Q. My dog never seams to learn. What am I doing wrong?

A lovely client of mine recently brought up a situation with her dog that’s so typical it could be any of my clients, and many different kinds of problem. In this blog I talk about why it appears some dogs never seem to learn, and how to fix it, especially if you are working on stuff like barking, mouthing, jumping up, and pulling on the lead.

On this occasion, my client’s dog had been barking like mad at someone outside the window. She tried to manage the situation by putting him in the kitchen. After he’d been quiet for a few minutes, she gave him a treat and let him back in. To her frustration, he went straight back to barking.

So what went wrong?

The first thing that went wrong was timing. In this example, the dog had been barking for a while before she intervened. By the time she took him to the kitchen, several minutes had passed and he couldn’t connect the barking to being removed. If she had taken action on the very first bark, he would have known the barking was the reason for being taken to the kitchen because it happened almost instantly.

Click here to learn more about barking and how to fix it!

Then, she waited a few minutes after he’d been quiet before letting him out, and giving him a treat. By then, her dog had no way of associating being quiet with the reward. For him, being taken to the kitchen, getting a treat, and being let back in again, were three completely unrelated events.

Consequences of Poor Timing

A dog cannot change his behaviour if he doesn’t understand what went wrong. In this scenario, the dog was taken to the kitchen for an unknown reason and let back into the living room for another unknown reason. He didn’t connect the quiet behaviour with the reward of being let back in. This miscommunication can be quite confusing and can knock a dog’s confidence because they don’t understand how to avoid being taken away, or how to earn the reward.

Additionally, the underlying issue causing the barking wasn’t addressed. The barking was prompted by the presence of a person in the street. When the dog returned they resumed barking because the cause of the behaviour hadn’t changed.

Applying Timing to Other Behaviours

This principle of timing applies to other behaviours as well, such as lead pulling. Owners often let their dogs drag them down the street for a few steps, or more, before they get fed up and shout “no pulling.” Then make the dog sit before giving a treat and starting the walk again. As soon as they start walking, the dog rushes back to the front and begins pulling again.

If you want to use the technique of stopping the walk when the lead tightens, you must stop immediately. The dog needs to understand that the walk stops because the lead tightens. When they figure out that a tight lead stops the walk, they will teach themselves to keep it loose to continue moving. There’s no need to pull them back or tell them what to do. Just wait until the lead loosens naturally, and then resume walking.

Click here for more loose lead training tips!

Consistency and simplicity are key. Stop when the lead is tight, and go when it’s loose. The dog will learn what stops and starts the walk. Introducing unnecessary steps, like making the dog sit before moving again, can be confusing. The goal is to keep moving forward, so the training should focus on that.

Addressing Jumping Up and Other Behaviours

Jumping up, begging for food, pawing for play, and mouthing are also behaviours that need immediate and consistent responses from you. If your dog jumps up, turn away immediately. As soon as they are back on the floor, turn around and reward them. Repeat this consistently, and your dog will learn that staying on the ground is the best way to get your attention.

Understanding the Dog’s Perspective

It’s important to remember that dogs don’t get annoyed by their own behaviours. They do things because those behaviours work for them. Barking, jumping, and pulling all achieve something desirable. Even if it’s not obvious to us, their behaviour is rewarding for them in some way.

Dogs don’t stop a behaviour because they get bored or annoyed by it. They stop when it no longer works for them. We often hope that our dogs will get bored of barking or jumping, but they have much more patience for these activities than we do. They’re motivated by the results, not the process.

Taking Action

We know that to change a behaviour, you need to act immediately and consistently. So, start by making a list of all the behaviours you want to change, and note what you want your dog to do instead. Timing is crucial. Stop rewarding the unwanted behaviour as soon as it happens, and instead reward the desired behaviour the second it happens. Be consistent and patient as this process can take weeks, not minutes, to see real, permanent change.

Addressing Underlying Issues

Often the behaviour is driven by underlying issues such as fear or over-excitement. If the root cause isn’t addressed, the behaviour will return. For instance, if your dog is barking because they are scared of people outside, you need to work on building their confidence and reducing their fear. Simply stopping the barking won’t be enough.

In short…

Understand what you don’t want your dog to do, and also what you want them to do instead. Then address the underlying causes of the behaviour. With consistent timing and patience, you can achieve the behaviour you want from your dog. And if you still feel like your dog never seems to learn, there could be other issues, like trauma, that prevent behaviour change. In this case, get help from an experience behaviourist who can help you get to the bottom of it.