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How Dogs Learn Timing, Consistency, and Motivation. If you have these three principles you can train a dog to do just about anything. If you are ever having difficulty in training, or it seems the dog is confused, ask yourself if you have fully observed these three Noble Truths. Timing A dog has a period of 1.5 seconds in which to associate a cause with an effect. This means that the old adage, “you have to catch them in the act” is absolutely true. To correct a dog for breaking a sit stay five seconds after the fact is meaningless to a dog. A dog believes he is being corrected, or praised for whatever he is doing at the moment. Dogs live in the present. The importance of timing has a great implication in training. It means you need to watch closely enough that you see mistakes or successes exactly when they occur and can either praise or correct them instantly. Consistency There is no gray area for dogs. Your training must be very clear. A rule is a rule always. For example, if you do not want your dog to jump on you, you must consistently reinforce that principle. If you continue to allow a dog to jump on you just because you are in a good mood one day and want to give them a hug they will think that it is always ok to do this…you must be 100% consistent. This will result in a dog that feels safe and trusting within very well defined rules. Motivation/Reinforcement You communicate to your dog while training (and all other times as well) with praise and rewards when they are doing well. As a result, the behaviors you reward will start to occur more often. You communicate with corrections (verbal, leash, sound, etc) when they make mistakes, or are braking your clearly defined rules. Both praise (rewards) and corrections must be motivational to the dog. You want your communication to be meaningful. That means your praise or rewards must be good enough that the dog is inspired to strive for it in the future. Your corrections must be unpleasant enough to decrease or extinguish a behavior that is undesirable. Applying all Three As you train, think of these factors. If your dog is not responding to training, or acts confused, ask yourself whether you are being clear with your dog. Does your training fall into harmony with all Three? Is your timing correct? Is your training motivational? Are you being 100% consistent? If your answer is not yes to all of these questions you cannot expect miracles from you dog. Practice everyday.
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The Three Phases of Training You will go through a process with each new exercise you teach your dog. It takes time to teach them to perform reliably and correctly. Dogs need four to six months of repetition and reinforcement to establish a behavior in long-term memory. This means that you must continue to work with your dog after obedience class, lessons, or In-kennel training is over if you want the training to “stick.” The longer you take to teach an exercise and reinforce it the better your dogs will perform. If you want a dog that performs correctly, consistently and in all circumstances it is vital that you go through each of these steps. Showing/Teaching During the showing phase, show your dog what you want him to do. To accomplish this use your leash, hands, and other tools to guide the dog through the behaviors you want. For example, if you want to teach your dog to sit, give the sit command once and follow the command by gently placing him into a sit. Right at the moment my dog sits I will praise him so that he knows what exactly he did to make me happy. There are no corrections in this phase. Do not expect your dog to understand and correctly perform commands before they have been shown what it is you want. Use praise generously during the showing phase. It should be done in an area as distraction free as possible as there is no need to make things more difficult. Repetition and patience are of the utmost importance. When your dog begins to anticipate what you want and perform without your help then you know he is beginning to understand. Reinforcing In the reinforcement phase you can introduce a mild negative reinforcement when your dog does not perform as taught. During this phase the dogs should understand the command so that he has a fair chance of performing well and avoiding the negative. If your dog does not understand a command, looks confused, scared, or repeatedly makes mistakes you should go back to the teaching phase. Start to wean the dog off any body language you are using. If you are using food treats to bait your dog, begin to use the food as a reward for a job well done, and not as a bribe or guide. Leash corrections should be directional. This means that your correction should help the dog to do what we are asking. A sit correction is a pop straight up on the collar so that it guides the dog into a sit. Our down correction is toward the ground etc. Corrections should be matter of fact, without anger and they should be over fast so you and your dog don’t dwell on the negative. They should also be appropriate for your dog. Different dogs of different temperaments call for different levels of correction. The reinforcement stage is the point where the dog learns that he should perform these exercises not only because they are fun but also because he must. Proofing The proofing stage is where you build your dog’s commitment to performing an exercise. This is done by the gradual introduction of distractions. Reward your dog when he does something correct. Give your dog corrections when he makes mistakes. It is as if we are saying, “Yes, sit means sit even when a cat strolls by” The goal is to have a dog that will hold a down “stay” during a dinner party even when someone might be tempting you dog under the table with a bone. During the proofing phase expose your dogs to situations where they will be tempted to make mistakes. By doing this we have an opportunity to train a dog who will perform under everyday distraction not only on Tuesday nights at obedience class. It is also important that you don’t always set your dog up to lose. Even though they are more advanced at this stage, praise and success are still vital ingredients to your dog’s outcome. Make sure he isn’t losing every time. If he is, that’s a good indication that you are moving to fast.
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