Dog (and other pet) training tip: Just a reminder that your pet is always learning and always making choices (just as you are). Sure, you can teach with force but that sure doesn’t foster a love of the education process. Teaching instead by encouraging choice, and then arranging the lesson and the environment so as to make the behavior you want to see – the most valued option for your pet – the more you are doing to help both of you succeed. And with choice, that allows your pet to give you important data about whether or not you are being an effective teacher. If your pet checks out on you or does not do what you are trying to teach, it is not a sign of a dumb or obstinate student, but a sign of a student who may be bored, too challenged or not challenged enough, showing avoidance behaviors, gets more reinforcement from doing anything else BUT what you are teaching, is overly tired or too stimulated, or multiples of these (or other reasons). So, teaching by choice challenges you to think more creatively, to really get to know your dog (or other pet) and what motivates him, and to be a better communicator.
