positive reinforcement dog training Archives - Page 2 of 9

Dog Training’s Hardest Part

Waiting is dog training’s hardest part.

It’s also the most important part. If you can’t resist temptation and tell your dog what to do, the dog will never figure it out on their own. You’ll spend the dog’s entire life telling them.

That gets old after a while. You start to think to yourself “Why doesn’t my dog know this by now? We’ve been doing it the same way for years!” It’s because you never gave your dog the gift of letting them think it through.

Perfect example

Teaching dogs the “Place!” Game is where we see it most often in our classes. No question, it’s hard to just stand there, staring at a mat. Sometimes the dog doesn’t even look at it during class. The people get discouraged and say “Can’t I just tell him?” “Can I point to it?”

No. No you can’t. Because the whole point of the game is for the dog to figure out that their action triggers the jackpot. When they choose to look at the mat, sniff the mat, step on the mat, sit on the mat, lie down on the mat, the treats rain down.

Once they do figure it out for themselves, your life gets easier. When you need the dog out of the way for any reason, whether it’s the pizza delivery guy at the door, or Grandpa halt-stepping through the room, your dog will understand what to do when you say “Place!”

So just wait. Stare at the darn mat for the whole training session. The dog may not get it today. But at some point, they’ll wonder what’s so fascinating about that thing. They’ll start interacting with it. And once the treats start falling from above, the lesson will be well on its way.

Opposite side of the coin

It’s difficult to wait for the dog to do something. It’s just as hard to exercise patience for them to stop doing something. But you can’t teach a dog “don’t.” You can reward the behavior you want.

Let’s use jumping on people as our example. Most people just grab their dog’s collar and haul them away, apologizing to the jumpee all the while. They’ve stopped the current problem, but done nothing to teach the dog what to do.

Instead, if you have a cooperative jumpee, set up the situation. While the dog is being rude and trying to get in the person’s face, what if everybody ignored the behavior and stared at the ceiling. Then, the instant the dog has all four paws on the ground, the dog gets rewarded and lots of attention. Just a few repetitions and most dogs catch on. If the dog gets even more treats and pets for sitting, they’ll probably choose to sit.

Thinking creatures

Think about it this way. If you think your dog is smart, they probably are. They’re also probably lazy. Which means they’ll happily foist off the chore of thinking if you let them. Thinking requires effort. Why should they do the work when you’re right there to do it for them?

The irony here is that once dogs do learn to think and make good choices, it snowballs. Dogs love solving puzzles, playing training games, and figuring stuff out. That first time you just wait them out will be rewarded many times over through your years together.

Dog training’s hardest part, like many things in life, is worth the payout. You can continue to do things the easy way and always tell your dog what to do. But in the long run, it’s easier on both of you if your dog actually knows what to do.

Foundation dog games #2: Place!

The dog training game“Place!” is the game that gives your dog something to do when the doorbell rings, when elderly Aunt Gertie is on the move with her walker, even when you’re busy chopping vegetables at the table.

“Place!” isn’t the “go to your room!” order that let you know you were in trouble as a kid. Your dog’s designated place is a good thing. It’s a comfort zone where your dog is happy and gets rewarded for hanging out.

Call it what you want

As with anything you train your dog to do, you can call it whatever you want. Some people choose “Mat!” or “Bed!” You should call it whatever works for you and your dog. Dogs don’t know words until you teach them. As Humpty Dumpty said: ““When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

It helps if the word is short and easy to say, but you be you. It’s your dog and you can teach them whatever you want. We know someone who trained their dog to understand words in Klingon. It’s a bit guttural for us, but works for her.

Set up

In time, your dog will learn that they can have multiple mats designated as “Place!” To teach the word, choose a dog bed, mat, towel, bath mat, or whatever and move it to the center of a clear area. For this initial teaching phase, choose a quiet, small spot without distractions. Your dog isn’t going to know what’s going on, so they may get a little frustrated and try to check out on you.

