REGION – People call me for help with their dogs for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they have a new puppy that is jumping and biting and generally creating havoc. Or maybe they have recently adopted a dog from a rescue and the dog is showing some worrisome behavioral issues. Sometimes their dog may be overpowering them by pulling them around on the leash like a waterskier behind a ski boat or perhaps taking possession of inappropriate items in the home and running away with them.
Dog behavior is functional. There is a purpose or reason behind all behavior. Behavior is a reaction to something happening in the immediate environment. Example: puppy grabs a sock. Human runs after the puppy trying to get the sock away from the puppy. The sock just gained in value to the puppy because now the human wants it. The puppy tries harder to keep possession of it. This is in reaction to the human trying to take it away. Behavior always has a purpose.
Dogs go through developmental changes as they mature. What was okay with a puppy at 1 1/2 years old may not be okay when that puppy reaches social maturity at 2 years old. Rescue dogs have unknown histories, which may include learned negative associations with strangers, other dogs, noises, and a whole host of other stimuli that may have frightened them in the past. When dog issues arise, dog owners can become frustrated and their anxiety also rises.
What is training? Traditional or correction based dog training focuses on what dogs are doing wrong and uses harsh collar corrections and nasty stuff to stop or suppress behavior. Dogs learned to respond in order to avoid something unpleasant. This was a system that came out of the military and was used exclusively prior to the mid-1990s. If you touch a hot stove, you are not likely to touch it again. It is one way that we all learn. Around 1995, there was a seismic shift. Science caught up with dog training and positive reinforcement training began to replace traditional training.
Positive reinforcement training had been used in the marine mammal training world and the zoological world long before it was brought into training domestic animals. Instead of focusing on what dogs are doing wrong, now trainers focus on what they want the learner to do instead. Instead of jumping on me, do this and I will reward you for it. If a behavior is rewarded, it will be repeated over and over again. This is true across species. Reward the behaviors you want. All educated trainers use this method of training today because it is so effective.
Positive reinforcement training builds motor patterns in the dog’s brain. With repetition and reward, those motor patterns become very strong, almost automatic. Those behaviors become the dog’s default behaviors over the ones that we don’t want. The dog “wants” to do them.
Modern positive reinforcement training is a language between human and dog. The dog learns what do to, how to be successful, how to earn rewards. Suddenly things change in a big way. Instead of butting heads and opposing one another, human and dog are in a cooperative relationship, both parties benefit. You get a calm and obedient dog, and the dog gets treats, lots of attention, walks, and a calm human.
As a trainer and behavior consultant, my job is to teach you, the human, about dogs, about your dog, and how to build this cooperative language between the two of you. Once everyone is on the same page, things begin to improve rapidly. Communication is a beautiful thing. Train your dog. It will change your life for the better.
Written by Noel Hoffmann Dog Training and Behavioral Consulting, ww.noelhoffmann.com.