I always ask people a prevalent question. “Do we want the dog to come off the bed without permission?” Most of the time, the answer is no. That’s where I say, “Yes, we do.” I really want the dog to make a mistake. Let me clarify what I mean by that.
Make The Mistake
Whenever we’re working a drill with a dog where we’re teaching them how to do a particular skill, we want them to make a mistake at that moment. Because when they do, we get to not reward them and place them back onto the bed or the target. However, you really want the dog to think about this. Because as the dog comes off and doesn’t get rewarded, what’s actually going to get rewarded now is an opportunity to get the dog to think. This is so underrated.
Solve The Problem
I love it when dogs actually have to use your brain to solve the problem that we’ve set up for them. When your dog does make a mistake, I’m not saying to let it go. You shouldn’t reward it, and you should correct the dog by putting them back onto the thing you wanted it to do. Then, let the dog decide, especially in the early stages, if it wants to make a mistake again. That way, you can go about doing the whole thing again, or maybe they can figure out how to do it even better.
When they choose to do it better, for example on a place stay, the dog is on the bed, they’ve chosen to come off several times and you’ve put them back now. Maybe the dog will decide to go into the down position on its own. You can then tell them that’s the right decision then reward them. What you’re actually rewarding there is not just the down, but that the dog came up with the idea on their own.
Doing The Right Thing
Honestly, do you always want to have to command your dog to get them to do the things you want? I would say, “No.” I really like for dogs to do the right thing without me having to ask them. So part of that process is allowing the dog to make a mistake. When they do the right thing on their own, go about rewarding them. The dog’s going to think, “I’m a genius! Every time I do the right thing, and they didn’t tell me, look at this massive reward I get! I’m going to keep doing that now.” Don’t keep making a massive reward each time though, keep your dog guessing just a little bit. That is a really great way to go.
So the next time that you have a training session, let your dog make a mistake. You might just put yourself in a position where they’ll choose used to do exactly the right thing. That way, you can go about not rewarding them. Then, you can reward, and you’ll be in a better position.
I hope you found this article helpful. If you’d like more tips like this, you can go to my YouTube Channel or find more right here on my website www.longoriahausdogtraining.com.
Happy Training!