Until dogs learn that it’s okay to experiment, many are afraid of getting things “wrong.” To avoid it, they may choose not to play. It takes a bit to overcome their reluctance. The dog isn’t “refusing” or “acting out” if they don’t rush in to play with you. They’re confused, unused to making choices, and worried they’ll choose the wrong thing.

This is a game that everyone in the family can play with the dog at the same time. While you don’t want to overwhelm the dog, you do want everyone to be part of training games.

Possess your soul in patience

Everyone should have a few treats. Then you just all stand around the “Place!” and look at it. When the dog interacts with the “Place!” in any way – looks at it, sniffs it, paws at it – one person drop a treat on the mat and say “Good Place!” As long as the dog stays interested in the Place, toss a treat onto it every few seconds, repeating “Good Place!”

Be sure nobody is handing the dog a treat. In order to make the “Place!” valuable to the dog, the treats have to be associated with the mat. If your dog always finds treats there, it’s a great place to be.

After rewarding the dog a few times for the same interaction with the “Place!” it’s time to expect more. Say your dog looked at the mat. When they continue the same behavior (looking), tell them they’re good, encourage them, and ask for more. “That’s good!” “What else can you do?”

Do NOT tell them to get in the bed or point at it. The entire exercise is based on the dog deciding for themselves that it’s a wonderful, chosen “Place!” that they love. If you always decide for your dog, you’ll always have to. Growing their understanding is how they learn to make good decisions. Let them.

Take the dog training game place at your dog’s pace

The first time you play the dog training game “Place!” you may not get anywhere. That’s okay. It’s why every dog training game should be less than five minutes. You’ll try again another time. Your dog also has to learn to trust the process. You’ll get there. The steps, depending on the dog, are: look, touch, one paw, two paws, three paws, four paws, sit, and/or down on the place.

Once your dog gets it and goes dashing to sit or lie down on their “Place!” the other side of the coin is getting them off of the “Place!” Remember, as long as they’re interacting with the mat, they get treats tossed on the “Place!,” maintaining its value. When it’s time for the dog to move off, toss a treat off to the side and release the dog to “Find it!” or “Search!” or “Go!”

Dashing all the way

You know your dog is on target with the game if they dash over to get the treat and dash back to their “Place!” That’s when you start introducing new parts to the game. You can vary the “Place!” teaching your dog that any mat or bed can be “Place!” You can move the “Place!” around the house so your dog knows it’s the same game wherever you are.

For some people the ultimate goal of the dog training game “Place!” is having the doorbell be a cue for your dog to go “Place!” Pair the sound of your doorbell with the word “Place!” once your dog understands the word. If you want “Place!” to be your dog’s doorbell behavior, it will take some time and patience, but you and your dog can do it.

Step over your dog

Step over your dog? Why? Dogs are a trip hazard. We know, because our cousin shattered her knee cap tripping over her German Shepherd Dog. It was an accident, and those happen to everybody. What made this particular situation worse was that, as she was stepping over the dog on the way, the dog got up. She was actually lucky. It was her dog’s habit to sleep in the hall at the top of the stairway. Our cousin was lucky to break her knee and not her noggin.

Are you wondering what this has to do with dog training? If the dog had been trained to accept being stepped over, brushed by, or even pushed against, she wouldn’t have gotten up and our cousin may not have fallen.

If you’ve played in either Obedience or Rally, your dog is probably accustomed to you walking around them. But if you’ve never taught your dog to let you walk all the way around them, the time has come.

Why do I need that?

Our beginner class students always give us the “Why?” puzzled face when we start teaching “Walk Around Your Dog.” No one thinks they’ll need it. And everyone is pretty surprised when their dog doesn’t let them do it. It’s no big deal to you, so you’ve probably never paid much attention to what your dog does when you walk around them. Almost one hundred percent of the time, dogs will either swivel on their butts to watch you, or stand to keep their face pointed in your direction. Dogs like to know where you are and what you’re doing. All the time.

