Dogs respond to rewards, not punishments

I remember when I was a kid, the traditional way of house training our dogs was to drag them to the spot where they soiled and yell “no!”  Sadly, many others took it further and even spanked the dog.  What we did not know, is that this technique was not only inhumane, but it was also utterly useless.

The dog does not feel any correlation between the punishment and the excrement he is being dragged to face. He may show fear because of the manner in which he is being treated verbally and physically, but the human doing this has not accomplished anything other than instill fear in the dog from the person they most trust.

The next evolution in training was to correct the unwanted behavior (with something negative – prong collars, choke collars, shock collars, verbal scold, etc.), redirect to the acceptable behavior, then reward with praise, and/or treats.  To this day, there are unfortunately still a number of professional trainers that adopt this approach.

While this may achieve direct results, this approach may lead to other issues such as lack of trust, skittishness around people, and even neurotic tendencies.  Thus, even with the reward at the end, once the correct behavior is observed in the dog, it can come at the expense of the dog’s perception of the human-dog bond and even his mental health.

The best trainers follow a reward-based approach to training, where there is redirection from the unwanted behavior, but without the correction.  After redirection to the appropriate behavior is achieved, it is rewarded with praise and treats.  As the dog is rewarded time and again with treats, he learns to associate the preferred behavior in a positive light.  They cease engaging in the unwanted behavior, not because they are punished for it, but because of are rewarded when they exhibit the correct behavior, and they view in a positive light.  In other words, they behave because they want to, not out of fear if they do not.

Of course, the redirect and reward approach requires more patience to achieve results.  However, if you are patient, you will achieve better results, while actually enhancing your bond with your dog and optimizing his mental health; instead of compromising the bond or negatively affecting the dog mentally, as punishment as a training method does.

In a veterinary clinical setting, we need our canine patients to accept some level of restraint in order to properly examine them, take blood samples, take x-rays, and administer treatment.  Rather than force the restraint when they are scared, we always strive for a “less is more” approach, inviting the owner to cradle the patient’s head, pet and comfort, and offer peanut butter or cheese whiz to positively distract them.

What I have learned in the many years I have been practicing veterinary medicine, is that dogs have much longer memories than we give them credit for.  For example, some dogs do not appreciate the intranasal Bordetella vaccine that gets shot up the nostril.  I can’t tell you how many start to show apprehension the moment I approach them with a Bordetella booster a full year later!  Thankfully, they also remember that they will be getting a yummy treat immediately after tolerating the vaccine, which helps to gain forgiveness and regain trust for the moment of unpleasantness.

While a Bordetella vaccine is not punishment, it is an example of a very brief unpleasant experience that many dogs clearly do not forget a full year later.  Thus, next time you may have the impulse to yell at your dog for doing something bad, try instead redirecting away from the behavior and rewarding with a favorite treat when the correct behavior is observed.

I have two behaviors that my dogs engage in that frustrate me.  One is that they are severely triggered by the doorbell or a knock at the front door, especially the UPS or Amazon guy.  They will literally jump the over the couch, charge the door, and bark like lunatics, and never ceasing to startle the heck out of the human occupants of the house.

While the Amazon and UPS guys come and go quickly, the front door trigger can be particularly obnoxious when we have guests, and the dogs are jumping around them and doing figure eights while they are trying to enter the front door.  At the same time, I am not a believer in locking my dogs up in the bedroom or in their crates when I have guests over.  My house is their home as well and I feel it is wrong to socially isolate them for the sake of the human guests who will only be here a short time.  I actually have no tolerance for people who take offense for my dogs being part of the human gathering in their own home.

That stated, it is also not fair to allow my guests to get stampeded by my overly triggered dogs.  As such, I have a readily accessible bag of high value treats for when guests arrive, I redirect my triggered dogs into my bedroom behind a baby gate and give them treats.  Once my guests are settled and the dogs are no longer triggered, I let them out, give them treats again, and let them mingle with my guests.

