Articles
Dog Training Methods and Theories
Have you ever encountered a dog that seemingly was deathly afraid of some random object with no apparent cause for its fear? This type of dog suffers from what is known as superstitious behavior.
Have you ever seen a dog that would just constantly be looking at its owner, not paying any attention to other people or dogs that are walking nearby? Meanwhile, you probably have also observed another dog that is tugging at the leash and pulling its owner in every direction each time it gets a whiff of a new scent.
Everyone wants to have a good relationship with their dog, it is every dog owners dream. From the moment you pick up your puppy from a breeder or take your rescue dog home from the shelter your dog is forming views on you as a human.
Many owners who struggle with a dog that is constantly lunging and barking at every dog and person that walks by is doing something subconsciously that is making the situation far worse.
One of the most important things to understand about your dog is how they learn about their environment. From the moment puppies are born, they begin to learn about everything that is around them, starting by learning how to use their sense of smell to find their mother’s milk.
Many people who witness an aggressive dog will often say something along the lines of, “he just turned on me without warning.” This is a statement often said by inexperienced dog owners or owners who simply do not know a whole lot about dog body language.
When people or trainers deal with problematic dogs, they often go about placing the dog into the environment that they are struggling with and trying to solve the problem in the heat of the moment. While this eventually needs to happen in any dog training program, many people leave out a crucial step.
Oftentimes we as humans overlook the complexity and the incredible number of detailed patterns that a dog can pick up on. Dogs are amazing animals, and they thrive in an environment that is structured and predictable.
Many first-time dog owners are told to socialize their puppy at a young age, this is a crucial step to building a strong developed dog and is useful to gain social neutrality, however what is it that makes socialization so special?
There are many different training approaches that can be used to help a dog overcome fears and phobias. One of the most effective methods out there is also one of the most controversial, and many people believe it to be borderline animal abuse.
There are two words out there that many dog owners and trainers throw about in the intent to incite fear and create an emotional response in humans. These words are learned helplessness.
Dog owners are oftentimes given the advice to ignore their dog’s bad behaviors until they go away. The concept behind this idea is that if a dog is not given positive reinforcement through operant conditioning than they will cease to display that behavior.
Intermittent reinforcement is something in dog training that very few people discuss, yet it is essential if you want to achieve reliability with your dog.
Extinction bursts in dogs are an extremely difficult behavior for dog owners to overcome when dealing with behavioral problems involving their dog.
When you ask most people what they think about different dog training methods, they immediately think of a dominance-type method of dog training or a reward-based type of training.
In dog training there is one very important, yet underused strategy, which can be utilized to make significant change in a dog’s undesirable behavior. This is the use of thresholds in dog training.
When it comes to training dogs there is one thing that is a great hurdle to overcome, this is the communication and timing problem. Dogs can often misunderstand what we want and expect of them due to when we time the giving of rewards or corrections.
Have you ever heard of the saying, give them an inch and they will take a mile? This saying is extremely true especially when it comes to dogs and it perfectly describes the progress principle.
A lot of dog owners understand the basics of training their dog such as the importance of timing and operant conditioning, they many even know more complex training concepts such as flooding or counter conditioning, but many owners do not have an understanding of the law of effect.”
Trainers will often harp on their students when they are going through a basic dog obedience course about the importance of timing in dog training. The reason why trainers stress this important aspect of dog training is due to the amount of effect that it has on the actual outcome of a dog’s behavior.
When dealing with modifying a dog’s behavior one of the most utilized methods in a training plan is that of counterconditioning. Counterconditioning is the act of changings a dog’s response to a stimulus from a negative response and turning it into a positive response.
I mention corrections in many of the articles that are written on The Matson Pack, some of these articles give a brief description of what a correction is while others are very vague, so hopefully this article can provide clarity to what a correction in dog training is.
Classical conditioning is one of the foundational building blocks used when training a dog and its concepts are utilized in almost every facet of dog training.
As dog owners we want to do what is best for our beloved pets, we take care of them in many different ways, we feed them, we take them on walks, we provide shelter for them, but sometimes we as humans miss the mark.
When teaching a dog new commands, it is important to understand the different phases that they will naturally go through when learning. Dogs learning a new command can be divided into two different categories, active dogs and reactive dogs.