The Swerve – Uncommon Solutions To Common Training & Behavioural Problems
It seems that the following are three most common approaches to dog training and behaviour modification. There are of course many variations on these themes:
- Punish any behaviour you don’t wish to see more of, and reinforce anything you want to see more of;
- Only reinforce the desired behaviour, ignore the undesirable behaviour;
- Explain all behaviour as a function of the owners own behaviour because the dog is descended from wolves and wolves are pack animals.
Students of the game will be quick to recognise that all three of the above are not only grossly simplistic, but they’re all fatally flawed – destined to fail when the nuances of the individual dogs and their behaviour are considered.
It’s frequently the case that dog owners start learning in one of the above, but as problem behaviours begin to pop up they then move on to another. Then often another.
Australia has a strong culture of formal learning (Cert. III and IV) as an entry point to dog training as a profession, and yet as an industry we consistently see graduates of these qualifications being left terribly underprepared to operate in the real world, with real dogs (owned by real humans), with real problems.
What seems to get lost in the sauce is nuance. Detail.
Across more than two decades of professional dog training I’ve learned some things.