I spend an average of 4-6 hours, maybe 8 hours, with clients, helping them train their dogs. Sometimes I am indulged and get to spend more time. In that short time, I introduce new behaviors to each dog and then it is the owner’s responsibility to practice and continue on until the dog is reliable.
There are a couple of important things to remember when training a dog. The first is that everything you do is training, from the moment your dog comes home until they are no longer with you. Training is not an hour with me, or 15 minutes a day that you set aside. It is every moment of every day.
What that means is that if you wait to get help, you may have already “trained” your dog to jump on you/others, growl, counter surf, not come when called, pull on the leash, and a plethora of other behaviors that are not always so enjoyable to live with.
That critical time is when you first get your dog. This is the moment when you get to let your dog know what you want him to do for the rest of his life with you. Then that continues day after day after day. You are essentially putting training into your dog 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What you train either consciously or unconsciously will affect your entire relationship with your dog. As an example, if you or a guest pets your dog for jumping up, you have effectively said to the dog, “I like jumping!” Now, when your puppy weighs 75 pounds, it’s MISERABLE but the behavior is now habitual and almost impossible to stop.
If you are unsure about how to train certain things and want a nicely behaved dog, then you call a dog-training instructor. However, consider your expectation of the instructor turning things around in 4-8 hours compared to the thousands of hours you have already (knowingly or unknowingly) trained the dog. It’s NEVER too late to call a qualified instructor for help. But, try not to wait.
While dog-training instructors can give you huge help in directing the dog and easier ways to train your dog, manage your dog, etc., you must still work with the dog yourself to make those new behaviors “HABITUAL.”
HABITUAL behaviors are the ones we want so we do not continually have to discipline a dog for bolting through the front door, or jumping on visitors, or not coming when called.
How do we make behaviors HABITUAL? The first thing is to start training the dog to exactly what you want from him the moment he comes to live with you. You do not wait, especially with 8-week-old puppies! And, you must be clear with YOURSELF about what you need your dog to do or not do. Confusion on your part will only confuse the dog.
Secondly, you must be 100 percent consistent in your expectations. Changing your mind about whether the dog has to sit at the door one day, but not the next, is incredibly frustrating for both you and your dog.
Third, you must expect that it takes TIME to make behaviors habitual. There are no quick fixes. There are no LASSIE PILLS. It can take months, even a few years, of consistent training to make behaviors habitual. That goes for behaviors we don’t like as well. The longer we allow behaviors we don’t like to go on, the better the dog gets at practicing them. BAD behaviors can become just as HABITUAL.
The best way to have a dog that is a pleasure to live with is to be intentional on your part about what you expect from the dog, to be consistent in those expectations, get help if you need it, and expect training to take TIME to get to that point of HABITUAL behaviors.
Fran Jewell is an Idaho Press Club award-winning columnist, IAABC-certified dog behavior consultant, NADOI-certified instructor #1096 and the owner of Positive Puppy Dog Training, LLC, in Sun Valley. For more information, visit www.positivepuppy.com or call (208) 578-1565.