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Some Advanced Dog Training Points You Should Know About
Conditioning Your Dog… Akeisha wrote to me with some very
good questions. I’ve included
her letter (and my responses) below:
[Adam, Owner of Dogproblems.com:
] WRONG! The dog gets conditioned. Take off the collar for
awhile. Doesn't matter. [Akeisha] Do you ever in the
training go back to the buckle collar after months of what you recommend
with a dog that is happy with doing the commands? [ Adam: ] Yes, the dog does the command
because he is happy and he likes it.
But eventually, there will be something that tempts him. This is where conditioning comes
in. Think of it like this: You’ve lived in the same house for
10 years, right? You get up
in the middle of the night and you reach for the light switch that is to
the LEFT of the door. Pretty
soon, you get conditioned to reach out to the LEFT of the door. One day you travel and stay in a
hotel. You wake up in the
middle of the night and reach out to the LEFT of the door for the
switch... even though you cognitively saw that the switch is on the
RIGHT.
In fact, you may wake up for several
nights-- perhaps even weeks or months-- and still reach out to the LEFT,
even though the switch is now on the right. Some people will continue reaching
to the LEFT for the rest of their lives. Some will begin reaching to the
right.
Those people need to be
reinforced. Get it? [ To
read about this in my book, please click on: http://www.thats-a-good-dog.com/dogproblem
] [Akeisha] Motivational corrections
if on the right dog won't frighten them or make them hate you I know but
aren't there other ways except using the collar that will eventually be
established thought training that will allow you to take the collar off
and have control? [ Adam: ] Yeah, this way you can take the
collar off and have control, ONCE THE DOG IS CONDITIONED. But eventually you'll have to go
back and reinforce, for most dogs.
And definitely if you start expecting to work the dog around new
distractions that it's never been proofed around, such as chickens if the
dog has never seen chickens. Look, I don't make the rules. The dog is not a robot that you
can suddenly say, "He's done" and expect him to act consistently for the
rest of his life. Like any
relationship you have with another person, boundaries need to be
established and maintained.
The dog is like your wife or husband… they will eventually test
you. :) [Akeisha] Last question, how can the
dog not realize the don't have it on since it feels a lot different than
the buckle? Its like my id around my neck at school I have gotten used to
it but I do realize when it is off? Just for the record I have no problem with pinches,
many members in my 4-H club use them and they work great on the right
dog. [ Adam: ] Because the way you should be
using the pinch collar is that the dog (since he has limited reason and
logic) does not KNOW that it is the pinch collar that allows you to give
him good corrections. But
it's more than the pinch collar.
If I put the dog in a number of small yards, with no collar on ...
and I'm able to chase him down and make him come back to me, if he doesn't
come when I call... then the dog will learn THE UNDERLYING PREMISE that I
can make him do it, if he doesn't.
So, the pinch collar and the long line make my job easier, but
ultimately, the dog knows (or he thinks at least) that I am a man of my
word and when I tell him to do something: If he doesn't do it, I'm going
to make him do it. And his
life will be a lot more fun if he does it willingly. So the dog starts to extrapolate
this principle to other commands, too. [Akeisha] Hope I am not being
irritating I just like to know why certain trainers value certain methods
over others since I love competing in obedience with my dog. [Adam:]
Keep training.
-Adam. To read more of my dog
training ramblings, read about my book:
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