Raising a Well Mannered Mutt

Teaching Humans
Sallie Palmer – Certified Dog Trainer

When I talk about marking the behavior I am not referring to a male dog lifting his leg.  I am referring to a human, of the dog-human team, acknowledge and reward any behavior the dog does that is in line with overall behavior the human wants from the dog.

 Let me give you an example: If you have a dog that jumps all over when he greets you and you would like the dog to just sit when he greets you, you can start to shape that behavior by literally waiting for the dog to stop jumping.  He will eventually stop, even dogs get tired. The split second the dog has all four feet on the ground give a marker such as the word “YES !” followed by a reward of a small treat. After awhile the dog will figure out that jumping on you doesn’t pay off but stands there does.  Dogs will do what works for them and stop doing what doesn’t work however they will test this theory several times before they change their behavior. It is the person’s job to be persistent. They will figure out what behavior will get them what they want.  We can help by carefully guiding them.

With the above example in mind, you can see that the human’s behavior plays an extremely important roll.  On the first nights of group classes I wait until everyone is in the room. I tell my assistant to block the door and not allow anyone to escape.  Then I tell my students “I lied to you.  I told you this was a dog training class.  It’s not.  This is a people training class.”  It is vitally important for the person on the other end of the leash to be clear and consistent with their communication with their dog. In this case the rule is no acknowledgement/reward of the dog while he is jumping up. The dog is only acknowledgement/rewarded when four feet are on the ground. Consistency is very difficult for some people.  I explain that if a person is consistent nine times out of ten and just wait for the dog to stop jumping up and place all four feet on the ground the dog is learning jumping up doesn’t work. However, if the person acknowledges (rewards) the dog the tenth time the dog jumps up, he has now told the dog it is alright to jump-up on me.  The dog thinks great I get to jump up all the time now. Dogs understand always or never.  They do not understand sometimes. The person has undone all their training and has to start over again.  The burden is on the human to be consistent until the dog’s behavior of jumping up has ceased all together and the dog now stands or sits when greeting his person.

Marking behavior can be very effective when working with dogs with aggression issues.  I tell people with reactive dogs that it is important to praise and reward their dog when the dog is not displaying any aggressive behavior when in the presence of another dog.  They literally want to acknowledge the dog for doing nothing.  It takes time and practice to train the humans to be constantly alert to what their dog is and isn’t doing. It takes practice to develop timing to mark the behavior the moment it happens but it works amazingly well when done right.

So back to the exercise of shaping the dog to sit when greeted.  If your dog has already been taught how to sit on command then you are ahead of the game.  So here you are, you’ve come home.  Have some dog treats in your pocket.  When your dog comes out to enthusiastically greet you stand still and tall.  If your dog jumps on you try to do nothing.  When the dog eventually stops even for a second say “YES” and give a treat.  If he jumps up again stand there like a statue.  When he stops jumping up, say “YES” and give him a reward.  Keep doing this until he stands and just looks at you hoping you will give him another treat.  When he does this ask him to sit. The moment he sits, mark the behavior with “YES” and give him a reward.  You are not done yet.  Now go back to your car or outside the gate, door, etc. and start all over.  This time it should be easier and take less time.  Keep practicing until the dog understands that sitting for greeting is the behavior that will get him a reward. All the other behavior will get him nothing.  I do need to let you know that in some cases the behavior will seem to get worse before it gets better.  This is actually a good sign.  When the dog revs up his jumping it is usually followed by a marked decrease in jumping.  It tells us that the dog is figuring out that this behavior doesn’t pay off. He will replace it with a new behavior.

Sallie Palmer is a certified professional dog trainer with the International Association of Canine Professionals.  She has been training family dogs for over 20 years.  For more information on services offered by Sallie, go to www.wellmanneredmutts.com

 

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