There are a lot of different strategies and approaches to training dogs and people. But one fairly consistent concept across them all is to tackle any problem as series of smaller problems, rather than trying to solve or train the entire thing in one go. You don’t teach agility by running a course on day one. You start by learning each piece of equipment and slowly putting them together into runs. You teach obedience, one command at a time.
Breaking a task or problem down into its smallest reasonable pieces, allows you to build competence and complexity of knowledge over time. It can be done with any problem.
For today’s example I’m going to use barking at the mailman. It’s a common issue and you can replace mailman with just about anything else in the environment. I have terriers. If it moves, they want to make sure I know about it. Even when I’ve told them it’s okay, they still think it’s a great game to yell at the man in blue and watch him hurry away. It’s one of those painful, self rewarding activities that are very hard to stop once it gets started.
When we aren’t home, the dogs sleep through the mailman’s visit about 50% of the time. So the game gets old, even for them.
When the dogs bark at the mailman, there are a few mechanisms at play. One, they are alerting to an intruder – never mind that this intruder comes almost every day. Two, their defensive work is always successful because said intruder goes away. Three, it’s so much fun that often the humans yell too.
For me, my ideal outcome is that they fully ignore the mailman. My realistic outcome, I’d like for them to maybe give one or two alert barks, get an all clear from me and we move on with our day. But longer term, I would like a quiet acknowledgement that the mailman has come and gone and we move on with our day.
My first step is to know when the mailman is coming and be prepared to reward an alternative behavior. Luckily we have a doorbell camera and our mailman is fairly consistent with his schedule.
Second, know what I want instead. I need them to not fling themselves at the picture window, acting like rabid maniacs. So initially my success is, I can get their focus off of the mailman and onto me for reward. I use their names, movement, toys and yummy treats. For about a week I cyber stalk the mailman’s arrival and stage my rewards. I have reasonable success but not at a high enough rate to feel like I’m making progress, so I decide I need to start my process before the mailman arrives. This strategy quickly pays dividends and I actually see a glimmer of hope that perhaps I’ll even get my ideal solution.
I know I’m making progress, when I missed the mailman’s approach and was confused when the dogs squared up in front of me, clearly looking for rewards. Luckily I didn’t completely blow it and was successful rewarding in time to hopefully reinforce the choices they made that day.
With these new successes under our belt, I start letting the mailman get closer and closer before initiating my rewards. I am to the point now where I can reward after he’s moved down the block. I have actually achieved a fairly consistent ignoring of the mailman. When we have a new person, they react, but not in an insane way. Their reactions to things are more measured and manageable.
The UPS guy gives them biscuits, so their bark for him is very different and he has his own relationship with the dogs. They sit for him. Let him bring the packages in without dashing out. It’s nice to have delivery folks with skills.
There are a million different challenges and training problems with our dogs, but they all boil down to this very simple approach. Control the environment, manage the stimulus, have high value rewards (the dog sets the value – not the human) and master that timing. If what you are doing isn’t working, try something else.
If you are finding yourself struggling with a training challenge or a behavior you’d like to change, reach out. Solutions take time and work, but I’m happy to help you find the path you want to take. Have wonderful New Year.