We are pelted by “facts” in every aspect of our lives. AI is used to create pictures and stories that are pure fantasy but would make us SO happy if they were true. You will also hear and read statements about animal behavior and dog training from real people that are presented as fact but are simply incorrect.
Don’t Take Concepts for Granted
In many areas, we take statements for granted when we could be using them as the impetus to solve a real problem. I’ll start with this concept. I ask you to use your critical thinking skills to question what you see and hear. What problems can we work together to solve?
Animal Shelters are Stressful
One of my favorite jobs is training shelter staff and volunteers in low-stress handling to help reduce animal stress. This works way better than having a single “behavior expert” in charge of “problem animals.” When every human handles the animals in a low-stress manner, handling becomes predictable for animals and they learn their role in the process.
Yes, animal shelters are a challenging environment and are always short-staffed. But when those in charge have the knowledge and skills to do their jobs well, they work smarter instead of harder. The animals benefit from continual and direct impacts that reduce their stress.
It’s one thing to pronounce the expected stressful environment in an animal shelter. It’s another to start the process of solving this problem and not take it for granted. Let’s stop tip-toeing around this and put low-stress, best-practice handling skills in place.
Non-facts About Dog Training that are Non-helpful
Some Dogs are Not Smart
“Good old Alfie – he’s not the sharpest pencil in the box.” People are always saying this, but how do we quantify it? Does Alfie deserve this label?
Most times when I hear this, it’s because the dog’s owner was unable to teach him some behavior. If you failed at teaching your dog a behavior, fear not! Learn how to teach him. The fault is not the dog’s lack of intelligence – it’s your dog training plan. Always. B. F. Skinner said, “The rat is always right.” It’s true – if the learner doesn’t learn, teach better.
IQ Tests
We now know that IQ tests for humans are flawed. IQ tests for non-humans are even more flawed. It seems likely that some dogs have better skills in some areas than others, many times because their ancestors were selected over hundreds of generations, based on their herding, hunting, or other skills.
Certainly, individual dogs have different abilities. But we have not found an IQ test that works yet. Why not take on the responsibility yourself? Learn about behavior and training, create a training plan, and change it as needed when it’s not working for you and your dog.
Some Dogs Need “Corrections”
This is another place where the human needs to take responsibility for not knowing how to teach the dog. Why do people think that “some dogs need to be dominated and overpowered?” All dogs learn through association and consequences, just as you do.
Any dog can learn through the use of punishment for doing the wrong thing, but there is a better way to teach. Punishing every “wrong” behavior and not punishing for the correct one often leaves you with a stressed, frustrated learner who generalizes avoidance and escape into his future learning.
Punishment
That said, there is a place for punishment of behavior once the dog has acquired, or learned, the behavior. Punishment at that point is very minor, like the dog not getting a treat when he responds incorrectly or having to start a complicated behavior over again, using more energy to complete it. But learning should not be through punishment because it can easily shut down exploration.
Remember that “punishment” in terms of behavior science means “stopping behavior.” It does not mean attacking an animal, taking out your own anger or frustration on him, hurting or scaring the learner. Dog training begins in your own brain and requires some self-exploration to understand where you are coming from when giving feedback to a learner.
Dog Training Requires Specialized Equipment
Oh, no – not this again! The dog either knows how to do the set of behaviors you want or he doesn’t. Equipment like some of the many collars, harnesses, head halters, and more that are available these days can mask what the dog actually knows how to do. Equipment can also disrupt his ability to make a choice.
Choices
Sure, we reduce dogs’ available choices all the time. Just living in our homes prevents them from running anywhere they want to, but we contain our dogs for their own safety. When we put stuff on them that limits their ability to move in the way they were built to, or hurts them when they do something we don’t like, we create a relationship based on fear, avoidance, and the dog’s main goal of trying to escape the experience.
Shall We Scare Them or Help Them?
These same concerns relate to all those products that make a loud or irritating sound or blow bursts or air to startle or scare dogs. It “works” if your goal is simply to stop a behavior – in this moment. It can also shut an animal down so that more undesirable behaviors develop and teaching other behaviors you want becomes more difficult. Help your dog learn to make the choice to do the things you want him to, even if he has other choices available.
The Definition of “Dog Training”
This one has fingers that reach into several areas. Some people think “dog training” has a very specific “look.” Others think training is a terrible thing to “do to a dog.” Many people think it’s a lot of trouble, even though it might be a good thing. What people don’t realize is that their dogs are learning all the time. Owners’ interactions with their dogs are teaching them what choices to make. We humans are so busy with every aspect of our lives that we go on auto-pilot and quickly produce outcomes we did not even realize we were about to get! Training is happening all the time. Take the reins and do it deliberately, and you will get behaviors you want. Don’t, and you’ll get a variety of outcomes.
