From a research study of animals being surrendered:
"More than 52% believed that animals misbehaved to spite their owners" - Reasons for Relinquishment of Companion Animals in U.S. Animal Shelters: Selected Health and Personal Issues. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 2(1), 41-57. 1999, Janet M. Scarlett.Seriously. They thought their pets were disobedient out of spite. Now, I know it's quite natural that we personify objects and animals. I love the dancing objects in Beauty and the Beast as much as anyone, but I assure you that your pup has no advanced reasoning skills and cannot spite you. They behave the way they do because they are selfish - what motivates them is their own desires being met. They have no desire to simply comply for the sake of complying. Tthis they do have in common with humans. As a society we don't comply for the sake of complying either. However, if your dog knows the most rewarding thing he can do for himself is to sit when you ask then that is when he'll sit when you ask. Treat it often, reward it every chance you get. Then, just like magic, he'll choose it because it's rewarding. Same goes for everything you reward - even if you didn't notice you were rewarding it. Chased your dog around because your stole your shoe? Shoe stealing = chase game. Your pup will now steal a shoe every time he or she feels inspired to play the chase game.
Making a Whale Splash an Audience
I have some unsurprising news for you: no one ever put a choke chain on Shamu. They also never yelled at her, smacked her around, or tossed her in kennel for a time out. Same goes for Flipper. I know you're shocked. So how does a trainer get reliable, impressive behavior on cue ask first request such that they can put on 3 shows a day in front of hundreds of people? Trainers use a form of operant conditioning which relies entirely on positive and progressive reinforcement. They start by marking (whistling) and rewarding (fish) any approximation of the right behavior. As the behavior gets better they "up the anti" on what it takes to get a whistle and a fish. Never a "no no", never a physical correction (lets face it - who smacks a killer whale, I mean really). Since it can be hard to let an animal know the exact moment he or she has done the right thing we often use a very quick and noticeable sound. You'll notice all the Sea World trainers have a whistle which the give a very quick toot on, followed by a nice slippery fish. In the doggie world we use a clicker and a bit of meat. This brings us to Clicker Training. At term diluted by marketing and wanna-bes just like most terms but an accurate one all the same. I'm partial to the term proposed by Emily Larlham (aka Kikopup): Progressive Reinforcement Training.
Here's an awesome example of what clicker training looks like in action it is also a great beginning lesson once you've charged the clicker an example of a first lesson:
Special Dogs
Don't fret if you dog is deaf. You can use a flashlight. Check it out here.
