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“Dogs are not machines...” “Don’t expect any dog to learn in an organized or orderly fashion.”

  How Dogs Learn

Ask a Trainer?

How do I stop my dog from bolting out the door?

Dogs learn mostly by association. This means that anything they associate with a reward or a good thing, they will repeat. In the case of an open door, there are several good things—new sights and smells, someone chasing them and “freedom”. The goal is to make the open door associated with something even better than those things? It can actually be as simple as hot

dogs!  What you do is take your dog to the front door and show them you have hot dogs. Ask them to sit and give them a tiny piece of  hot dog. Repeat this a couple of times so that they are focused on you and the hot dogs.  Then open the front door just a crack and toss them tiny pieces of hot dog one at a time for about 10 seconds then close the door and praise them.  Wait a few seconds and repeat the procedure. Continue to repeat the procedure each time gradually opening the door wider and adding time to how long it stays

open.  Don’t Go Too Fast here! You want your dog to Succeed.  After a few sessions, only give the hot dog after you have closed the door.  If you do this procedure for several days, eventually the dog will not expect the treat until after the door has opened and closed.   If you don’t want to keep a treat jar near the door you can eventually reward your dog only with praise. But in the beginning use the hot dogs liberally to get your message across and later switch to something that doesn’t need refrigerated to keep in the treat jar by the door.

 

Russells”, or “Border Collies are so smart, they practically train themselves.” are not always true.  The truth is there have been some very famous well trained terriers including quite a few Jacks, and while Border Collies are extremely smart, sometimes that fact can even hinder their learning when they anticipate too much.  The lesson here is that ALL dogs have the capacity to learn, it’s our job to figure out which way each one does that best. Don’t expect any dog to learn in an organized or orderly fashion.  When you think they’ve got something one day, they’ll give you a completely blank look when you ask for it another day. Or, during another exercise, you may be

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ready to give up after really struggling and suddenly your dog gets it. Learning occurs randomly, not specifically. Never, ever say “this dog is stupid” or “This dog can’t be trained”. I’ve never truly heard about or experienced a truly brainless dog. More likely (in fact almost always) Your dog communication skills aren’t well developed yet. It actually

Dogs are not machines; you can’t just put in your kibble, buckle the collar and get your well-behaved dog.  Dogs are a lot like people in that they are very individual in many ways, like how they learn, what stresses them, what motivates them, what their preferences are, etc.  Some learn very quickly even with little or no kibble.  Others require, extra kibble, quiet while they have it, repetitions to know what they are supposed to do with it, etc. Just like people. Certain breeds are known for being easier to train, but individual dogs within the breed or mixes of the breed, still may not live up to that expectation. Generalizations such as “it’s not possible to obedience train terriers, especially Jack

 Bark Park’s

      Talking Dogs

September/october 2008

“Colt” in the Tire at the Agility Trial

Photo by Gil Fernandez 2008

Photo by Heather Bencivengo 2008

Photo by

Janice 2008