This week I talked to several families who knew they needed and wanted training help – but did’t want to start for a few months. Sometimes this is appropriate – Griffin is still on restricted activity and I’ve already written emails to our agility instructor. The moment our vet says we can go back to class all I have to do is hit the send button. Puppy owners who are waiting for puppies to be old enough to come home can – and should – be looking at training options.
When we have problem behaviors or just a lack of manners training there aren’t many good reasons to wait. If the family has the stress of school, kids activities, holidays, ill or injured family members – it can still be good to do at least one session now. Dogs are always learning – they’re either learning good things or not so good things. Find a qualified trainer and specifically ask, “What can we be doing to make things less stressful and reduce the amount my dog practices unwanted behavior until we have more time and energy for training.”
In almost all situations we’ve been able to come up with a few options. Behaviors that are reinforced are more likely to be repeated. The more the dog practices those routines, the more work it will be to change the behavior in the future.
Example: Dog won’t come inside in the mornings.
Griffin running!
Long-term we could teach a come when called – and really it wouldn’t have to take very much time each day.
Short term: We could take the dog out on leash in the mornings rather than letting him out off leash. We could take a long-line or we could hook the dog to a tether or put him in a small pen. This will take more time than opening the door – but it will save time when we need to go back inside. Weeks or months later when the family wants to work on the “come when called” part of this – it will go much faster.
Dogs quickly learn routines and they realize that coming inside means the family will be going away for the day (boring or stressful). Dogs also realize it’s fun to run around and be chased or if they wait, offerings of great treats and toys will be made. Dogs also can realize that if they play “try to catch me” games, they are delaying the boring/stress of the people leaving – similar to people hitting the ‘snooze’ button – we know we have to get up eventually, but we can continue to enjoy being half asleep for a little longer.
If we take the dog out on leash, he does not feel the conflict of coming inside/to people and then being left alone for hours. There’s no confrontation. The dog does not get to practice that joy of running around or the avoidance and putting off the start of the day.
The dog does learn to go to the bathroom on leash, have fun doing on-leash exercise, and then getting a reward when he goes into the house. After weeks or months of this routine, the come when called training may even go faster than if we had started right away – the dog has had a little time to learn alternatives to his past routines.
That’s just one example of management and set ups to decrease stress immediately and to set us up for faster training in the future. There are so many situations where there are other tricks and tips. Don’t wait – get training help now!