The Importance of Tunnel Vision in Training

As a lifelong dog owner who, I suppose, expects quite a lot from a dog in terms of manners, I can say one thing without fear of ridicule. A key secret to training your dog is having tunnel vision and a plan! What do I mean by this? Let me take Blondi as an example, with one of her really irritating (and dangerous) habits of rushing to the front door when someone knocks on it.

We already knew from the past owner that Blondi had attacked a gas-man when the dog "mistakenly" saw the man reaching out with his ID card as an aggressive move. Given that unwarranted biting of people is a dog trait I just won't tolerate, I obviously needed to work this out to give Blondi a level playing field.

Hang on, you say, if you don't tolerate dog biting then why take a dog on who has previously bitten? The answer is simple; I never saw it. I emphasise, "unwarranted" biting. That is biting which, in my view, is without good cause or reason.

If a dog is led to believe that it rules the home, in part, by being responsible for greeting people at the door, then it is little wonder that the dog elects to decide who and what can approach its 'den'. That's just chained logic as far as I'm concerned. If you allow the dog to make the decisions, you can't then punish it for making the wrong one. It is us, the owners, who should ensure that there is only one decision to take, the right one. But I digress...

So, as stated, I knew this was an issue, and I knew that for my lifestyle it was unacceptable behaviour. There is no way that a dog should rush to the door when someone approaches, and especially not when it's opened. Not in my book at least. So what did I want? Here's where the tunnel vision comes in.

I think many training issues arise from the handler not really knowing what it is they want to replace the problem or behaviour with. Or they know but it's a sort of wishy-washy plan like "I want him to just sit and wait.", you might hear. Great. Sit where? For how long? At what point? What about barking, want the dog to bark? When do you want the dog to release from the sit? It's these small details that make things so much easier, and yet they are so often overlooked.

So I formulated my plan last week. No longer would the dog rush to the door, and try to either escape, or jump at the person who was standing there. Instead:

Dog is to sit in the living room.
This just makes sense based on the layout of our home.

Living room door is to remain wide open.
The living room leads to a small hallway, and the front door. The dog can see the front door from the living room. The door is left open for two reasons: Firstly, for personal protection should the worst ever happen. Secondly, because I really want the dog to make the choice, not just be locked in the room where the choice is taken away. There's a huge difference between the two.

Dog to Remain in Sit Position
Dogs are naturally more submissive when in a seated position than they are when standing. Aside from that, I want the dog to be focused more on sitting than I want it to be focused on the door.

Dog to Stay Until Released
As the door is closed, I don't want the dog to be running around all excited, etc. Instead, I have elected to stroke his neck in thanks and issue our standard release command of "break". I do think the thanks is vital. It's important that the dog is an active and, more importantly, contributing part of the family unit in my view. The dog, by sitting there, made my life much easier, and I know that if called in crisis, it would have done its damnedest to ensure no harm came to me. It deserves thanks for that. The dog can't go out and work for wages to feel validated. It needs other tasks.

Putting it into Practise
In cases like this, there's only way to make it happen, and that is to do it. I currently practise this with Blondi four random times a day, every day.

The first day was a nightmare, and involved a lot of repositioning her where I wanted her each time she walked towards the door. Then, when the door was closed, she saw that as a release, and so I had to start reissuing the "stay" request at that point. Day two was slightly better, but the same issues prevailed.

Yesterday, for the first time, after five days, she got each of the four attempts perfect. Should she do the same today, I will increase the pressure slightly by talking a step outside...

So there you have it, formulate your plan down to the letter and you will, I almost promise, make your training so much easier, for both you and the dog.

Dogs absolutely thrive on routine. Make it easier for them by mentally feeding them on what they know and do best.

What a great blog! Just have to put it into practce now! Thank you.

I should give this a go, as Fudge is a little loopy when the door is in use.....