I put together this little mnemonic to help my students in their dog training journey. What is a mnemonic, you ask? Webster describes a mnemonic as a device such as a pattern of letters, ideas or associations that assists in remembering something. So here is what CPR means in helping you train your dog.
Consistent - being consistent with your cues and training techniques will help your dog understand what you are asking of him. One of the most difficult things to master when you are first training your dog is deciding on what cues (both verbal and visual) to give and learning how to give them. By practicing your cues over and over again, your responses become second nature and then you are able to concentrate on your dog and what he is doing instead of what you are doing. The second part of being consistent would be Committing (let me throw in another C word) to set a time aside every day to work on your new behaviors. Having a consistent routine of exercise, play and work will help to drain your dogs energy, give him a job to do and solitify his understanding of the new training principles and behaviors.
Persistence - be persistent in pursuing (oh, this is fun there's another P word) your goals so you and your dog will succeed. For instance, when teaching your dog to go to her place so you can answer the front door. If she pops up from her place as you go to reach for the door knob, direct her back to her place and try again. If she pops up when you have the door open, let's say, a foot - guess what? Shut the door and direct her back to her place and start again. Persist! Your eventual goal is to have someone ring the front door bell, have your dog go to her place and stay, while you go answer the door. Once your guest is invited in, you will release your dog to greet them. If you need to remind her a 1,000 times to go and stay on her place...so be it!! With persistence she will finally understand when she hears the front door bell she heads to her place and stays until you release her to greet your guest without jumping on them. Wha la...you did it and it feels so good to have this wonderfully trained dog who doesn't greet people at the door by jumping all over them. The second part that goes along with being persistent is having Patience. Dog training takes as long as it takes and each dog is an individual. Are you patient enough for your dog to process the information you are giving her before you intervene? I encourage my students to wait up to 30 seconds to allow their dog to think through the cue until they're able to complete it. Remember to give your cue for sit or down only once...then wait. If you say these verbal cues over and over again, guess what...your very smart dog will start to wait until he hears sit three times before he sits. Ask for it...wait for it and Praise for a job well done!
Repetition - for both you and your dog, many repetitions are needed to perfect a skill. They say up to 1,000 repetitions are needed to learn one new behavior. Be kind to yourself and don't be in a rush...practice does make perfect. Most canines and humans learn by practicing over and over again.
Remember to make sure your signals are clear to your dog. Dogs learn in black and white, not shades of gray. In other words, sometimes equals always to a dog. If your dog is sometimes allowed on the couch or to run out the door when it's open or not go to his place when he hears the door bell...it translates to "I can always just do what I want".
Another important point and something my Mother in Law says quite often. "If you don't use it, you'll lose it"! Such truth to these words. It's much like a language we might have learned in school years ago. If we don't use that language we will forget it quickly. Case in point, I lived in Los Angeles right off Sunset Boulevard for a couple years. I lived in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. If I wanted to buy something, at many of the businesses on Sunset, I had to communicate in Spanish. I also spoke to my neighbors in Spanish. Now with practice, I was starting to really understand not only what others were saying to me, but I could respond back to them. I certainly wasn't as good as my friend, Suzy, who was raised a Missionary kid, but I was really picking it up. After moving away from LA and back to Ohio, I didn't have as much need for my use of speaking Spanish and I have forgotten much of what I had learned.
This is the same for our dogs. If we continue to be consistent in our asking, clear with our cues and persistent in our follow through...our dogs will learn and retain these new behaviors and skills. If fact, their understanding of what is expected of them will grow and become second nature. There is nothing more exciting to me than to be able to communicate with my dogs. It's a good thing and our living together becomes easy, comfortable and enjoyable.
CPR...Consistent, Persistent, Repetition will allow you to have the canine companion you always dreamed of!
Until next time, Happy Trails!
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