How to find the right trainer for you and your dog. So you’ve added a new puppy or rescue dog to the family and know that you want to begin training him or her. Depending on where you live, you might have a variety of options to consider. How do you choose the right one to guide you through one of the most important components of dog ownership? I have some thoughts. The other day, I got a message from a distraught friend who recounted the story of walking into the dining room and finding her rescue dog on top of the table. She’s frustrated because the pup is in training but is still engaging in behavior like this. How does one deal with something like that? The biggest concern for me isn’t the fact that the dog was on the table, although that behavior is less than ideal. It’s the fact that she mentioned the trainer she’s working with is positive reinforcement-based and frowns at the use of e-collars. Why is that a flag for me? Well, quite honestly, dog behavior is like everything else in the world: there are no black and whites, but lots and lots of grays. Just as there is no one single food that works for every dog out there, there’s no one magic training bullet that works for every dog. Some dogs respond well to positive reinforcement training methods. But the fact of the matter is that some dogs need additional tools. Refusing to consider those tools, regardless of their proven effectiveness—just because you are uncomfortable with them—is doing a huge disservice to the canine community and the humans trying to navigate those challenging waters. Over the course of our dog parenting years, we have worked with four trainers. Two were strictly positive reinforcement-focused, and one used an e-collar to punish negative behaviors. Our current trainer subscribes to a blended philosophy where positive reinforcement is used in conjunction with available tools to facilitate dialogue between human and dog. Guess which one has elicited the best results. I think that one of the things that makes this topic so complicated is that, as a society, we regularly conflate dog training with obedience. Obedience is just a tiny part of dog training, but many people think that once they have an obedient dog their job is done. Ha! If only! No, there’s still a lot of work left to do. Think of it like this: if you teach a child the alphabet and numbers, are they done learning? No, of course not! Those are some of the foundational elements required for becoming a well-rounded human, but a lot more must go into their education before they’re ready to be set loose on the world. The same is true with dogs. Except for the setting them loose on the world part. You need to make sure your dog is always under your control. A well-trained dog is like a stool: it’s proficient in four, sturdy “legs” that properly support it. What are those four legs? Leash skills, confidence-building, good manners, and recall. When you’re looking for a trainer, you want to make sure they’re addressing all four areas. Let’s talk about them individually. Leash skills. Leash skills? It’s a dog! Dogs know how to walk on a leash! This is so not true. You’re a human. Did you automatically know how to ride a bike or swim? No! You had the ability to learn those things, but you had to be taught how to do them. Just like dogs need to be taught how to walk on a leash. And this brings me to a really important point: training is not just for dogs. Training is 90% about teaching humans how to communicate our expectations in a way that dogs can understand. And how you use a leash communicates a LOT to your dog. Hold it too tightly and your dog will sense your anxiety and become tense. This is a huge underlying reason behind dogs and leash reactivity. Conversely, if you hold the leash too loosely, you may lose any control over your dog should you encounter a dangerous situation. So, leash skills are probably the single most important tool you can give to yourself and your dog. If a trainer you’re considering doesn’t offer any leash training, move on, and look for one who does. Once your dog is comfortable walking on a leash, you can begin to take him or her out into the world to work on socialization and confidence building. A dog that’s lacking confidence can present in several ways. It might seem shy, insecure, or fearful. Or it could lunge and bark at whatever it feels is scary. One of the biggest selling points of puppy classes is socialization. Giving a puppy or a timid dog exposure to novel experiences in a safe way helps to desensitize them and make them less fearful of new people and things. A good trainer will spend a lot of time working on this and will use a variety of methods to help your dog become more secure in new surroundings. In our classes, we practice walking parallel to other dogs at a safe distance, walking over unusual objects, sitting on blocks and cushions while other dogs walk by, and jumping over items. Rewarding successes with treats and praise teaches the dogs that trying new things isn’t scary; it can result in good things like food and belly scratches. Teaching good manners can begin the day you bring your dog home. 