Remembering Emily Murillo: From a Sibling’s Point of View
Importance of Training your Dog
By Katelyn Baker, AIR® Co-Founder
January is National Train Your Dog Month. As we close out the month, Katelyn Baker shares some thoughts on the importance of training, and building a relationship with your dog. Consistent, positive training from the start will significantly benefit you and your dog...and will start you on a path to having a future therapy dog!
Most of you who are here KNOW training is important, but you might not know WHY. Let's look at some of the reasons training, and more importantly POSITIVE reinforcement, is so important for us AND OUR DOGS.
We use the term "training" to refer to a period of time in our dog's lives when we want them to learn specific things from us. This might include learning how to "sit" on cue, not jump up when people come over, and how to not pull us while we are walking with them. However, we have to keep in mind our dogs (as well as ourselves!) are always learning. When our dogs are younger, they obviously have more to learn, but we must keep in mind that there is no time "training" begins or ends.
When we talk about "training", we are talking about teaching them habits, rules, and boundaries that we want our dogs to understand in order to make our lives, and by extension the lives of our dogs, easier. When our dogs are "well behaved", they are able to do more things like stay out of the kitchen when we are eating, go on leisurely walks with us and more! It is our responsibility to teach our dogs what these rules and expectations we and the human world have for them. Most of the time, we think about how our dog has to adjust to our rules, without taking into account that WE are the ones that have put them in that situation. Our dogs didn't ask to be whisked away to live in our world of fancy couches, cushy beds, and food hand-delivered twice a day.
While there are certainly benefits to this (I would love to be fed cheese for all the things I have done right throughout the day!), there are also things our dogs must give up in this deal. Walking at their natural pace, eating whatever and whenever they want, hunting and sniffing at their leisure-all of these are things we don't think about when we are taking into account all the benefits our dogs get from living with us.
Please remember, we need to make compromises, too! Learning what and when to compromise is one of the benefits of training. Is it alright for my dog to be sniffing on a walk? How much? Is jumping ever alright? By working with a professional trainer, you are able to discuss all of these and better understand what is appropriate for your dog, what is never appropriate, and when the answer to that question is going to vary depending on the needs of your family and your dog.
Teaching, using positive reinforcement methods, is also more likely than not going to increase your dog's confidence. By paying your dog when they do something that you like, they learn that doing what we want is not only good for US, but it is good for THEM, as well! And when anyone (like our children or our significant other!) thinks something that is good for us is also good for them, they are more willing to oblige. Positive reinforcement works on building a relationship of trust between us and our dogs, to allow them to understand the benefits of doing what we have asked, and getting them to trust that we will never put them in a situation where they will be uncomfortable or unhappy. This will not only allow our dogs to be more comfortable in their environment, but might even make it so they are less likely to be aggressive!
Zach Evans with Roxy
Most aggression comes from fear. This goes for any being-dog, human, elephant. Every animal (yes, even the human animal!) is born with a fight, flight, or freeze instinct. What that means is when there is a possible threat, we can:
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Run! Get out of the situation so you can live another day.
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Hide! As I do with all of my problems; "If I don't acknowledge it, maybe it will go away".... This is great for bunnies hiding from our dogs, but not so great when it comes to that project we have been putting off for the last three weeks...
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Attack! If I can take them, it's better to get rid of the thing before it can get rid of me!
We often think about these three because this is when WE become scared (think of that dog that attacks the fence every time you walk past as they try to get at you and/or your pup) and when a dog decides "fight" is the best option to a potential threat. But, we need to respect the other two options as well. Usually, dogs will try one or two BEFORE they resort to three. It is not only our job to respect these signals in the moment, but also using positive reinforcement gives our dogs more options. They can trust that if they choose to flee or freeze, we will respect that, and that they have positive experiences to draw on and are going to be less likely to resort to fighting. "Maybe I will try a sit, that often gets me something positive. Maybe a down? Sitting next to Mom often gets me something" instead of backing away, not getting what they want and trying something else.
Problem solving! Such a great skill that is important for people to learn! But, what if I told you our DOGS need to be problem solvers as well? Crazy, right!
Not so fast. Think about what you want from your dog in a year or two, picture a time in which your dog is "fully trained" How do you want them to react when you are sitting on the couch watching TV? Taking a business call? DARING to go to the bathroom without taking your pup with you? Chances are you didn't picture asking your dog to "lay down" 15 times. Chances are you imagined your dog calmly watching you while you work, sleeping by your side or in the corner, WITHOUT ASKING THEM! This is where our dog's problem solving skills will come in. It is my dog's responsibility to evaluate the situation- "Oh, Mom is talking on the phone"- and make a choice that aligns with what we want from them as well as what works for them. "Let me listen to her, but lay down while she talks" instead of one that thinks "OH, MOM ISN'T PAYING ATTENTION, LET ME YELL AT HER UNTIL SHE DOES!" While it might sound silly, try to think of what you want your dog to do WITHOUT us having to ask first!
One of the most obvious benefits of training is teaching our dogs how to respond when we DO ask for something of them. More importantly, how to do it even if we don't have a treat!
There are incredible benefits of teaching our dogs, including decreasing the likelihood for aggression, teaching our dogs to think for themselves, problem solving, how to follow directions and even develop a sense of impulse control. Training your dogs will develop these skills early on.
About the author
Katelyn Baker
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