The partnership between trainer + client

When people contact me looking for help with their animals, they're not always aware of how private training works.  They have this fantastical notion that I will come in, reprogram their dog in one hour, leave, and everything will be all better.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

But it has nothing to do with how good of a trainer or behaviorist I am -- or anyone else is, for that matter.  It has everything to do with valuing the extraordinary intelligence of animals, their need for constant education, enrichment, activity, and bonding with the world around them.  It has been far too many decades that we, as a society, have allowed an incorrect, pervasive approach to dominate our treatment of animals and pets.

Let's start with the word dominance.  Studies have disproven the notion that our canine companions are out to be the leader, and the scientist who published the study to give us that impression recanted his findings.  This came from observation of 8 wolves. Not wild wolves, not a family of wolves, not dogs, and not wild dogs.  These wolves were all male, held in captivity, and this is how they sorted out that stressful living situation.  It does not apply to dogs, who have been selectively bred for millennia to please humans.  A different pack of wolves may have established a different set of rules.  It would be inhumane to find out.

In reality, dogs have varying degrees of priorities just like people do.  Some dogs are super excited to go on their walk and charge through the front door, some dogs love to snuggle and jump on all the furniture that has their humans' scent on it, some dogs adore mealtime and get pushy.  These are natural responses to a dog in drive.  They in no way indicate the dog is being alpha, dominant, or otherwise trying to upset the applecart.  Even dogs who resource guard their food bowl by freezing, snarling, or even biting aren't being alpha.  Resource guarding is a genetic survival mechanism leftover from wolves.  This is why some dogs, who have been neglected and are now emaciated, can never develop resource guarding; while other dogs, who have been provided for their whole lives, do develop resource guarding.

So where does training come in?  Trainers are there to teach the dog certain cues to help them fit into human society.  These cues can be patterned to be considered "good manners," or used as-needed for certain situations.  Behavior specialists can take it one notch further, and begin to help address issues such as reactivity, separation anxiety, hyperactivity, etc.  They are NOT behaviorists and should not be addressing the more serious behaviors.  Behavior consultants have been assessed by an organizing entity, so likely have considerably more training than a specialist (though not always, as animal training is not a regulated professional field in the US and such certifications are not legally required).  Behaviorists are rare, and include people like me who have gotten graduate degrees specifically in animal behavior, like animal psychologists/life coaches/counselors/therapists.  Veterinary behaviorists are more like the psychiatrists of the animal behavior world, they are the only ones who can prescribe medication (as can a general practice veterinarian).  I have worked in conjunction with veterinary behaviorists on several occasions.

So what is the owner's responsibility in all this?  It really comes down to 3 things:

1. The owner needs to make sure that the trainer they're working with, or whatever level behaviorist, follows a humane hierarchy, and focuses on 2 of the 4 quadrants of learning:  positive reinforcement and negative punishment.  Think of positive like add and negative like subtract, rather than good or bad.  Reinforcement means encourage a behavior to continue and punishment means stop a behavior from continuing.  In short, work with someone who puts a GREAT emphasis on positive reinforcement, adding a reward to encourage the correct behavior to continue.  What goes along with that process is removing something so the dog stops doing what you don't want anymore, negative punishment.  You never want to see a trainer add something to make the dog stop a behavior, such as a physical or verbal correction in the form of positive punishment; you also don't want to see a trainer primarily remove something to get a dog to continue a behavior, such as the stim from an e-collar in the form of negative reinforcement.  The flow of learning energy should be toward something good, not the removal of something unpleasant.
2. The owner should put these methods into practice as part of the everyday routine.  Just like us, if we stop practicing something, we get rusty -- so do our animals.  Dogs live with us, witness our daily lives and are involved with them to varying degrees.  Holding them accountable means we must do the same for ourselves.  If we only have guests over once a week and that's the only time we practice sit-to-greet, the dog will forget and will need a little help.  If one person is feeding the dog under the table, the dog will beg at mealtime.  Consistency is essential, but it is actually very easy to work into our daily lives if we just look at things a little bit differently and take a few extra minutes to include our dogs in the process.
3. Have you ever heard the phrase, "A tired dog is a good dog"? Well, there's a big misconception due to a popular TV show that "tired" refers primarily to physically tired, including walking extensively, using a backpack, or doing other highly draining cardio workouts.  While all dogs do need some degree of this, the danger is that we actually train them to become super athletes!  A tired dog that is a good dog is mentally fulfilled and drained.  Brain Drain is the name of the game.  Don't feed your dog out of a boring bowl, use a puzzle, or a slow feed bowl, or even better -- ditch the bowl entirely and use your dog's meals to train them!  It goes by so fast, usually just 5 minutes, but makes a HUGE improvement in behavior and relationship for dog and owner.  In addition, the best walk for a dog is the one where they get to use their nose.  Dogs have something like 400x the receptors that humans do, they can literally diagnose with their nose.  If you want a mentally enriching activity, you need look no further than your local park.  Critter trails made new daily, squirrel holes, bunny hides, bird nests, this is Disneyland for your dog.

If you'd like to discuss your dog's routine, please feel free to email me to setup a virtual consultation.  Mention this post and get 50% off.