Many pet parents, as well as many trainers, use treats held over the dog’s head to get the desired results. The dog will sit, and the treat is immediately given to the dog. Repeating this action over and over will help to train a dog to sit. BUT…did you teach your dog to sit or train your dog to sit?
What if the same dog jumps on a guest coming into your home? Will you run to get a treat and entice the dog to stop jumping on your guest and come sit to get a treat? Will the treat be a reward for jumping on your guest?
When a food reward is used as a bribe, are you rewarding negative behavior? Yes, you are. Are you making your dog so food-focused that he becomes food-obsessed? What do you think?
The thesaurus uses the two words, teach and train, almost interchangeably. Maybe under certain circumstances, that would apply, but even though the profession is called “Dog Training,” adding behavioral conditioning to obedience fleshes out training and evolves into teaching. No matter how smart you think your dog is, I bet your dog is smarter than you think.
Here’s why. Training is defined as providing the ability to perform a particular task, while Teaching means providing thinking skills.
Thinking is a good thing! Thinking gives your dog purpose. Thinking gives your dog a job. Working dogs are taught to think. Dogs that practice agility skills are thinkers. Mental stimulation, in conjunction with physical stimulation, is the building block for a happy, well-trained (educated) canine companion.
Let’s examine this further.
TRAINING
A pet parent uses a treat and repeatedly asks the dog to sit while motioning backward over the dog’s head. The dog sits and is given the treat used to bribe him. In time, the dog may sit when told to or with a handle signal the pet parent uses to pretend they are holding a treat, but without one.
I agree that is an improvement. However, it is still considered to be the dog’s ability to perform a particular task. Now, let’s look further. The same dog is in the same home when a guest or another family member enters the room. The dog will greet that person by jumping on and romping around them. The dog has made no connection to when it is appropriate to sit in different scenarios, especially without a treat and, further yet, without being told to sit.
In that story, the dog was TRAINED to respond to a particular incentive. Within seconds of devouring the treat, the dog will get up and walk away or look for another treat. The dog does not have the ability to control his impulses and will not stay in place until instructed otherwise. Additionally, and more importantly, the dog has no understanding of why it needed to sit other than for the purpose of getting a treat.
TEACHING
The same dog was taught to sit and gently corrected using the word NO for jumping instead. The pet parent takes a step back, not allowing the dog to jump on them. Then, once again, the dog is asked to sit. When the dog sits, he is praised and petted under his muzzle. The dog is not asked to stay. The pet parent backs up a few feet and calls the dog by name. The dog is asked to sit as soon as he approaches the pet parent. If he jumps, the cycle is repeated. Now, the dog is being conditioned (taught) to sit when he approaches a person.
The same conditioning method is used in different scenarios, such as sitting before going outside for a walk.This is called Classical Conditioning or learning by association. In that teaching session, the dog is asked to sit and stay. The door is then opened while the dog remains sitting. If the dog stands up, the door is closed, and the process is repeated. When the dog does a sit-and-stay for 10 seconds after the door is held open, he is then allowed to cross the threshold with his pet parent to go outside. This behavioral conditioning teaches the dog to think for itself and understand when he should sit without being asked. If this dog wants to go out, he will understand he must sit first and wait to be instructed to go outside.
Dogs are highly intelligent. Their lack of understanding directly results from our lack of communication skills. Are we underestimating how smart our dog is? Are we overestimating our teaching skills?
BEHAVIORAL CONDITIONING
So, how do we teach our dogs when we can only use basic language and not explanatory teaching by way of detailed explanations? This is where behavioral conditioning comes into play. I’m sure everyone has heard of Pavlov’s dogs. Ivan Pavlov used Classical Conditioning, which boils down to teaching by association.
Here’s a great example of (Behavioral) Classical Conditioning. Let’s call dog A “Sam” and dog B “Mikey.” Sam is being housetrained by his pet parents. Every time Sam goes out into the fenced-in backyard and (goes to the bathroom) urinates or defecates, he gets a treat. Do you think Sam related going to the bathroom outside with a treat?
Mikey is taken outside, on a leash, into a fenced-in backyard. He is walked to a designated area I call “The Designated Bathroom” and walked around for approximately ten to fifteen (10-15) minutes. If he urinates or defecates, he is then allowed off-leash to play ball or run around. This conditioning teaches Mikey to understand that he “goes to the bathroom first, then he gets to be free or play.” If you have children, think about telling them to go to the bathroom before you get in the car to go somewhere.
So what if Mikey does not go to the bathroom within the scheduled time frame? Mikey goes back into the house to a confined area (this is preferred), or remains on the leash indoors with the pet parent, for fifteen (15) minutes and returns to the “Designated Bathroom” again. If Mikey does his business this time, he gets his freedom and playtime. Mikey is being taught to think.
Aussies and Border Collies are perfect examples of dogs that require mental stimulation to be happy and content. When these breeds have no mental stimulation, even though they may have lots of physical exercises, they exhibit unwanted psychologically induced behavioral issues, commonly known as Neurotic Behavior. Herding dogs do very well when they spend time doing agility. Agility training is a confidence-building exercise that strengthens the bond between pet parent and dog while offering a combination of mental and physical stimulation.
Neurotic behavior can include the inability to settle down, extreme separation anxiety, which may also include submissive wetting, destructive behaviors like scratching or chewing, especially when left alone, skittish or fearful behavior triggered by strangers, loud noises or unfamiliar and unexpected movement, be it a person or object. Neurotic behavior can also be expressed as Compulsive Behavior, demonstrating repetitive actions such as tail chasing, shadow or light chasing, over-anxious need to play ball or frisbee, licking, barking, or spinning.
Mental stimulation, in combination with physical activity, has been shown to significantly reduce behaviors that manifest as a result of fear, boredom, separation anxiety, lack of socialization, and traumatic experiences.