You may have heard lots of different opinions about how to train a dog correctly. There are many books and television shows advising people on how to do this. However, they have not seen and assessed your dog, so it is impossible to say if some of these methods will be suitable for you. Here are a few questions and answers about training methods to help you understand things a little better if you are feeling as bewildered as I once did by all the opinions out there!!
What is reward based training?
Reward based training is giving the dog a reward when he gives the desired behaviour. For example, if you want him to sit you reward him when he does so. Actions which are rewarded by you will be repeated by your dog and things you don't reward will decrease. So if you want more of something you need to reward it and if you want less of something you need to not reward it. That is the golden rule! If you reward a sit your dog will choose to sit more and more because it has a good consequence.
How is this different from other training methods?
Reward based training is quite different from some other approaches where dogs are expected to do as required or there is a consequence. There is little or no reward for correct behaviour with these methods. Basically, if they do something wrong they are punished until they stop. With these methods dogs really learn which things not to do, rather than which things they should do. So if they don't get punished for sitting they will sit but if they get punished for sitting they wont do it (or at least not in front of you!) because it has a negative consequence.
Rewards can take many forms, but are whatever the dog wants and will work for. This differs depending on the individual as some dogs will train for a toy, others would prefer food and there are those very rare dogs who work for praise alone!
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Will I always have to give my dog treats every time he sits?
At first you will reward an action every time until the dog understands what it is you want. So, if you are teaching sit for the first time you will reward your dog every time he sits. What will then happen is your dog will start sitting in front of you when you are doing something, to see if he can get a reward. At this point you will sometimes reward it and sometimes not - by giving him his meal, putting his lead on and going for a walk etc. This is enough to keep your dog trying it regularly to see if it still works.
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Why do I need a training programme?
The timing of rewards is quite critical and can vary for different dogs with different problems. It is easy to read how to do something with your dog in a book, but you may find when you come to try it it doesn't work quite like the book says! This is because each dog is an individual and an individual training plan is therefore necessary to put in all the steps you need to progress with your dog. When you have a consultation your dog will be assessed as to which combination of training exercises works best for you and him given your lifestyle and his own individual way of learning.
I have tried some of the things I have seen on television but they have not worked?
As mentioned above, timing and methods of training exercises should be suited to the dogs individual nature and the individual situation. If you do not have an adequate understanding of how dogs learn it is easy to choose the wrong method for your dog. If this goes wrong it can at best just not work or it could cause an adverse reaction towards you from your dog, leaving you with even more problems to undo than you had previously.
Lots of methods you see on television may well be too harsh or inappropriate for your situation and milder techniques should always be tried first. A qualified behaviourist knows how to choose the right methods to get the best result from your dog without causing them distress.
What are harsh training methods?
These are methods which rely on applying any type of force or pain to stop dogs performing certain behaviours and include choke collars, pinch collars and shock collars. You may have seen these used and heard people say how well they work and yes, often they do. However, they are not pleasant methods and just because they create a desired effect on some behaviours does not mean they wont have a negative effect on others.
For instance, it would be easy to train a person to stop swearing using a shock collar, but would it be ethical? Of course not because there are many other ways to do the same thing and you would never dream of using such a painful method to do it. The person may stop swearing, but may develop a stutter because they have become nervous about speaking in case they swear, so now you have created a new problem which is causing distress to the person and affecting all area of their life. Alternatively they may choose to get very aggressive and attack the nearest person every time they receive a shock!
Similarly, you wouldn't want to inflict pain or discomfort on your dog to stop him pulling on the lead when you have the option of doing the same thing by rewarding him for walking on a loose lead. Rather than choking him if he is pulling why not stop walking to remove the reward (the walk stops) and only walk forward when he is not pulling so he gets his reward (the walk continues) when he walks close to you. This gives a dog options to earn his walk rather then feeling afraid of stepping out of line in case he feels pain. This can cause dogs to become very robotic and not really enjoy their time on the lead because it makes them feel tense and wary.
