Are You Really Training Your Dog?

Some popular "dog trainers" these days focus pretty intently on what a dog is doing wrong, but what does that really do for you and your dog? Not much, a dog that only ever gets told what not to do isn't going to be all that useful is he?  There are all kinds of ways that a dog can "misbehave" but usually only a few things you'd like him to do in any given situation, making teaching your dog what you'd like him to do far more efficient.

Imagine for a moment that you are learning a new task.  Your teacher has given you little or no direction, or at least not anything that was clear, and your both sitting at a table with several objects in front of you that you'll need to use for this task.  Now, if you sit still without interacting with the objects for too long your teacher corrects you.  It doesn't really matter how, yelling, a slap on the wrists, spraying you with water, etc.  Of course you don't like that so you try something else, but each time you do something that your teacher doesn't want you to do, say picking the objects up out of order, or holding them wrong, or putting the wrong ones together, or looking away from the objects, or taking a deep breath, or standing instead of sitting (you get the idea) you get corrected again.  Doesn't sound like fun, and how long would it take you to learn what you're supposed to do, if you even get that far, most of us would choose to leave such a situation given the option.

Now think about your dog, he doesn't speak English, he can't read your mind, your body language can be confusing, and he can't read.  How will he learn from you?  Well, you could watch for every little thing that he does wrong, and correct him each time, or you could use a simple system of communication (think click/treat = good things happen so I should keep doing this) to teach him what you want him to do.

Training your dog should be about teaching him how you'd like them to behave.  If you focus on rewarding the good stuff and simply removing the rewards for the not so good stuff, it will go a long way toward building an amazing relationship and bond between you and your dog.  Just remember, if you're always correcting behaviors you don't like, are you really training your dog or just hurting the bond you share?