Paw Law Dog Training
25W775 Lake Street, Roselle, IL 60172 - 847-888-4725
And here is a biggie: Dogs are not verbal learners! Duh! (Then why are we issuing commands and expecting our dogs to *know* what the words meant?) In other words, THEY DON’T SPEAK ENGLISH (or any other human language). Dogs can learn to associate a behavior with a word (command), but ONLY if we teach them the association. So you could teach a dog to put his butt on the ground when you say “pineapple”. That’s because dogs have no preconceived idea of what pineapple means.
Dogs are visual learners; they notice movement -- use that! It is easier for a dog to learn hand signals. When you want to teach a new behavior to a dog, define your “goal”, i.e., the end behavior you want. Once your goal is set, break down the behavior in teachable elements. For example, if you want your dog to come to you on command and sit in front of you, start by rewarding even a head turn in your direction when you say the dog’s name. Then up the ante, reward for any steps taken in your direction. When training, never do anything to interfere with your long-term goals for the dog. If you always want your dog to come when called, then in the beginning, richly reward your dog WHENEVER he comes. Make coming to you the best thing in the world. AND, more importantly, NEVER punish the dog for coming to you.
Understand that dogs are easily stimulated by the environment. Essentially, the environment is your main competitor when training your dog. Try to plan lessons which are more interesting to your dog than the scents on the pathway or the sight of another dog or person. In other words, you need to be most exciting and rewarding thing in your dog’s life. These can be difficult shoes to fill.
Dogs like to play. Use it! Play can be a great reward for your dog. Make your lessons fun. Dog training can and should be enjoyable for both you and your dog. My dogs love training because I make training fun and very rewarding.
When attempting to problem solve, use a diagnostic approach. Be objective, rather than emotional, in determining why some behaviors break down. Don't blame the dog! That concept was the hardest for me. It is so easy to think that the dog is doing something to “get back at us” or that “the dog really knows it, he is just being stubborn”. Trust me, dogs are pretty much self-centered and they do not care how their behavior mentally affects us. Rather, they do something because they find that “something” rewarding. It is your job to be more rewarding.
DOGS ARE PERFECT. . . at being dogs. Virtually all natural dog behaviors – chewing, barking, rough play, chasing moving objects, eating any available food item within reach, jumping up and pawing to greet, settling minor disputes with threat displays, guarding resources, defending themselves from a perceived threat – are considered by humans to be behavior problems. Behavior problems are OUR problems, not the dog’s. Let’s face it, we don’t like dogs when they are being dogs. If we don’t want them to behave like dogs, it is our job to teach them alternative behaviors.
When we (humans) are trying to learn a new skill, whether it be carpentry or cooking, we practice in order to perfect our techniques. The more we do something, the better we are in finding the weak spots in our performance of a skill and the better our performance becomes. This “practice makes perfect” philosophy should be carried over when training our dogs.
Okay, now you get the gist of what I'm trying to convey. These important concepts about dog training have been passed along with a fine tradition of showing respect for a dog. I see reward based training (operant-conditioning training), then, as a natural progression from these concepts. One huge advantage of teaching using operant-conditioning, is that we show greater respect for the dog as an unique individual than we did with command-based training. Operant conditioning allows the dog to demonstrate its unique abilities. It allows a dog to think and it strengthens the bond we have with our pets.