Don’t let your dog train you to reward its bad behaviour
My nephew’s young Golden Doodle takes the lead into her mouth when we walk. This becomes a real problem. She jumps up on me in the ensuing struggle. My only survival trick has been reaching for tiny pieces of chicken in my hand to get her to drop the lead and walk more slowly beside me. Can you make suggestions for us?
One of the main principles of positive reinforcement is that “you get what you reinforce.” If you give dogs cookies for sitting, they are likely going to sit more often. If you give a dog a cookie for letting go of a leash, they will drop the leash more often. However, problem behaviours do not happen in a sterile vacuum. In this situation, rewarding the drop is not the right long-term approach.
The owner is not driving the training. One could say that by grabbing at the leash, the dog has trained the owner to reach for cookies. Dogs are clever enough to realize that the more often they bite at the leash, the more cookies they will get.
It would be like offering candy to a screaming toddler in a grocery store. Perhaps it will momentary quell the screeching. In the end, it teaches that screaming leads to candies. It does not encourage quiet the whole way through.
Dog owners similarly want polite walking the entire way. This means that treats need to given for good behaviour before the dog misbehaves.
Depending on the severity of the problem, this might mean practicing putting the leash on the dog’s collar without actually walking anywhere. If a dog cannot stand politely with a leash on, they cer- tainly cannot walk politely.
Add walking next to the dog’s skill set. Do not underestimate the importance of tracking and measuring the dog’s progress. Know what the dog is capable of giving. Train to achieve the next level. Once the dog demonstrates that it can consistently walk one step, then switch to rewarding two steps and gradually more.
Pay particular attention to the leash. It should hang in a “J” shape. Taut leashes trigger dogs to fight the lead. Too loose and they trip over it. Both of these irritate pets. Irritated pets often show their frustration by jumping, lunging and biting at the leash and their people. Do not add fuel to the fire.
Take some time and teach the dog to drop items on command. If a dog starts biting at the lead, it allows owners to say, “Drop” and have a dog that understands and complies with the request.
Atrainer suggested that we use timeouts for our dog. This trainer claims to be positive, but I am confused how it’s a positive strat- egy. Now, when I reach for my dog’s collar to put them in their crate, my dog is biting me. What am I doing wrong?
Timeouts most certainly are not positive. In scientific terms, they are negative punishment. While it might seem like semantics, it is important to recognize because punishment carries the risk of sideeffects. Any trainer who suggests their use should be honest and transparent about this fact.
Trainers who primarily use positive reinforcement sometimes use timeouts. Often this happens because welfare is not always about the individual dog. If a dog is nipping and biting at a child or bullying another animal, that cannot be allowed to continue. The welfare of others matters.
Minimize side-effects such as collar sensitivity by focusing on reinforcing as much good behaviour as possible. Punishment should be rare. It is a method of last resort, not a method of choice. Yvette Van Veen is an animal behaviour consultant. Write her at advice@awesomedogs.ca.