Kinder, gentler dog training

We joined a dogh training cluhb more than 20 years ago. This week it hit us how much has changed in two decades. Thank goodness! Kinder, gentler dog training is lots more fun than it used to be!

Hope teaches the Novice Class for the club, the first competition level. Lots about competition obedience is precise and picky – but most of it, like all dog training, is having fun with your dog while you do the “stuff” that qualifies you for the American Kennel Club’s “Companion Dog” title.

Starting a new puppy

A friend and fellow club member is just starting in obedience with his year-old Cocker Spaniel girl. Rich has been a club member and instructor longer than we have, but it’s been quite a while since he’s taken a puppy through our classes. Suffice it to say, he got side-tracked by retirement, grandkids, and the allure of agility. He shelved the obedience stuff.

Rich was also one of Hope’s first instructors back in the day. He learned and taught with negative reinforcement, also known as corrections. It’s what he knows and a habit he’s been successful with for many, many years.

His new puppy’s personality is different than his previous Cocker Spaniels. All of Rich’s dogs have been easy-going, love-everybody dogs. One dog’s initial shyness was quickly overcome and his dogs have always been people and dog friendly.

Every dog is different

Bella, the new girl, has a different mind set. She’s wary in new situations and can light up if she takes exception to what’s going on. She met Fran’s puppy Simon this week and, to put it politely, she wasn’t impressed. She was still a bit riled up when Hope walked in and she grabbed Hope’s pant leg as she walked by. No damage done. No one hurt in any way.

None of this is to say that Bella’s unreliable, or naughty, or a “bad” dog. She’s not. She’s just a bit more cautious than Rich’s other dogs have been.

Which means that Rich is going to have to adapt his training to reflect this dog’s personality, learning style, and tendencies. We hope he’ll have fun with it – but it won’t be easy breaking old habits.

Learning new habits

We have a family joke that habit is the most powerful force in the universe. We’ve all heard the statistics about how long it takes to form a new habit – and how difficult it is to break an old one. We’re going to do everything we can to help our friend form some good, new habits.

In the “olden” days, our trainers told us we should never let a dog make a decision because they’d always make the wrong one. We controlled pretty much every aspect of our dogs’ lives; made every decision, made every choice for them.

Making good decisions

Now? A complete turn-around. Training is all about teaching our dogs to make good decisions! It’s so much more fun! Rather than having our dogs just obey us, we come together as a team to do “stuff” we both enjoy.

If Rich retains that old way of thinking, rather than the kinder, gentler current dog training mode, it’s possible that Bella will have a hard time in new situations – especially if Rich’s attention wanders and leaves her to make her own decisions.

Our dogs aren’t afraid doing the “wrong” thing, because there is no “wrong.” (Except going potty in the house. That’s always wrong.)

Dogs trained with positive reinforcement know that when they do something we want, they’ll get a treat and a celebration. If they do something else, there’s no reward.

Reward or ignore – gentler dog training

It’s as simple as that. Reward the behavior you want. Ignore what you don’t.

Sounds simple, but so very complicated. Fortunately, Rich will have our help every step of the way on the new adventure. We hope he has an easy adjustment. Because it’s so much more fun to be a kinder, gentler dog trainer.