Canine Nation

We don’t want our dogs deciding for themselves. Or do we? Maybe it’s actually not up to us humans. Our dogs make choices all the time whether we want to admit it or not. It can be a problem if we try to control something we can’t control. I think the answer might be in managing and influencing their choices instead of trying to decide for them!

Dog training is evolving rapidly. Some in the dog community feel that we need to actively prohibit the use of training equipment like electronic and prong collars. There are generations of habits and methods built up around these tools. How do we facilitate the transition to new methods without creating new problems? I think it’s a question we should be discussing.

Motivation is not something people associate with dogs. After all, there are no doggy motivational speakers. We just assume that our dogs want to do what we ask of them without considering things from their perspective. But what’s in it for them? Companionship? Adventure? Tasty snacks? Maybe nothing at all. The answer is more complex than you might think.

The science of dogs and training can be overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be. There are things that we need to know about our dogs and how to train them and there are things that are just nice to know. As science provides us new insights into our dogs, it is important to look at this new information in a larger context. We’re just trying to live better, happier lives with our dogs. Keeping the science in perspective can help us do that.

It's been almost 20 years since our dog Vince showed me how much I didn't understand about dogs.  Oh, I THOUGHT I knew all I needed to know.  But Vince's low growl and bared teeth said otherwise.  That began a marvelous journey of learning that has made life so much better for my family and my dogs.  Science has helped me understand both my dogs and myself better.  And that has made all the difference.

There is a trend in modern dog training toward kinder, more dog-friendly training methods. Training that seeks to remove everything unpleasant for the dog and to make learning more enjoyable. But is kindness enough to teach our dogs? Is there more to being effective trainers than just being kind to our dogs and not using force?

The sport of Dog Agility has been an unexpected delight for both my dog and me. In the beginning, it was a reason to teach my dog a number of novel behaviours using Mark and Reward training and behavioural science. But my adventures with my dog in this wonderful sport have taught me a great many lessons about kindness, persistence, patience and trust.

How social is your dog?  Different dogs will want more or less social engagement.  But what is most important is that we teach our dogs how to cope with the lifestyle we bring them into.  Socialization is not just about giving your dog play time with others.  It's about exposing them to a variety of sights, sounds, and experiences in a safe and enjoyable way.  To have a dog that is comfortable and happy in different social situations, you have to take them with you, teach them kindly, and never overwhelm them.

Is a new puppy’s personality all down to genetics and breeding or does the way they are raised determine who they will become? How much of a role does the environment a puppy grows up in play in who that puppy will become?  Both nature and nurture will shape the personality of a dog as they grow.  Sometimes in some surprising ways!

The greatest difficulty I have always had in improving how I live and work with my dogs has been my own attitudes and beliefs about dogs.  It can be difficult to keep an open mind and admit that I’m wrong.  Trying to be objective about dogs, behaviour, and training has allowed me to learn and grow. And that has benefited both me and my dogs.

Learning about modern dog training methods based on behavioural science changed the way we work with our dogs.  Perhaps the most important change was in how we raise our dogs from puppies.  It seems that this way of training not only teaches them manners and interesting tricks, it also teaches them about life and living!

Dogs are wonderfully forgiving creatures. Past wrongs seem to be quickly forgotten; after an angry moment, relationships are almost instantly restored. I think that we humans have a great deal to learn from dogs regarding forgiveness and moving on.

Any good dog trainer knows that the consequences of a dog's actions will decide whether he wants to try to do a behaviour again or not.  But there may be more to training your dog than rewards or punishments.  The process we use when we teach our dogs matters too.  Being honest, consistent, and true to a good training process can make all the difference in the world!

Back in 2011, I noticed just how many dog trainers were claiming to offer “balanced dog training.” Remarkably that number only seems to have increased as time when on.  What I find most surprising is that these "balanced" dog trainers are just adding a new buzzword, "balanced",  to out-of-date traditional dog training techniques.  Don't be fooled by the hype!

What do you do when your puppy becomes a teenager? Our Belgian Shepherd Rizzo was a case study in dealing with an adolescent dog maturing out of puppy and into grown up.  It can take some patience and planning to deal with puppy shenanigans and to keep a young dog in this phase of life engaged in training.  It can be simple but it's not easy!

What I have learned about dogs through behavioural science and modern training methods has fundamentally changed the way I see them as beings. It has changed his life in so many wonderful ways.  But there are lots of ways to love a dog.  Some are very different from others.  But they are love all the same.  We should remember that.

