Today we are tackling the most common and inaccurate training myths that we've seen floating around Vancouver Island. These are not specific to any one owner, trainer, or breed, but we've seen them everywhere.
1) You cannot leash correct a dog/Leash corrections do not work
This we have heard all over the place and is indicative of an owner or trainer that just doesn't understand how to employ them properly. While they are difficult to master, time, and use appropriately, when this technique is properly mastered, there is nothing that works faster, more effectively, and more humanely than the leash correction. Most often, when leash corrections aren't working for a trainer or owner, its usually because of one or more of a few important things.
i) The collar is in the wrong position for the pet to properly feel the correction and understand what it means - the collar should sit immediately behind the ears, as high up the neck as physically possible, and not at the base of the neck where most collars sit.
ii) The leash correction was not perfectly timed. If you miss the correction by even half a second, the impact is lessened. If you miss it by a full second, you've just pulled the dog around a bit.
iii) The leash correction was not strong enough to correct the behaviour. The energy behind your leash correction should exceed the unwanted behaviour by a little bit - not too much, but most definitely not too weak.
iv) The leash correction was pulled in the wrong direction. Most people try and correct a dog by pulling straight up (called a hydraulic jerk; very dangerous and harmful to the dog and their neck), or straight back (which just pulls the dog about). A leash correction should always be pulled sideways, always in front of your body so the dog is brought off balance to look up at you.
Leash corrections should only ever be used to break the line of concentration of the pet, bring them slightly off balance, and be forced to look at you the owner for further guidance. Now, we should mention what a leash correction IS NOT. It is not meant to communicate anger, frustration, or be used as a tool to punish your dog. It is not a means to harm or damage your dog. It is not meant to change or address behaviour. Let me say that again; IT IS NOT MEANT TO CHANGE OR ADDRESS BEHAVIOUR! Too many trainers believe a leash correction will "fix" a behaviour; it does not. It is meant ONLY to snap the dog's thoughts away from what it is doing and back on to you, the trainer, so you can further give instruction. It is NOT a means to communicate what they are doing is wrong! Moving forward after a leash correction is properly employed signals to your dog to carry on - this os what you want.
There are other means to correct a dog without a leash - and these are all far more impactful on the dog, such as a foot or tap correction (please read, not a kick, not a hit, not a strike; just a simple push to catch attention and bring off balance. These should only ever be used if a proper leash correction is ignored, or if a leash correction is not safe or possible (such as a dog standing on a bench, near a walkway edge with a fall, ect.)
2) To rehabilitate a dog, you need to first establish dominance.
Absolutely not accurate. With all dogs, no matter the cause of the behaviour, it is far more important for a dog to trust and respect you before anything else. Sure, any trainer can waltz straight in, dominate your dog, and effect change - but this is not happening out of a desire to please, this is out of a lack of choice on your dog's part, and the dog will honestly only learn to change out of force, not out of love, and many pets can regress to old habits as soon as the trainer is gone. The first and foremost important basis for changing a dog's behaviour is a strong relationship and trust between dog and owner, owner and trainer, and dog and trainer. It is absolutely unacceptable for any trainer to affect change in a dog through tools or dominance without earning the relationship and respect they so desire and require. Please note, trust and relationship cannot happen simply through treats; while bribery can help a dog to trust in certain situations, beware of the trainer that cannot get your dog to respect them without treats! Most dogs are taught through life that treats are positive, but it is totally unnatural to the dog to understand the concept of treats like we do. If a dog does not trust the owner, then no real change of mind can happen.
3) Tools are essential to training or rehabilitating a dog.
If any trainer tries to tell you that a dog cannot be trained without a specific tool, fire them. While better equipment is always important (better collars, leashes, crates, ect), no trainer should rely on a physical object to train a dog. Do not trust ANY trainer that has to use a physical object before they train your pet, such as a stick, tennis racket, muzzle for any reason besides the safety of other dogs or strangers, or any physical device to control or correct a dog, such as a prong or e-collar. These items being used immediately are indicative of a trainer with limited or no real experience and could possibly be a victim of improper mentoring or training themselves. Any trainer worth their creed can show up to a client's home with nothing extra (including treats) and still help rehabilitate or train a dog. While a trainer's toolbox SHOULD include safe treats, a muzzle, a leash or two, water dishes, and toys, no trainer should ever have to use a tool specifically to "control" your pet. If a trainer is rehabilitating your dog, whether its for something minor or even red zone aggression, no trainer should ever use tools like the above! A prong or e-collar should only ever be used on properly trained, acclimated, balanced dogs with a solid relationship with their owner. Any barrier items like a stick, tennis racket, or other blocking items should never ever be used on a dog of any behaviour. These items are a form of abuse and should be a major warning to you. That being said, if a trainer uses a tennis racket to prevent a bite or strike on someone when attempting to provoke behaviour, this is different.
4) Dogs that obey for treats are well trained.
