Your words are not falling upon deaf ears, reasons training can be difficult.
Let’s touch on the reasons that training can become difficult when working with our dog. These fall under three categories; adjustments, communication and health.
1. Adjustment: Whenever something new is introduced into the environment you can be certain that there may be new behaviors from your dog. These adjustments may be the dog coming into a new home, introducing a second dog, getting married, divorced, or an out of town visitor staying at the house.
Here is an example of an adjustment relating to humans. A young boy at the age of nine has grown up in the same home, in the same neighborhood, with his family; his cousins and aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends have all been a part of his life. He is in an environment that is stable and that he knows well. His mom and dad have decided to move to another state, he leaves his home, family, school and friends and arrives at his new home on a Friday. He must start his new school on Monday. However it is the third week into the school year and friendships and bonds have already been started. After two weeks the teacher tells the boys parents that they would like to put the boy at a lower class level based on his inability to keep up with his peers. Do you think this is a fair assessment by the teacher? Consider the adjustments this young boy needed to overcome? In doing so, you may be able to understand the stress factor your dog experiences and every change to the environment will require an adjustment. And now you’re asking “Just how long is the adjustment period?” There is no set time; you work through it with patience and understanding.
2. Communication: Confusion of words and inconsistence. One of the major issues with communication is the confusion of words and inconsistency of the command. This includes family members using different words meaning the same thing. For example, the word “down” to mean, not to jump on people, to get off the furniture, and to lay on their belly. The other is using multiple words to mean the same thing. An example is telling the dog not to jump up. One person says “Off” while another uses the word “Down”, yet another “Stop”, “No”, “Get off”, or even saying nothing and turning your back. Just how many different languages are there?
a.) Failure to set expectations and follow through. You tell your dog to sit, your dog stands there and you become distracted and walk away. What is the likelihood that that command will be followed each and every time? Setting structure and rules is imperative; this includes small dogs.
b.) Pitfalls: Why is it ok for a puppy to jump up to greet you but not a 90lb dog? Remember you taught and rewarded the dog to jump, now you have an issue? This is referred to as a pit fall in training. It takes 3 times the amount of time to retrain a behavior as to train it correctly from the beginning.
c.) Failure in establishing rank. Becoming a leader involves adopting the attitude of a leader. It does not involve aggression towards your dog. It does not involve rolling him on his back, giving harsh leash corrections, or even raising your voice. It involves a leader’s attitude and leadership is established through fairness and consistent treatment of the dog. Today there are many trainers who help families rebalance this role. Leadership is not dominating, yelling or acting aggressively towards the dog. To clarify the definition of leadership it is: “The ability to affect behavior so as to accomplish a mission designated by the leader.” Versus the definition of bullying, which is: “The act of intentionally causing harm to others through verbal harassment, physical assault, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation?”
Misconception of humans. There are those people who think that loving a dog is enough to fix behaviors. Humans that lavish their pets with expensive and extravagant gifts, can’t understand why their dog is so naughty. Love is never enough; it comes with conditions and boundaries along with trust and respect.
3. Health: What are the two points your doctor always recommends for good heath? Yes, diet and exercise. So let’s take a look at the average dog’s life. They sleep when we sleep for six to eight hours. We feed them; let them out for potty, while we prepare for work. Maybe they get a little walk. We go to work for eight hours a day, the dog, sleeps. We come home and the dog is let out in the back yard for potty and “exercise”. We have to make dinner, help the kids with homework, drive them to soccer practice, maybe you run to the grocery store or health club. Now we come home and feed the dog some kibble we bough at the super market, it has nice carrots and peas on the bag, so it must be all natural and good, never mind the host of chemicals and food dye in them. They get to go to training class once a week and it is usually very frustrating and well, that’s the average dog. Dogs need physical and mental stimulation daily just like us, along with a healthful diet. All of these contribute to the failure of training a dog and should be considered when your dog fails to respond.