Stop rehearsing the behaviour you want to change

Stop rehearsing the behaviour you want to change

Good training is usually less about finding one magic command and more about understanding what your dog is learning from repeated everyday situations.

Every repetition teaches something

A dog who lunges at the window forty times a week is practising lunging at the window forty times a week. The behaviour is getting more fluent, not less, however firmly it is interrupted afterwards.

Make the situation easier first

Change the setup before you change the dog. Move the sofa away from the window, cross the road earlier, use a quieter route at a quieter hour. Reducing rehearsal buys you the room to teach something else.

Then teach the useful alternative

Decide what you would rather your dog did, practise it somewhere easy, and only then bring it back to the situation that used to be a problem. Repetition works for you exactly as reliably as it worked against you.

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