Unfortunately, this is the farthest thing from the truth. When a trainer or owner has to use treats to elicit a behaviour, you are the one that's been trained! While treats are important with new dogs, puppies, and beginning to establish relationships with a dog, they should only ever be used to create interest and a bond with the trainer - not become the focus of training. Dogs don't understand the concept of operating behavior for a food reward - this is taught to them at a young age, just like the "social" concept of greeting other dogs is taught to them and is not natural. When we teach a dog that they get rewards for acting a certain way or offering a certain behaviour, if employed improperly, they think they should always get it, and often refuse to listen unless they're guaranteed to have a treat. They can even show excitement for the treat, which is another sign THEY have trained YOU. They have learned to make you more interested in giving them the treat if they offer excitement. If you simply cannot get a dog to listen with enthusiasm without a treat, then they're not trained - they've trained you.
5) Hyper dogs need longer walks.
Dogs that have too much energy or are too hyper do need more exercise, but that isn't the root of the problem. When dogs have too much energy, they can act out, become frustrated, or try and burn it out themselves by becoming hyper. All three of these issues are because of one root problem - they are bored! Bored dogs can't communicate to us that they need to use their minds - they just adapt the best they can, and most often, that ends up being displayed in unwanted behaviours. This is an excellent time to teach your dog something new, perfect other learned behaviours, or play games like fetch, tug, or water retrieve. You can even take your dog to a playground and teach them to climb all over the equipment, provided there are no children around. This is not, however, a good time to use treats or food rewards, because this will increase excitement and increase boredom, though it might seem like the opposite! Treats should be used to teach new behaviours, but only if they won't work for affection or play time.
6) A wagging tail means happy.
Not really. A wagging tail is used as a level of intensity. It can mean happy, but only if its slow and relaxed. When a tail is moving quickly, it's an indication of a high level of emotion - in the case of happiness, it means a high level of excitement. If the whole back end is going too, this means your dog is level ten in excitement - and this should be corrected or ignored. Just as you wouldn't tolerate a dog being a level ten in aggression, or fear, the same should be said for excitement. While with humans, excitement is a normal and positive emotion, for dogs, it means they are unbalanced - like a washing machine with a leg too short. If you acknowledge or reward this unbalance, they will think it's acceptable - and can often get worse, creating behaviours like destruction, separation anxiety (more accurately called mommy syndrome or role reversal), or even aggression. While it might be cute, it is unhealthy, and should be seen as a sign that your dog is going too far.
7) Aggression issues are all caused by bad training should be dominated out.
Not always. There are the rare cases of pure aggression from lack of training, but most often its not as simple as that. When true aggression happens, while it is extremely rare, is indeed caused by bad training - usually from a trainer that meant well, but really didn't understand dogs the way they should. These cases are about as rare as they come in regard to aggression. Most aggression cases are actually fear cases, or frustration cases. When a dog is scared of something, or in some cases everything, they have only a couple choices. The most common is flight - the desire to flee from whatever is scary. These cases are easy to mark. They can also become avoiding, and chose to totally ignore whatever is scaring them, until it becomes too much - which can often be the case. Avoidance always leads to flight, or the final choice, fight. Fearful dogs that think they are supposed to be in control often turn to aggression to scare off or fake out the scary thing. These displays are usually violent in appearance, loud, and showy, but very rarely is there a bite. The second most common occurrence, frustration, is caused by a need that isn't being fulfilled properly. Dogs have a few main needs; the need for physical, mental, and traveling exercise; the need to hunt and kill; the need to play and relax; the need to sleep; the need to eat; the need to feel balanced and not in control; the need to be with humans; and the need to feel safe at all times. When one of these become out of whack and unfulfilled, these dogs often become frustrated because they have no way to let off the energy, and no way to communicate with the owner what they need - so they become mad. In order to properly fix these issues, no matter what kind of aggression it is, the relationship needs to be repaired. Unless the dog is biting a human on an active basis, dominance won't help anything. In fact, dominating a dog usually results in the behaviour getting far worse - this is because there is no relationship and no respect. Dominance is important, but not if it is aggressive, and never ever before a relationship is repaired.
8) This dog doesn't understand what I am teaching, they are just "dumb".
We run across this assumption every day - and usually, these dogs are the smartest, most operant dogs we've come across. They are often easy to train, and master new abilities very fast. Usually, the cause of this thought is because of one of three things. Sometimes, the owner isn't training in a way the dog needs it to be because its either too complex or not in their language, sometimes the owner and dog have a dysfunction in their relationship and it's affecting trainability, and other times, the dog just isn't being motivated. Some dogs need a new skill broken down or communicated differently; they don't always understand a skill as quickly as other dogs might. This is an intelligence thing, but it doesn't mean they're dumb. Sometimes, a dog needs to master sit before they can even understand lay down, and that's okay - it just takes slowing down, breaking it up, and making sure that you're trying to teach it with different ideas. Some dogs know perfectly well what you want, and couldn't care less. Some dogs might not choose to obey, because they know you won't make them or that you don't really mean it. Sometimes, a dog chooses not to obey because the owner overcorrects when the dog makes a mistake, and they think they can't do anything right, so they won't bother at all. All of these are due to a dysfunction in the relationship and the owner should consider rebuilding a healthier relationship. Sometimes, when a dog is just not listening, they might not want to listen because there's nothing in it for them. We find this most often in breeds that have low pack drive, and dogs that have been treat trained improperly. If this is the case, it's time to reboot training from the beginning (like 6 week old puppy beginning) and try it differently!
Hopefully this has helped clear up some of the myths floating around. Did you buy in to any of them?
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