Do dogs all learn the same way?

Can you train your dogs using the same methods?

When I rescued my girl Bella, she went everywhere with me.  She had been running the streets of Denver, self-sufficient at protecting and feeding herself. At the time, I was a personal trainer who bounced from place to place, training clients in their home, going studio to studio and Bella was my sidekick through it all.  She was always welcomed into clients' homes, she greeted clients at bootcamp and she even settled down with them while we stretched.  Bella was independent and comfortable in her surroundings.  She even sat outside on the driveway waiting patiently for me to return when I had failed to lock the back gate.  Bella was never destructive.  Bella was happy to cuddle or have her own space.  I wanted to be sure Bella felt safe, that she knew she had a home and a human to care for her.

To strengthen our bond, I signed up for obedience and agility training every Sunday for 1.5hrs for 10 weeks.

Bella and I worked on her obedience using tricks.  As a very food motivated girl, she learned quickly!  I had a much harder time training myself out of doing all of the rookie mistakes I kept making.   We graduated from Level 1 to Level 2 which included turns, walking backward, long recall, and slightly more advanced agility with the goal of entering a basic agility competition.  There was one activity that Bella was not pleased by - getting chained up to the fence with the other dogs while the humans learned how to carefully spot dogs as they ran across the dog walk (walk up to an elevated plank and back down).  I suddenly heard my friend Joni ask, "Hey Bella!  How did you get over here?" As we all turned around, Bella had roughly 16 inches of leash gliding behind her, chew marks where she ate threw to come be near me.   I knew our tight bond was inseparable.

Duke came to me as a baby.  Duke was all puppy and all Aussie!  A herding dog with strong instincts to get his way and destroy anything that made him nervous.  I knew that the moment he had all of his vaccinations, I would be taking him to basic obedience training so he could learn manners and stop eating the house.  Bella and I had such a fun experience at obedience training, I was certain Duke would have even more fun! 

 Duke failed puppy class the first time as I was unable to get him to lay down, as did the trainer! 

Duke ate the baseboards, the carpet on the bottom step, my sofa, part of my new mattress, put a hole on the back corner of every shirt I owned with one tug, and many other objects I have purposely forgotten about.  Mind you, this was during COVID so I was home most of the time.  I was completely exhausted from trying to figure out why he wasn't like Bella? Even Bella couldn't help calm this pup down, and she tried!

After about two years of working through 2 more puppy classes, socializing Duke at Home Depot, taking him for multiple walks a day, and letting him tear apart boxes (his favorite activity!), I finally understood what Duke needed and how to keep him fulfilled. 

The lesson?  Just like human kids, we need to pay attention to what each pet individually needs and what helps them thrive.  As the human, we need to understand that every dog is unique and should be trained the way they learn and in an environment that helps them learn.

I can say that Duke is a very good boy and no longer goes by the name Duke the Destroyer!