OPEN THE LINES OF COMMUNICATION

There are three basic things that a dog requires (other than good medical care) to live a happy and well balanced life.  The previous two articles each focused on mental stimulation and physical stimulation.  The third piece to the balanced dog puzzle, is communication.

So how do you effectively communicate with a dog?  Three components are necessary…
Timing
Motivation
Consistency

These are the “Big Three” of dog training.  Usually when something is not going right or is not going as well as it once did- the communication is off. Looking to these three components will more than likely give you the direction you need.

When it comes to timing, it is important to note that the window of consequence for a dog (the time it takes to relate action to consequence) is only 1.5 seconds.  Yes, seconds.  Proof that dogs do, in fact, live in the moment.  This means that you need to tell them “yes” or “no” within that 1.5 second window for your timing to be truly effective.

Example: your dog steals a steak off of the counter and you come into the room 2 minutes later while your dog is under the table feasting on their found treasure.  If you scold at this point, you are communicating the following: 1) You coming into the room while your dog is in there is a bad thing 2) your dog being under that table is a bad thing 3) your dog eating that steak is a bad thing…. However, you are not communicating that the act of stealing the steak off of the counter was actually the bad thing in this scenario. At this point, there’s only one thing to do…Tally the score: Fido-1, You-0.

Motivation is crucial to communicating with a dog.  Treats are the obvious tool here—motivation based on food drive and the dog’s natural self preservation instinct.  Food is something that all dogs need to survive, so for training it is a universal motivator.  When using treats for motivation, it is best to use the tastiest treats you can find for your dog.  However, keep this in mind:  my favorite food is lasagna.  If I eat lasagna every night of the week, it’s just going to become boring after a while.  When using treats for training, think in terms of motivation and mix a variety of treats in your treat pouch.  They never know what they’re going to get and it keeps their focus longer, thereby increasing their motivation.

Not only is it important to understand a dog’s motivation not only to do something, but it is important to understand their motivation not to do something.  A behavior has to have enough undesirable consequence behind it in order for that bad behavior to be extinguished.
Example: The dog decides to stay in its dog house during the heavy rain storm to stay dry.  The motivator here: not getting wet and staying comfortable.  Every dog is different and will have different motivators… it is your job to determine what motivates your dog both positively and negatively.

Finally, there is consistency.  Say what you mean, and mean what you say.  Dogs do not do well with grey areas.  Grey areas only confuse.  You want to keep the rules and your communication with your dog as black and white as you possibly can.

If you asked your dog to do something that they’ve already been trained to do, and they don’t do it… do you repeatedly ask like a broken record?  Don’t.  “Sit” should mean sit…. “Sit, Siiit?.. SIT!”, shouldn’t.  If you don’t want your dog on the furniture, then the dog should never be allowed on the furniture.  Keeping the rules black and white increases the effectiveness of communication.

Dogs have their own free will… they have to have a good reason to give up that will to you.  If they feel they are able to maintain that free will without interference from you, they are going to.  Who is going to give up their free will to someone who communicates that they are unsure? If you always follow through with what you say to your dog, then you are perceived as being consistent.