buddy was late to work because he had to dry her.

Again, Nikita would not have done that if I were there. But she was testing my buddy. She thought she could get away with it, so she went for it. Even though I have taught her, she needs permission to go in the water, she was doing, what was in her nature.

So even if you have a dog, and a member of the household that teaches the dog to behave, there are circumstances where the dog is going to revert back to their nature.

So, pit bull owner teaches his dog to not be aggressive or violent. But pit bull gets into situation where it stops "thinking" and starts "acting", pit bull will, by nature, be very dangerous.
Remember Ziegfried and Roy? I'm sure that Tiger that attacked Roy was better trained than any dog that you will ever see in a dog run.

B