We mention training surroundings because someone recently came to one of our owners with a question. What was that question, you may be wondering? The question was "why does my dog go find a carpeted area of the house to get sick on (or even worse, to eliminate (use the 'restroom' to you humans)) instead of going/staying on a hard (easier to clean) surface such as hardwood/tile/laminate flooring?
The reason that canines may search out the carpet or rugs for these occurances is largely due to the fact that when you're training them to go outside, you take them to eliminate (potty) or get sick on a grassy surface. Since the dog uses this surface successfully and is reinforced with a treat and/or praise for using the grassy surface, the dog files that rough surface into his reaction database for a later time period. Reaction you are saying to yourself? Yes, reaction is what we call that. You see, dogs really don't "remember" things in their life, they really just react to situations and individuals.
A dog has no logical thinking skills, no way to track time, and no way to remember specifics. A dog's present and future behavior is based largely on feel, smell, and sound. Feel meaning if the ground is rough and that is where the dog goes to the potty, than that dog will usually always go in the grass (or on gravel, etc). If you train the dog to eliminate on concrete or a hard, smooth surface, than that dog will usually always go on concrete (or a hard, smooth surface). This is why a dog heads straight for the carpet (rough) when inside if they have an emergency where they just can't hold it until the door is opened for them. Please keep this in mind when reacting to what your dog did....they are just doing what you praised them to do!!! Also, please keep in mind that if you do not catch a dog in the act of a negative activity (going inside, biting/chewing on something it should not, etc), you have to catch them in the act (yell loudly 'NO') or else you might as well not even say anything at all. If you come home to find that your dog has chewed up your shoes and they are not currently in the act of chewing, the dog will have no clue whatsoever what you are talking (or yelling) about if you decide to react towards them, so you may as well save your breath. When our owners were trying to train us to not chew on stuff or to not potty inside, they would 'bait' us (put stuff out for us to chew on and then hide) into that behavior so they could catch us in the act (and yell 'NO') so we would file that behavior away as something that we should not do.
We can also give you a few examples of smell and sound. Smell meaning that they can identify other dogs or people or places based on the smell of who is around them/where they're going (dogs can smell a great distance away, so if your dog gets excited when you're not that close to the destination it's because they already can smell where you're headed (if they've been there before)). Sound meaning that they can identify if a situation will be positive or negative based on what they're hearing (if you have ever been around a dog that is scared of men, it's not because (well, it's hopefully not because) of the current male in their life, but probably because of a past experience with a male that was not kind to them. Dogs hear the deep voice of a man and react to negative experiences based on that deep voice. The same holds true for vaccum cleaners or whatever other crazy noises scare your dog. And just remember, if you chase the dog around playfully with the vaccum once and the dog doesn't find this funny, the dog will probably be hesitant around a vacuum for the rest of his life.
We hope this rambling information helps you out. Remember, in training sessions, it's not the dog who is usually the problem, it's more than likely an incompetent training (and that includes some 'professional' trainers). We're headed to a nice shady spot to cool off, so we suggest that you find one as well!
No comments:
Post a Comment