'How do I stop my dog from.....' Let's talk Control and Management In Dog Training!

By Sarah Groves Dog Training - puppy training Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot and surrounding areas

Do you have an unruly teenage dog who is pushing the boundaries, jumping up, running away, and overall just making training more of a challenge than you could ever have imagined?

Are you worried that your puppy is starting to learn the wrong habits and you just don't know how to stop them from continuing?

Don't panic because this is where CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT will help!

What is control and management?

Control and management in dog training refers to procedures and protocols that need to be put in place to limit or prevent the unwanted behaviours from continuing or occurring again.

Control and management can either be put in to place instead of training, with training short term and then be taken away, or as a long term solution alongside training.

 PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT is an old saying that us dog trainers use a lot, and simply means:

The more your dog rehearses a behaviour, the better they get at it, and the more likely they will continue to do it long term.

Once we are able to put management strategies in place, we can halt the learning curve of unwanted behaviours, and be way more successful at teaching the skills and behaviours that we DO want them to practice instead.

Some examples:

Control and management as a standalone:

If you have a dog who countersurfs (jumps on the side of the counter to pull down items or food), one way around this is to ensure that nothing is on the counter for them to pull down – cutting out any further reward for jumping up.

For some dogs and owners, this level of management would be sufficient enough without the need of extra training.

Control and management short-term alongside training:

During recall training, control and management would look like using a long lead on your dog while they learn to come back when called, even in the presence of distractions.

The long lead prevents your dog from shooting off to play with other dogs or people while they are learning to listen to you.

Once they have gone through training, it’s been practiced in a wide variety of spaces with different distractions, you can slowly phase out the long lead and let them off totally with the confidence that they will come back when called.

Control and management alongside long-term training:

This is usually mostly used for dogs who are experiencing more complex behaviour challenges, such as fear-based behaviours by carefully managing exposures to triggers while putting in the right behaviour and training protocol or plan for that specific individual's needs at the same time.

Control and management is particularly important when you have a small puppy who will learn from exploring and an adolescent who will ‘push the boundaries’, experiment with trying out new behaviours and explore further afield to try and seek out reinforcement.

If you can limit unwanted behaviours from being tried out and tested at these life stages, by the time your dog is an adult, they will be a dream to have as a family pet!