“Do nothing which is of no use”- Miyamoto Musashi.
One of the things I talk about in my book – The Way of the Dog is how foundationally hardheaded we are when it comes to working with dogs by complicating the simple. People always talk about how their dogs don’t listen to them. When I reply that I don’t want a dog that listens to me, but rather one that responds, I often get a head tilt from them like I would from a dog.
Most dog owners talk about how as soon as they get to go to the kitchen, bathroom or whatever their dog jumps up and follows them without them saying a word. This is in their DNA. However, when they want their dog’s attention, especially to get them to stop barking they stand or sit still, facing the same direction as the dog and yell at them to stop barking. Your dog always knows where you are, when they hear or see something and bark, and you “bark” behind them, they assume you are reacting to the same things they are to either- 1) summon the rest of the pack 2) Scare it away. They continue to bark, and people continue to yell. This puts you and the dog on the same level. They hear you bark/speak all the time, so there is no contrast to your reaction to them barking.
Instead, the next time your dog barks at a sound, instead of saying a word, get up and move instead of saying anything, and if they look at you, simply walk away and see if they follow. When a high-ranking dog turns their back on something it signals the lower ranking dog that they don’t care about whatever it is. If they don’t turn around and look at you, walk up, tap them on the butt and as soon as they turn around walk away, they will most likely follow you. Turn around and praise them.
Soon, when they hear or see something, they will bark a few times, and if you don’t react, they will look back at you. When they do, lean forward (play bow/come to me) and give them all the praise in the world. If they are looking at you, they are not going to bark at what they have turned their back to. When you have a relationship with someone, and they look to you for guidance for small things you don’t have to yell to get their attention, when the dog is not sure they will focus on you.
Most people who read this will either not try it, or try it a few times, and when it does not work right away will abandon it and go back to yelling at the dog. If you do that, please read the first sentence of this article.
95% of your dog’s life will be spent with you in the house. If you don’t condition them to focus on you there, they will not focus on you outside the house. In a pack, a dog that barks all the time is considered unstable and will be ostracized by the other dogs. Who would want a dog in their pack who is barking all the time? They will scare away resources and alert other predators to your location.
There are two kinds of training, intentional and passive. This is a foundational principle of passive training, conditioning the dog to respond to something they see or hear by looking to you for guidance instead of reacting on their own. Because this happens all the time, it goes a long way in showing your leadership and restoring peace to your life and home. Then enlist a friend to knock on your door or ring the doorbell. The dog will bark and rush to the door. Don’t move. When the dog realizes that you are not rushing to the door to open it, they will look back at you. Then walk up to the door, put your back to it, and open the door and immediately lead your guest into the house and sit down. You will be amazed at how fast they become calm when people come to visit.
As with anything else that we want to change in our lives we must first be honest about the part we play in not getting the results that we want. Then we have to envision in our head what we want instead, and then intentionally change our behavior to achieve that change. Before you can condition your dog to respond instead of reacting you must first learn to do the same.
To change big things, you have to change the small things first. This has little to do with the dog, it is about you. Dogs are reactive because their owners are reactive. Use your dog to effectively change the way life affects you.