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HOW DOGS LEARN
Here are some basic guidelines that cover all your remote trainer work on obedience commands.
Follow a step-by-step introduction process on each command. Don’t assume that your dog will
understand a remote trainer correction in connection with a command. The stimulus can confuse
them initially, even if they knows the command.
Don’t introduce remote training around distractions.
Keep things simple for your dog in their first sessions. They can’t learn well when there’s too much
going on.
Learning to Train
Every animal on the planet has an alpha or beta relationship with every other animal. We usually
think of “beta” as submissive and beaten down, but in wild packs or herds, that is not the case. The
beta dog in a pack of wild dogs is still quite happy and lives a good life. So your dog should live the
comfortable life –while remaining in the beta position. Your dog will be quite happy being beta as
long as you show the dog that beta is a good way to live. In dog terms, you are the “alpha,” giving
your dog everything it needs to survive. The essentials of food, shelter, and most importantly,
companionship (the pack) are provided by you. For those things, your dog will work and be happy
as long as you demonstrate that you will not submit to challenges.
To be sure, the beta dog will present regular challenges in hopes of gaining the alpha position. If the
beta dog wins the challenge, there is a new leader of the pack, so do not give in. Some of the
challenges are subtle. Those are the ones you must pay close attention to while training. If you win
the small battles, the big fights will be much easier to handle. Dogs see the world in black and
white. To your dog, either you are in control or it is. There is no middle ground.
There are two most important points, conditioned responses and substitution, will be the
cornerstones of your training program.
Conditioned responses to commands are mandatory for a properly trained dog. When you explain
something one time to a person, he or she will understand it and quite often give a positive response
when questioned on that topic. Canines are different in that they trust their instincts implicitly.
Instincts have protected canines for thousands of years from wild animals and other threats, and
those threats still live in their minds today. In your training program, you must totally condition the
responses to the obedience commands to such a degree that your dog trusts you more than its own
instincts. That is a tall order, and you must take it seriously or you will not have success. Simple
repetition is the only way to properly condition a dog. Simple repetition to the tune of around 1,000
repetitions per command will do this nicely. That might seem like an undoable task but if you will
train consistently, it will take only a short time.
Substitution: This is where we use a stimulus to cause a response and then add another stimulus
simultaneously until the second stimulus evokes the same response as the first. You might
remember Dr. Pavlov’s work with ringing the dinner bell as he was feeding his dog. It did not take
long before simply ringing the dinner bell caused the dog to salivate. You will use this same
practice in training your dog, beginning with a leash, progressing to words and then finishing with
electrical stimulation. It may sound overwhelming right now but you will be successful and your
dog will accept this without question if you follow the steps.
