What on earth could spaghetti and microwave dinners have to do with dog training? Read on and find out!
Perhaps one of the most common phrases I hear from dog owners is, " my dog only has this one issue that I am trying to fix." Sounds like a pretty easy case right? However, I know as an experienced dog owner/trainer that before I can even begin to work on the dog's issues, I have to get the owner to realize two things. 1. Their dog has more than one issue. 2. These issues are all interrelated.
When I was in high school my home-economics teacher was talking to us about communication between men and women. What she said was that men tend to see their world as a t.v. dinner (each component has its own little compartment and none of these components touch each other (ie. Affect one another). However, women tend to see their world as a plate of spaghetti where all the components of their life are intertwined and most certainly have an effect on each other. Whether this is a good summary of the differences between men and women or not, it can be applied to dog owners and their dogs.
As owners, we tend to think of our dog's unwanted behaviors as a t.v. dinner. Each having it's own separate compartment and therefore having no effect on the other compartments. In addition to that, we tend to "overlook" the compartments that are not important to us or that we are afraid to address (we eat the meat and mashed potatoes but leave the peas). This may be an acceptable way to eat t.v. dinners, but not to train your dog. Why? Because dog behaviors are more like that plate of spaghetti I mentioned earlier. All of their behaviors are infinitely intertwined together like the noodles in your spaghetti. In other words, ALL of their behaviors effect one another and you cannot extract just one behavior without disturbing another.
Okay, enough with the food talk, I am getting hungry! What all this means is that when an owner comes to me and tells me their dog only has ONE issue they need to work on, chances are very good that this is not the entire truth. When observing the dog myself, I will often see other issues that relate to their "must go" issue. These issues are either overlooked by the owner, or the owner decided a long time ago that they couldn't be changed. Even though the owner has become complacent with these secondary behaviors, it does not mean that they do not have to be addressed in order to fix the primary behavior.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about (this is a hypothetical example that is not intended to represent any dog owner in particular, however, if this sounds like you maybe you should give me a call!): An owner comes to me and asks for help with her dog "Bella" because she barks all the time. She insists that this is the only area she needs help in. While observing the dog, I notice the barking, but I also notice a few other things. "Bella" jumps all over me when I walk in the door, she is instantly crawling into my training bag and crawling out with treats in her mouth, once she is bored with my bag she begins scratching at a piece of the carpet, and as soon as she catches the cat out of the corner of her eye she takes off full-tilt toward it.
When I ask the owner about her jumping she admits she jumps but "its not so bad because she is a little dog…unless her feet are muddy…". I then ask about a "Leave it" command to keep her out of things that don't belong to her and she replies "well, we just try to keep everything put away". Next, I mention the hole in the carpet where "Bella" has obviously been taking her boredom out for awhile and get "yeah, but she only does it in that ONE spot". Finally, I ask about the cat and she apologizes and says she usually keeps the cat in a separate room.
What this owner does not realize is that her dog has WAY more than that one issue that needs improvement, there are several issues I have seen just in the first few minutes of arriving at her house. All of these issues are interrelated and must ALL be addressed to fix the issue most important to the owner (the barking).
The dog I just described has a general lack of self control and boundaries. By putting up with some of her issues of self control (the cat and getting into things they shouldn't) you are communicating to her that having no self control is acceptable. Remember that plate of spaghetti? Allowing them to behave impulsively and destructively in some areas affects other areas of their behavior as well. In order to fix the issue of barking, we must let "Bella" know that we expect her to exhibit self control in ALL of the areas she has trouble in, not just the compartments that are most important to us.
Remember: Think Spaghetti, not Microwave Dinner!
Perhaps one of the most common phrases I hear from dog owners is, " my dog only has this one issue that I am trying to fix." Sounds like a pretty easy case right? However, I know as an experienced dog owner/trainer that before I can even begin to work on the dog's issues, I have to get the owner to realize two things. 1. Their dog has more than one issue. 2. These issues are all interrelated.
When I was in high school my home-economics teacher was talking to us about communication between men and women. What she said was that men tend to see their world as a t.v. dinner (each component has its own little compartment and none of these components touch each other (ie. Affect one another). However, women tend to see their world as a plate of spaghetti where all the components of their life are intertwined and most certainly have an effect on each other. Whether this is a good summary of the differences between men and women or not, it can be applied to dog owners and their dogs.
As owners, we tend to think of our dog's unwanted behaviors as a t.v. dinner. Each having it's own separate compartment and therefore having no effect on the other compartments. In addition to that, we tend to "overlook" the compartments that are not important to us or that we are afraid to address (we eat the meat and mashed potatoes but leave the peas). This may be an acceptable way to eat t.v. dinners, but not to train your dog. Why? Because dog behaviors are more like that plate of spaghetti I mentioned earlier. All of their behaviors are infinitely intertwined together like the noodles in your spaghetti. In other words, ALL of their behaviors effect one another and you cannot extract just one behavior without disturbing another.
Okay, enough with the food talk, I am getting hungry! What all this means is that when an owner comes to me and tells me their dog only has ONE issue they need to work on, chances are very good that this is not the entire truth. When observing the dog myself, I will often see other issues that relate to their "must go" issue. These issues are either overlooked by the owner, or the owner decided a long time ago that they couldn't be changed. Even though the owner has become complacent with these secondary behaviors, it does not mean that they do not have to be addressed in order to fix the primary behavior.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about (this is a hypothetical example that is not intended to represent any dog owner in particular, however, if this sounds like you maybe you should give me a call!): An owner comes to me and asks for help with her dog "Bella" because she barks all the time. She insists that this is the only area she needs help in. While observing the dog, I notice the barking, but I also notice a few other things. "Bella" jumps all over me when I walk in the door, she is instantly crawling into my training bag and crawling out with treats in her mouth, once she is bored with my bag she begins scratching at a piece of the carpet, and as soon as she catches the cat out of the corner of her eye she takes off full-tilt toward it.
When I ask the owner about her jumping she admits she jumps but "its not so bad because she is a little dog…unless her feet are muddy…". I then ask about a "Leave it" command to keep her out of things that don't belong to her and she replies "well, we just try to keep everything put away". Next, I mention the hole in the carpet where "Bella" has obviously been taking her boredom out for awhile and get "yeah, but she only does it in that ONE spot". Finally, I ask about the cat and she apologizes and says she usually keeps the cat in a separate room.
What this owner does not realize is that her dog has WAY more than that one issue that needs improvement, there are several issues I have seen just in the first few minutes of arriving at her house. All of these issues are interrelated and must ALL be addressed to fix the issue most important to the owner (the barking).
The dog I just described has a general lack of self control and boundaries. By putting up with some of her issues of self control (the cat and getting into things they shouldn't) you are communicating to her that having no self control is acceptable. Remember that plate of spaghetti? Allowing them to behave impulsively and destructively in some areas affects other areas of their behavior as well. In order to fix the issue of barking, we must let "Bella" know that we expect her to exhibit self control in ALL of the areas she has trouble in, not just the compartments that are most important to us.
Remember: Think Spaghetti, not Microwave Dinner!
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