In 1903, when Ivan Pavlov had experiments on dogs, (which eventually led him to win a Nobel Prize) Nobody had imagined how big change it could bring. But when one talks about hundetraening (or Dog Training) we need to consider the time before 1903.
If we take a quick glance over the brief history of how dogs became domestic animals and started ‘serving’ mankind, we have to start from an early age. May be from the time when Men
were Hunters and Gatherers. Dogs have always been a good companion in hunting for men. In almost every Culture and civilization we see reference of dogs, but the training of dogs became common in
practice after a long time, mostly after 19th century.
One of the major breakthrough in dog training happened in 1770s when truffle hunters gave dogs breads when they found out truffles, before dogs, they used to hire pigs which was not
a profitable business, as pigs would eat all the truffle right after finding them. Thus dogs became a part in a daily live chore and were rewarded with food rather than kicks and insult.
After Pavlov’s Experiment, Dogs were taken seriously and in that same year Germans tried to apply this experiment. This experiment proves that animals can be trained to give
physical responses. The Germans called it Schutzhund. In that process they would train a dog to be obedient, to attack, to protect and to track. Belgians had started using Belgian Shepherd in
Police tracking even before Germans. The whole new concepts were blooming. hundeskole was developed. At the time of World War I, dogs were used for military purposes by the Germans, French and
Americans in a strong number.