The scenario we have students imagine is this: You’re making a pasta dinner. Your cooktop is on the opposite side of the kitchen from your sink. The pasta’s done and ready to be drained. And your dog is sitting in the absolute geographic center of the kitchen. If they don’t move, you’ll be okay, there’s plenty of room to walk around them. Unless, of course, they get up and move into the path you were planning to take. If you’re lucky, no boiling water sloshes on anyone. We tend not to be lucky. So we train our dogs to stay put. You may not ever need to step over your dog, but if you do, it’s a handy thing to have trained.

Brush against them

Just as we tend not to be terrifically lucky, we’re also not the most graceful people on the planet. Every so often we move awkwardly, or carry something unwieldy, so we might brush up against our dogs as we pass by them. They need to accept this as normal and not freak out, jump up, and get in the way when it happens.

Next time you practice your “Stay!” with your dog, brush your foot against them when you’re moving. Don’t kick your dog, but let your foot make a bit of contact with your dog’s side, or paw, or butt as you move around. If your dog stays put, reward and do it again. But if they don’t, set it up again and reduce the stress and surprise of the contact. If you brushed the dog’s hind foot, try the front instead so they can clearly see there was nothing to worry about. If you contacted the dog’s hind end, make it a shoulder instead.

Just try it a couple of times, reward the dog and be done for that session.They’ll get used to the incidental touches. Just do it now before you ever actually need it. Gradually increase the pressure of the contact as well as practicing actually stepping over them. Last week we talked about “Middling,” and another thing to practice is to let the side of one foot and then both touch your dog when he’s in the middle.

Everywhere, every position

If your dog aces “Walk Around Your Dog” when lying down, move on to the “Sit!” and the “Stand!” As always, do it in different places so your dog truly learns what it means. And every once in a while actually step over your dog.

It may seem like a little thing. And it is. Until you’re heading to the bathroom at 2 a.m. and your dog is lying in your path. In this case an ounce of prevention would have prevented a very painful pound of cure.

Dog’s trust is easily broken

Your dog relies on you to be a dependable partner. If you always deliver what you promise, so will your dog. But be careful what you promise. A dog’s trust is fragile. If you don’t follow through, or if you try to deceive your dog, it’s over.

According to our TikTok audience, Torque (Hope’s French Bulldog) must be AI (artificial intelligence) rather than a real dog. Because Frenchies don’t ever listen, let alone obey.

As Colonel Sherman T. Potter (M*A*S*H) would have said, “horse hockey!”

Torque listens, obeys, and looks like a genius because Hope never lies to him. Ever. That’s the entire secret of getting your dog to be a canine Einstein. Be absolutely reliable.

What do you mean?

We just saw a story about a canine study testing whether dogs could tell if a person was lying, or a bad person. In the first part, the dog was told to go to a container full of treats. All of the dogs did it. For the second part, the dogs were re-sent to the container which was empty. Again, they all went. In the third part, none of the dogs went to the container. The dogs’ trust had been broken.

We’ve all heard the old saying “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” This is a true-to-life example that dogs are not fools. You can certainly fool them once. But that’s it. They’ll never fall for the same lie twice.

Take a good look in the mirror

Let’s face it. Dogs are easy to fool. And their looks of puzzlement are really adorable when you pretend to throw the ball and there’s no ball. But every time you trick your dog, you’re eroding their trust in your relationship. They may fall for the fake toss a couple of times. You’re the one who will pay for it in the end when your dog stops being happy to play with you.

Some dogs have a sense of humor and can tolerate being teased. Others don’t understand and it can even upset them. Torque is a good-natured dog who will go along with any silly thing Hope dreams up for him.He’ll give it his best try. And he’ll try repeatedly. He knows that when he gets it right he’ll be generously rewarded.

When Hope has no treats with her, she shows her empty hands to her dog so he knows. If she has really primo treats, she lets him sniff to be sure he knows what’s available. And when he gets it right, he gets that primo treat.

Build a solid foundation

If you like teasing your dog, or playing pranks on them, that’s going to define your relationship. Your dog is still going to love you. They’ll forgive you. They may even join in the humor of the joke. But your dog is never going to hang on every word you say, or do what you ask them to do when you ask them to do it. Because once too often you’ve called your dog for “Cookies!” and then shoved them in the bathtub.