There is an old saying that goes something like, “A good craftsman never blames his tools.” Likewise, it’s important that we never give credit to our tools for good work either. Dog training is an interactive process and as your dog’s trainer, you are responsible for creating a good relationship in which your dog can learn. Choose your tools wisely and learn to use them well!

Imagine being a dog and working with three different dog trainers. Each has their own style and agenda. Imagine that these three trainers could show up at any time and might change places abruptly. Now imagine that all three trainers are YOU and you must juggle your priorities and goals in real time. Amazingly, we do it every single day. Here’s hoping we can all do it well!

When it comes to dog training, myths abound, especially when you are talking about more modern techniques like Mark & Reward Training. With so much misinformation floating around, I thought it would be good to do a little myth busting and get to the truth behind some of the inaccurate claims dog people make about Mark & Reward Training.

There is a lot of myth and misinformation about modern dog training techniques, specifically positive reinforcement training.  Why are some people so resistant to changing the way they train their dog?  And what is the truth behind some of this myth and superstition about training with rewards?

Most dog owners want their dogs to focus on them. It’s a practical matter. Your dog can’t respond to your commands if they aren’t listening, after all. But getting your dog’s attention might take something more substantial than just calling their name. Maybe your dog needs a reason to pay more attention to you. It can be surprisingly easy!

It’s a fact of life that not everyone gets along with everyone else. Humans measure our own civility by our ability to coexist, using what we call “manners.” We shouldn’t be surprised that our dogs have a similar code of conduct that they adhere to when interacting with other dogs. But do we really understand or even recognize dog manners when we see them?

Why do so many dog trainers and dog fanciers so strongly resist the use of food in working with their dogs? I strongly disagree with these more traditional trainers.  I use food as a regular part of a program of reinforcement and science-based training — and my happy, championship-winning dogs are a testament to how I train.

What if you’re standing in a playing field and your dog won’t come to you? What if you want your dog to “sit” and he keeps looking for squirrels?  Let me share methods and mindsets that we have learned for getting more cooperation from our dogs.

There are lots of ways to mess up a dog. Fortunately, if you take care and teach your dog well, the little mistakes won’t turn into big problems. It seems a strange paradox that the more you train with your dog, the less likely it is that things will go wrong when you make mistakes!

I know how to fool a dog trainer. The one I fool the most is me! While it may seem simple, learning to teach a dog with clarity isn’t as easy as it sounds. The road is filled with misconceptions and misperceptions. Hopefully by sharing some of my mistakes, you can avoid making them yourself. Don’t let the dog trainer in you be fooled!

With literally dozens of ways to teach a dog to do the same behaviour, how do we choose the best way for us? It seems we often choose a method because “it works” for us. But what does that mean? It could be that the dog looks like it’s doing what we want. But is there more to it?

Dog sports are a great way to spend time with our dogs. It also gives us a great reason to train them for some very useful and fun skills. But, while it might be fun, does competition take a toll on our dogs? You might be surprised.

Our dogs will bark, snap, and sometimes even bite if they are put into situations where they feel that is their only choice.  If we take precautions to understand our animals and give them what they need to be successful in our lives, we can reduce the chances of them ever acting out in an aggressive fashion.

Why do most dogs wag their tails when they hear the words “Good Dog”? A look into the psychology behind our dogs’ behaviours reveals some interesting answers.  It also offers some science-based tips and techniques for dog training that you already may be using!

Dog training is simple. Anyone can do it, right? Well, maybe. Dog training involves a lot of mechanical skills that we can practise. The more we practise, the better we get. The better we get, the faster our dog learns. Maybe we should focus on doing the basics well instead of looking for some new-fangled clever techniques!

The dog has been with us for centuries. But without humans, would the dog exist at all? It’s an interesting question. Having made our canine companions such an integral part of our societies and cultures, do we have a responsibility for their welfare? If so, how far does that responsibility extend?

The best explanations in the world are sometimes not enough to help people with their dogs. Even if the full weight of science and evidence is correct, people still have to use that information with their dogs. Sometimes the best thing to do is to show them rather than tell them.

There is nothing so reassuring to me as the honesty of a dog.  While our dogs might try to coax us into giving them an extra treat or steal a bit of cheese from the coffee table, at their best they are terrible liars.  They are just not that good at it.  Humans, on the other hand, are experts at lying - to our dogs and ourselves!

The sport of dog agility is a popular activity for many dog enthusiasts. I’ve been around it for 13 years now and I have learned a great deal. But many of my fellow competitors remain a mystery to me. Is it a game for humans or is it a game for dogs? Sometimes it can be hard to tell. But I think the dogs know the difference pretty quickly.

