Basic Training Tips

Teaching your dog “No!”

Its allure and futility

The next time you use voice navigation, imagine Siri telling you where NOT to turn, what street NOT to take, and to boot, she uses an accusatory tone with you. There you are, driving through a big, busy and unfamiliar city. You are a bit nervous, not sure how to get to your destination and Siri tells you things like, “No! Don’t turn there!” “Not that street!” “Not the next one, either!” Absent is all the information on which street to look for, how far away it is, which way you’ll be turning, etc. In other words, everything you need is missing. You are blasted with loads of irrelevant information and are the victim of navigation harassment, too. That would be enough to deter anyone from wanting to travel again!

Even when Siri is working properly, she will sometimes get a bit too chatty and you can turn her off, confident that you have sufficiently grasped her instructions (and tired of hearing her repeat herself.)

Basic Training Tips

by Diana Logan

Dog owners are sometimes like Siri’s Evil Twin, nagging their dogs about what they are doing “wrong,” following them around and “correcting them” when they do something that isn’t appropriate. Our poor dogs don’t have the option of shutting us off or lowering our volume or translating our gibberish into DogSpeak, but they do get very good at ignoring and avoiding us and our frequent nagging because, after all, we are overflowing with irrelevance and are no fun to be around.

We can't train the absence of a behavior.

"No" means nothing in and of itself. It's a crutch, a way to make us look like we are disciplining a dog for an infraction without putting any of the training effort into teaching skills. We have to flip that way of thinking upside down and decide what we want our dog to do instead. That desired behavior can then be rewarded and a new habit will be born!

There is an infinite number of wrong answers, and “no” doesn’t help our dogs get any closer to the right ones. How do you help your dog make good decisions?

For every “no,” you feel like saying, there needs to be a corresponding “yes!” We have to find a “yes” in there somewhere, even if it’s just for a small behavior. On top of that, we need to cut the gibberish! A very simple example:

I was recently working with a family and their young, jumpy puppy. Each time the puppy jumped up at him, the dad said, “no! Down!” He did this several times, the son joining in too, to no avail. It didn’t change the puppy’s behavior at all. Why? Because 1) jumping is a very natural thing for a puppy to do to get attention, 2) “No!” and “down!” meant nothing to her, and 3) there was no information on what to do instead of jump.

When the puppy turned towards me and was obviously thinking about jumping on me, I silently stood, arms folded in front of me (so as not to be confused with a tug toy) and became very still and quiet - and therefore boring to a busy puppy. When the puppy put all four feet on the floor, I instantly engaged with her. She got excited about this and started to jump up at me. I instantly reverted to my still/quiet stance. Repeated a few times, the puppy got the idea that keeping all four on the floor is what pays off in order for her to get what she wanted: attention.

It isn’t always this easy. Sometimes we need to engage the use of management tools to prevent the pup from taking that metaphorical wrong turn. It is our responsibility as dog owners to block off those routes and make the correct path obvious and rewarding.

The next time you feel like saying "no" to your dog, think about being that driver with Siri's Evil Twin as your navigator!

Diana Logan, CPDT-KA Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Knowledge-Assessed Pet Connection Dog Training, North Yarmouth, Maine | www.dianalogan.com | 207-252-9352

PUPSTART!

a dayschool for puppies up to 6 mos/25# www.dianalogan.com North Yarmouth

Kris Potter

Kompletely K-9

Dog Training and Rehabilitation

207-322-5111

Kompletelyk9.com • 248 Choate Rd, Montville, ME 04941 Like us on facebook

Serving Locations In Midcoast Maine And Beyond

Member #P2848

COME JOIN OUR PACK!

Radiant heat fl oors Individual kennels with doors to outside covered kennels 6 large outside running areas Supervised playgroups depending on energy level/size

Professional groomer on site Camera with audio to monitor dogs staying overnight We only accept well socialized dogs and puppies 4 months/ older for daycare boothbaycanine@gmail.com 653 Wiscasset Rd., Boothbay 207-633-DOGS • boothbaycanine.com

Would you like to have our paper sent directly to your home?

Please send a check along with your mailing address to: Downeast Dog News PO Box 1076, Camden, ME 04843 or sign up online: downeastdognews.com Maine residents - $31.65 (includes tax) Non-Maine residents $30 Questi ons? Call Jenn (207)706-6765

Maine’s Most Unique Pet Gift & Supply Store

3 floors of fun!

PET PANTRY

177 Lower Main St., Freeport 207-865-6484

Our doors are open or call ahead for curbside pickup

Free delivery for orders $50+ within 15 miles Voted #1 Pet Store in Maine by Down East Magazine

Monday - Friday 10am – 6pm Saturday 10am – 5pm Sunday 10am – 4pm

Find us on Facebook!