5 Misconceptions in Dog Training

With social media being a go to ‘reference’, there is so much misinformation in the orbit about dog training. It’s hard to discern what is fact and what is fiction!

Here are 5 common misconceptions that are quite common, that are totally incorrect!

🐶 ‘I need to teach my dog who’s boss, or they won’t respect me’.

At one point in our journey with dogs, there was a common held belief that we needed to dominate them. This is based on a largely disproven theory, but we still have some residual from that mindset.

🐶 ‘If I don’t punish my dog, they won’t know right from wrong’.

Dogs do what is reinforcing to them, the key is to make what you want from them, reinforcing to them, and make the behaviours they want to rehearse, less appealing or incompatible. Dogs deserve us to understand them, and educate about what we expect.

🐶 ‘If my dog is scared of something, they just need to learn it won’t hurt them’.

Fear is such a driving force for many dogs, and forcing them to tolerate the ‘scary thing’ is a guaranteed way to increase that fear. Counter conditioning and desensitisation, are far more effective and ethical.

🐶 ‘My dog isn’t interested in treats so I can’t train them’.

There are so many alternatives options to food, when it comes to training. Play is definitely one of those, but reinforcement is everywhere. Think laterally about what your dog wants and use that.

🐶 My dog knows how to perform a behaviour at home, so they will be able to do it wherever I take them’.

Not all dogs are good at generalising behaviour, in fact most aren’t. So as part of your training, it’s critical to take them to lots of different locations and explain to them, that the same criteria applies in all environments.