Happy Paws Dog Training Services

Why positive obedience based training methods?

This question may be one of the most crucial to answer when searching for a dog trainer for your dog or puppy.  My first response is the obvious one, because it works, but this alone is no reason to conclude that this is the right method of training for you.  

In my professional opinion there is nothing more important in training than an owner being able to successfully communicate with his or her dog.  Afterall, if you cannot tell your dog what you expect from him, how is he to know what he needs to do to meet your expectations?  What sets positive obedience training apart when it comes to bridging the communication gap is that you do not have to force the dog into doing what you ask.  Why is this important?  When we force an animal to do what we ask, we are not teaching him to work with us, but rather that if he does not there are negative consequences.  This is a very old school of thought.  Training a dog to listen to you or else they receive a punishment creates fear of a negative reaction rather than a partnership. 

Through luring, shaping, marking, and patience your dog will learn to earn a reward, be it a toy, treat, affection, or a combination of all of these things.  Your dog will be motivated to work for you based on his eagerness to receive a reward.  This does not mean that your dog is fed treats until his stomach can touch the ground mind you, but finding your dog's "currency" is an intergral part in training him.  Why should you do this?  Think of it this way, you go to work, put in a forty hour week then go to pick up your paycheck but there isn't one for you.  Would you still want to put in a forty hour week with no payoff at the end of it? Of course not.  Your dog works much the same way, if we reward the behaviors we like, we increase the likelihood the dog will offer this behavior again dramatically.  

During the formative stages of a behavior motivating your dog with the tone of your voice, treats, and toys gives your dog a positive reason to work with you, it's his paycheck.  Through positive obedience training you can bridge the gap of communication between you and build a stronger bond than you could otherwise have done with negative reinforcement techniques.

Gone are they days when Fido was whacked with a newspaper when he made a mess in the house! Many people would have done just that, partly because it released THEIR anger and frustration on the assailant known as Fido, and partly because no other option was known.  But thanks to an innovative training methodology staying in the past is just plain silly.

Praise your dog for what you like, dog offers what you like again, simple right?

Rewarding your dog and reveling in his successes will offer you the opportunity to fully appreciate your dog and become best friends.

-Mallery Chabot, ABCDT.

  Over the years I've gotten tons of calls from clients insisting that their dog is "spiteful", and that the poor behavior choices they made were to get back at their owner for being gone, not paying attention to them, reprimanding them, etc.

  Because of this, I thought it might be best to address this line of thinking and put all fears and concerns like this, to bed.

  Truth be told, it's not in your dog's genetic make up to offer behaviors simply out of spite.  As humans, we all too often assume our dog understands exactly what he's doing, as if he's a 10 year old child drawing with crayons on a wall after being told not to.  We "humanize" our dogs to the point where we truly believe Fido knew full well that it was not allowed to go to the bathroom in the house or chew on your designer chair, but because we left for work instead of staying home to play tug, he must have been mad and done it to get back at us. 

  I can assure you that this is not the case, afterall, your dog is not a human and does not have the cognitive skills to procure such a conclusion. Even a dog with separation anxiety isn't destroying things or eliminating while you're gone because he's mad you left, he does those things because he does not understand you will be returning, and that while you're gone that he is safe. But that's another topic entirely.

  Let's put it in perspective.  Your dog only has the ability to remember something for 5-7 seconds, total.  That is his entire memory retention threshold, and this includes the genius dogs out there.  He isn't able to plan and plot against you, because he couldn't remember what he may have been upset about long enough to do so.  That's why during training classes we focus on making things routine and consistent.  Habits will then be solidified and we as our dog's primary caretakers will have set boundaries and practiced cues to guide our dogs successfully.

  Unlike children, if you put your dog in time out he's not contemplating his bad behavior so that at a later point he won't repeat the same mistakes, he's just sitting in time out doing his doggie thing, wagging his tail, sniffing around, looking over the baby gate (if you have one).

But hey, this is good news! If your dog is incapable of remembering for an extended period of time, then he is more than capable of learning alternative behaviors, because he's not holding a grudge.

Your dog is willing and ready to please you, to learn from you, and to be your loving companion. 

What more could you ask for?

-Mallery Chabot, ABCDT.