Through my years of dog training, I have repeatedly seen some common mistakes that affect the progress the owners can make with their dog. I have compiled a list of the 8 most common mistakes, what they are, and how to avoid them. Hopefully this list can help you avoid these mistakes when training your own dog.
- Training sessions are too long. Often with long sessions, the dog begins to get bored and stops paying attention, which allows him to practice not obeying commands or responding slower than preferred. Dogs are more engaged and learn faster if the training sessions are fun and short. Always end your session when your dog is still engaged and wanting to train more. The best learning happens when the training feels like a game. Rather than an hour long session each day, a better schedule would be 2-3 short 15 minute sessions throughout the day.
- Repeating commands. Repeating commands is especially common when training a dog something new. The dog doesn’t yet understand what is being asked of him, and instead of luring or shaping the command, it is repeated over and over while the dog still does not understand what is expected. Luring or shaping allows the dog to practice the behavior and get rewarded without the command being used. This way, you don’t lose value in your command by repeating it when the dog has no understanding of what it means. Other times, the command is repeated because the dog is distracted and not listening. In this scenario, it is important to follow through with the original command rather than repeating the command again. You may also need to evaluate whether the reward you are offering is appropriate for the difficulty level of the situation. When a command is repeated over and over without a response, you inadvertently teach the dog to ignore the command.
- Not training often enough. Dogs need practice and repetition to learn new behaviors. Just because they may have learned something one or two times in a certain setting, does not mean they should be expected to repeat that same behavior in the future. Practice makes perfect. Training is never completed. It is something that you are constantly building upon and improving. Make training part of your daily routine so that it happens naturally as you interact with your dog and does not feel like a chore. Asking for simple things like sitting before you open a door or waiting to be released for the food bowl is an easy way to get some repetition in without feeling like you need to carve time out of your day to practice commands.
- Reinforcing bad behavior while ignoring good behavior. This seems like an obvious one but it is something we often don’t think about. When our dog is lying on his bed, calmly playing with his toys or chew bone, we tend to leave him be. But then when he grabs a shoe, or jumps on the counter, we make a lot of noise, maybe even chase after him to retrieve the shoe. What the dog sees is that grabbing the shoe is exciting and maybe even initiates play, but laying on the bed is boring. If you become very aware of when your dog offers good behavior, and toss him a treat for offering that good behavior on his own, the likelihood that he will repeat that behavior increases. Always reward the behaviors that you want repeated.
- Always practicing in one location. When teaching your dog something new, it is important to practice in a quiet, distraction free area. This allows him to keep his focus on you and what is being asked of him. However, once your dog learns the command, it is just as important to practice those commands in different locations with increasing levels of distractions. Owners commonly tell me that their dog listens perfectly and knows the commands at home, but does not obey in public. This is because the dog has not been properly taught how to generalize that command. Dogs do not generalize commands well on their own, it is something that needs to be taught, and an important part of proofing any command.
- No reward marker. If you take away nothing else from this article, this is key. I could go on and on about reward markers and why they are important, but the short version is that reward markers allow for clear communication with your dog. A reward marker can be a clicker or verbal praise that allows you to tell the dog the precise moment that he did the right thing. The verbal praise needs to be one short word that is consistently used, not a variety of praise words. For me, my reward marker is the word “yes”. It is short and concise and has a natural positive inflection in your voice. In early training, when treats are being used, you may be able to get away without using a reward marker because the treat becomes the marker. But when you do not have treats present, the dog does not get the affirmation that he did the right thing and over time, the command begins to regress. Having a reward marker allows you to have clear communication with your dog regardless of whether a treat is present or not.
- Negative attachment to command. The most common example that I see of a negative attachment to a command is with the word “come”. You are at the park and you ask your dog to come, he happily comes over and then is rewarded by having to leave the park. To the dog, this feels more like punishment. Or at home, you ask him to come and then put him in his crate or in the bath. The dog quickly learns that come equals things that he does not like. To avoid this, practice having the dog come just to check in, get a reward, then continue to go play. Occasionally come will mean that play is over, but not every time. Make it a point to use come for good things more than things that your dog could perceive as negative. If your dog hates baths, instead of asking him to come, use another word or go get him and avoid the come command altogether. It is more important to create a positive association to come so that in an emergency situation where you really need your dog to come (to avoid traffic, another dog, etc) your chances of success will be higher because you haven’t poisoned the command.
- Not weaning off of lure or treats. Treats are a great tool for motivating your dog. They can make training fun for the dog, and in turn, you have a more successful training session. But they can also be misused and quickly become a bribe instead of a reward. In the beginning stages of training a new command, the treat can be used as a lure, but then as the dog understands the command, it needs to be transitioned to a reward given after the command is completed. When paired with a well timed reward marker, treats can be randomized so that the dog never knows when the treat is coming. This creates the lottery effect that keeps the dog engaged in hopes of “winning” a treat. The dog may be asked 3 commands before he earns a treat, then one command and treat, then 3 commands and treat, then 2 commands and treat, as so on. The dog is given a reward marker for each command so that he still is given the affirmation that he is doing the right thing, but he may have to work harder to earn the treat. Using the treats in this manner, prevents them from becoming a bribe that the dog needs to see first before he completes the task.