Am I teaching my dog bad habits?
Nine times out of ten, there's a human somewhere in the story.
We hate to break it to you.
That barking at the door.The jumping up.The pulling on the lead.The dog who completely ignores “come” until you've shouted it fourteen times.
There is very often a common denominator.
You!
Don't worry. You're in good company. After more than 40 years of practical dog training, we've met thousands of perfectly lovely owners who have accidentally trained their dogs to do exactly the things they now want us to stop.
And yes, we've done it too.
Dogs are brilliant at training humans
Your dog scratches at the door. You open it.
They bark at you. You give them attention.
They drop a ball on your lap while you're working. You throw it.
They pull towards another dog. You follow.
They stare at you while you're eating.
You resist.
They keep staring.
You resist some more.
Eventually, a tiny piece of chicken mysteriously falls from your plate.
Congratulations. Your dog has just completed another successful human-training session.
The important bit is that dogs repeat behaviours that work.
And sometimes, without realising it, we're the ones making them work.
“But He Knows He's Not Allowed…”
Does he?
Or does he know he's not allowed when you're standing there looking at him?
There's a difference.
Dogs aren't sitting at home contemplating the household rulebook. They're learning from what happens before and after their behaviour.
If jumping up gets attention sometimes, jumping is worth trying.
If recall means the fun always ends, coming back becomes considerably less attractive.
If pulling gets them to the interesting smell faster, pulling worked.
If barking makes you appear from another room...
Guess who's coming when called now?
Consistency. The boring answer nobody wants.
We'd love to tell you there's a secret dog-training trick known only to people who've been doing this for decades.
There isn't.
Experience actually teaches you something much less exciting:
What you do consistently matters far more than what you do occasionally.
You can't spend Monday teaching your dog not to jump up and Tuesday laughing while they put their paws on your shoulders because you've got your nice clothes on and they're being cute.
Well, you can.
Just don't blame the dog on Wednesday.
Your dog is always learning
Training doesn't only happen when you've got a treat pouch on and announce, “Right, we're doing some training.”
It's happening when you open the front door.
When visitors arrive.
When you put the lead on.
When you're cooking dinner.
When you're tired.
When you're distracted.
And especially when you say “just this once.”
Because dogs are exceptionally good at turning just this once into our new arrangement.
That's where experience comes in
A large part of professional dog training isn't simply teaching the dog.
It's spotting the little things happening between the dog and owner that are creating or maintaining the behaviour.
Sometimes they're incredibly subtle.
After more than 40 years working practically with dogs, you get rather good at noticing them.
Which is why at Homely Petz, we don't just train dogs.
We train the other end of the lead too.
Neil's Top Tip
Before asking, “Why does my dog keep doing this?” ask yourself one question: “What happens immediately afterwards?”You might discover your dog has been getting exactly what they wanted all along.
Homely Petz — Since 2006 in the UAEDog Training • Stay & Train • Home Dog Training • Behaviour Support📞 050 8717 073 | 054 447 3011
Experience matters. Especially when it's your dog.
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