At BK, there are certain philosophies that we live by. They are the framework through which we breed, raise, train, communicate, and live with our dogs. Some are based on scientific fact, some are based on our own worldview, and all are shaped by our experience and what has worked for us as trainers and owners. Over the next few months we’ll continue to add to the list.
While our focus and passion is on working breeds and German Shepherds in particular, most of these will apply to any other breed of dog.
Everything your dog does wrong is your own fault
Let me say that again. Everything your dog does wrong is your own fault. Your dog destroyed the couch? You shouldn’t have left her out while you were away from the house. Your dog tore up your shoes while you were cooking dinner? You shouldn’t have allowed him out of your sight long enough to do it, and you shouldn’t have left your shoes where he could get to them. Your dog peed on the floor? You should have noticed the signs that she needed to go and let her outside ahead of time. Your dog bites a stranger? You shouldn’t have let a stranger approach your dog. If the problem is training related, you need to be a better trainer. If the problem is behaviour related, you need to be better at managing behaviour. Dogs do dog shit. It’s your job to teach your dog what is and is not acceptable. Everything your dog does wrong is your fault.
Manage, Manage, Manage
Our dogs don’t destroy our things. Not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t have the opportunity to. From the minute a new dog enters our house, we control its environment. At first, the dog will spend every waking minute in the house either on a leash attached to me, in a crate, on a “place” bed, or in an exercise pen. Over the course of months, as the dog starts to show me that it can be trusted with more freedom, its environment then gets expanded by allowing it free run of whatever room I’m in (but still not out of sight). As he continues to show me he can be trusted, he earns more and more freedom, to the point of being allowed free run of the house while I’m away. If I slip up by allowing the dog too much freedom and it gets into trouble, we dial back to the previous step and keep going. Depending on the dog this process can take anywhere from 6 to 12 months, and in some cases the dog might never earn full freedom.
By controlling your dog’s environment and allowing it to earn its freedom, you solidify yourself as the centre of your dog’s universe, you prevent the dog from learning how awesome it feels to destroy a pair of shoes or tear up a couch, and you ensure that you don’t put your dog in a position where it gets itself into trouble for something that was your own fault.
Communicate to be understood
“My dog understands what my wife and I are saying when we talk about him”
No it doesn’t.
Dogs don’t understand words, they associate sounds and prioritize body language. If you observe the communication between a mother dog and her pups, you’ll notice it’s almost completely silent. There’s the occasional growl or bark, but for the most part there’s no sound at all. Dogs are supremely attuned to body language, but associating the sound of words with a desired action or object is much more difficult.
Not only do dogs not understand human language, they don’t even possess the concept of spoken language. Your dog doesn’t know that its name is a name, because it doesn’t know that names are a thing. It associates the sound you make with your mouth with whatever it is you usually expect of it when you make the sound that corresponds with its name. Similarly, the dog doesn’t understand that “sit” is a word with an intrinsic meaning, it understands that you expect a certain behaviour out of it when you make that particular sound. Without consistent practice your dog is unlikely to generalize the meaning of a specific sound outside the physical environment in which it is learned. This is why a dog that is “perfectly” trained in the house might seem to forget its training in a different environment. The training hasn’t been forgotten; the dog just doesn’t understand that the sit means the same thing at the park as it does in the living room. This does not in any way diminish the intelligence of dogs, but it should certainly inform how we communicate with them.
Clearly define expectations
“My dog is perfectly trained, watch.”
“Rover, sit. Sit. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. SIT! ROVER SIT!”
Rover sits.
“See that?!” Big grin.
We’ve all seen some version of this scenario before. Most dog owners don’t take the time to define, in detail, the behaviour they expect the dog to associate with their commands. In this case, the handler has unknowingly taught the dog that “sit” means that its butt is to hit the ground at some point after hearing the “sit” sound, but before you get so frustrated that it becomes an unpleasant experience for him. But was he responding to the first sit, the second one, the long sit, the loud sit, his name followed by a loud sit? Who knows.
While this level of training might acceptable to some - maybe most - dog owners, it doesn’t fly here. We define “Sit” as follows: Upon hearing the command, the dog immediately stops whatever else it is doing, puts its butt on the ground, pays attention to the handler, and stays in position until it is released. Our training is then geared towards teaching the dog to meet this standard and, once the behaviour is learned, the dog is then held accountable for consistently meeting the defined criteria.
The same goes for any other command. Whether it’s sit, down, come, place, it doesn’t matter. Define exactly what you want the dog to do upon hearing the command, train to that definition, and hold the dog accountable.
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The only guarantee when putting out content like this is that someone will tell us we’re dead wrong. Which is fine. Just don’t be an asshole about it.
Check back for more soon!