'Sit,' 'stay,' and 'down' are all important commands for your dog to know. But, as I mentioned before, a dog with good manners isn’t necessarily a well-trained dog. In some ways, I kind of see manners as beneficial tricks. Like an elevated handshake or roll over. Don’t get me wrong, I think that making sure your dog will sit on command—especially when he or she is meeting a new human—is necessary. But the ability to sit or shake or lay down on cue probably isn’t going to save your dog’s life. What will? The fourth leg: recall. What’s recall? In general terms, it’s a dog’s ability to recognize and respond to its name by coming when called. Picture it: you and your dog are out on a walk. Your leash skills are on point. You’re stopping at all crosswalks and making Fido sit until given the command to go. Suddenly, a car backfires. You are startled and drop the leash. Fido gets scared and starts to run. Giving the ‘sit’ command isn’t going to be very helpful in that situation. But yelling “Fido, come!” and knowing that Fido is going to return to you is something that could save his life. Ask your trainer how much time he or she spends on recall training in classes. The answer should be that it’s a major focus. You also want to be working on what our trainer calls “check-ins” constantly. A check-in is where you call the dog’s name and reward it for looking up at you. In addition to rewarding with a treat, you also want to give an enthusiastic “yes!” response so that the dog eventually connects the dots: name + eye contact = treat + praise. A good trainer will also spend time introducing distractions like loud, unexpected noises while you’re working on recall and check-ins. This is so critical for your dog because life is full of scary things. It's important for you as the owner to understand this and to recognize that something you as a human might not give a second thought to could be something that's utterly terrifying to your dog. Acclimating your dog to unfamiliar sounds and objects in a controlled environment gives you a better shot at handling them when encountering new things in the real world. Everything I’ve mentioned so far can be accomplished through positive reinforcement, so that’s the ticket, right? Yes and no. Believe it or not, there are some dogs who just don’t work for treats. They’re operating on a whole other level of excitability and exuberance. And those dogs require more than just positive reinforcement. I cannot stress how important it is to work with a trainer you completely trust. You must be able to keep an open mind and consider, not just listen to, what they’re telling you because sometimes you will not like what you hear. Within minutes of meeting us, our trainer recommended a prong collar for Pike. I heard the word “prong” and my mind immediately conjured up the image of a medieval torture device. I was NOT interested in that at all. But she put one on him and he instantly became a different dog. He walked without pulling. He sat when told to sit. We were both, quite honestly, stunned by the transformation. It was clear that he wasn’t being hurt in any way, shape, or form and that any concerns I'd had were based on fear, not fact. The collar was such a game-changer that we still use it whenever we’re going to be in a situation that requires him to have good manners. We also bought one to use on one of our other dogs. Had I not kept an open mind, I’d have missed out on this valuable—and safe—training tool that has completely changed our lives for the better. We also learned how to properly use an e-collar, which is another wonderful—and, again, safe—tool we use on a regular basis. When he was almost a year old, we sent Pike away for a two-week board-and-train session where the trainer used an e-collar. However, he used the collar as a tool for punishment as opposed to how we use it now. We currently use it as a communication device. We’ll take him out to a field and let him run off leash, something we never would have been able to do a year ago at this time. When he gets too far away, we send him a little vibration signal, which is like a phone call to his collar telling him that he should head back to us. And he does. Every single time. If you’re curious about using an e-collar for training your dog, check out this great video by Tom Davis. We use his No Bad Dogs collar model from Dogtra and highly recommend it. Training your dog is a lifelong endeavor. It’s a lot of work, sometimes really hard work, but it’s also incredibly rewarding. It’s important to remember that some dogs have temperaments that make them well-suited to positive reinforcement training, while others need a little bit more. And that’s okay. Finding a trainer who takes a balanced approach to the process, especially when you are a novice and have a dog with a big, bold personality, is the key to success. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Their services aren’t free, and you need to make sure that you’re paying for something you and your dog are going to benefit from. If they don’t like your questions, or don’t answer them, or don’t ask any questions of you, it’s time to move on to the next candidate. If you don’t know where to start, join a Facebook group for your local community. Ask the members for recommendations. If you use a groomer, ask them if they know of anyone. Or check with your vet. Word of a good trainer travels quickly. Keep in mind that there might be a waiting list for their services. If that’s the case, you can be sure they’ll be worth the wait. Until next time, WOOF! #mybarkinglife #woof #dogs #obedience #dogobedience #dogtraining #dogtrainer
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |