doggietips

Hello and welcome to my first dog training tips blog.  I hope to be as informative and fun as possible while helping you to achieve a better relationship with your best friend.

Let’s begin and have fun….

To gain a better understanding of the training process it is best to recognize how a dog learns.  In fact, training your dog will be much easier if you know something about the “Laws of Learning” and “Operant Conditioning”.  
 

Dogs, or anything else for that matter, learn by the consequences of their actions (Operant Conditioning).  A dog learns early on that if he bites his mother too hard, his mother will bite him back.  They learn that chewing bones feel and taste good, but chewing on a rock does not.  They learn that playing too rough with their brother or sister is not only dangerous but that the fun and games end when someone gets hurt (so says mom).  Everything a dog does, every action it takes has a consequence and those consequences will affect future behavior.  There are three kinds of consequences in everyone’s life: Good, bad and neutral.  

Good consequences will cause repeated behavior.  How many times have you ordered the same thing or eaten at your favorite restaurant?  Along the same lines, if your dog finds something delicious in the trash, he’s very likely to look there again.  On the other hand, a bad consequence is probably not likely to happen again.  If you burn your tongue sipping a cup of hot chocolate, you’re going to be much more careful next time.  If you go
somewhere where the service is horrible, you might give it a second chance, and will most likely swear never to go there again if still not satisfied.  Your dog will make the same kind of choices based on his past consequences.  If he flies into a rose bush to get his ball only to get poked and scratched, he’ll be more careful next time or avoid that bush all together.  Or if he bites into something that tastes very bad like a sour lemon, he’ll never go near them again. Neutral consequences have no effect on future behavior because they are neither good nor bad.  

In order to teach or modify a dog’s behavior, you have to control the consequences.  You have more power than you realize.  Of course you have to be careful.  You might not be aware of the current consequences and might be inadvertently rewarding your dog for something bad as well as missing good training opportunities.  You want to start or continue the good behavior and  end or discontinue the bad behavior.

The dog’s in it for himself.  He learns what works best for him. Your unknowing response to his behavior can create good consequences thus increasing the chances of the behavior being repeated (whether you want them or not).  If, when you come home from work your dog jumps all over you and you pet and hug him, the jumping behavior will be repeated.  If he digs in the trash and finds tasty leftovers, he will look in the trash again and again.  If he barks and scratches the door to be let in and you let him in, he knows that if he barks and scratches he will be rewarded.  As you can see, reward equals repetition.  

You as the dog owner, the leader of the pack, have control over everything your dog gets or wants in life.  You decide when he eats, where he sleeps, when he gets to go outside and play or walk in the park.  You give him attention or toys or access to other dogs and people.  Now you must learn to do everything for your dog on a conscious level.  

That’s it for today.  I know this is a lot to digest but I think the best place to start is at the beginning.  Hope you’ll stop by again.

Thanks and give your dog a hug for me.