#troubledog

Hello, Human! 

I’m here to tell you that a dog is never too old to learn new tricks or adapt to a new way of interacting with the world around us. Just like you, we merely get set in our ways as we get older. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible for us to learn new things, any more than it’s impossible for you to learn- it’s just harder. 

Harder does NOT mean impossible. 

Let’s go through the basic rules of good dog training. 

Basic Training Rule #1: Never ‘force’ your dog to obey a command! 

Got it? Don’t shove us into the ‘sit’ or ‘down’ position you are looking for. This is a psychologically damaging method of training dogs that I’ve seen over and over with clueless dog owners. 

Forcing an action to a command, especially one like ‘down’ is a punishment at its’ best. At its’ worst, it is a threat.

If the command is seen as a punishment, then the dog will associate the command with a ‘bad thing happening.’ Thus, the dog will be unwilling to comply with the command, and not understanding what caused the ‘bad thing’ to happen, will become frustrated and stressed whenever you give this command.

This is not a good state of mind for any dog to learn. This leads us to....

Basic Training Rule #2: Make it fun!

If training with you is fun (ie: full of rewards rather than punishments) your dog will be eager to learn. Here’s why:

1.) We get to spend time with you and have your attention devoted to us (and only us) for that period. 

2.) We get rewarded constantly with praise, pats, and TREATS! 

You just can’t beat that for motivation. 

3.) It is exhausting to learn new things, but it gives us a purpose. Not all dogs love to learn as much as I do, but expanding the mind is never a bad thing. A tired dog is a good dog; he doesn’t chew on your shoes, torment the cat, or slip out to terrorize the neighborhood. 

This leads us to the best training tool available to you.... 

Basic Training Rule #3: Invest in a Clicker!

Remember Pavlov's Dogs? He trained them to salivate at the sound of a bell the same way they salivated over a dish of food. This translates into an easy (and cheap) way for you to reward your dog. Just condition him to think of the click as a food reward. 

You can do the same with a simple device called a clicker. You can start by just giving a well-known command, then clicking and rewarding him with food. Dogs want to be good – they crave rewards like humans crave chocolate.

Once conditioned, we dogs get the same pleasurable reward sense from the clicker as we do from a little tidbit from you - either a treat or a pet. It is still good to continue using treats as a bigger reward as you begin teaching your dog new things. 

Easy, right? 

Basic Training Rule #4: It’s not our fault, it’s yours!

Repeat after me: A Dog Can Do No Wrong. 

If we do something you don’t like, it is for a reason. It is up to you to figure out what need caused that undesirable reaction and guide us to a more acceptable behavior that meets the same need that caused the undesirable behavior in the first place. 

Don’t expect us to just know what you want from us. We dogs don’t think like you people, and we’re not naturally inclined to live like you do. But we can learn with the right guidance and correction. That is your responsibility as our owner. 

Here’s a little secret: Punishment rarely works.

Punishment, particularly physical punishment is usually counter-intuitive. It creates more problems than it corrects. 

The reason it doesn’t work is that while you might have temporarily corrected the behavior you have still failed to guide your dog to a more suitable behavior. In fact, the only thing you accomplish with physical punishment is to create fear in your dog, which never leads to desirable behavior. .  

If you hit a barking dog, you have failed in guiding him towards a more acceptable behavior such as quiet on command. This is more than enough to push a dog towards hyper-excitability in the future and eventually towards dangerous reactive behavior. 

If you rub a puppy’s face in a mess he’s made, he thinks he is being punished for having to go to the bathroom in the first place. So the next time he has to go when he’s inside, he won’t come to you, he’ll try to hide it, usually by eating it. 

The best thing you can do for your dog is to understand how he thinks, and the reasons for his acting the way he is. We don’t think like you do, and we don’t just know what you want until you make it a part of our training!

I hope you will find these training tips helpful, whether your dog is young or old. 

Peace!