Dog Training Classes
Some believe “training” only occurs in a traditional class, full of aroused dogs and ignorant owners, all hoping to gain guidance they can use from a trainer who is overwhelmed and can’t possibly connect with every student in the class. I attended classes like this, many years ago. The onus is on dog owners to get what they can from the instruction. The teacher may be inexperienced and spend more time with the most unwieldy dog/owner teams, and the quieter ones get little to no help.
In my early years as a trainer, I taught classes like this, and I made many mistakes so I know how overwhelmed the trainer/teacher is in these instances. I’m better at conducting classes now. Sessions are shorter, with fewer teams in a class, and I know how to distribute my assistance to everyone. Classes are great, but the bulk of training is done every day in your home as you live with your dog.
“Dog Training Can Break their Spirit”
This is likely a leftover assumption from the times of “breaking” horses, which lives on in our society despite exposure by books like Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. This topic is closely related to the “equipment” topic above. Just look at the types of equipment used in horse training – bits with sharp edges or that pinch tongues, spurs, whips, tie-downs for horses’ heads, and more. Not that the horse world has anything on the dog world – shock collars, prong collars, head halters, restriction harnesses, and more are common in dog training.
One can certainly “break an animal’s spirit” through continually jabbing, poking, shocking, or hurting him with equipment, by threatening to do these things, or simply by inhibiting choice and control. It literally breaks them down, suppresses expressions, and makes them afraid to do something that will cause these negative impacts. Animals who are shut down may be easier to handle until something happens that you didn’t train for, that pushes them over threshold and forces them to defend their lives. Then it can all come apart.
Dog Training Can Increase Well-being
Training in ways that break animals down, suppress, and scare them is scientifically documented to not be the best way. Good training allows a learner’s spirit to develop and shine, making the most of his innate tendencies in ways that work for him and for the humans he lives with. Helping animals make confident choices that people like and build resilience to negative experiences reduces stress and can extend their lives.
“Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child”
Most of us were raised more with a stick than a carrot; I know I was. It was tradition. Our parents only knew this way, probably because it’s how they were raised. This is another area that tends to be taken for granted when we don’t want to think too hard. We can respect and even revere our ancestors for doing what they knew to be best, even as we learn to do things differently now.
“It was good enough for me, it’s good enough for my kids, and it’s certainly good enough for my dog.” Our society no longer supports spanking or other corporal punishment for child rearing. In my opinion, corporal punishment lived too long in our school system. Paddles and “pops” were reality for many kids, and the sting of a ruler on my hand was part of my own reality. Did these punishers help kids learn better? Possibly, if they suppressed behavior enough to allow the kid to get the message that was being taught. But did the kids get it? If so, was that the only way or the best way to make it happen? Just because it’s the only way one knows does not mean it’s the right way. Learn something new, please.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou
I would add to that:
“If you want your learner to learn something new, learn something new yourself so you can help them better.”
“A Tired Dog is a Good Dog”
Let’s break this down. It all depends on how you define a “good dog.” If your definition is a dog asleep on the couch, then you’re right – exhaust him and you’ll get that – until he wakes up. If you run your dog until he’s so tired he drags himself inside and crashes for hours, he’ll be ready to go again when he wakes up. It will take more exercise to tire him out that much the next time. You might not notice at first. But keep running him more, and he’ll keep building up his muscles and his cardiac and respiratory systems to get that job done more efficiently. Just as you purposefully build these systems in your own body by going to the gym or running farther each week, your dog is developing his body. How far do you want to go with this?
Limitations
Besides, your dog is developing a circular and very limited routine. Exercise hard/rest/repeat. These are the only two factors and all he knows to do. He’s severely limited in his ability to regulate his emotions. When he feels extraordinary emotions or energy increases, what will he do about that? Run harder, faster. Will you always take him running when he needs that release? Or will he race around the house at top speed to get his energy out in the only way he knows?
“A Good Dog Makes Good Choices”
How about a different definition of a “good dog?” “A good dog is an appropriately stimulated, resilient dog, who makes good choices.” A dog who learns to enjoy a variety of activities, including physical exercise along with mental exercise, is likely to engage in these activities by choice. He’ll enjoy running around mixed with sniffing, watching, listening, and solving problems of the kind that he’s been introduced to through food puzzles and games. By practicing these activities, he’ll learn to rest intermittently.
Whatever your dog is doing is what he’s getting better at. If he’s building skills in a variety of areas, he’ll be motivated to choose those activities – all of them – at times when he feels the need to express himself. This is true of you, too!
“Dog Food” vs. “People Food”
“If I don’t give my dog ‘people food,’ he won’t beg at the table.” First of all, what is “people food?” What in the heck are you feeding your dogs? Food is food. Whole foods are parts of plants and animals, minimally processed, cooked to an appropriate temperature, and seasoned with healthy stuff that makes them taste good. We have known for decades that highly processed foods containing chemicals to make them last longer on the shelf are not healthy for us or for any living thing. We eat them because we have made good associations with them during our times growing up with our families. Cap’n Crunch is not the breakfast of champions, but it sure was fun to eat!
