Dog Training Tip: Why Are Corrections Futile? No Reward History In The Desired Behavior!

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There is a young dog in my neighborhood, a very friendly terrier.

He enjoys jumping on people. His owner however does not like it at all.

The owner has become hesitant about greeting other people and dogs in the street just because of this problem. The owner’s ability to enjoy his super cute and really excellent dog is marred and overshadowed by this one behavior.

I have been observing this situation for almost 3 years now.

So, this is what happens…

There is an encounter. The dog is on the ground and behaving ok. After a few moments the dog will jump up. The owner will correct him. No jumping! Tug on leash. Dog’s feet are on the ground. Owner ceases to pay attention to dog. At the next tiny movement: dog jumps up, owner: ah you must have treats in your pocket? NO JUMPING! Tug on the leash…pulling dog off. Dog is on ground again. Owner continues conversation and ignores dog while he is actually behaving ok.

You see the point?

If the owner understood that he should reverse his strategy and pay attention to the dog when he is not jumping and praise/feed him then he would not have this problem anymore.

This is why positive reinforcement is so much more powerful than corrections can be.

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Elisabeth Weiss is a highly certified, experienced dog trainer in Manhattan, NYC. To learn more about dog training services, contact us by phone at (917) 783-1473 or our contact form.

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Dog Training Myths: My Dog Is Just So Highly Strung

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“He really needs to run and run and run to blow off steam!”

“We need to exercise him all the time because he is so restless.”

Does that sound familiar? OK: so let’s think about this…

Being restless and hyperactive is not exactly comfortable for the dog or the owner.

If you highly reinforce that extremely self reinforcing behavior you are actually creating a dependence on it. Just like a person with running/ exercise addiction.

It also reminds me of my old violin teacher who stated that so many people seem to want to practice stuff that they are already good at.  However it’s not going to make you a better violinist if all you can do is bounce your bow at lightning speed but you cannot play a sweet melody!

This is true for behaviors also.

If you want your dog to calm down you have to reward him for being calm and practice that instead of running him more and more until he practically collapses with fatigue. I promise that when this dog wakes up all the dog wants to do is be even more excited and blow off steam.

The good news is that dogs are not only very smart they can also quickly adjust and learn that if they get rewarded for calm behavior to show off that behavior to earn kudos. Mental activity and rewarded calm behaviors are far more useful to help your dog be happy and calm.

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Elisabeth Weiss is a highly certified, experienced dog trainer in Manhattan, NYC. To learn more about dog training services, contact us by phone at (917) 783-1473 or our contact form.

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Dog Relations New York Training Studio

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We now have a studio! The home-like atmosphere of the studio allows us to teach dogs and puppies manners that will transfer easily when they are back home. Sessions at the studio can be tailored to your needs.

New services by Dog Relations NYC:

Park and Train & SpaDoggy

Would you like to “park” your dog for a couple of hours and use the time for us to teach some valuable skills?  For example:

• Settling down instead of begging at the table
• Walking better on leash
• Redirect barking and jumping when people enter your apartment
• Accept grooming readily
• Love the crate
• Reinforce Housetraining

We can teach your dog some cool tricks and also add fine grooming services so your dog will come back beautifully groomed and bathed.

Happy Healthy Pup

Is your dog on the chubby side? We can help! We provide a fun body conditioning program of strengthening and balancing exercises that will stimulate your dog’s metabolism and increase body awareness. Your dog will develop increased body awareness that will play a significant role in injury prevention and improve overall gait and posture. With the mental stimulation we provide your dog will feel less hungry, be happier and return to you in better physical shape.

Dog and Puppy Staycation

Are you going on a business trip? Or going on vacation and cannot take your dog along? We can take care of your dog and you can be assured that noy only will your dog be loved and cared for, he will return to you knowing a few more tricks and with greatly improved overall behavior as we will teach automatic polite manners.

Our promise: Your dog’s safety, well-being and happiness comes first. Your dog will receive the most thoughtful and compassionate care.

We offer: Utmost cleanliness, privacy, safety, continuous supervision and consistent reinforcement. We use only the highest quality, organic treats and foods. We can also administer medications and injections if needed.

We are fully bonded and insured. Please inquire for rates and availability for all the above services.

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Elisabeth Weiss is a highly certified, experienced dog trainer in Manhattan, NYC. To learn more about dog training services, contact us by phone at (917) 783-1473 or our contact form.

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Puppy Training: Are You Asking Too Much, Too Soon?

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Conventional advice given will say: don’t reinforce the dog’s behavior when he is “misbehaving”.

This may apply to certain situations, for example: don’t pat your dog while he is clawing at your thighs. But then there are different situations that make it more difficult to decide what to do.

For example: your puppy is crying while in the crate. Generally speaking you think “well, he likes the crate, but now for some reason he wants out and is whimpering”. But then you think: “I was told not to let him out until he is quiet to teach him that whining isn’t going to become a habit in the form of  a demanding behavior”.

So, you wait. The puppy is in there for 20 minutes crying. Finally, finally the complaining stops and you let the puppy out. Both you and the dog feel great relief that the suffering is over. But what has happened in the meantime? What has the puppy learned? What have you learned?

In fact, both of you have experienced crate time as mostly a pain in the neck. The incentive for trying this again is low, filled with anxiety and anticipation of yet another struggle.

I had this experience with a client the other day and wanted to share my thoughts.

