I think training is mis-pitched: it should be called “teaching.” It is not about tricks; it is about a worldview. We encourage—even expect—some kind of teaching of children, and for a good reason: so that they can understand the world into which they have been born and the civilization in which they are going to be a participant. So, too, for dogs: teaching should be about what they need to know to live in the world of humans, and what they need to learn in order to more fully enjoy life. The behaviors taught today are a mash-up of those important for safety, important for the sanity of the human, totally unimportant for any reason, possibly offensive, and actually fun for dog and person. What I want to teach Quid, most of all, is how to be a dog in this family in this place in this time—while still letting her be her unruly self. Maybe that last part is something I have to learn.

Alexandra Horowitz, The Year of the Puppy: How Dogs Become Themselves