Training isn't the answer to everything

As someone who has made a career out of dog training, it may seem counterproductive to say that training your dog isn’t always the answer. But, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt during my career, it’s that training doesn’t always fix problem behaviours.

You may believe that with enough time and effort, any behaviour problem can be changed and resolved. A lack of training progress can be blamed on a lack of time or consistency. That a dog’s behaviour is always the fault of the owner who clearly hasn’t ‘trained them well enough’.

These are all myths.

In some cases, it is true that a dog’s behaviour is largely due to a lack of time, effort, or consistency from an owner. Badly behaved dogs DO need more training, and sometimes people are at fault for how their dogs behave.

However, this is not always the case.

When training won’t work

You can teach all the tricks in the world, dedicate time to counterconditioning, and be consistent with your application, but if your dog is living in a state of high stress or experiencing continued exposure to difficult situations, their behaviour is unlikely to change. If they are genetically predisposed to certain behaviours, emotional responses, or have learnt from past experiences then these may always be limiting factors too.

Whether it’s a recall problem, loose lead walking, or aggression, your dog’s underlying emotions and motivations need to be addressed for any training to work. It can help to ask a few questions, especially if training doesn’t seem to be improving your dog’s behaviour:

• Are they in pain? Pain can be hard to detect but it is also a key factor in many behavioural problems and a common reason for a lack of progress in training and behaviour work. Talking to a vet or a qualified physio/chiropractor is a good way to assess pain or medical influences in behaviour.

• What emotions are they experiencing? Are they pulling on the lead because they’re excited, or are they worried and stressed?

• What is motivating them? Is the environment providing more reinforcement and therefore they have little interest in listening to your recall?

• What does their day look like? Are they sleeping enough? Do they have outlets for natural behaviours (e.g. sniffing, running, socialising)?

• Are they experiencing repeated stress without time to recover? Remember stress can come from good things too, like playing with toys or being excited to see friends or family.

It helps to have a good think about your dog’s life as a whole. We can become so focused on the specific problem behaviour, we forget to look at the bigger picture and this means we can miss crucial factors which are contributing to training difficulties.

When training doesn’t need to work

Training a dog can be hard work, it can feel like a chore and it can cause frustration and tension when it takes over your life with your dog. Sometimes we have to ask whether it’s really worth it or whether there’s a better option.

Managing your dog’s behaviour and adjusting their environment and routine can resolve some problem behaviours without the need for any specific training. This isn’t the right option in all cases, but there are times when it’s the best thing to do.

Take a dog who is scared of visitors, they bark and growl, it scares the visitors and upsets the household. You may feel like it’s a problem which needs to be ‘fixed’ so the dog can be involved with guests and everyone can coexist peacefully.

Training a fearful dog to relax around visitors is a long process, it requires repetition but also close management and small steps of progress. This isn’t always possible to achieve and asking people to pop round for two minutes several times a week while you train your dog isn’t the easiest request. The training can be stressful for your dog and for everyone else involved.

A simple solution to this is to manage the environment. When visitors are coming round, put your dog into a quiet room on their own with some toys or chews to keep them occupied. They are in a safe space, they don’t scare the visitors and you can relax and enjoy the time. Your dog is happier because they’re not experiencing the stress of being around unfamiliar people.

For some dogs this isn’t an option, and you have to work through training to help them feel safer and more relaxed around visitors, but if you have the option to manage it then why not!

Management is the basis of all training progress, without it, training will almost always fall apart at some point. You may apply management strategies and decide it’s enough to enable you and your dog to live a happier, low stress life!

• Use a longline and choose low-distraction environments while working on recall training

• Walk in quieter places where you can keep safe distance from dogs or people when working on reactivity issues

• Crate train your dog so they have a safe place to go to avoid getting into trouble by stealing food, scaring visitors, or practicing unwanted behaviours

• Keep doors closed or items out of reach if your dog likes to steal things

• Avoid environments where your dog is stressed, overwhelmed, or difficult to manage. Leave them at home if they’re happier there!

Next time you’re feeling frustrated by your dog’s behaviour or feeling deflated over their training progress, ask yourself what you could change to make life easier for you both. If there is anything you can apply management strategies to, then go for it and enjoy the breather from structured training!

At The Hound Spot, we pride ourselves on helping dog owners find real-life, practical solutions to behaviour or training problems with their dogs. We know what it’s like to live with a challenging dog and to feel the constant pressure of training them, so we are here to help you find the right balance of training and management, setting your dog up for success and bringing about more progress and fewer regressions!