I agree with natural dog training. The difference I have experienced is that the dogs I obedienced trained did what I commended (most of the time...eskies have a mind of their own) I even played with them in my back yard so our relationship was more than just training & showing.

My eskies I have connected the most with & who want to connect with me are the ones I did train just naturally. Males connected closer with the natural training but I had a toy female eskie that at a very young & untrained age followed right by me when my car broke down & I had to walk several miles across the desert to get to my horse trainers ranch. Leo would go off investigating but always had to know exactly where I was & when first on my farm he would bring me back gifts he found. First one was a road killed raccoon tail. I thanked him for bringing me such a gift & then when he wasn't looking, bagged it up & put it in the trash.

I had a friend with a border collie. Her neighbors cows got out when she was in her horse feed room & her collie felt she was being threatened. He actually herded the cows together & layed down giving them the "evil eye....don't you dare move" until the neighbor came & got his cows. Her collie was never herding trained. It was natural & his connection with her made him want to protect.

I think some dogs connect in ways others just don't. Guess that us why some successfully train as service dogs & others don't. Not sure how to tell until that connection develops.

Leo always had a desire to be with me while still being very independent. Always a problem solver & a clown. His last year he was very sensitive to me. I had a bad coughing fit when on my bed & he came right up to me & started hitting his head into my chest. I didn't realize at first what he was really doing. The month before he died I was laying on the floor trying to get his blind older sister out from under my bed. Leo got on top of me & in my face & started kissing me. I told him I was rescuing his sister. He looked under the bed & saw her then got off of me. I never lay on the floor like that so he thought something was wrong with me. He was never trained...everything he did came from his heart. I am not sure a connection like that will ever happen again with another doggie.

From the time he was 2 months old I talked to him in sentences & he understood & did what I said. I remember wondering if there was a little human inside that white fur coat.

JoGI is blind too. I have to talk to him constantly so he knows where I am & there are times he extends his paw to see if I am there. Both my eskies are blind now & it is a challenge being "seeing eye mom" but we find a system that works.

I like working with the dog's personality rather than forcing them into programmed training. It is a lot more fun for them & me