Copyright of S.I.T Canine Training 2014
Making & Breaking Habits
We should all be force free!
When we train dogs to perform a behaviour we are either teaching a brand new behavioural association
between a new stimulus and a new behaviour; for example teaching a novice dog to wait in a 2 on 2 off
position on a contact in agility training, or we are teaching the dog to adopt a new behavioural response
to an old stimulus – we call this HABIT BREAKING.
In the first example training is very easy. When we present a novice dog with a contact trainer the dog
has never seen this stimulus before and has no prior behavioural association attached to it. Quite simply
the dog has no idea how to respond to the contact trainer and we have a blank slate on which we can
start to form the behavioural association we want i.e. for the dog to stand with their front two feet in the
ground and their back two feet on the trainer (the 2 on 2 off position). This is also the case for young dog
which has never had any experience of livestock before. It is very easy to train a puppy to ignore sheep
or walk nicely past chickens etc.
However, when it comes to replacing an old behaviour with a new one – HABIT BREAKING – the training
process is not so straight forward and is going to take a LOT of time, patience and consistency. But
when done correctly is totally achievable and the way we go about this means you will create a new
reliable and lifelong association between stimulus and new behavioural response.
When we work with our dogs we want them to feel happy, relaxed, and confident. A dog which has these
three attributes during training is a dog that is willing to try out new behaviours. To achieve this state of
mind in our dogs we need to be happy, relaxed and confident during training. To successfully train our
dogs we need to encourage our dogs to perform the behaviours we want and reward them when they get
things right.
Rewarding a dog after completing a behaviour is NOT the same a bribing a dog. As a reward always
occurs after the fact and a bribe before! What we are doing is PAYING OUR DOGS for a job well done.
A few words on habit breaking:
Think about the last time you tried to break a habit, whether that be quitting smoking, stopping biting your
nails, going on a diet or reducing your caffeine intake. You had an old behaviour which you now want to
replace with a new one; i.e. not smoking, not biting your nails, choosing a low fat option at dinner time or
not buying that coffee at 11am.
This takes will power! In your everyday life you encounter hundreds of stimuli which scream have that
fag, bite those nails, eat that burger and make that coffee. Before you decided to break the habit your
brain subconsciously processed those stimuli and before you knew it you were sparking up that fag,
biting your nails, chewing on that burger and drinking that coffee. You now have to make a conscious
effort NOT to respond to those stimuli with your old habitual behaviour. You have to consciously make
new behavioural choices and ignore your cravings which are strongly urging you to take part in that old
habitual behaviour. You as a human have made a choice to quit with the old and bring in the new but for
any of us which have tried and either exceeded (in which case will done to you!) or failed to break the
habit know just how hard it is.
Now imagine you are a dog, firstly your old behaviour was working out just fine as far as you are
concerned. Chasing sheep or barking at the postman was no issue for you! Now suddenly for reasons
unbeknown to yourself you are suddenly being trained to respond to a stimulus differently. You can’t
chase those sheep any more and now you have to sit quietly by the door when the postman comes. You
have no clue why and you certainly don’t have any will power to achieve these new behaviours off your
own back. Quite simply breaking a habitual behaviour in a dog and replacing it with a new (and more
suitable) behaviour is HARD WORK. Please never expect miracles and be prepared to put in the work
needed to help and support your dog not only during training but for the rest of your life together!
between a new stimulus and a new behaviour; for example teaching a novice dog to wait in a 2 on 2 off
position on a contact in agility training, or we are teaching the dog to adopt a new behavioural response
to an old stimulus – we call this HABIT BREAKING.
In the first example training is very easy. When we present a novice dog with a contact trainer the dog
has never seen this stimulus before and has no prior behavioural association attached to it. Quite simply
the dog has no idea how to respond to the contact trainer and we have a blank slate on which we can
start to form the behavioural association we want i.e. for the dog to stand with their front two feet in the
ground and their back two feet on the trainer (the 2 on 2 off position). This is also the case for young dog
which has never had any experience of livestock before. It is very easy to train a puppy to ignore sheep
or walk nicely past chickens etc.
However, when it comes to replacing an old behaviour with a new one – HABIT BREAKING – the training
process is not so straight forward and is going to take a LOT of time, patience and consistency. But
when done correctly is totally achievable and the way we go about this means you will create a new
reliable and lifelong association between stimulus and new behavioural response.
When we work with our dogs we want them to feel happy, relaxed, and confident. A dog which has these
three attributes during training is a dog that is willing to try out new behaviours. To achieve this state of
mind in our dogs we need to be happy, relaxed and confident during training. To successfully train our
dogs we need to encourage our dogs to perform the behaviours we want and reward them when they get
things right.
Rewarding a dog after completing a behaviour is NOT the same a bribing a dog. As a reward always
occurs after the fact and a bribe before! What we are doing is PAYING OUR DOGS for a job well done.
A few words on habit breaking:
Think about the last time you tried to break a habit, whether that be quitting smoking, stopping biting your
nails, going on a diet or reducing your caffeine intake. You had an old behaviour which you now want to
replace with a new one; i.e. not smoking, not biting your nails, choosing a low fat option at dinner time or
not buying that coffee at 11am.
This takes will power! In your everyday life you encounter hundreds of stimuli which scream have that
fag, bite those nails, eat that burger and make that coffee. Before you decided to break the habit your
brain subconsciously processed those stimuli and before you knew it you were sparking up that fag,
biting your nails, chewing on that burger and drinking that coffee. You now have to make a conscious
effort NOT to respond to those stimuli with your old habitual behaviour. You have to consciously make
new behavioural choices and ignore your cravings which are strongly urging you to take part in that old
habitual behaviour. You as a human have made a choice to quit with the old and bring in the new but for
any of us which have tried and either exceeded (in which case will done to you!) or failed to break the
habit know just how hard it is.
Now imagine you are a dog, firstly your old behaviour was working out just fine as far as you are
concerned. Chasing sheep or barking at the postman was no issue for you! Now suddenly for reasons
unbeknown to yourself you are suddenly being trained to respond to a stimulus differently. You can’t
chase those sheep any more and now you have to sit quietly by the door when the postman comes. You
have no clue why and you certainly don’t have any will power to achieve these new behaviours off your
own back. Quite simply breaking a habitual behaviour in a dog and replacing it with a new (and more
suitable) behaviour is HARD WORK. Please never expect miracles and be prepared to put in the work
needed to help and support your dog not only during training but for the rest of your life together!
