Dog Training and Management Go Hand in Hand

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(Free-Press-Release.com) September 20, 2011 -- Meeting with the management – How Training and Management Go Hand in Hand

Whether you think of management as a team of supervisors, responsible for leading employees or as a means to control a situation, it’s not uncommon to link the word with the idea of success.

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Dog Training and Management Go Hand in Hand

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When training your dog, proper management can make or break a successful training session and can turn monstrous, frustrating behaviors into controllable tidbits. While it’s always advisable to seek training for your pup from a professional positive trainer, simple changes in your lifestyle can provide you the peace of mind you and your dog are looking for.

Management is defined as controlling a situation or environment so that your dog is unable to practice inappropriate behavior. This does not replace proper training, but if you’re short on training time due to the demands of life, management can sure help out. In fact, it’s often the introduction of management that solves many dog behavior woes.

Give an inch?

There’s something truly uplifting about watching your dog run free. Uninhibited, ears flying, legs stretched out to their fullest – it’s an activity we enjoy almost as much as our dogs. But if your dog’s recall isn’t the greatest, you could be setting up both you and your Fido for a major training fail. If you aren’t completely sure that your dog will come back to you in a distracting environment off leash, it’s smarter to first work on that behavior while on leash.

Start in a fenced area with your dog on a six foot leash. Entice them to return to you by calling their name or running the other way with the leash still in your hand, taking care not to yank your dog. Once your dog meets back up with you, reward with a treat or their favorite toy. You can repeat this exercise with longer leads: try 10 feet, then 15 feet. If you can’t trust that your dog will return to you from a distance of 20 feet while on leash, the chances are much slimmer if they are 50 feet away from you, in the woods, smelling a delicious animal carcass.

*Note: NEVER scold your dog for not returning to you. You want to always be the best thing since sliced bread to your dog; by rewarding them for coming, you are convincing them that you’re worth it! The more times this happens, the more likely your dog’s return.

Aggression

Working with a professional animal behaviorist is strongly encouraged when your dog is exhibiting aggression. With that said, you can still help manage the situation by installing baby gates and crating dogs when they are unsupervised.
If you have dogs that are resource guarders, manage the situation by always keeping valuable resources out of reach. Giving two dogs that are always at odds the opportunity to have their prize in peace could be what keeps you out of the emergency vet’s waiting room.

Dogs that are aggressive toward strangers would usually rather be away from people! Rather than forcing them to interact, provide them with some downtime perhaps in another (closed off) room or in their crate. Aggression towards other dogs makes walks and outings difficult but not impossible. While working with a trainer will help you and your dog progress behaviorally, management still has a place when dealing with a dog-aggressive dog. Take a different route than most of your neighbors, drive to a hiking trail rather than walk through your neighborhood, and choose grassy routes rather than sidewalks.

If you happen upon another dog, do not force your dog to interact or pass by. Instead, turn the other way and head in an opposite direction. This will provide your pup with the distance they are usually seeking and can often communicate that they don’t need to be aggressive in order to gain space.

Bad behavior

If your dog is a counter-surfer (i.e. they love to help themselves to items left out on the counter) placing things away or out of reach will reduce the temptation. If you have a determined scavenger on your hands, blocking access to the kitchen can prevent food-snatching. Jumping on guests can be embarrassing for a dog owner, which is why attaching a leash prior to guests crossing the threshold is one way to keep the situation under control. A properly crate trained dog can be placed in the crate while guests get in and settled. Once canines and humans are relaxed, your dog can be let out on leash to come hang out with the group. Is Puppy chewing up your Manolos? That’s the perfect excuse to head to the furniture store and nab a handsome shoe cabinet! If your shoes are put away, Fido will never know the joys of clenching down on soft, supple leather.

Right where I want you

Once you have a situation under control, it’s much easier to train alternative behaviors and reward the correct behaviors.
Looking back at our example of greeting guests, a dog that is on a leash is less likely to be able to reach someone they want to jump on. The dog’s alternative? Sit or stand with all paws on the floor. This is the perfect moment to reward with attention from the guest!

If you are working on training your dog to come when called, it helps set your dog up for success by having them on a leash. The chances of them running away are slim, which means you get to reward them when they come! Managing your dog’s environment also means setting it up so that he succeeds! If you ask your dog to sit and they don’t, take a look around at the distractions in the area. Is it louder than normal? Maybe there are smells your dog is not used to. Once you locate the distractions, move to an area of lower distractions so that your dog can be successful.

Learning and living

Consistently managing the environment means you control everything your puppy is exposed to; which is perfect because the more your dog practices a behavior, the better they get at it! Keeping your puppy confined to a crate when unsupervised (management) means that Spot will never know the joys of a paper towel carcass. Instead, you can show Spot how fun it is to chew on an appropriate chew toy (redirection), then later you can train your pup to let that toy out of their mouth by playing with them the more they let it go (training). Management doesn’t necessarily teach your dog anything but ripping the new toilet paper roll to shreds does: do this again because it’s awesome! That’s definitely not what we want our pups to learn!

It’s important to constantly supervise your dog, enroll them in professional training classes that promote positive reinforcement. Make sure to always have your dog within your line of sight until you know you can trust them unattended. Even then, be sure to pick up items you value. Remember, dogs don’t put a dollar value on things like we do: “If it’s fun, it needs to be done!” Manage their access to things and you’ll notice a lot of your frustrations fall by the wayside.

About the author

Eryka Kahunanui is a relationship coach and owner of Kahuna’s K9s dog training in Prince Frederick, Maryland. She is a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CPT) and an Animal Behavior College Certified Dog Trainer (ABCDT). She is dedicated to teaching dogs and their owner’s life skills and raising awareness about dog and children safety as a presenter for Dog Gone Safe.

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