Practice Makes Perfect!

The lesson here is to stop waiting to seek help hoping that behaviour will go away on its own. The sooner you intervene for unwanted behaviour, the easier it will be to make changes.

Dogs on a Pack Walk & Train session practising good lead walking skills

One of the biggest challenges faced by dog owners, who come to us for help, is not the new training and learning needed, but the undoing of old learning. Dogs who have been rehearsing a particular behaviour for a long time have formed solid habits, muscle memory and expectations that cause the unwanted behaviour to become stronger and more likely to occur.

Habit or Training Issue?

Barking at other dogs is a great example of this. If your dog is unsure of other dogs and doesn't want them to come closer, then one day they bark, the other dog (inevitably) leaves and your dog now knows how to keep other dogs away. Once they've done it a few times, practice makes perfect, and they are now great at keeping other dogs away. The problem now is convincing them that other dogs usually go away all on their own, even without the barking, because your dog won't stop barking in order to learn this.

Getting What You Want

Lead walking is another common area where we see this. Your dog pulls to get to a particular smell, lamppost, gross thing in the grass or other dog. You go with them. Now your dog knows how to get to things out of reach. They do this every day, getting stronger and more determined because practice makes perfect. We always advise owners teaching lead walking in our classes to reduce regular walks and stick to training walks and practising at home, because if you practise at home for 10 minutes then take a 40 minute regular walk with your dog doing their usual thing, they're still getting better at their usual thing.

So what is your dog practising?

The problem here is that what your dog thinks is perfect is not what you think is perfect. But they're still practising and getting better at that behaviour. Don't wait until they've been doing it for years! Get help as soon as you spot the problem so it doesn't get bigger.