Picture the Behavior TO TRAIN GOOD MANNERS

Dear Jubilee,

Does tethering a dog to you for an extended period of time help even if the dog is no longer a puppy?  Our 3 1/2 year old needs to have his every day habits improved so that he can have more freedom.  He is still confined to the kitchen when we don't have the time to keep our eye on him and he can still turn obnoxious on a walk when he gets bored. 

Wanting him to grow up in Washington

Dear Wanting,

I have tethered dogs as old as three, so I know it can be used on adult Airedales. It doesn't take long: a week or two of always being tethered when they are with you so that they get used to watching what you do and following your lead. It's kind of fun. They have to sit while you cook, wash dishes, read, work -- follow you from room to room, lie down while you watch TV, etc. Whenever they are not tethered, they are in their crate or restricted to one room.

In addition to the tethering, if he is getting bored and has obnoxious habits when you are walking him, he also needs more exercise on longer walks, more getting out into the world with you always taking the lead. He shouldn't get bored on a walk if you are walking with purpose and energy towards an objective, which can be going around the block, etc. But it has to be an energetic kind of walking, not just strolling along and letting him sniff of things, etc. That’s when he can get bored and be very naughty.

If you have a large back yard, and if he will fetch, throw balls for him to chase. Since he won't always bring them back, have several available, because running after them lets him use up lots of energy IMHO. I am sure that you can think of other things that will keep him interested in you, and looking to you for what job he needs to be doing. Every dog needs a job. If you do not give them one, they come up with their own job, and chances are very good, that you won't like it.

You don't say what he does when he turns obnoxious on a walk, but if he is rushing ahead of you or pulling to the side trying to get to a particularly interesting smell or object, just keep turning and going in a different direction, and do it quickly, without warning, without saying a word -- turn and move quickly so that he has to stop and pay attention to where you are going. In fact, I practice doing this so that my dogs get the idea and remember that the crazy lady at the other end of the lead cannot be depended on to go where they think she is going. We go down entire empty streets zig-zagging from one curb to the other, reversing directions frequently, turning huge circles, turning tight circles, and any other unexpected deviation that I can think of. They know that they have to watch what I am doing because I simply cannot be trusted.

I believe that dogs give us what they think we want them to give us. So form a picture in your mind of exactly what you want him to do: chances are very good that he will do it. And, whenever a picture or the idea of him doing what you don't want him to do comes into your mind, make it disappear, just let it go, melt away, whatever. Think only of what you want him to do. It is very interesting: I know a lot of dog trainers, and they use a lot of different methods, from totally positive to every kind of collar imaginable. If they are good at what they do -- that means if they are very successful at training dogs -- every single one of them tells me that they always visualize what they want the dog to do or make a picture in their mind of what they want the dog to do before they ask the dog to do it.

There is an article on my website on the articles page titled Picture the Behavior and Make It Happen. All the stories in it are true. It  is fun to work this way. And it is fun to watch a dog turn a behavior around with you. No dog is too old to learn. Old dogs can, and do, learn new tricks. All the time. 

Jubilee