So, I'm sure many of you reading have studied an abundance of work, telling you about all the scientific studies and the deep psychology of dogs, which, of course, very much has its place in the dog world. For many, it's an exciting form of education... but for many others, it's just a complicated whirlwind of intimidating information which really just leaves them more confused than they were to start with. I am writing this article for those people. The people who just want a simple explanation to how dogs work, and couldn't care less about pavlov and his dog!
For you guys, the only thing you really need to understand and teach your dog is what yes and no mean. Really, its that simple. In fact, I'd say for the majority of behavioural problems out there, the real answer is to just teach your dog "no". Barking at dogs? No. Dont do that. Pulling on the lead. No. Dont do that. Jumping? Chasing squirrels? Chewing something they shouldn't..? You need to tell them no.
But here's the catch, "NO" has to actually mean something. Because - that's right, dogs dont speak English. Which means, "no", has to mean that theres is a consequence coming. And that consequence needs to be relative to the action. Consequence and action will be explained in another article incase you are interested, but for this one.. were keeping it simple. On the flip side, we also need to teach our dog "yes". Which, on the opposite scale, "yes" should mean that there is a reward coming. Again, that reward needs to be relative. Once you're done telling your dog no, you can reward them with a yes.
Example: Fido always barks at other dogs. We take fido for a walk, and tell him "no" when he is barking at another dog. After he listens and stops barking, we tell him "yes". Next time we see another dog, and Fido does NOT bark, we tell him "yes" and give a huge reward to make it undoubtedly clear to Fido that barking at dogs is bad, but staying quiet is good. This helps Fido to make a better choice. If you want to find out WHY this works, then check out some of my other work, as for now, we are keeping this one blunt and right to the point.
Happy training, guys!
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