Years ago when I was working as an animal control officer for the city of Fall River, MA I met and became friends with a guy I’ll call Eddie.
Eddie used to have a habit of hanging out at the bars. He didn’t walk through the front door he would hang out back by the dumpster and wait for the empty bottles of booze to be tossed into the garbage.
He would then gather up all the gin, tequila, whiskey and vodka bottles. He would pour the last few precious drops into a bottle that he called his “Coocoo juice.”
After years of doing this he finally entered a program to help overcome his addiction which he said helped a lot. But he surprised me when he said more than anything else working with dogs is what really saved him.
He said that his life had purpose and a reason to get up and do something other than drink himself into oblivion every day.
Eddie passed away a few years back but I never forgot what he told me.
I was thinking about Eddie the other day while working with a new client and her teenage son. The son said, “What’s the reason for spending all this time training? We’ve already been to a class and the dog still jumps, you can’t walk him, what’s the point?.”
I piped in and said that the purpose of dog training is to help the dog learn how to live with us. We have to teach the dog what behaviors are acceptable and what behaviors are unacceptable.
That you have to teach the dog two important words: YES and NO.
If you just teach one word YES without the NO your training is not going to be very effective.
I understand why he was frustrated. If you spend time doing something and don’t get results what’s the purpose to continue?
The definition of purpose is: an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.
Purpose driven dog training requires you to get the desired results and is accomplished by teaching your dog to do behaviors by rewarding and reinforcing.
The second part is using negative consequences to stop and reduce unwanted behaviors.
That is how purpose driven dog training is done. Anything else is fantasyland with poor to zero results which leads to frustration like our teenage friend.
But luckily you come here for dog training advice. The one guy that will give it to you straight. The Dog Training Inner Circle was created for you. And you can get started for just $1.00!
Best,
Eric