Quick Fixes vs. Lifestyle Changes! Learning how to work through behavioral changes for your doggie
Pack Leader Noah goes beyond the foundational aspects of behavioral and obedience training for your dog, as he shares specialized socialization training techniques on the Everyday Animals YouTube channel.
Streaming and dog training shows on television only give generic tips on obedience techniques for your dog, consistent training over time is needed to achieve lasting results. Pack leader Noah goes deeper and breaks it down in his newest video about obedience training your dog. It is about “quick fixes versus lifestyle choices,” when “teaching” your dog commands and behaviors. “Lifestyle issues” are really at the core of the “behavioral issues” that people experience with their dogs. There is really no quick fix to behavioral issues. Pack leader Noah shares how dedication to changing your dog’s behavior over time is necessary then to temporal, quick remedies . Pack Leader Noah explains how dogs are essentially “products of their environment,” and that is how they learn.
Dogs pick up their behaviors from the environment around them. This cannot be stressed enough. Ultimately, dogs look to us for guidance and if we let them do whatever they want, and tolerate this over time, these patterns will be hard wired an hard to unlearn. Then new patterns of behavior would need to be thought to them as well, in order to unlearn this.
Rehoming a shelter dog is an opportunity to teach them new habits. However, this is best left to a professional or some one who is experienced with the rehabilitation of shelter dogs, as it is really a big undertaking. Continuing training over time, until “each repetition becomes it’s own habit” is essentially what “behavioral training” is all about. When asking something of a dog, you have to “follow through,” as being consistent is key for your dog. In order for dogs to learn properly you must be consistent with your commands, so as to avoid any confusion when they interpret what it is you are asking of them. “Follow through” Is most important when training animals, as humans we are their “teachers,” “stewards,” and “mentors” and all that dogs ask of us in return is simply clarity. It is important to note that “our dogs can change to the exact proportion and degree” that we change.
Problems that are simple can be solved with a few training lessons but for dogs with difficult issues, it will take more than that. For some really problematic issues, the method of “board and train” works best. Noah recommends doing your homework by gauging past results when embarking on this training method, and notes that for this to be successful, you need follow through. Without follow up lessons, when dogs leave the trainers house and go back to the environment that created these issues, then they will resume the same habits.
Having worked with shelter dogs and dogs that had been neglected, Noah recommends “six months of reprogramming,” “exposure to new situations,” and “building new foundational habits” in the form of learning how to socialize.
Noah has worked with neglected dogs and points out how dogs go through “sensitive periods” when they should be exposed to new things. If they are not exposed to a variety of new things during this period, it will be more difficult to do so when these problems arise in the future, and they will. For puppies especially this is important, as they should be exposed to the greatest variety of things and as often as possible. They should also be given “the opportunity to explore”as they are most receptive to learning when they are at a young age. These guidelines can be implemented when you are training your dog.
