My Dog only responds if…
When it comes to dealing with an issue such as “my dog only comes when I call him if I have a cookie in my hand” or weaning off of using corrective tools such as e-collars or prong collars, all we have to do is clean up our training mechanics to make sure our dogs actually understand what we are asking them to do! Additionally, we need to ensure we have proofed the skills we want our dogs to show us in a variety of settings and around a variety of distractions to ensure our dogs are primed and ready to have their best manners ready to go at all times.
Let’s talk mechanics first…
Training mechanics are the things that happen that prompt a behavioral response from our dogs. We’re going to get a little nerdy for a second, but I promise it’ll be quick and painless. Something to keep in mind is that behavior does not happen in a vacuum. That is to say, behavior doesn’t just occur for no reason. There is always a trigger to a behavior happening- I hear a car door close, so I get up and go check to see if the pizza guy is here with my dinner. My throat feels scratchy so I take a drink of water. A dog smells a critter outside so they run to the window. Etc etc.
For dogs, the stimulus that triggers the behavior is often simple, and that is because dogs are amoral. They do not understand that certain things are good versus bad or right versus wrong, just that certain behaviors accomplish a goal or not. If a behavior does serve a valuable function for the dog (and the function of the behavior could simply be that it keeps the dog feeling safe or helps them cope with a Very Big Feeling) they will be more likely to engage in that behavior again in the future. If the behavior doesn’t accomplish a goal, then they will be less likely to do it again.
So, there are two acronyms I want you to remember: WTF and ABC.
WTF = What’s The Function. Why is my dog doing this behavior? What is the goal?
ABC = Antecedent arrangement, Behavioral response, Consequence
A stimulus triggers a behavior, and then the consequence of that behavior determines whether or not that behavior is likely to be repeated in the future.
When it comes to dog training, specifically when we are dealing with a problem behavior, many folks have a tendency to focus on the B & C. We get fixated on figuring out the exact right thing to do after the dog does something we don’t like that will ensure they never ever do that behavior again.
However, in order to experience that unpleasant consequence, the dog has to first engage in a behavior that we don’t like. This is bad! Very bad! Why? Because the more a dog rehearses a behavior, the more that behavior is likely to become a habit. And if you think it’s hard for people to break a bad habit, boy do I have some bad news for you about dogs.
Not only that, but if the behavior continues to happen and continues to have an unpleasant consequence for the dog, then clearly the punishment is not very effective. Otherwise the behavior would go away! The example I usually go to is animals on a farm who quickly learn not to touch a live electric fence. Those things hurt! And they’re very startling- if you’ve ever accidentally bumped into one yourself, you know what I’m talking about. Typically animals touch a live fence once, and then never again. But if we apply that concept to a dog, who has no choice in most of the things that happen in their lives, we then get into some murky moral and ethical waters regarding that level of a punisher for a creature who simply doesn’t know the rules.
The other issue that can come up is the threat of the punisher often needs to always be present for the dog to “behave.” Same is true for animals on a farm contained by a live fence! They learn the sound that it makes when it’s on, but if the power goes out or a wire gets disconnected and they don’t hear the noise, they know they can run right through the fence with impunity! In dogs, we often refer to this as dogs who are “collar smart.” They know when the e-collar or prong collar is on (or they know you have the remote in your hand or not) and unless that context is present, all bets are off. Hence why people still speed on the highway even though they know it’s illegal… unless they see a cop ahead.
The same concept is true for dogs who only respond if you have a treat in your hand! That context is part of what’s prompting the behavior to happen. So when it’s not present, the prompt for the behavior becomes unclear. Again, it’s just a silly training mechanic mistake and we can easily fix that.
So, rather than focusing on the B & C part of the equation, we are going to focus on our antecedent arrangement. This will mean that the dog is as unlikely as possible to engage in the “bad” behavior at all, while learning how to do new, more desirable behaviors in their place.
Unfortunately, this means in a lot of ways we are going to go back to square one when it comes to training certain behaviors. Why? Because we need to teach the dog a new prompt for the behavior that doesn’t involve having a treat in hand or a certain tool around their neck. There’s a saying we see all the time in agility that I want you to remember, because it is true for any type of training whatsoever. You have to go slow to go fast. Meaning, it’s faster to do it right the first time than to have to do it over.
