As already mentioned, and indicated in other documents, the Czechoslovakian vlcak is completely unique from other dogs in many ways. One of these things is communication - while this does not mean that domesticated breeds cannot communicate, rather just that while domesticated breeds do communicate and can communicate better for human understanding, primitive breeds, meaning breeds close to wild animals, and not so domesticated, mostly have to learn it from the beginning.
It is up to the owner to realize this fundamental difference, whether between an ordinary dog and a vlcak, or between themselves and a vlcak, and adapt accordingly. For the simplest possible coexistence, the better the two understand each other, the better they live together. And selfishly, we cannot assume that "the dog will learn it himself in time"; although we primarily want the dog to understand us, it is important to start explaining and communicating with it in a way that the things it doesn’t know yet are being understood 100% and there are no mistakes at the beginning of the journey.
1) OF HUMAN WITH DOG
Dogs and humans have many things in common, but they can differ in meaning. For example, a smile for us means positive emotions, for dogs pursing their lips and showing their teeth is more of a warning or submissive gesture. In the case of dogs, this is accompanied by other signals that form the overall context of the response, but because we are physiologically so different, these interactions can be confusing at their core.
In this case, socialization plays a big role. In this way, the dog learns not only that we are a completely different animal species, but also that communication is completely different and will not connect together any possible similarities.
If we communicate with either a puppy or an adult dog, we should be in complete control of what we communicate to the dog. We should pay attention to the correct intonation (thanks to which we can praise the dog with a higher, enthusiastic voice and induce pleasant feelings, growl with a deep and forceful voice and induce unpleasant feelings, or relax it with a calm voice, tense it with an alert one), comprehensible content (using one-word associated commands, compared to long sentences that the dog does not understand) and the appropriate way to achieve understanding (the process of associating the command with the desired activity, but also punishments for unwanted behaviour).
This aspect of coexistence requires a mutual understanding of the situation and, specifically on our part, a willingness to adapt to the dog's very limited conditions and possibilities. Because a dog has no chance of understanding our complex emotions and thought processes. For it, there is the here and now, what it has learned from rituals, an immediate emotional response to a situation, and that's the end of it. Situations and behaviours that have been associated for a long time become a ritual, which in the case of unwanted behaviour does not mean their permanence, but they point to the fact that the longer a dog has experienced a certain ritual, the longer it will take to relearn it if necessary.
Therefore, let's not jump to the conclusion that the dog is doing something on purpose, for example, to annoy us or to take revenge on us. It is much more likely that behind the behaviour there is either some positive, albeit perhaps unwanted, association, the absence of correction of undesirable behaviour, or some impulse.
Therefore, an absolutely fundamental principle, especially in the association process, is to do everything on time. After giving the command, explain in a quick time what you want from the dog (for example when commanding "Sit!" to the dog, if it does not sit, immediately guide its bottom with your hand to the ground) and after successfully executing the command, reward the dog in time so that it combines these three things together. The word "on time" therefore means a short window of time of max. 3 seconds, no longer (exceptions are cases when we teach the dog to be calm, quiet, etc., when you need to wait for 5 seconds, so that the dog does not associate calmness/not barking only with that it should stop for a short moment). The same applies to punishments - whether vocal or adequate physical, they must come immediately after the undesirable behaviour. At that moment, the association also takes place, and the moment the dog stops seeing the association between the unwanted behaviour and the punishment, it may happen that it will no longer want to tolerate it as an adult. Timeliness, however, we apply only to teaching, not to our expectations of how long this process may take. It is therefore necessary to equip yourself with patience, consistency and tolerance.
So don't punish the dog for something that might have happened a few hours ago, or for something you weren't around at the time. Do not praise the dog before the command is fully executed, or even within a minute after the command has been executed. Don't be mad at your dog all day, even if it did something to piss you off. Understand its world, and the fact that for it time is much more precious, the world is much more straightforward and simpler, and so are relationships, especially with the pack that it cares about so much. From the human side, it is not only lifelong work with the dog, but also work on oneself to manage one's emotions and reactions.
2) OF DOG WITH HUMAN
Dogs are born into a world they don't understand - the creatures that care for them make noises and signals they don't understand, there are lots of shapes, sounds and smells they don't know, everything is too high for them and because the tall creature, with whom it lives, faces most of this news quite indifferently, the dog does not always know how to cope with it all. Not only is too much their (compared to our) simple perception of the world, but they also have instincts that sometimes do not suit us.
Dog communication is much more subtle than ours, not all signals have to be accompanied by sound, some are just about body language - from moving the ears to a simple change in the expression of the eyes. In the same way, sound signals have different intensities and intonations, and together all this forms an effective means of communication, which we do not understand, and given that humans are the more capable creatures compared to dogs, effective teaching of communication can only take place one-sidedly, while all we have to do is study dogs, observe and learn from afar. Not only because dogs can't explain their methods to us, but also because the trial-and-error process is a bit more painful for us.
Vlcaks communicate with each other in a way closer to wolves than for example a Labrador. Therefore, it may seem to people who do not know the breed that they are too rough on each other even during play, but this is not the case. In the wild, games are not only a means of strengthening mutual relations in the pack, but also training for hunting and fighting. It is a dance dependent on constant signals expressing "yes, we are playing", "no, I don't mean it in a bad way" and respect for the other, where it is possible to interrupt the game at any moment before it develops into a conflict. This is also adapted to physiological aspects - like the absence of opposable thumbs (inability to grasp something) and thick fur. A lot of cases where a person is "attacked" by a dog, in my opinion, is nothing more than heated communication, but although the intention is not to harm, the fact that the dog's teeth do not slide down our fur but dig directly into the skin, causes more damage than it was intended and what would have been caused to another dog.
So, you will hear more growls, see more teeth and quite possibly get more scars during your life with CSW than if you had brought home a Golden Retriever. But you can't blame them for these things, on the contrary, you can teach the dog how to react to situations a little more tolerably for us, but it's still something they've experienced and, in a way, have genetically passed down since the beginnings of the breed. So keep in mind that the various holes in the skin and scars are really not a sign of intent to harm, and that if for some unknown reason the vlcak really did want to harm, it would look much different and worse. And the golden rule is that when it gets really bad, you'll know it from their eyes. It might not make sense to you now, but once you've lived with the dog for a while, you'll just know. There is no way to describe it in text.
So try not only to explain to the dog what it means to live with a person, but at the same time, as a person, try to understand what it means to be a dog. Everything can be relearned to a certain extent, and if you want it to not happen at all, prevention is the way to go.
