You Are Always Teaching Your Dog

At a recent family dinner one of my relatives (a teacher) shared the following story. A high school student had been caught cheating on a very important exam. The teacher (not my relative) removed the child from the test room and advised they would need to re-take the test. The parents called the principal contending that these actions embarrassed their child (the cheater). The teacher was forced (by the principal) to apologize to this student in front of the class.

While this story made me grate my teeth, I also realized that I didn't find it too surprising. Over the past decades, it seems our society has grown ever more tolerant, sensitive, and accommodating to those that break its rules. While I'm not here to offer parenting suggestions, or lament the good old days, I would like to point out that living creatures learn through experience. For the cheating student, this experience taught there was no down side to cheating. This was a teaching failure, one that may handicap this student for life.

Dogs, too, are living creatures that learn from experience. I would offer they also far better observers than many humans. I spend a lot of time each week helping owners become good teachers. That begins with being thoughtful about goals, AND being aware of details that can mean the difference between good information and bad information for a dog. Every moment a dog spends with you, they are learning from YOU - their owner.

Every time you teach a command, direct a behavior, or reward improvement - you're teaching. But you're also teaching every time you don't enforce a command, ignore a problem, or remain silent for a job well done. So it's not only important to be consistent with information provided, it's important to be AWARE that you're always providing information. Humans have a tendency to be thinking about many things at once. Dogs are just thinking about what's happening in the moment. Are you aware of everything you are teaching your dog?

Some items for consideration...

• Turning your back and ignoring a dog that is jumping - offers confusing or NO information. I've seen owners doing this for ages and their dog continues to jump.
• Redirecting a dog from chewing on the rug to chewing on a toy - tells your dog the toy is a good item to chew on, but doesn't tell your dog that chewing on the rug is a problem.
• Not addressing a dog that comes out of SIT when the door opens - tells your dog they don't have to hold commands.
• Shouting multiple things at once "sit, move, quiet, etc." - is confusing and just noise to your dog.
• Failing to praise even modest improvements - isn't giving your dog the important info they're on the right path.

So as I said, whether you know it or not, and whether you like it or not, when you're with your dog YOU ARE A TEACHER. For dogs to be their best, being with a good human teacher can make all the difference. To be a good teacher an owner needs to have clear goals, consistent teaching language, and detailed awareness of the information they're sharing. Most owners can benefit from some help in this area. There's a reason owners often say "it's more about teaching me than my dog"...