This is why I don’t train using a lot of luring or punishment in my training any more. They are two sides of the same coin- a very, very obvious signal that prompts a behavior to happen that I then have to fade out. And that takes a lot longer than using a method such as shaping or capturing. If you want to get real nerdy with it, check out Hannah Branigan’s stuff online all about loopy training, ie “errorless learning.” This has become a core principle for me, and a game changer.
I usually prefer to teach the dog to perform a behavior either through an environmental cue or a hand signal first, and then add a verbal cue once the behavior is established. Dogs do not have verbal communication pre-installed! They learn through visual cues- body language, the presence or absence of certain stimuli, etc. So if I am giving my dog two signals at the same time, one that involves movement and one that involves a sound coming out of my mouth, which one are they going to pay more attention to? The movement! They might eventually associate the word with the behavior too, but that could take a while and there are faster ways to do things so why bother with that at all (in my opinion).
This means we want to introduce the behavior in an environment we can easily control, so we can set up our dog such that they basically can’t get it wrong. Read: antecedent arrangement! This means you’re probably going to start by introducing the behavior in your living room where there’s no other distractions present. Anything else specifically is going to be different depending on the behavior you’re teaching, but we’ll circle back to that later. Once the dog is reliably performing the behavior on a clear signal (such as a hand signal or a verbal cue that you don’t have to repeat), we can then start to incorporate proofing!
There are three aspects to proofing a behavior: distance, duration, and distractions. As you up the challenge for one, you decrease the challenge for the others. Eventually you can increase the challenge on all three at once, but again… you gotta go slow to go fast! So don’t rush. You’ll make more progress faster going one step at a time consistently forward than going three steps forward and then two steps back.
So, an example of this could be:
I used capturing to teach my dog to sit in front of me in my living room.
I introduced the verbal cue “sit” and now my dog responds to the word without needing any other signals.
I introduced this same concept in every room of my house.
I taught my dog that sit also means “put your butt on the floor” even if they’re at my side and not in front of me.
I slowly increased duration, so my dog will sit for 30 seconds straight between food rewards and/or will sit until I release them (with a special release word like “free” or “break”)
I slowly introduced movement, until I could cue my dog to sit and walk away from them 20 feet without any additional cues.
I slowly increased distractions such as waving my arms in the air, bending over to tie my shoes, squeaking a toy, etc.
I then put my dog on a leash and went out in the driveway, and went back to step one of capturing the sit before introducing the verbal cue in this new environment.
Then I ensured my dog could respond at my side in this new environment.
Then I slowly started to incorporate all the same challenges for distance, duration, and distractions as I did in my house in this new environment.
Rinse & repeat in lots of different environments, around lots of different distractions, and boom now you have a dog that will snap into a sit and hold it until they are released no matter where you are or what’s going on!
For dogs that are “collar smart,” you can do things like put the collar on but attach your leash to a flat collar or body harness instead. Have the e-collar remote around your neck but don’t touch it (or take the battery out/ensure the remote is dead to help train YOURSELF a new behavior too). Etc etc. It’s the same as getting rid of the cookie in your hand. It’s just a piece of context we can easily replace with something else- don’t let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise!
Here are some examples of basic, easy foundation behaviors that are often helpful with dogs that you can start incorporating these principles with. Some of these are also a great challenge for giving your dog some needed mental stimulation too!
Sit & Down: https://youtu.be/7aXLN_HxRTs?si=fVnv9-r15OWiHxJz
Heel: https://youtu.be/mjlEJcr8lzA
Come When Called: https://youtu.be/7RG_3ujC11c
Back Up: https://youtu.be/kdFyVj8R9WE
Responding to Cues from a Distance: https://youtu.be/Jvxa4yXViRE
Adding Duration to Known Behaviors: https://youtu.be/0TvpRmVdLmg
Retrieve an Item: https://youtu.be/egD3a8VcpMc
Place: https://youtu.be/wCX9a7C28Gg
By the way, if you want to see these behaviors in use for real, definitely go stalk my Instagram and Facebook pages, as I’ve posted lots of videos of my dogs doing a lot of these skills in different places and even in competitions where the environment is a huge challenge AND I can’t have food or toys on me.