What are some of the most common myths that we typically hear about dog training?
There are plenty of very misleading and potentially dangerous myths circulating in the dog training space, and many things aren’t always as the seem. As dog trainers we have the privilege of speaking to owners all-day-every-day and we get to hear just about every wacky myth, tip and piece of advice that there is to hear. There truly are too many to list in this blog post but we thought it would be fun to dive into a few of the most common ones we hear on a regular basis.
Dogs ‘growing out of’ bad behaviours
When talking about behaviours such as toileting inside, jumping & counter surfing in young dogs, it is widely assumed that these are mere puppyhood traits, and are therefore temporary. Sadly, this is rarely the case. Whilst it is true that most young dogs evolve and change with maturity, specific undesirable behaviours require modification. ‘Puppies don’t grow out of behaviours, they grow into them!’
Saying ‘no’ to a dog is cruel
Whilst it’s rare we compare dogs to humans, where would our children be without fair discipline, boundaries & consequences? Some undesirable behaviours are so because they are unsafe. We believe it’s more cruel to not give fair feedback to a dog – without doing this, how can we have high standards? As long as we are consistent with our expectations & feedback, a dog has a right to learn from their mistakes. Errorless learning has been proven to be confusing and time-consuming. Sadly, providing reasonable consequence has been made synonymous with abuse. Dogs are deemed ‘untrainable’ if they don’t respond to being distracted with treats.
Buying littermates provides both dogs with a convenient friend
Actually, this statement is not untrue – littermates often play together for ages at a time. But with littermates, you also risk hyper-dependency, unnatural competition leading to conflict-based resource guarding, an inability to be truly calm, increased potency of behavioural problems due to the dynamics of there being two, or even one or more of these issues! A reputable breeder will not sell you two puppies. If you already have littermates, please understand you will need to train them separately and probably enrich them separately as well.
Your dog is reacting on walks because they’re ‘protecting you’
This statement has unfortunately caused many dog owners to inadvertently enable their dog’s barking & lunging (and therefore further their stressed state of mind). Unless your dog has been specially trained by an experienced personal protection dog handler (not someone who bought a bite sleeve online and now offers bitework in their garden), your dog is not protecting you. It’s even arguable that PP dogs aren’t purposefully protecting their handler, but are responding appropriately to a familiar scenario they have been taught to respond to! Additionally, decent PP dogs have exceptionally stable temperaments and do not feel triggered by multiple stimuli on one walk. Your reactive dog is almost certainly kicking off due to fear, so they may be protecting their own personal space but they are certainly not purposefully protecting you, and it’s your responsibility to work with a reputable professional to give your reactive dog a healthier state of mind.
Reward-based training can teach a prey-driven dog to recall from a rabbit
Prey drive is a genetic trait. We cannot change genetics. There are a lot of online courses available which profess to creating perfect recall even around wildlife, all based on mimicking prey drive games and finding high value treats. Perhaps those courses have worked for some – great! But a dog with severe prey drive does not wish to eat treats when they are about to chase, nor are they capable of listening to you. That doesn’t make the dog ‘bad’ and it doesn’t mean you’ve failed to train them – no one can train away genetics. In this situation, we look to reinforce our recall with the help of a quality remote collar. If you are happy to keep your dog on a long line forever, that’s up to you, but a decent Mini
Educator or Dogtra will allow your prey-driven dog to run free without sacrificing your peace of mind. Please don’t feel inferior or guilty if you haven’t managed to ‘beat’ your dog’s prey drive – you will never train this away from them, and you must instead accept it’s here to stay and work with it.
Neutering your dog will ‘fix’ boisterous or reactive behaviour
This is a tricky one to discuss because we aren’t vets. If only all professionals stayed in their lane…! There are of course cases where extreme hormonal behaviour is resolved by neutering, and it’s responsible to spay your adult female dog if she has bad seasons or if you are worried about accidental litters. However, your overexcited adolescent dog does not need an operation to behave – he needs to be trained in obedience, neutrality & impulse control! Your fearful dog snapping at dogs who run up to her also doesn’t need an operation – she needs her confidence built and you need to start telling people that your dog isn’t friendly. Perhaps you would like to neuter your dog alongside training anyway – that’s fine providing they are fully developed (approximately 2 years old depending on size of dog).
Despite what you might see or hear on the internet, don’t take everything at face value. Often the most sensationalised pieces of advice are the most incorrect. Always do your research and contact a reputable trainer with any questions or uncertainties you have, and they will help to keep you on the right path.