If you truly want your dog to listen, you have to be worth listening to. If you call your dog’s name and they ignore you, it’s probably because there’s no reason to listen. Next time you complain that your dog doesn’t pay any attention to you, try seeing it from their point of view. What’s the difference, for your dog, between paying attention and not? It’s up to you to define it.

How to stop your dog counter surfing

When cute little puppies grow tall enough, or clever enough, they discover the joys of counter surfing. Since dogs reliably choose to do what’s most rewarding for them, if they find anything on that counter, they’ll do it again. And again. As long as there are treasures to find, the dog will keep finding them. We imagine there are quite a few family holiday stories that feature a naughty dog stealing some of the featured feast off the table or counter. It may be funny and fondly remembered over the years. But it’s not fun at the time. Not to mention panic-inducing, if it was the centerpiece turkey that’s gone down the dog. Stop your dog counter surfing forever.

Nip it in the bud

Ideally there will be absolutely nothing on the counter the dog finds attractive. If they try counter surfing and get nothing, they have no reason to try again.

Don’t assume that because your dog can’t reach the counter they can’t steal stuff from it. The memory of Hope’s French Bulldog Teddy up on the kitchen counter is burned into our memories. He stood 12 inches tall. The standard counter height is 36 inches. Did he jump? No. He got onto the kitchen chair. Climbed from there onto the table, and then across to the counter. He only did it once (that we know of), but it’s legendary in the family.

Realistically, few of us can completely clear counters, table tops, and other flat, reachable surfaces. Even in the throes of training a new dog, you still have to live your life. Until your dog gets the message, if you can’t completely contain the stuff, contain the dog.

If the counter-surfing canine only has access to the attractive surfaces when you’re there, you can use every interaction as a training opportunity.

Send the message

To counter counter-surfing, set up the scenario. Have a dog bed nearby. Stand at your regular cooking position and start cutting up a carrot. Or celery. Something your dog likes and is allowed to have. If your dog intrudes by sticking their nose under your arm, putting their front paws on the counter, or trying to get at the carrot, stop what you’re doing and cover up the “work” with your arms and upper body. If you have to lie on it, do so. Don’t say anything to the dog. Just stare at the dog bed.

If you tell your dog “Off!” or “No!” or even “Uh-oh” you’re still telling them what to do. The objective is to have the dog make good decisions even if you’re not there to tell them. If you always tell your dog what to do, you’ll always have to. Over the course of your dog’s lifetime, that would be exhausting.

If you put in the effort to teach them good decision-making now, over the course of years you’ll both be much happier.

Stand firm

At first, with the carrot and counter covered, your dog won’t understand what’s going on. They may paw at you, try to burrow under your arm, or even start whining. This is the part where you must be patient. Waiting is the absolute hardest part of dog training. Don’t say anything. Don’t move. Just stare at the dog bed.

As soon as your dog has all four feet on the floor, or looks at the bed, toss a piece of carrot into the bed. As long as the dog is behaving, keep tossing pieces of carrot in the bed. Just by your actions, you’re teaching the dog that their place in that bed is highly rewarding.

If they get the carrot piece and then come bounding back to jump some more, cover up and repeat. Single-minded dogs may take a few sessions to get the idea. But they will get it.

Stop your dog counter surfing forever

Eventually, if you’re patient and consistent, you’ll have a terrific companion for your kitchen endeavors. You can even look forward to spending some companionable time together. If you want to give your dog a chew toy on the bed while you’re preparing food, by all means go ahead.

Throughout your dog’s life, even when they know the house rules, make a point of rewarding them for good decision-making. If you see your dog glance at the counter and then walk away, reward it. That’s a sure sign that the training has worked and your dog really does know better.

Doing It Right Looks Different

What kind of feedback is your dog getting? Are you making sure that doing it right looks different from doing it wrong?

