There is a very common condition that many suffer from.
Millions and millions of people woke up this morning and this condition immediately affected them.
The condition I am talking about is called: paraskevidekatriaphobia.
More commonly known as…..
…..fear of Friday the 13th.
So a lot of people think about this day and associate it with bad luck.
Got me thinking about a dog I just started working with. This dog’s behavior is off the hook, out of control and extremely chaotic.
The first time I met this dog I asked the owner to put him in a crate. Turns out he is very friendly but at first sight I was taking no chances.
This dog had been through multiple training classes and private lessons with different trainers.
The owner was understandably at her wits end. This dog was a few days away from going to a shelter. The shelter informed her that he would probably be put to sleep if he came there.
The dog was the about to die because of some very unlucky dog training advice.
Let me splain.
Your dog’s behavior is constantly going from calm to crazy. When no one is at your house and you are sitting on your couch watching The Patriots, your dog is probably calm.
As soon as your friend shows up and knocks on the door, your dog goes from calm to crazy in milliseconds.
Your job as the dog owner is to bring your dog back to calm. If you can’t accomplish this your dog barks and jumps on your friend as they walk in the door.
Your dog will also get UNINTENTIONAL reinforcement from you and your friend. Chances are you will both push and yell at the dog.
Which is fun for many dogs. Your unintentional reinforcement will strengthen the behavior.
And if someone (a trainer) tells you that this problem can be solved with treats, your dog is now the recipient of some unlucky dog training advice.
Your dog is now getting unintentional AND intentional reinforcement. This will result in a dog that is trained to go into crazy mode and stay in crazy mode.
This unlucky dog that I have been working with has been trained to go crazy when someone knocks on the door.
This dog has been trained to go completely bat bleep crazy when he sees another dog.
This owner was told that ONLY positive reinforcement can be used which is extremely UNLUCKY dog training advice because he is close to getting an injection of a lethal dose of phenobarbital.
When a dog goes to crazy and you need them to come back to calm there is a strong chance that you will need to apply and use an adversive.
You will probably have to use a negative consequence to get control.
Sorry, I wish it were different. I wish all I had to do was toss treats to get the behavior I want.
But it is what it is. And you can either properly use a negative consequence when you have to OR you can ignore and train “positive only” and watch dogs end up in shelters or worse.
I think the dog would feel much more lucky receiving a negative consequence and staying in the home.
The other result is not so lucky for the dog.
Anyway, you can get all the lucky dog training advice you can handle at The Dog Training Inner Circle.
Joining is just $1.00!
What are you waiting for? Join today by going here NEXT:
Best,
Eric