My client reported that her puppy was happy in the crate but after a while the puppy started to whine and it took over a half hour for her to stop. Why is the puppy crying? Nothing has changed? She “likes” the crate! When I read that text I thought: Why did you leave the puppy in there for so long? Was there a reason?  I know this client well and I know it was done with best intentions in the name of “crate training”.

I guess the real reason is we humans are greedy and ambitious. “Greedy” in the sense that we want too much too soon. After all the puppy has been with me for 3 days! Panic sets in. She will NEVER, EVER be able to like her crate! That then turns into the human hating the crate and there we have it: general failure.

So here is what actually happened.

I asked the client to work in short increments. The puppy walks into the crate voluntarily, you reward the puppy close the door. Keep rewarding the puppy while she is still happy and quiet and then let the puppy out of the crate after a minute and play a great game with her. I asked the client to vary the amount of time from ridiculously short to up to a couple of minutes and the client complied.

The next morning, she texted me this: “I’m totally thrilled. The puppy went into the crate on her own at night and ended up sleeping happily in the crate with the door closed for 8 hours and we were both happy. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!”

While she was very happy about the results, she still didn’t understand why the method I suggested was so successful. This is why: as a teacher, you want to reward a desired behavior as highly and as often as you can in the shortest amount of time. I simply asked the client to reward her puppy at a much higher rate of reinforcement. I did not allow frustration or failure to come into the picture at all since I also asked her not to ask for too much. In this case it was the duration of the behavior. Short and sweet really pays off.

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Elisabeth Weiss is a highly certified, experienced dog trainer in Manhattan, NYC. To learn more about dog training services, contact us by phone at (917) 783-1473 or our contact form.

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When it Comes to Dog Training, Size Should Not Matter

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Featured above: One of my small breed clients Pepin, practicing polite manners

 

She is a good girl…but she freaks out when I move the laundry cart and we can’t really vacuum because it drives her crazy. We keep her inside now because she is very nervous on the sidewalk and she barks at all dogs and skateboards.  She pees and poops all over the house and rips up the pee pads. I really don’t understand that because she has all these toys.  Recently she even started nipping the housekeeper’s ankles. Now the housekeeper is terrified of her.

Oh, we didn’t want to train her! She is little she doesn’t need it. We just want to have her as a pet.

Any of this sound familiar so far?

My response: Really? You mean only German Shepherds and Dobermans “need” training?

Just imagine if this were really true; that would mean that people under a certain size would not be taught to read. Oh…they are so short: why bother!

Yes, there are certain aspects that are easier (maybe) when you have a small dog. For example: you can put them in a bag and carry them around, if necessary. They eat less. But that is really where the differences stop.

A small dog’s feelings are as important as a giant dog’s. A big part of teaching and socializing a dog is to give them self confidence and to teach them polite behaviors that will get them attention, fun games and their special treats. Leaving a dog in the dark and accepting their fears might seem “humane”.

Accepting the status quo is actually not really kind. If you want to be kind you will teach your dog how to cope with scary things and that polite manners pay off bigtime.

And please remember that a short person does not necessarily require less exercise either!

If you have questions about reinforcement or would like to learn more about training your dog in an enjoyable and life-enriching environment, contact us at Dog Relations

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Elisabeth Weiss is a highly certified, experienced dog trainer in Manhattan, NYC. To learn more about dog training services, contact us by phone at (917) 783-1473 or our contact form.

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Protected: Dog Training: Understanding Reinforcement

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When It Comes To Puppy Training, Timing Is Important

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A few days ago as I was walking Zeldi (who is always ready to play with pretty much any dog) when we ran into a woman with her puppy. The puppy was happy and made overtures that clearly showed he wanted to play. But what did the woman do? She restricted the pup with the leash, trying to get him to sit and not “jump” and play.

The result was that she was annoyed, the pup was disappointed and confused, Zeldi was frustrated, and I could not help but think: What signal is this puppy getting?

Aside from being unreasonable about her desire to have the puppy sit: she was also teaching the puppy that playing with other dogs is not desirable. Tensing the leash and forcing him into a sit by pulling the leash could cause the dog not only to think it’s a bad idea to play but that the pup could interpret the nervousness from his human as a signal that something is “wrong” and “be wary of other dogs”. In fact, this person could be creating a leash aggressive dog.

There is a time to teach and there is a time to play. Jumping around is part of play. Why stifle that? Why all of a sudden was it important for that woman to assert her “no jumping” rule?

Puppy manners are really important, I would be the first person to endorse civilized behavior. But we also have to realize that we cannot stifle our puppies’ needs.

As we teach our dogs we also have to allow them the space and time to learn in circumstances that are conducive to learning and paying attention. Let’s help puppies by manipulating the environment in such a way that makes it easy for them to understand the behaviors we are looking for at that moment. Then, once the puppy truly understands and is successful in a highly controlled circumstance we can add distractions and see if the puppy can still focus and perform. It is all a great game.

But we humans have to be reasonable. If you kind of know it would be futile to ask for something in a highly distracting circumstance, don’t even try. You are setting yourself and your dog up for failure.

To learn more about dog training services, contact us by phone at (917) 783-1473 or our contact form.

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Elisabeth Weiss is a highly certified, experienced dog trainer in Manhattan, NYC. To learn more about dog training services, contact us by phone at (917) 783-1473 or our contact form.

 

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