Reactive Dog Training is like waxing a car

With dog behaviour rehabilitation, all the little things really matter. It is not something that is often talked about, but anyone who has done lots of serious dog rehab successfully will tell you it is the most overlooked truth. The more astute and consistent you are with the little moments, the more successful you will be.

The reverse is true, too.

If you are only paying attention when the dog is reacting, you will really struggle.

It is like trying to wax a car. If you want to do a beautiful job, you have to be very immaculate about all the tiny little spots on the car. If you only polish one small part while leaving the rest untouched, your car is not going to look professionally waxed.

Here are some examples of the little moments:

• When you open the crate door, is your dog staying inside without trying to barge out?

• When you say let’s go, can your dog come out of the crate calmly?

• When you start to walk, is your dog walking precisely next to you?

• When you stop walking, does your dog sit and wait or just doing whatever?

• When your dog is 1 inch ahead of you, do you correct right away or do you wait till the dog is 5 feet ahead before trying to enforce “heel”?

• Do you correct right away once your dog breaks “place” or do you wait till your dog is already very far away from the place cot?

• Do you address fixation consistently or only sometimes?

• When your dog is placing calmly, do you suddenly go and make a fuss of your dog or do you keep nurturing calmness by withdrawing affection until your dog is released?

• If your dog does something inappropriate, such as eating things off the ground, chewing things…do you correct right away with the appropriate level of correction? Do you do it consistently or only sometimes?

• When you tell your dog to go into the crate, but they are ignoring you, do you enforce it right away? Are you able to enforce it right away or it is usually very chaotic?

• After your dog has gone into the crate, will your dog stay calm and quiet inside or keep whining and barking? If it is the latter, can you stop it and make your dog calm down promptly?

Structure is a routine. It’s all about being black and white and predictable. Structure is constructed by layering many tiny little building blocks.

When everything is consistently predictable, it will become a solid habit so the dog will eventually just do those things automatically without any confrontation.

When you wax your car, you need to treat every part of the car body with great attention. If you are sloppy with the hood, your car will not look beautiful even if your bumper is very shinny. And that’s exactly how we as dog trainers view all the little moments during our daily interaction with our dogs.

Waxing a car is not rocket science. A lay person can do an amazing job, too. To do a beautiful job, you just need to train yourself to pay closer attention to all the little details. Similarly, even if you are not a professional dog trainer, you can achieve amazing result when you pay close attention to all the little moments you spend with your dog. The more detail oriented you are, the more professional your training will turn out to be.

Hope this helps.