Are You Thinking About Dog Training All Wrong?
Let’s face it, mistakes are attention thieves. Mistakes grab our attention faster than when everything is “situation normal”. We’ve been conditioned to respond faster to mistakes and outbursts and ignore calm moments. We get what we reward (not what we want), which is why so often what we get from our dogs is less calm behavior and more outbursts.
If you solve your dog’s outbursts by only focusing on your dog’s behaviors, you’re thinking about dog training all wrong! The fact is, our dogs can’t change their behavior until we change our behavior. This requires us to shift our thinking from solely a “their problem” mentality to an “our problem” mentality.
Think of behavior challenges as being on a sliding scale. We want to move the needle from undesirable behavior to desirable behavior as quickly and humanely as possible. Replace reacting to mistakes with anticipating mistakes and even arranging the environment to prevent mistakes. Catch your dog doing something right and reward your dog for desired behaviors. Is this different from how you're currently living with your dog?
If you're of the mindset that your dog trainer needs to see your dog's undesirable behavior to change it, you're thinking about dog training all wrong!
Credentialed dog trainers know that dogs (and people) do not learn best with adrenaline flooding their nervous systems. This is why credentialed dog trainers do not trigger your dog’s undesirable behavior. Instead, they listen to your goals and start with stress mitigation.
We can’t expect the dog to change their behavior without stress mitigation and before new skills have been mastered. For instance, if your dog struggles with reactivity and aggression, we must first minimize your dog’s exposure to their triggers and reduce stress so they may learn new skills.
If you think your dog needs to perform the undesirable behavior so you can stop it in the moment “so the dog learns”, you’re thinking about dog training all wrong! The behavior change needle moves most smoothly during the quiet moments. Anticipate the undesirable behavior and make a plan. For example:
Give a frozen stuffed food puzzle or long lasting chew before your dog starts barking and before you sit down for dinner.
Close the blinds and play calming music before the school bus stops and squealing children zip by your home.
Put your dog on leash before your guests arrive to prevent jumping.
Place a note on your door asking people not to knock or ring the doorbell because there’s no need to excite the dog in training.
In addition to identifying undesirable behavior, start thinking about ways to prevent it from happening using stress mitigation, management, and training. This is how the certified pros think about dog training, and now so can you!