Sometimes our dogs don’t want to do what we ask of them.  Sometimes the rewards we offer them are not enough and they turn to “self-rewarding” behaviours.  But are those behaviours really self-rewarding?  It’s what our dog chooses to do so it must be.  But what else is “self-rewarding” behaviour?  The answer might surprise you.

Dogs have always been with us. But where did they come from? We always thought dogs came from wolves but there may be a better source of information about the origins and behaviour of our dogs.  And maybe it's time we took a hard look at where the dog fits into the ecology of the planet.  I think the answers might surprise you.

I've often found that the best way to remember something is with a simple formula.  When it comes to training my dogs, I like to think of it as "The Three C's plus T."  If I remember "Criteria", "Consequences", and "Consistency" my dogs learn faster and remember what they have learned longer than any other way of training I know.  Oh yes, and then there's that "T" at the end.  But I think you should find out what that means by listening to the podcast!

What is a “good dog?” For most people, a “good dog” is one that behaves like the ones they see on TV or in the movies. A dog that does what is expected and never does what is not wanted. A dog that conforms to our vision of what we want. But is that fair? Do we love dogs for what they are or for what we imagine they are supposed to be?

Have you ever noticed all the different ways that people are mean to their dogs? No? Well, there are plenty of people out there who will tell you that you are "abusing" your dog in one way or another even if you didn't know you were doing it. Even your dog might not know they are being abused. Welcome to dog training's "new age!"

Sometimes the most important thing we can do when we are training our dog is...nothing. How else will we find out what our dog knows if we don't stop every once and a while and see what they know? It's a lesson my own dog taught me many years ago. It has led to a delightful give and take that allows me to learn from her as she learns from me. Sometimes you just have to wait for the dog!

In the dog training world, "correction" has a special meaning.  What the term means depends very much on who you ask.  As I learned it, a "correction" doesn't really "correct" anything at all.  It just stops my dog from doing something I didn't want.  How does a yank on a leash or a poke in the side tell my dog anything about what I want them to do other than stop what they are currently doing?  Perhaps that lack of information can be detrimental to my dog!

Perhaps the most difficult part of changing the way we work with our dogs was changing how we think about them.  Moving to reward based training with Mark and Reward training was remarkably simple but it also gave us more than we expected.  The simple concepts behind Mark and Reward are based on science and cooperation.  And that led us to some very profound discoveries about ourselves and our dogs!

Our dogs have expectations. They may even have expectations of us that we don't know about. What if we took the time to set their expectations to help them fit in better with our lives? It's not as hard as you might think!

Markers - Those little words or noises that say "Yes! That's right!" They are a great way to help our dogs learn what behaviours are we want from them. Markers provide a consistent "language" that helps us communicate with our dogs on their level. And there are some other benefits too!

Modern dog trainers like to talk about the science of behaviour and training. But sometimes concepts and how we apply them can get jumbled up when talking about them with dog owners or even other trainers. Getting the science right is important. It's important that we don't confuse ourselves as well. Do we sometimes misunderstand or misinterpret science?

Some people take their dogs with them everywhere they go. Some people really shouldn't take their dogs with them. Some people take their dogs with them to places and they get afraid and bite people. And then they wonder why.

Wouldn't it be great if you could get a dog with all the outgoing affection of a Golden Retriever, the intensity of a Border Collie, the protection skills of a Doberman, and the lapdog size and weight of a Pomeranian? Well, yes. And no. And lots of stuff in between. The genetics of it all say that we get what we get when we breed for specific traits, physical or behavioural, and we can't change one side without affecting the other.

We used to call it a "command" when we wanted our dog to offer us a behaviour. I find the parallel with issuing commands to computers very interesting. Do we have unreasonable expectations about our dogs and our training with them? Do we expect unquestioning obedience and compliance from our dogs just the same way we expect our computers and other appliances are supposed to just work? Dogs are not something we can program. They are beings that we need to TEACH!

Modern dog training has brought us some new views and new approaches to training. Some of what we do these days is just a refined version of things we have been doing for a long time. That’s why I think it’s important to understand “shaping” versus “prompting” in dog training. Both have their merits and their pitfalls and we should be well prepared no matter how we decide to train!

Dogs can end up in shelters for lots of reasons, some bad, some awful, and some that couldn't be avoided. Shelter workers have incredibly difficult jobs. They take in and care for these dogs, not knowing what is in their past or what their future may hold. And they care. That may be the hardest part of all. Caring for these dogs is no easy task but I am grateful that dog training professionals are starting to help out shelter workers with new tools and techniques. Anything we can do to make their jobs easier, I say. I'm so thankful they are out there.