You see, in the dog training world, there are basically two camps. One camp believes that you should never use any form of punishment, that you should never do anything negative to your dog. The other camp believes that the only way for the dog to learn is to be forceful and to never use treats to train.
So to answer the question, what is the best way to train a dog, The Amazing Dog Training Man decided to sit down and develop a work of art. Not a painting, not a sculpture, but The Dawg Vinchi Code. Here it is:
The Dawg Vinchi Code
Punishment is a very effective way to change behavior. Here is the problem with punishment. It is almost always used the wrong way. In order for punishment to be effective you have to follow the principles of behavior.
For instance –
When we are caught speeding what does the police officer do? He punishes us. He writes out a big fat speeding ticket and our insurance goes up. Here’s the rub. How many of you have gotten a speeding ticket? Go a head, raise your hand, no need to be shy, we’re all friends here. Okay most of you have received a speeding ticket at some point in your life.
Now, after you got that ticket did you ever speed again? Of course you have, but you start to get good at avoiding the cops. You buy the best radar detector, slow down when someone flashes their headlights at you to warn of a speed trap, and on and on.
So does the punishment of a speeding ticket stop speeding? NO. It teaches us to slow down when we see the police. The same thing happens with our dogs. If your dog likes to steal food off the kitchen counter, he will probably not do it while you’re standing there. But once you leave the room, it’s fair game. Running back into the room and screaming at the dog will only teach your dog to be more careful (just like we humans and speeding).
So how do we use punishment?
Simple – the principles of behavior are like gravity. Fall off a building and you are going to drop 32 feet per second until you hit the ground. It happens the same way every time.
If you would like to know how punishment has to be used to be effective, remember the acronym CATS.
C – Consistent
A – Associated
T - Timing
S - Substantial
Each step must be followed if you want punishment to work correctly. For example, let’s put this on human terms again. Speeding tickets do not work because the first step is not followed. C for consistent – we do not get pulled over every time we speed. A lot of people get angry at the police officer for pulling them over. Can’t you hear the excuses “Come on officer, I’m late for work,” “I was only 10 miles over the speed limit,” “I got to pick up my kids at school,” etc. So the police officer is associated with the speeding.
Still don’t believe me? What did you do the last time you saw a state trooper on the highway? I’ll bet you a quarter that you looked at your speedometer.
Onward…
Timing – If the second you went over the speed limit the blue lights went on and you were pulled over you would probably stop speeding. But that’s just not possible.
And last but not least the S for substantial. Now speeding tickets have become stiffer but its still not enough to stop us from speeding. Imagine for a moment that you are pulled over. The police officer asks you to get out of your car and walks you about twenty feet away.
Once you are at a safe distance the police officer puts a stick of dynamite in your car and you watch as your car blows up. The police officer then says, “Don’t speed again, have a nice day,” and drives off as you’re standing there watching your car burn. That is a pretty substantial punishment.
If that happened every time we were caught speeding, none of us would speed!
So to put it on dog terms, if you are going to use punishment (which I do) ALWAYS try to follow the CATS acronym.
For most people jumping is a problem because not everyone that comes into contact with the dog is consistent. One person says off, another allows the dog to jump, another person wrestles with the dog, so the dog continues to jump.
Stealing food off the counter is usually associated with the owner. If there is a big ole chicken on the counter, of course your dog will try to get it. If you come running into the room screaming and freaking out, your dog will just learn to go for it when you are not around.
If your dog pees on the carpet and you find out 20 minutes later, your timing is all wrong. You have to catch your dog in the act, not after it, not even a few seconds after.
If the punishment is not substantial, your dog will continue to do the behavior. It’s as simple as that.
This does not mean that you have to physically harm the dogwhen you are using punishment. There are a lot of creativeways to punish which do not involve hitting, slappping, chocking,shocking, scruff shaking, etc..
In fact I strongly discourage the use of physical punishment. Remember, you dont want the dog to associate the punishmentwith you!
That’s the Dawg Vinchi Code.
All the best,
Eric
P.S. Okay maybe it’s not a work of art, but it is pretty informative.
P.P.S. If you would like to read a real work of art get your copy of the book, The Amazing Dog Training Man, now available as an e-book for only $9.99. Get your copy today.
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