How Dog Training Imitates Life

In my experience of teaching dog training classes, many people initially find it difficult to understand the principles behind the training methods. But really, the methods of training dogs are based on the same principles that we all encounter in our lives.

One important principle is the clarity of communication. If we want someone to do something for us, the best way to accomplish this is to clearly state what it is that we want. Hinting, skirting the issue in roundabout ways, or trying to state our request as a question (Do you want to stop for a cup of coffee?) will not get for us what a clear statement of our desire will do. It is the same thing in dog training. If we clearly state a command, the dog will understand, provided that the initial training has been done to teach the dog the meaning of the command.  A clearly stated “Sit” accomplishes more than a roundabout “Won’t you please consider sitting?”

Another important principle is trust. We tend to respond well to people who we trust. If these people tell us to do something, we are confident that they will not be leading us astray, and will not turn on us and put us into a hurtful situation. And what do we do with the people that we don’t trust? We either avoid them, or if we can’t do that, we are very cautious about our actions around them. Similarly, dogs need to trust their people. They need to be able to know that their people will not hurt them or put them into scary situations. With trust in their people, dogs are willing to do a lot. Without trust, dogs are usually reluctant to do anything other than avoid the people that they don’t trust, just as we tend to avoid the people that we don’t trust.

A third principle is rewards. While animal behaviorists and learning theorists talk about reinforcement (defined as anything that strengthens a behavior), much of dog and human behavior can be described as driven by rewards. We like to do things that give us rewards, whether those rewards are more money, good food, good friends, interesting partners, or toys to play with. We generally do not do well in an environment where we are punished, and try to either avoid that kind of environment or become very stressed if we can’t do anything about it. Similarly, dogs are usually happy to do things for rewards, whether the rewards are food, praise, strokes, or a chance to play with a favorite toy.

A fourth principle is sociality. We humans are social beings. We like to be around other people. We enjoy the company of our friends and sometimes our family. People who are isolated from other people often become depressed and fail to thrive. So it is as well with dogs. Dogs are social animals, and they like being around their friends and family. With dogs, family is usually either their pack or the humans that they live with, who become the functional pack. But dogs also have friends, and they like to be around their friends as well. Dog who live rich social lives tend to be happy dogs, while dogs who are isolated, who are put out into the yard alone or locked up in the house all day by themselves, tend to be depressed and unhappy.

At the level of these principles, there are a lot of parallels between human behavior and dog training. With these principles, we learn as we are growing up how to do well in the world around us, and once we have learned that, we apply these principles to most of our interactions with other people. Dog training is based on these same principles. While there are a lot of details that go into training dogs (for example, getting the timing right between saying the command and responding with praise, either with voice or a clicker, when the dog obeys the command), and these details are best taught by experienced teachers, without these principles the training is going to fail, and both the dog and her people will be very unhappy in their relationship.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Comments

[dog jumping up]

I like what you told about dog training. It is very fun to read and full of information. I wish you will create a blog just like this again. More power.

[Pet Owner Blog]

That's so true that if a dog is forced in dog training then the trainer won't get too far with it, as arising fear is not a good helper. The main thing to lay on the basis of training of love and sympathy.

[Randall Johnson]

You drew some interesting parallels between basic dog training techniques and essential life skills. If we don't apply these same techniques in our human relationships, we wind up unhappy with them. Periodically, we need to be reminded. Thanks for doing so.
As for the human-dog bond, there's some fairly convincing evidence that the two species have been 'hanging out' together for a long time, so it's not too surprising that the same basic rules would apply. In closing, I'd like to wish Drs. Slobodchikoff and London and the readers of the Dog Behavior Blog a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

[4160]

Nice to meet you! I begin blog and make a dog-related collection of links recently.
Your page linked, too. Would you link my page if you like? Thanking you in advance.