It’s the Behavior that Matters
Second, it’s not which foods you use to reinforce behaviors, it’s the behaviors you choose to reinforce. If you don’t want your dog to beg at the table, teach him to lie on a mat while you eat. You’ll start out using treats to reinforce the behavior of lying on the mat, but once he learns, he’s likely to go to his mat as soon as you start dishing up the plates and fall asleep until you finish your meal. This will happen especially if he’s already had his meal. Wait – what??
“Always Eat First, then Feed Your Dog”
Really? What evidence do we have for this? None. This is left over from the days when humans thought we had to constantly display our power over dogs. It really had no positive effect on our training. Making a hungry dog salivate while he watches you eat does not make you the “alpha.” It simply delays his meal and makes him uncomfortable. Of course, you are allowed to work out the right routine for your own life and that of your dog. But don’t base it on who eats first.
The environment allows behavior to happen. Reinforcement builds behavior. If your dog is very hungry, sees/smells/hears the process of you eating dinner at the table, comes to see if he can get any food, and gets some – the whole set of behaviors has been reinforced and is growing. This happens whether he finds a dropped crumb or someone gives him a tidbit. If he doesn’t get any food, he will continue to try this routine for a while and then find something else to do.
Dogs Will Respond to Their Hunger
Here’s the problem: he is very hungry, so he will try everything that makes sense in his little dog brain to get food for himself. The routine may go on for a good while, and some of the other things he tries are likely to be counter-surfing (lots of evidence of food prep there!) and poking around in the kitchen and dining room where food is likely to be found.
Teach Your Dog What You Want Him to Do
If you want the dog to do something besides hang out by the table and stare at you, teach him what you want. Teach him to lie on a mat or relax in his crate. Feed him before you set your table so his belly is full and he’s comfortable. Practice your mat or crate skills while you eat, until he learns his job. Then you will be able to eat without his deep, dark stare pervading your space, if that bothers you.
Whether you eat first or your dog does simply doesn’t matter much. It’s the behaviors you choose for yourself and those you reinforce in your dog that make the difference.
Humans are Spiteful, Not Dogs!
I saw a post today in which a dog trainer called the two client dogs she was working with an ugly name. I won’t repeat the name because it’s cuss-word-laden. What is that about?
An Ugly Story About a Dog Trainer’s Ugly Behavior
The trainer was apparently hired by the family because the two dogs were fighting. The little bit she described about her first training session was not wrong, although it may not have been exactly in the right direction – hard to tell. However, posting this ugly statement on social media makes me think she was afraid of the dogs, because we humans often show aggression toward others we are afraid of. It also may have been based on frustration at not knowing exactly the right way to help this family. The real impact, though, is the message to the dog owners.
What Did the Dog Owners Learn?
If the trainer posted this ugly name on social media, it seems probable she used it during the training session. Even if she didn’t, the message must have still come through that the dogs were “dumb” or “useless” or whatever she meant by the nasty name she called them. Besides, the owners can surely see her Facebook page! What does this teach the owners? Fear? Aggression toward their own dogs? Does it help them have hope in a challenging situation? I think not. I honestly hope they fired this trainer.
Dogs Are Not Spiteful
The trainer appeared to be calling the dogs out for spiteful behavior, behaviors they chose on purpose to cause grief for the other dog and the owners. This is 100% inaccurate. There is no evidence supporting the concept of dogs doing things to make things difficult for others. Dogs are simply driven to survive.
Dog Trainers are Supposed to Help Dogs Learn
Threats dogs experience can be hard for humans to see. Humans may laugh off threats that are very real to dogs. It’s sad to consider these two dogs in a home in which they are literally fighting to survive. The owners called in a trainer who appears to be exercising an oppositional approach toward the dogs and teaching that to the owners. How will this help? It’s doubtful it will. This is not what behavior science teaches us.
Finding a situation in which the dogs can succeed, building their abilities to respond calmly to various stimuli, and building those abilities carefully to the point where they can co-exist peacefully is the way to address the problem between these dogs that is affecting the entire household.
Find an Educated, Experience Dog Trainer
Training is not easy! Trainers who are educated and experienced know how to set up progressive training sessions to achieve the goal. These trainers can help make the process simple for you. Find these trainers. Don’t take random statements for granted. Ask the hard questions. You already know that anyone can call themselves a dog trainer and sell their services, with no credentials whatsoever.
Be careful out there, folks! You’re smart. You want what is right for yourself and your pets. Use your critical thinking skills. Ask questions. Be open-minded but a bit skeptical as you explore new ideas.
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