04/30/2024
I agree with this 100%!
YOU CANNOT TRAIN A NEED OUT OF A DOG
I am a fan of training in general – which shouldn’t surprise anyone, because after all I am a “dog trainer”. In fact, I begin some sort of training with my dogs from the time they come home as little pups and I continue right into old age.
But perhaps that is because I view training as a way of building connection and providing enrichment, rather than a way of achieving control and “obedience”. Training is an activity that my dogs love and it is an opportunity to connect and do fun things together. Stopping training as they age, would be taking away an enrichment activity that they thrive on, so we keep going, simply adjusting to what they can cope with and what they particularly enjoy.
However, I am also a behaviour practitioner. I have been educated to view animals, not just as operant machines, but as creatures with rich emotional lives. I recognise the fact that behaviour is the expression of a need and the outpouring of an emotion. I believe that having this perspective and deeper knowledge of what drives behaviour makes me a better trainer, because I am aware that there is so much more than just observable behaviour to consider when working with any animal.
Unfortunately, people often use training as a way of making things look better, without actually making them any better on a deeper level – kind of like painting over the cracks in a house when its foundations are crumbling. It might look better for a while, but the entire structure is still unstable and at some point, it is bound to collapse.
Except it is far worse than a crumbling house, because dogs are sentient beings that deserve better than having their underlying emotions ignored. Trying to cover up signs of anxiety, frustration or deprivation by teaching polite behaviours is incredibly cruel and selfish.
Too often I see posts in positive reinforcement-based training groups where people are seeking advice to address a “problem” behaviour and, despite the very obvious signs that the dog in the post is struggling because a fundamental need is not being met, the advice given always focuses purely on training away the behaviour, rather than addressing the underlying need.
I find it incredibly sad and actually quite distressing, that so many dogs are desperately trying to communicate what they need and all supposedly knowledgeable people can focus on is how to stop them expressing that need – even if it is in a “nice” way.
Let me be clear, no amount of “training” is going to stop a dog from showing some signs of extreme boredom or distress, if you leave them alone daily for 8 – 10 hours. Dogs are social animals and you cannot train this out of them. A dog getting overexcited when they interact with you, if they spend hours separated from you outdoors or stuck in a crate, is NOT a training issue – it is a welfare issue. Long periods of confinement and isolation are detrimental to dogs – they were not built for this and trying to train them to accept it is fundamentally unfair. You also cannot expect a dog that never has any freedom of movement when out and about to walk “to heel” all the time. Dogs need to move, to run and to explore and expecting them to spend every walk on a 1 metre leash at your side with no tension on that lead as a means of exercise is completely absurd.
Dogs have fundamental needs for companionship, security, freedom of movement and exploration, among other things. You cannot train these needs out of them and trying to do so is incredibly unfair. Meeting your dogs’ emotional needs is how you go about building a strong foundation for their emotional and behavioural wellbeing, as well as your relationship with them. Training should be a means of enhancing and making that well-built foundation shine – not a way of covering up its cracks.