My dogs’ other frustrating unwanted behavior is relentlessly begging for human food when we are cooking or sitting down to a meal.  Rather than yell at them when they are begging, I again access the high value treats, direct them to their beds (we have one bed for each dog on either end of the dining room), give them a treat for laying down; then after we finish eating, offer them a treat for staying and not begging.  If it is dinner, they are immediately fed after we eat, giving them the ultimate reward for being good while we eat our dinner in peace.

As much as we love our dogs, they can be frustrating, especially when they are young and learning.  We should always be cognizant that yelling at them or exhibiting anything punitive ultimately hurts our cause in seeking appropriate behaviors and can even compromise the human-dog bond.  Try to always direct toward desired behaviors in a positive way and we will get the best out of our dogs!

Dr. Roger Welton is a practicing veterinarian and highly regarded media personality through a number of topics and platforms. He is the author of his top selling memoir The Man In The White Coat: A Veterinarian’s Tail Of Love. In addition to this writing this blog, Dr. Welton also hosts the popular Space Coast Pet Podcast.  He is the CEO and chief attending veterinarian of Premier Veterinary Care in Viera, FL.

Restrain Your Ankle Biter Dog!

Since this just happened to me – again – just yesterday, I am about to vent!  For those of you that do not enjoy my rants, navigate away now, for I am annoyed!

As an avid runner, I was in the midst of a 5 K run yesterday as I was about to pass a woman with a Miniature Pinscher on a leash walking toward me with her face in her phone texting (or Facebooking, or Snapchatting, etc., etc.).  If she had bothered to look up from her phone, she could have seen from half a mile away if she actually cared to restrain her dog from attacking my ankles mid stride as I passed her.  Since here eyes were not poised to look up from her phone anytime soon, I actually yelled, “On your left, restrain your dog!” having been there, done that far too many times with clueless people and their little dogs and knew what was to come.

Despite her looking up and seeing me with plenty of time to collect her dog, she did not, and once again, I had a seemingly rabid little dog attacking my ankles as I nearly tripped over the leash as I ran by.  As a string of expletives were on the tip of my tongue to hurl that the woman, my self control thankfully won the day and I simply turned around and shot her a look of death.  While she did not even bother to apologize, I am hoping that the fact that she could not maintain eye contact with me for more than a nanosecond got enough of the point across that she has learned from this experience and will not let it happen again, I am afraid that I am not optimistic.

Let me be clear that as the former owner of a Yorkie, this is not a rant against little dogs.  It is instead a rant against the lazy, ignorant, and discourteous fools that all too often adopt these little dogs without the faintest clue of how to raise them or seek out help to assist them.  All they see is a cute little thing that looks like a little stuffed animal that they think will live on their lap and travel in their purse.  They have no idea that many of these little dogs ( Terriers, Min Pins, Chihuahuas, etc.) if not properly trained and socialized can be very territorial and have a bad case of “little man syndrome” not unlike that of Scooby Doo’s Nephew, Scrappy Doo.

I can empathize with people who get themselves into situations that they do not understand.  I can forgive them for having no clue how to train little dogs and even for failing to seek professional help when they clearly are out of their league.  What I CANNOT forgive is the inability to recognize that your dog is going to attack my ankles as I run past him and do nothing to reign in the length of the leash to prevent it, or have your face so cluelessly buried in your phone that you fail to even know that I am approaching (not to mention all of the other surroundings walkers should be aware of for safety’s sake!

That is all.  I feel much better!

Dr. Roger Welton is a practicing veterinarian and well regarded media personality throughout a number of subjects and platforms.  In addition to being passionate about integrative veterinary medicine for which he is a nationally renowned expert, Dr. Welton was also an accomplished college lacrosse player and remains to this day very involved in the sport.  He is president of Maybeck Animal Hospital , runs the successful veterinary/animal health  blogs Web-DVM and Dr. Roger’s Holistic Veterinary Care, and fulfills his passion for lacrosse through his lacrosse and sport blog, The Creator’s Game.