There are no shortcuts in dog training.

Originally posted 03/13/23

I am going to anger, frustrate, or alienate a lot of people with this post.  

Some will be dog trainers.

Some will be dog owners.

Here's the thing:  I don't care.  What I say below needs to be said.

And more importantly, what I say below needs to be heard - by many dog owners, and not a few dog trainers as well.

Ready for it?

Here we go.

"Obedience IS the answer."

The answer to what?

Your dog's anxiety problem.

Your dog's aggression problem.

Your dog's over-excitement problem.

Your dog's fence running/fence fighting problem.

Your dog's leash reactivity problem.

Your dog's vet visit problem.

Your dog's groomer visit problem.

Your dog's toenail cutting problem.

Your dog's humping you, the kids or grandkids, and everything else in sight problem.

Your dog's overly exuberant mouthing, jumping, barking, nipping, dumpster-diving, counter-surfing, or biting problem.

Shall I continue, or do you see the point?

A look at Dog Trainers who don't believe in Obedience.

Let's begin with the dog trainers out there who are eagerly telling owners (while taking their hard-earned money):

"I can fix your dog in 2 to 3 sessions, you don't need obedience."

"I can fix your dog in a 2-week board & train program, you don't need obedience."

"I can fix your dog at a 4 hours workshop or seminar, you don't need obedience."

The funny thing is, whether you're working with a positive-only trainer (rewards only, no corrections), or a balanced trainer (one who will correct a dog for poor behavior, as well as rewarding good behavior) - there are both types of dog trainers out there who will tell you don't need to do any work in training obedience to fix your dog's problems.

That's like saying you don't need to teach a child to count before teaching them addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division!

In the positive-only camp, we have well-meaning trainers (and yes, behaviorists) who tend to focus primarily on the problem behaviors their clients present to them; offering management, desensitization and counter-conditioning techniques, sometimes paired with behavioral medications and lots and lots of treats.  

And their technique for treating your dog's separation anxiety, or fear of having ear or eye drops put in, or having toenails cut, etc. MIGHT just work - for awhile.

Until the next thing happens - some new anxiety or phobia rears its ugly head.  Some other new problem behavior 'mysteriously' appears.

But there is actually no mystery here.  A bunch of cookies, and a few desensitization exercises rarely 'fix' the underlying problem that caused the initial behavior problem to start with.  

So, your dog has now developed another issue...and another, and another...and so it goes, with ever more and more trainer sessions to pay for, and medications to try...and always the next problem is just around the corner for you and your dog.  Pretty nifty set-up for the trainer, though.

In the 'balanced' training approach, there are trainers who are just as bad, but on the other end of the spectrum.  These trainers are also under the gun to 'fix' the issues, and to do so quickly.  Because they use both rewards and corrections, they feel like they have all the answers when reward-only based training has failed.

If they're not laying a strong foundation of obedience with a dog before addressing problem behaviors, the balanced trainers face the same problem the positive-only trainer does:  risking a confused, untrained dog whose next list of problem behaviors is just around the corner.

But, there is a bigger problem than just failed shortcuts here.  In the case of balanced trainers, there is the danger of falling into the trap of applying corrections too early (and yes, sometimes too harshly).

Too often, we see dogs who've come from positive-only trainers who've failed them by not providing the dog the tools to ease their own anxiety or other problems.  

And, we see dogs who've come from balanced trainers who have become more anxious, more aggressive, etc., due to overly-harsh corrections, or simply from rushed training efforts that have also failed them.

This only sets the positive-only Vs. balanced trainer debate more firmly in motion, with one side yelling "You're abusive to dogs!" and the other yelling back, "Your methods don't work!"

Meanwhile, the dogs - and their owners on the sidelines - are the ones left with the short end of the stick.

What about those dog owners?  Don't they hold some responsibility?

Dog Owners who don't understand/believe in the power of obedience.

To answer the above question - yes!  Dog owners also hold some responsibility here.  

They need to understand the power of obedience training, and what it can do for their dogs.

But, it's hard to fault the dog owners out there when some of today's most popular internet dog trainers are telling them they don't need obedience for their dogs.

Plus - Obedience training isn't always sexy.  It takes commitment, patience, and dedication.

Sorry to tell you, dog owners of the world - this is something many of you lack.  

As a trainer of more than 30 years, the number of clients I see today really willing to put in the amount of time, mindfulness, and commitment to training is greatly reduced from when I began training in 1990.

Owners today want shortcuts as much as the trainers want to give the shortcuts to them.

In our fast-paced, instant-gratification world, owners don't want to spend weeks and weeks methodically teaching Fido to heel, sit, stay, lie down, and come.

What those owners (and trainers) fail to realize is that the time and effort it takes to teach some very basic life skills to the dog also builds trust, communication, and a relationship that will last a lifetime.

But too many owners want the magic pill or piece of equipment that will skip the work and "just make him come when called."

"Make her like other dogs."

"Make her be ok when we leave for 8 to 10 hours a day, 5 days a week."

"Make him not pull so hard on the leash...I don't care if he actually heels."

And on and on goes the list of problems - most of which are solved not by shortcuts and pills and equipment, but by taking the time to teach the dog how to live in our complex human world.

What IS Obedience?  And WHY is it the answer?

So, what's the solution?

Well, we've come full circle.  

Earlier in this post, I said trying to solve a dog's problems without obedience training is like trying to teach complex math to a child who hasn't learned to count.

That comparison is spot on.  

Obedience training gives the owner and dog a common language.  This is just like the child we teach the alphabet & number systems to - before we expect them to do math & read!

Obedience training gives dogs a picture of our crazy human world that is reliable and predictable...in turn, making THEM more predictable and reliable.

Obedience training gives the dog a set of skills, that when applied consistently to real life, turns into a set of character traits that any high-functioning being needs to get along well in the world (namely: attentiveness, confidence, patience, self-discipline, predictability, reliability, and dependability).

Who wouldn't want that for their dog?

But, again, obedience training takes time, dedication, and commitment.  It's <gasp!> WORK.

It's way sexier to just slap a few 'quick fixes' on a dog than to put in the time to teach it, guide it through our complex lives, and build a relationship with it.

Hmmm....come to think of it...isn't that why you got a dog in the first place?  To share in a relationship with a completely alien mind?  

So, the next time you read a facebook or instagram post from some celebrity dog trainer telling you that you don't need obedience, give this post some thought.

After all - would you expect your human child to function well if their teachers took extreme shortcuts in their education?

Why would you shortcut your dog?

PLEASE NOTE:  None of this is to say there is no usefulness in many of the techniques and equipment used by our colleagues, both positive-only & balanced.

It IS to say that many times those same problems that prompted the need for their short-lived solutions would have been solved through communication through obedience training, without the need for medications on one end of the spectrum, or extreme techniques on the other.

Jennifer Hime is the Owner & Dog Training Director at Front Range K9 Academy in Wheat Ridge, CO.  She can be reached at:  k9counselor.com