Do these two things –
- Reward good behaviour
- Punish bad behaviour
Avoid doing these two things –
- Reward bad behaviour
- Punish good behaviour
An example of the 4th: the dog is having fun in the park. You call it over and it comes like a good dog. Then you put the leash on it and take it home.
An example of the 3rd: the dog begs for food and you give it food.
An example of the 1st: the dog gives up begging, slumps down in resignation, and then you give it a treat.
Dogs learn through pattern recognition. If they get a reaction they like after an action they will repeat that action. Attention (eye contact) and physical touch as well as treat rewards will reinforce behavior. My pup was very very vocal and barked for all his needs when we brought him home from the shelter. We had to avoid eye contact, and not give any physical attention when he was barking to show this is not behavior that will be rewarded. After a while he’d get board of barking, and would let out a whine. When he whined we would look at him and ask what he needs/wants and try to give it to him. This taught him that barking is not what you do when you want/need something. He still barks when we play but it’s no longer his main form of communication.
When leash training, be consistent with your expectations. We stop at every single curb and we give the release (saying “OK”) before we allow him to step off the curb. It didn’t take long before he was stopping at the curbs and waiting for the release without any input on our end.
If your dog is pulling while walking on leash hold onto the leash and come to a stop (do not yank or pull on the leash) and wait for the dog to let the pressure off by moving towards you. And stop like this every time they pull on the leash, it’s annoying to the dog because they can’t get to what they are pulling towards. After they release the pressure let them go smell what they were pulling towards as a reward for good behavior.
Using treats can make it easy to mark behaviors you like, but you need to adjust feeding to make sure your dog isn’t getting too many calories.
I’m a big believer in positive reinforcement and mark and reward training, I suggest looking into how those work.
My recent work induction was conducted by the HR dogs. I learnt they get snippy if you point out glaring holes in their operating procedures. My tip is to smile sweetly and stay quiet.