Let’s say you’ve been practicing a particular behavior with your dog.You’ve been working on it for a while, but your dog just isn’t getting it. It could be anything from the simplest position change to a complex trick. You keep trying, but you’re getting a little frustrated and about ready to throw in the towel.

And then, giving it one more try for the day, your dog does it right! What do you do to mark the occasion?

Just move on and think to yourself “Finally!” Or do you
Stop and celebrate?

If you picked A, pick again. Our trainees hear it all the time: “Doing it right has to look different than doing it wrong.”

How do they know?

When you regularly play training games with your dog, the two of you often act as a team. If your dog could talk, they could probably finish your sentences most of the time. But they can’t talk. And they don’t understand what we want of them until we teach them. You have to let your dog know when they’re right.

2-Minute Dog Training Games are built on understanding that dogs learn through the timing and placement of rewards. No reward tells your dog “Sorry, buddy. That wasn’t it.” When they get a jackpot the message is clearly: “Yay for you! You did it!”

Dogs want to get things right and earn that jackpot. Knowing their effort will be rewarded motivates them to keep trying. If at first they don’t succeed they know to try, try again.

For instance

Torque, Hope’s French Bulldog, loves doing Rally Obedience stuff. There was one upper-level sign he just wasn’t understanding. It was the “Send Away Sit / Return / Follow Arrow” signs at the Master level, for Rally people. He just didn’t “get” that he had to go near the cone (6 feet away), turn around and then sit. Even teaching the segments separately didn’t work. Putting a target near the cone didn’t work. He just wasn’t getting it.

They practiced it about every couple of weeks for several months. There was no urgency, and Hope tried different targets, signals, commands. But it wasn’t happening. Torque knew it wasn’t right because he didn’t get any treats. But he was willing to keep trying because we didn’t hammer at it, tell him he was wrong, or enforce any kind of punishment.

Doing it right looks different

Then came the day when he did it. Perfectly. The first try. Hope stopped everything and gave that boy a jackpot of treats, an ear massage, and quit for the day. Doing it right looks different, and he’s done it right every time since.

Make it a big deal

If it’s a big deal when the dog gets something right, and nothing when they don’t, the dog has a reason to keep trying. Dogs love having a “job” and “working” with their people. But there’s no reason to keep doing it if their efforts gain them nothing.

Quite a few of the comments on our videos are similar to “my dog isn’t interested.” Or “my dog won’t listen.” And to each of these we ask – what motivation are you giving your dog? Do they get anything special for listening? For being interested? If doing nothing and doing something all get the same treatment, why would they bother?

It’s on you

There’s a saying among dog trainers that “Every dog is trained to its owner’s level of comfort.” Most people quit trying when their dogs learn the bare minimum to live comfortably. As long as their dog doesn’t chew their shoes and potties where they’re supposed to, they’re satisfied.

And if that’s all you want, that’s fine. It’s between you and your dog. But if you want to have a real companion who loves doing “stuff” with you and has a big, happy life, you’ll strive for more. And make it look different when you get it.

2 Keys to good dog training

The two qualities needed for successful dog training are patience and consistency. Good dog training isn’t fun to watch. That’s why lots of the dog trainers with huge numbers of views on social media are really awful trainers. Awful meaning violent, punishment-based, and full of noise and motion.

When one of our videos gets some traction on social media, one of the comments that pops up over and over is “can you do a video showing how to teach this?”

We could. But no one wants to watch somebody standing around looking at their dog. That’s what most of positive reinforcement training is. We’re teaching our dogs to think and make good decisions. We don’t tell them what to do, we present opportunities for them to try things and figure stuff out.

Patience and consistency

Say you want to teach your dog to pick up an object – anything from the required-in-obedience dumbbell to a can of beer. Training starts with you putting the object in front of your dog and standing there staring at it. You wait for any interaction with the object (look, sniff, poke, move, lick) and when it happens, mark it (either with a click or a “Yes!”) and reward close to the object.

A couple of interactions with the object could be all you get the first time you show it to your dog. It takes time for your dog to realize the object has value. So that video is you standing there looking at your dog maybe looking at a thing. Not great video, but a good first step.

