The bending of behavior;
Bending behavior is “the key” to educating and especially re-educating the dog.
The theory is simple: Change the (unwanted) behavior of the dog by substituting it for another behavior.
Practice is more difficult: It comes down to the fact that we have to determine a desired behavior for the dog and replace it with the behavior that he exhibits.
This can be achieved by rewarding, correcting or ignoring the dog or a combination of these three actions.
Every dog exhibits behavior that we want to reverse. How do we do that?
For instance:
Your dog barks or has other unwanted behavior during walks to other dogs he encounters. This is undesirable behavior for you, which you want to change to another positive behavior of the dog.
The most important thing in reversing behavior is recognizing on time and anticipating the “wrong” behavior of the dog. The doghandler must intervene as much as possible BEFORE the moment that the dog starts to show his behavior.
When you wait until your dog has already responded, you are too late. The dog has already been able to express his behavior and thereby received positive reinforcement. He got his “adrenaline rush” and rewarded himself that way. So the dog himself confirmed his behavior !!! Because this reinforcement is extremely strong for the animal, he will therefore react more fanatically the next time.
When you walk with the dog on the street and you see at a distance another dog or animal, of which you know that your dog will respond to it, then you should at the moment that you see that the dog wants to focus his attention, immediately intervene . You only have time for a fraction of a second.
You must observe your dog well. At the moment that he focuses his eyes or ears on the other animal, you must respond. The same applies to a dog, who likes to roll in filth, for example. The moment you see that his attention goes to a certain place where “rubbish” is, you call him to you immediately, use his favorite toy and lure the dog to play with you.
I myself am in favor of positive reinforcement or changing behavior through, for example, playing with the dog.
Milo;
A beautiful example is my own dog Milo. I got Milo when he was already over two years old. A great dog, eager to work, affectionate, faithful and enormously social towards people. But Milo also has a nasty quality. Milo regularly behaves aggressively towards other dogs and cats, and horses are also a huge challenge for him.
When I’m together with Milo on the street, I pay close attention to my surroundings. When I see another dog, I pay close attention to Milo! When I see Milo discovered the other dog as well, I react at that moment. I try to be ahead of the moment, that he can give his full attention to the other animal by means of growling, barking or dropping at the leash.
I turn Milo 180 degrees in my direction and start playing with his favorite toy. For this I use a squeaky “pull toy” that Milo is completely idolate about.
So I turn the dog towards me and start playing with him his favorite “pull game”. At that moment Milo is so very focused on me and playing with me, his boss, that he totally forgets / ignores the other dog. Playing with his boss and favorite toy is much more attractive for Milo than his oncoming “opponent”. Even when he walks around freely, playing with the boss is more important than another dog or rolling around in filth.
When you consistently continue such an exercise, the dog will automatically focus on you after a while, when he sees an animal or another circumstance, which was previously extremely attractive.
In this way you have changed his behavior from unwanted attention to positive attention to you, his boss.
This technique is part of my, more than 25 years ago, self-developed method. In those years only methods were used on corrections or training with food as a reward.
(read: https://doghelp.altervista.org/de-inner-motivation/
https://doghelp.altervista.org/275-2/
https://doghelp.altervista.org/279-2/ )
Nowadays, many parts of my method are used worldwide at many dog training courses. According to the above method you can divert the attention of the dog in almost every behavioral correction !!!
If you have any questions or comments regarding this article, please let me know!
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