People tend to think dog training is both a free service and magical. Whenever I mention I’m a dog trainer people bring up their dogs’ problems and generally want fast (and free) solutions from me.
Of course in reality changing a behavior or teaching a new one takes time, thought, practice, and skill. It’s generally not possible for me to give clear, sound advice in the form of an elevator speech. However, there is one extremely useful gem that I can and will share with you. Once you are aware of this particular tidbit you’ll have a tremendous amount of training power in your pocket, quite literally.
If there is one thing everyone who interacts with dogs should know, it’s that classical conditioning is king. As the great trainer Bob Bailey says, “Pavlov is always on your shoulder.” But what exactly does that mean? And how does it affect you and your dog?
Essentially, it means that your dog is always making associations between what is happening to him or her and changes in the environment or circumstances. This cannot be avoided. This happens automatically and for better or worse, so it’s in our best interest to be aware of possible positive and negative associations that may intentionally or unintentionally take place when interacting with our dogs.
For example, recently at Point Isabel dog park I observed a lovely medium/large mixed breed dog romping and frolicking happily with other dogs. She had an excellent demeanor, very lively and playful. Being an all-white dog, she of course decided at one point to jump in the mudflats and immerse herself in the muck.
This sweet, silly dog was by no means misbehaving, but she was quite excited, easily distracted, and in no hurry to end the party. Her owner was ready to leave the park, however, and eventually decided that it would be easiest to put her dog on leash to get her to go. The leash was attached to a prong collar and this led to an inadvertent and unfortunate conditioning moment.
As dog and owner started to walk away, another dog came running up to greet the muddy, formerly white dog who had such loose and inviting body language. Ms. Mud forgot for a moment that she was on lead and leapt forward excitedly to greet the other dog. When she did she got a relatively severe collar correction, by design, which startled her and made her yelp. This happened just as she was looking at and anticipating contact with the other dog, so the unpleasant feeling seemed to be associated with him. Suddenly she lashed out at the approaching dog. It’s not hard to see how, over time, this could have a negative impact on how the playful white dog feels about other dogs approaching her, especially when she’s on leash.
On the other hand, a great way to use classical conditioning to our advantage is to purposefully pair good things that our dogs love with stimulus or objects that may otherwise upset them. In this case we are helping our dogs develop a warm and fuzzy feeling about things they already are uncomfortable with or things that commonly make dogs nervous or defensive.
For example, many dogs become leash reactive when they see other dogs walking toward them on the street – usually for reasons demonstrated in the above example. This often manifests as freezing, staring, crouching, stalking, and/or lunging and barking. And the behavior tends to escalate as the offending critter gets closer and closer.
Using the principle of classical conditioning, you can offer your dog something he loves, such as a high-value tasty morsel or game of tug with his very favorite toy, as the approaching dog gets closer, upping the value and/or volume of the goods as the distance between them shrinks.
Celebrating in this way every time another dog (or skateboard, or small child, etc.) is in view helps form a positive association with these potentially challenging situations. When we do our job well, our dogs will actually start to feel good about previously annoying or scary stimuli because they are now associated with good things for Fido!
Remember that with every interaction you are conditioning your dog’s associations with the world. Clearly, it’s in your own and your dog’s best interest to make all interactions – on- and off-leash – as positive and meaningful as possible.
Kelly Gorman Dunbar is Director of the Center for Applied Animal Behavior, where she recruits and trains the instructors for the Dunbar family business, SIRIUS® Puppy & Dog Training. She is the creator of the SIRIUS Sniffers scent-detection program, and is in the process of bringing the French sport of cavage (truffle hunting) to the US. Kelly is also Founder and President of Open Paw and consults on various matters.
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