Short attention span

In this age of instant everything, advocating slow and steady is, at best, an outlier. That’s why your training sessions should be short. Hence, 2-Minute-Trainer. Staring at an object for two minutes while your dog thinks is okay. Longer than that? Deadly dull. And unproductive.

Even active behaviors, like loose-leash walking, start with “nothing to see here.” First you teach your dog the basics of the game. Lots of treats for not much motion. Thinking is active, difficult, and intense. But not exciting to watch.

That’s why we write detailed descriptions of our dog training games. It only takes a second to read “Choose a three-word phrase. Say the third word five times, giving your dog a treat as you say the word.” Doing it, and having your dog love hearing the word, takes a bit of time. Doing it with your dog is fun. Watching someone else do it isn’t.

Patience pays

You and your dog can do any of the behaviors and tricks we show in our videos. Some tricks only take moments for dogs to learn, especially if it’s based on something they already know. Some of the tricks take weeks, or even months. The total time working on it may be less than half an hour, but that’s two minutes at a time, maybe once a week.

If a dog trainer promises fast results, it’s almost guaranteed to be punishment-based training. Yes, it’s faster. Yes, it works, sort of. Punishment-based training doesn’t change the dog’s behavior, it suppresses it. The classic example is the housebreaking scenario where the dog is punished for pooping when you find the poop. So they hide where they do it. They didn’t learn what you meant to teach. They learned to avoid punishment.

Great results

Patience and consistency will get you and your dog wherever you want to go. Sometimes the goal changes based on what you learn about your dog with your training games. You’ll probably lean into the things your dog really enjoys and learns quickly. The stuff neither of you truly cares about will be shuffled off to the side.

You’ll know your dog better and you’ll have a bigger, happier life together when you play training games. And we hope you’ll send us the links to your end-product videos. Those are lots of fun to watch.

Pay your dog

“Pay your dog!” is a phrase we use in every single class we teach. It seems that most people are worried their dogs will gain weight if they’re trained with treats.

We hear it all the time. “That’s a lot of treats!” “When can I stop rewarding with food?” The constant objection is that dogs will get fat with reward-based training. A more thoughtful use of food would benefit the dogs. Rather than worry about the dogs gaining weight, see the advantage of using the dog’s most valuable currency to teach them.

Dogs will, absolutely reliably, do whatever’s most rewarding for them. Why not have a meeting of the minds and make what you want the most rewarding thing? Why would you refuse to use the tool that works best?

For instance

This week one of our training game videos went a little viral. It’s Torque’s trick “Troll Under The Bridge.” Lots of people commented, more than we’ve ever seen. People seemed impressed, but “But will he do it without food?” was a pretty common question. Our reply is “Probably. But why should he?”

Let’s try a little perspective on the issue. Would you want to work without pay? Even if you love your job, your office, your colleagues. Would you still do the job for nothing? Most people will give a hard “No!” So why does anyone expect their dog to do their job without payment?

For your love

The answer we hear a lot is “But I pet him and tell him he’s a good dog! Isn’t that reward enough?” Again, put yourself in that position. A hearty pat on the back and “Good job!” is nice to get from your boss. But a bonus is better, more memorable, and means more to most of us.

If you’re worried about your dog gaining weight, remember it’s you who controls your dog’s calorie intake. There’s absolutely no reason you can’t make your dog’s regular food part of the “trail mix” of treats for training. When you measure out your dog’s food for the day, just put a scoop of it in a separate bowl. Mix in some higher-value, shelf-stable treats, and you have your training treats for the day.

Not a lifetime commitment

When your dog is learning something new, is having trouble with something, or is particularly distracted, it’s a good idea to reward often and for smaller steps in training. The rate of reinforcement should be higher for new or more difficult games.

Once a word is cemented in your dog’s vocabulary, you probably don’t have to reward them every time they do it. When dogs are learning our warm-up Puppy Pushups game, they get rewarded for every change of position. Once they’ve been playing a while and enjoy the game, the treats may come after several position changes. Randomizing rewards even becomes part of the interaction. Dogs trained with positive reinforcement will try all kinds of different things to get you to cough up the goodies.

