Positive Reinforcement Is A Popular Dog Training Technique
February 1st, 2011
Dog training involves a dog learning to perform specific behaviors in response to human instructions. Positive reinforcement is perhaps the most popular training technique. This modus operandi is applied within a broader framework that recognizes dogs are a pack animal. As pack animals, wild dogs have natural instincts that predispose them toward following a leader and cooperative behaviors with their fellow pack members.
Domestic dogs, through instinct, breeding and training, can interpret and respond to signals given by a human owner and his or her family. Typical desired behaviors include all the instructions required to allow the animal to function effectively in domesticated, socialized settings. Specific tasks typically include toilet, sit, stay, lie, roll-over, fetch a stick and quiet.
Dogs are not solitary, lone animals. They hunt, eat, play and sleep as a pack. Pack members follow and obey the pack leader and cooperate with other pack members. In the case of a domesticated dog, the human owner is the natural pack leader and his or her family are the pack members. Instruction allows the dog to understand its place in this setting.
Training the dog owner is critical to training the dog. The owner as pack leader must understand and maintain the discipline of behaving in that role. Similarly, family members must understand the dog perceives them as pack members. If these roles are played out effectively without confusing the dog, it will understand its role as a pack member and behave accordingly.
One common mistake made by dog handlers or owners is to treat their pet like a human. They seek to take the standards they apply to humans and apply them to their pets. This is very confusing for the animal. They cannot relate to these standards having no natural instinct with them nor the subtle intelligence required to learn their meaning. We cannot to apply the rules of our human world to the world of the dog world. Dogs do not have the capacity to comprehend our protocols.
One example is the return to the home by the dog owner. The pet is typically pleased since one of its pack members has returned. It makes a fuss by yapping, barking and merrily jumping about. Many owners immediately respond to this show of affection. This can be a mistake, particular if the animal is still young and not yet clear of its role in the pack. At worst, the attention by the owner may be misinterpreted as a signal that the dog is the pack leader. If this misunderstanding occurs, it can initiate a whole set of dysfunctional behaviors that are difficult to correct.
Individual dogs that have not yet been trained effectively may exhibit rebel behaviors that defy the role of the owner as pack leader. This challenge is not always intentional, merely reflecting a misinterpreted role for itself. This simple misapprehension can be corrected by guidance aimed at demonstrating to the animal that the owner is the true leader.
In some instances however, the animal may have convinced itself that it is the leader. It dutifully assumes all the responsibilities of that role. That may include various aggressive behaviors that from the perspective of the dog are designed to protect its pack from threats but from the perspective of the owner and his or her family appear to be unnecessary violence and aggression. These are complex cases and probably require the advice of a professional dog training expert.
