Why 🐶 Training is SO Much More than Obedience

Hello, and a very happy Sunday to you all.

In our introduction email this month, we mentioned that April is all about new beginnings. There’s new life springing up around us, new walks to take - and new approaches to enjoy them (as Linda discussed last week) - plus new adventures to have. While we’re feeling energised and full of the motivation that the Spring provides, this is a great time to focus on learning new skills.

Training is a key part of looking after your dog. It’s a way to add enrichment into our dogs’ lives, it can help them grow to be good canine members of society, as well as learning how to navigate a human world safely.

Training also allows you to better understand your dog. What works to motivate them… their likes / dislikes, personality traits, and the subtle body language cues they display. When we walk our dogs, cuddle them, feed them, or generally hang out with them, the distractions of life - phones, other conversations, tomorrow’s to-do lists - often restrict our direct focus on our dogs. But when we work with our dogs, to learn new tasks together, we are much more likely to give them our full focus.

A study, from the Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular in Portugal, looked at how dogs respond to different methods of training - both positive (using food and toy rewards) and aversive (using punishment such as shouting and lead corrections). What was interesting was that this study not only found that the dogs trained with aversive methods “spent more time in tense and low behavioural states”, showing “higher elevations in cortisol levels [the stress hormone] after training” but that they were also presented as more ‘pessimistic’ in a cognitive bias task. So training - or in particular, the WAY we train - can actually impact our dogs’ outlook on life… their view of the world. How amazing is that?

There are so many positives to be taken from working with your dog. Next time, I’ll give you some fresh ideas of exercises you can learn together. Until then, we’d love to hear what your dog’s favourite trick, game, or behaviour is… do let us know!

Until next time, happy training.

Caroline