Establish a pattern

One of our students has a large, young dog in a house full of young children. To keep everyone safer, they decided early on that “Down!” was a very valuable behavior for their dog. If she was lying down, they didn’t have to worry about her jumping on the children or their friends. Every time the dog obeyed “Down!” she was rewarded.

Fast forward several months and “Down!” is the dog’s default behavior. It’s so firmly established in her mind that she’s “good” when she’s “Down!” that when she’s confused, or unsure what she’s supposed to do, she lies down. She’ll do it even when she doesn’t get a reward. Because she knows it’s a good thing to do and she values being good.

Dogs just want to be good

Given a choice, dogs want to do the right thing. They may not always know what that is. It’s our responsibility to teach them. Since dogs learn best through the timing and placement of rewards, it’s a no-brainer to use rewards to teach.

If you’ve been stingy with the treats, think about why that’s so. Concern about weight is valid, but just one of the factors to consider. Find low calorie treats your dog likes (Popcorn? Carrots? Celery? Green Beans?). Use higher-calorie options sparingly, and use a portion of your dog’s regular food for training.

There are certainly other rewards dogs find worthwhile, including toys and praise. But if your dog’s number one motivation is food, use it to accomplish your training goals. Pay your dog for work well done.

Being nice isn’t dog training

What do you do when society’s dictates conflict with your goals? If you’re out trying to train your dog and somebody wants to “say Hello!” to your dog? You want to be nice. But being nice isn’t dog training.

A longtime friend who’s also a very experienced dog trainer is a student in our Puppy Obedience class this session. While it’s always great to see friends, most people would wonder why she’s there. After all, she’s been training dogs for many years. And even though she does have a new puppy, she pretty much knows all the ins and outs of household obedience training.

She’s there for the same reasons we take our own dogs to someone else’s puppy classes. One is because we want our puppies to go to new places, experience new things, and learn how to act in public. That’s the socialization part.

The other part is that most people, from family and friends to complete strangers, won’t pay attention when you ask them to help further your training.They won’t follow your instructions on how you want puppy interactions to go. And a good proportion of those people will undermine what you’re doing. If not deliberately, then accidentally.

Hop on Pop

The easiest example most people can identify with is when your puppy (or dog) jumps on people to say hello. Almost every single person will give the puppy the attention he’s asking for. Which is rewarding the dog for misbehaving, guaranteeing that it will happen again. And again.

It’s hard to find people who will stand like statues and stare at the ceiling while an adorable little puppy is jumping on them, pawing them, nudging them, and begging for their attention. It’s almost as hard for the owner of the puppy to let it happen. Your first instinct is to make it stop, even if you have to grab the puppy by the collar and haul it away. Again, that gives the puppy exactly what it’s looking for – attention.

Good or bad doesn’t matter

Dogs want attention. They make absolutely no distinction between positive and negative attention. If you’re focusing on them, they don’t care whether you’re yelling or praising. Dogs seem to be hard-wired to accept all attention from humans as rewarding. And dogs always do the thing that’s most rewarding to them.

The result is that our job as a puppy instructor rarely allows us to interact with the puppies. That’s painful because we love playing with puppies. We love it even more when they’re not our puppies to clean up after and we get to send them home with someone else.

But we don’t get to do that. We get to stand there with our arms folded, staring at the ceiling, until the instant the puppy has “four on the floor.” At first, that “Good Off!” moment only lasts an instant, and then we’re staring at the ceiling again. By the third week of class, most puppies are sitting politely when we come to say “Hello!” And the bargain is sealed. The dog gets what it wants (attention) when we get what we want (polite greetings).

Be rude if you must

So what can you do when people don’t cooperate? Advocate for yourself and for your dog. If you’re walking your puppy (or dog) and a stranger asks if they can say “Hello!” or pet your dog, you set the rules. Most people will get it if you say “Only if he sits by you.” They probably won’t notice or pay attention when the puppy pops out of position with the first touch. Then you have to step in and ask them to stop until the dog behaves again.

