You see now, many years later as not just a dog trainer and behavioural consultant, but as a perpetual student of animal behaviour and behavioural science – I really understand everything that took place in that training session. The scare tactics that was used to elicit a fear response from the dogs, thus conditioning (creating an association) of the Word “Baah” and throw of the chain and the fear that the dogs felt in that original moment (which was a significant amount of fear) and why my dogs really liked to alert bark at anyone who came to my house for years afterwards. Training by playing on the fear in an animal that is breed to be relatively easily spooked is really not training – it is bullying – but let me get back to the point.
Within a matter of weeks the effectiveness of the “Baah” and the Throw chain began to fade in significance to the dogs. Why? Well here is the trouble with punishment – as there was not continued “Baah” = Fear pattern, it began to fade in significance (there was no consequence to the warning if you will). Throwing the chain towards the dogs during heightened episodes of barking (if there was a person walking near the property for example) lead to complete ignoring of the chain as there “pain” of hearing the clinking chain paled in significance to the excitement and thrill of chasing the potential intruders.
We continued to throw the chain and yell the “Baah” even though it was having little to no impact to the dogs behaviour over all – and nor did we bother to call the trainer back to help us re-fix our dogs. (The reality is these guarantees are one of the best marketing ploys available – charge a little extra – if they call back they haven’t been using the training properly – meaning guarantee is void – if they don’t call back I have made some extra cash).
The reality is left to their own devices, regardless of their dogs, most dog owners will fall back into old patterns once the trainer has left the building. Sooner or later the dog will begin to display the same if not similar behaviour (and if the fallout of the Bullying Training is particular bad – the behaviour will be significantly worse) will eventually show it’s head as the dog begins to realise that – the consequence is bearable, or that it is inconsistent or what it thought was scary is indeed non-existent.
It may take weeks, months or years (most I give 6 months) but eventually these quick fixes begin not to seem so fixed, and defiantly not so quick. These quick fix trainers also don’t provide the dog owners with enough real information to change their own behaviours for a prolonged period of time, let alone their dogs. While telling someone they are not being a pack leader may seem impressive – it actually has little context – during these training session except to justify any pain (be it physical – with a check chain – or emotional – as with “Baah”) and fear that is inflicted on the dog.
When I began studying dog training and formulating Doggy Dogma’s processes for training modifications – I began to realise that to truly implement training I couldn’t “dump and run” the training to novice would be dog training owners – that they must be supported in the changed that they are implementing – not just for the benefit of the dog, but also for the owner. Doggy Dogma is about understanding the knowledge and truth behind dog training – as well as the mechanical skill of training itself…
