In college, I adopted two mixed-breed dogs from the Monroe County Humane Association in Bloomington, Indiana. I named the sisters Aja and Diva (that’s Aja’s nose shot, and Diva playing hide-n-seek — her favorite game), and I thought I knew what I was doing while raising and teaching them. Eight years later I finally realize they weren’t the only ones who had a lot to learn.
I grew up with a menagerie of domestic animals: cats, dogs, birds, little mammals, reptiles and amphibians. But when it came time to raise two wee ones on my own, I seemed to have forgotten a lot of what growing up with animals had taught me. I didn’t socialize Aja and Diva very well: sure, I took them to dog parks once in awhile, but after the wonder twins nipped at a dog or two for trying to join their dynamic duo, I thought it best to keep them away from unknown dogs as much as possible.
My bad. Their lack of socialization has led to some interesting reactions when we walk by other dogs on the street, especially from Diva: though she’s a good-sized dog, she yips like a little tiny poodle and twirls around on her hind feet when we pass another dog on the street. She’s not very well behaved, and Aja has had her fair share issues as well.
Several years ago, I took them to a one-on-one training class led by a nice gentleman who had a successful career as a military K9 trainer. He taught me how to use a choke collar, a few treats and the word “no” to get my dogs to do what I wanted them to do. The classes kind of taught my dogs that I’m the boss, but unfortunately it’s still nearly impossible to walk without them pulling full speed ahead, even when they’re wearing those vicious-looking pinch collars.
So after talking with a local trainer, my wife and I decided to take Aja and Diva to a very different training course at Doggone Connection. The class is based on positive reinforcement: if the dogs do what we want them to, we reward with treats, petting, play, whatever works. If they do what we don’t want them to do, we ignore their behavior rather than yelling “NO!” I always thought rewarding my dogs with treats for good behavior was somewhat of a cheat: they should do what I want them to do simply because I’m the alpha, right? Not true. Sure, they should listen to me, but only because they WANT to listen, not because they fear a quick, harsh yank on their choke chain.
Though I was very skeptical of the positive reinforcement method at first, I’ve been quite impressed with my girls’ progress, enough to stop using their prong collars (I’ve moved to Easy Walk harnesses). I bring a little bag of treats wherever we go, reward good behavior, and look forward to learning more tricks. During last night’s class, Diva was the teacher’s pet: our instructor Wes took her in the middle of the room and had her practice a few exercises requiring intense patience and concentration, and she executed them flawlessly. Afterward, I had her lay down and stay still with a treat resting on her paw for several seconds, after which I rewarded her by handing her the treat. She did this several times, and I was amazed that she learned it in just one class. When we got home later that night, our Yellow Lab Pixie performed the same trick for us (she’s not attending the classes because she’s already well socialized.)
So if you have a dog, young or old, I highly recommend this kind of training. Find a good animal trainer on Angie’s List, let them know what difficulties you and your dog have, and you might be surprised with the results a little education and practice can yield. I tell my wife how happy I am with Aja and Diva’s (and my own) progress, and she’s seen that positive reinforcement truly works. Maybe now she’ll have fresh-baked cookies waiting for me every time I finish mowing the lawn (and cleaning up after our dogs.)
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