Dog training art and the systematic process

Dogs shopping at outlet malls on Black Friday 08

Dog training the importance of art and the systematic process

This article started as a dog training article but it ended up as a Lifestyle Support Dog^® Article. As my training style evolves, I find what dogs can teach us about life isfar more interesting than the act of dog training itself.

Two events prompted me to write this article. First is what clients think of my amazing ability to get what seems like magical results. The second area of interest that prompted me to write in July are the processes that make for good animal husbandry practices.

When I train dogs I use two different systems of training. Many dog trainers will immediately think I mean mixed system of reinforcement and traditional training. And yes I will often incorporate a balanced dog training style into my programs. However, I am referring to a more subtle and important combination of training approaches. It’s balancing the art of dog training with a training “process.” The process is what leads to a predictable outcome. What I can do as a dog behavior artist is not what the owner can do. The advantage of artfully composing a behavior is that the dog will now have that response in its recent history. In addition to being historically significant, the behaviors are also put into a social context that makes them more easily accessible to the owner. To make it more probable for the dog’s owner to achieve a predictable response I will teach a well defined “process.” My ability to develop and teach a process as well as the owner’s ability to implement the process will determine how well the dog does.

While an easily defined process can illustrate teaching the owner how to train their dogs, there is also a more subtle and difficult process for teaching the art.

When working with a dog training apprentice I will try to teach the art as well as the client side process. The client side process is the easiest to teach, but art requires one to know what the dog’s humans really needs. In fact to know what the client needs is a different but related art to working the dog. Dog training is so fascinating because it reaches into every aspect of human nature.

My ability to work dogs may be what clients are impressed by, but it’s the processes I’ve developed that make it so owners can get predictable dog training results.

The importance of a “process” can be illustrated by a dog that went home for a short stay and returned to me in a less than desirable state. When a dog stays with me I carefully manage all aspects of its life in the safest and most efficient manner I know. Even though I carefully manage the dog’s life I also anticipate the inconsistencies of the dog returning home to a chaotic and possibly unstructured life. This particular dog needed careful management of its food intake or it would develop loose stools. It went home with firm stools and was returned with loose stools and a bloody sore butt. I was so disappointed to see this, and it got me thinking about the repeatable “process” that I use to prevent loose stools from happening. I do tell owners when the dog goes home some simple procedures they can follow to prevent their dog’s from developing loose stools. The two most important parts of the process are don’t change the food and feed several small meals instead of a lot of food at any one meal. And I will tell owners to call me if they have any questions or problems. I wish owners would call as soon as a problem is noticed. Problems are often easiest to remedy at the very beginning, before they become chronic. With a lot of extra work I will hopefully get the dog back to a normal state in 2 or 3 days. However that will impact the process I have for training. Now the dogs training will be behind schedule and I will not be able to take in another dog for sometime.

In this case, the output of the owner’s feeding process has become an undesirable input for the training process. The output of the feeding process has interrupted the training process, as well as many other aspects of my life. We must consider that each one of us is putting out results that will be the input for another process, or system. Because the outcome of this dogs visit home has been more variable than I would like, it will prompt a revision of the home visitation process. I will also enforcing some other parts of my process more strictly. Unfortunately I relaxed some of my rules for this client and got results more variable than I wanted. Some systems are flexible and have broad operating parameters and others have very narrow limits for operational reliability.

Societies can encourage robust systems with the appropriate rule. Formal institutions such as corporations and governments do not establish social rules in isolation. In the long run it is the contributions of individuals that make lasting changes to the institutions of society.

With dogs, many operational parameters are predetermined by the dog’s genetic makeup. This genetic component as well as how processes influence behavior is something I mention in my new book “Dog Training Best Friends Learning Together.”