#12 Who's Training Who?
Highfives Insights: Who's Training Who?
Did you know: if you don't train your dog, your dog will train you! It's called being an opportunistic problem-solving manipulative survivor. In the case of your dog, his manipulation of the system is nothing personal. It's just the way all animals have been designed to learn.
If a dog engages in a certain action, he will learn whether that action should be repeated or not based on the reaction he receives. This is why it's so important to make our YES's and NOPES clear and concise, quick to mark every behavior and follow through on our word. You are either going to reinforce a behaviour or discourage a behaviour based on your reaction (or your lack of reaction).
Puppies learn from a young age that biting another dog too hard gets them a startling yelp in the face or even a nip from an adult dog. The result is a puppy who begins to control their bite which is called bite inhibition.
If a dog picks up a shoe and the owner's first reaction is to say ‘So Cute!’ and make it into an exciting game of chase, you can bet the dog will learn that stealing shoes is fun and he'll start doing it anytime he's bored. This will become an even better game when it results in the owner getting frustrated. What happens when that dog steals a $100 bill instead? Or a gold necklace, as Marley did in Marley & Me? Can't blame him for playing the same old game... We actually started it in the first place by reinforcing the action of our pups grabbing a shoe!
Another example: Your dog whines. You say Shh and then promptly give your dog a treat to 'quiet them'. Your dog learns whining equals a way to get what he wants. The whining will get worse until you can’t get a moments peace because your dog is constantly demanding something, almost as if whining at you has become their only purpose.
In the same context (but on the negative reinforcement side of the spectrum), a dog who growls at a person approaching and successfully backs the person away has immediately regained all that space again. He has learnt that growling works to intimidate humans. The next level up from that is practicing the bite.
Whenever you see a dog pulling on the leash, this dog has also learnt to train his owner. Pull and your handler will follow you… even a 15lb dog is able to move a 150lb human this way!
The way we can change this pattern is by REWARDING and REINFORCING the behaviour and state of mind that we like, while DISCOURAGING the habits we don’t like. In a household setting, we should be always encouraging calm behavior from our dogs. Every reward should be worked for, whether by utilizing physical activity or mental duration work. Patience, permission, and eye contact are amazing things that all dogs can learn if we just wait a bit longer for automatic calmness before releasing our dogs at thresholds, the park, and mealtimes.
We shouldn't be at our dogs beck and call, letting them outside and back inside in an aimless cycle because they ring a bell at the door or allowing them to run our entire daily routine. This type of lifestyle proves that your dog has trained you. You may think your dog is communicating but constantly catering to our dogs creates side effects such as anxieties, stress and frustration for both human and dog, and eventually aggression.
In the end, if our dogs are being pushy or bossy, it's usually our fault! We accidentally ignored or missed correction for unwanted habits and most likely we abused positive reinforcement by using it in inappropriate settings. We have taught our dogs dictate how the show is run and now they think ‘this is how life works’.
However, even when dogs have practiced bratty behaviour for years, we can always get them back on track. It just requires the proper structure and approach needed to get back to balance. This comes in the way of consistent rules, exercise, fair consequences, and rest. It's about giving dogs release and rewards only when they are practicing a healthy state of mind!
No train, no gain!
Jenna