Unintentional Training

by Bill Mutter

Training your dog to do what you want him to do can be challenging at times. However, we sometimes train our dogs in ways we aren’t even aware of. This is called Unintentional or Accidental Training.

Your dog learns from the tone or sound of your voice and your body language. They watch us to learn what it is we want of them. We train our dogs even when we don’t intend to. This “training”, because we are unaware we are doing it, often results in negative behavior. Let me give you some examples.

The number one complaint from dog owners is that their dog won’t “come” on command. Have you ever found your shoe or some other object chewed up by your dog? You call your dog to you. You yell at your dog and/or punish him. Remember, your dog lives in the “here and now”. He doesn’t know why you are yelling and/or punishing him (after all he chewed up that shoe HOURS ago!) He can’t connect the chewed shoe to what is going on now; all he knows is that YOU are VERY DISPLEASED with him!

Let’s say another day, you find that he has been in the garbage. Again you call him to you and yell and/or punish him. Later you call your dog to you and give him a bath (which he hates)! Suddenly you notice that when you call your dog to you, he hesitates or simply refuses to come. Why? Simple, by calling your dog to you and yelling and/or punishing him OR doing something to him which HE finds unpleasant, YOU have now unintentionally TRAINED your dog not to come!

Why would he WANT to come to you, when he does, the results are very unpleasant for him? Don’t want to train your dog NOT to COME? NEVER call your dog to you when the reason is unpleasant to him. If the reason is unpleasant to him, GO get him, do not call him to you.

Okay, next example. Some people believe that in training their dog they should correct the dog by rapping the dog on its muzzle with a rolled up newspaper. The dog misbehaves, whap. Dog chews up a shoe, whap, whap. That’ll teach him. Unfortunately, that WILL teach him, but not as you intend.

Dogs are very territorial. They will naturally defend their territory (your home). What your dog has learned is that a rolled newspaper is a weapon, when it appears your dog is going to be hit. Surprise, your dog goes nuts and tries to bite the mailman. Surprise, your dog goes nuts and tries to attack the paperboy! Why? You have unintentionally TRAINED your dog that a rolled up newspaper, or anything resembling it, is a weapon to HURT.

Suddenly, we have someone, some stranger, approaching HIS territory, with this hurtful weapon. So your dog decides to defend his (and your) territory. He defends it as he only knows how, by raising the alarm, and if that doesn’t stop the attacker (as he sees it), biting. I’m sure you never intended for this to happen; your mailman and/or paperboy will understand.

One last quick example. Your dog leaves your yard. You call him in an angry voice (oops, shouldn’t have done that, remember). He doesn’t come, so you go after him; he runs away from you. You call him in a frustrated, angry voice and chase after him. He now runs away thinking it’s playtime. The more you chase him, the more fun he is having at this new game YOU HAVE TAUGHT HIM.

These are just a few examples of the typical “unintentional training” that occurs. How do you undo this unintentional training? We will deal with that in a future article.

As always, it’s easier to prevent than to undo. To prevent it from happening, evaluate your interaction with your dog and try to see it from your dog’s perspective. Try to understand what you’re REALLY communicating to your dog by your actions. When your dog reacts to you or behaves in a manner opposite to what you wish to happen, you are miscommunicating, and could be training your dog UNINTENTIONALLY.

• Dog Training
• Training Your Dog to Think
• Agility Dog Training and Equipment
• Are You Training Your Dog to Have Bad Habits?
• Dog Obedience Training