In the 6 years that I've been training dogs, I have always gotten the most excited about the progress that my students and their dogs would make, more than anything. A lot of times we look for the elimination of a problem or behavior, and get so focused on it, that we don't praise the progress.
When it comes to training a dog there are many things we wish would be eliminated in just a short period. Barking, separation anxiety, Pulling on the leash, getting to overly excited around dogs, fear aggression, over reactive behavior, you fill in the blank. All these things we want to solve in an instant. What Iv'e realized is that valuing progress is way better than getting frustrated about the lack of elimination on a specific issue.
Let's give Lincoln for example, a chihuahua terrier mix. Without knowing Lincoln's background its safe to say that he was probably never socialized and may have even had to fight dogs for food on the streets. He's a shelter dog and although pretty good with people, he has fear aggression with other dogs. This is the type of aggression that stems specifically from being afraid of something and so a dog reacts to it in an aggressive way. When Lincoln is pass his threshold around a dog he lunges, growls, bares teeth, and basically gets very upset. A threshold in dog training is almost like an invisible line where under it we get compliance around a stimuli and the dog shows no signs of anxiety, fear, or too much over excitement. At threshold our dog is interested in the stimuli, notices the stimuli, is curious about it and aware. Past threshold or over threshold then means that the dog is showing apparent fear, anxiety, or aggression towards the stimuli and this is where it is the hardest to correct and teach. The first thing we needed to find out with Lincoln is where his threshold was so we could work under it and at it but not above it. We started off by letting him be aware of a dog that was a very far distance from him at first, he saw the dog and did not react, he was only aware, that is when we clicked to mark and then rewarded with a high value treat. as we moved closer to the dog Lincoln still didn't react, he only looked and sometimes stared. that is when we tried to get engagement from him. If we would have let him stare for too long he may have resorted to going over threshold. We were at a good distance from the dog when the dog finally looked at Lincoln this sent him over his threshold. That is the exact time that we added distance to the last place that we were getting compliance, and the last place that he was at or below threshold and worked there, trying to get engagement from him once again. When a dog is over threshold there is no getting compliance, we have to add distance from the distraction before we can try and get engagement again. The very best place to work, is before something happens. Before they react, before they bark, before they lunge, before they look or stare, this is where we always want to click and treat especially when dealing with fear aggression. Lincoln started to associate the dogs he was seeing with the good thing he was getting every time he saw one or was close to one. Positive association and classical conditioning is the best thing to use for behaviors like Lincoln's because he needs to know that he can feel safe and not afraid, he needs to know that he can look to his owner to take control. By the end of the class i had never seen Lincoln stand so close to a dog without any reactions that is when I knew that progress was everything we were looking for. Even though Lincoln probably wont ever get to a point where he loves dogs. In that training session he felt safe and tolerated the dog he was close to and that is what dog owners should be praising.
So that experience is just to say that if you stay consistent, committed, and put the work in. Progress can always happen. You just have to be willing to look and work for the small progressions so you can see the big progressions.
TREC Dog Training