By Mary Angilly and Marc Behoff, Ph.D.

“Playing interactive games with dogs—like fetch, tug, and hide-and-seek—is the fast track to off-leash reliability. For some dogs, playing games becomes a passion that may rival walks, sniffing, and dog-dog play. All three games increase a dog’s desire to approach and stay close, greatly facilitating teaching—off-leash following and healing, and hence, loose-leash walking.”—Ian Dunbar, Barking Up the Right Tree, P. 197.

Numerous people seek out dog trainers for many different reasons. Because anyone can claim to be a dog trainer or teacher, it's essential to carefully choose a trainer who has your dog's best interests in mind and only uses positive, do-no-harm, and force-free methods.1,2 Dog training can lead to an increase in enrichment and choice for a dog; having a dog enjoy more freedom and feeling safe. But why is there so much focus on the end goal, rather than the process when training itself can be a form of enrichment? This essay was written with force-free dog trainer, Mary Angilly.

Enrichment refers to a process for improving the environmental and behavioral care of confined animals (companion dogs fall in this category) within the context of their behavioral needs.

There are a variety of benefits of enrichment, including but not limited to helping an individual combat the effects of stress, encouraging species-typical behaviors, allowing more choice over the individual’s environment, and preventing the development of abnormal behaviors (for example, stereotypes).

There are different types of enrichment and they often overlap in multiple capacities: social, physical, sensory, occupational-cognitive, and nutritional.

Training is most certainly a form of enrichment, but only if it’s fun and fulfilling for the individual participant. Here are some ideas for setting ourselves up for success when training with dogs.

As with all things dog, here are general suggestions that should be tailored to each individual’s needs.

Instead of looking at training as a means to an end, we would be better served to focus on its function as a form of enrichment and a way of improving our relationships with our dogs. If training is fun for a dog, it will therefore be rewarding and they’ll want to train. If they are active, enthusiastic participants in their training sessions, and we are too, it can increase the human-dog bond, and be rewarding for all involved—“Wow, look what my dog and I can do.”

It's usually pretty simple to get your dog to do something or not do something that you desire. Making it fun and a two-way ongoing negotiation is the best and only way to go.

References

1) Dog Training's Dirty Little Secret: Anyone Can Legally Do It; Choose a Dog Trainer as Carefully as You Would a Surgeon

2) Dog Training: Blending Science With Individual Personalities; The Biopsychology and Practice of Positive Dog Training; The Psychology and Art of Positive "Do No Harm" Dog Training; "Bad Dog?" The Psychology of Using Positive Reinforcement; Science Shows Positive Reward-Based Dog Training Is Best; Canine Anthropology: A Major Shift in Dog-Human Relationships,