The frustration comes when the person doesn’t comply. “Oh, he’s fine, let me say hello.” And you’re considered a meanie if you don’t allow it. Much as you want to be kind to strangers, your dog is more important than that person’s urge to pet the puppy. Your dog, your rules. Just say “I’m sorry, but we have to go.” And do it. Then come to our classes. We’ll ignore the heck out of your puppy.

The timing of dog training

This week in her Beginner Obedience class, Hope’s face had an unfortunate encounter with the nails of a seven-month old Labrador Retriever. She’ll be fine. So will her face. But it made us think about the timing of dog training. If this dog’s owner had started training when he was three months old, by now he would know how to greet politely. And if he had jumped on Hope (she’s only five feet tall), he wouldn’t have been able to reach her face. Or do as much damage.

When is the right time to start training your puppy or dog? The simple answer is “as soon as you come in the door.” Dogs are learning all the time. It’s up to you to make that learning purposeful. And fun. Something the two of you can do throughout the dog’s life to enrich your time together.

It’s not a chore

If you hated school, don’t let whatever negative baggage you have color your opinion of dog training. Dogs are for fun. Teaching them is fun. The way they learn best is by playing games. So, essentially, school for dogs is just playing games. You may be the dungeon master, but both of you should have fun playing the game.

First, decide what’s most important for your dog to know. If you’re a hermit who never goes out and never has company, you probably don’t care if your dog jumps on people to say hi. For the rest of us, it should be right at the top of the curriculum.

It’s easy, too. All you have to do is have everybody ignore the puppy (or dog) unless all four feet are on the floor. You don’t have to insist on a “Sit!” If you want it, it comes later. All you have to do is nothing. When the dog’s front feet are off the ground, just have people fold their arms and stare into the sky. As soon as those adorable little paws are all in contact with the ground, make a huge fuss over the puppy – pets, scritches, treats. Even a game of tug if there’s a toy nearby. It’s easy to see that the timing of dog training is not a big deal when it’s fun for everyone.

When a dog jumps on someone, they’re saying “Hi! I’m here! Pay attention to me!” If the dog doesn’t get what they want, they’ll try something else. When that something else gets them what they want, they’re more likely to do that again. What gets rewarded, gets repeated. It may take a few repetitions to work. And we know it’s hard to resist those puppy dog eyes. Do it anyway. That way when your dog is as tall as you, you won’t have to worry about them scratching up your guests’ faces. Or having to hang on to their collar for dear life so they don’t jump.

Class time

You already know that habit is the most powerful force in the universe. Gravity may be a close second, but that’s debatable. It’s easier to form a new habit with a dog than to try to break an established one.

The point is; if you have a new-to-you dog, whether a puppy or an adult, start as you mean to continue. It may be adorable for a 15-pound puppy to jump on you, paw at you, or whine for attention. When the dog weighs 60 pounds, it’s not so cute. When Grandma comes over to visit, or your toddler nephew, there’s nothing cute about it.

You should form a new habit, too. Pick a time for your training. Make a date with your dog every day right after you’ve had your coffee. You can use your dog’s breakfast for training treats. You get to smile at the start of the day. And your dog will be satisfied (food) and tired (had to think!) for the morning.

Other end of the timeline

That habit will stand you in good stead for your dog’s entire lifetime. When your dog’s caught up on the house rules (house-breaking, jumping, crate training), you can spend every day playing the training games that are more fun; Ring Stacking, Put Your Toys Away, anything you come up with that makes you both happy.

It never has to go away. Tango, Fran’s Brussels Griffon, will celebrate his 15th birthday this month. He decided to retire from the competition ring in Rally and Agility long ago – he wasn’t having fun. But every single day he still plays training games. He plays his Balance and Core Exercises. And he plays “Put Your Toys Away.” The timing of dog training for Tango is “all the time!”

Playing training games with your dog really isn’t about the training. It’s about the growth of your relationship with your dog, the understanding it builds between you, and giving your dog the biggest life you both can share.