THE "NO FREE LUNCH" PRINCIPLE

The "NO Free Lunch" Principle

Have you ever wished you had more control of your dog?

Do you wish he didn't get overly excited for visitors, constantly barking when they come to the door, or jumping on them when they come inside your home?Do you wish he would always listen to you... even when he's heavily distracted or excited?
What if I told you if you changed just one thing in your dog's life, you'd have a more manageable dog who behaves himself ALL the time. 
Would you want to know what to change?
Let me explain...You see, every animal in this world comes from a long genetic background that heavily influences how the animal thinks.  Some animals have evolved to be self sufficient and can survive on their own; where an animal like a dog isn't genetically coded to do well on it's own. Dog's live in packs.And centuries of breeding and evolving have given dogs the tools they need to stay alive in a pack situation.They've learned skills like: How to tell what dog in the pack calls the shots, Who's going to lead the hunting party for food tonight, Social skills at reading their pack members moods, When to leave certain dogs alone.

So thousands of years of breeding has taught your dog a thing or two about the best ways to stay alive in this world and maintain order in a pack situation.  In a VERY real sense this skill set is a "Pack Language" and... all dog's know THIS "Pack Language" And one of the most IMPORTANT principals of the "Pack Language" that your dog is genetically programmed to follow, is the concept of following, obeying & respecting the leader of the pack. So here's the deal... all dogs get confused when their humans, (YOU) don't ALSO know and understand at least a little bit of this Pack language. And if you don't make an attempt to learn a few words and concepts of this "Pack Language" you're probably going to run into some problems controlling your dog.Because you'll be sending him mixed signals! You'll try to use HUMAN words to get him to do things, instead of using "Pack Language" words, behaviors and mannerisms to get obedience.

Here's a few examples of what I mean...

Example #1) The leaders of a dog pack all sleep together, while the puppies and other dog's do NOT.  So just the act of letting your dog crawl in bed with you every night to you means that you're being nice to your dog... but in "Pack Language" it means he's a pack leader too.  Is that what you want?
Example #2) In the wild, a hunting party of Wolves (where all dog's originally came from) will let the leader of the pack lead the hunting party. He runs at the front of the pack. So if you're letting your dog walk through a door, or always pull on the leash, in "Pack Language" you're sending a VERY clear message to your dog that he's the one running the show... NOT you.Again, is this the message you want to send?
Example #3) One of the roles of a leader of the pack is to protect the pack from danger.  He protects the packs territory, and scares off or attacks intruders. So when your dog is barking, snarling, or growling at intruders, in Pack language you're letting him take on the role of the leader of the pack by LETTING him PROTECT your home.

And the REAL problem is...

That by letting your dog be the LEADER of your home, he automatically behaves more defiantly.  Leaders lead, they don't follow orders from others. So what can you do with your dog to start regaining the leadership role in your home, get your dog to let go of his leadership roles and finally let you take the reigns? What I recommend, and the strategy that seems to help transfer leadership of your home BACK to you and away from your dog is teaching your dog "there is no such thing as a free lunch".And I call this the "No Free Lunch Plan"

What is a No Free Lunch Plan?

It means that VERY literally, for your dog to get ANYTHING it wants it has to earn it. If it wants to go outside it has to learn that it CAN go play outside, and even get extra rewards and play time outside... but only if he waits at the door UNTIL you give him permission to go outside. It means that in order to go to the bathroom he has to ask you if he can go outside by ringing a bell. If he wants to be pet, he has to sit or lay down first. It means that you shouldn't let your dog have access to a full food bowl all day long... instead he should have feeding times, and he should have to sit, or hold a stay or perform some other type of behavior to earn the right to eat. I realize this may sound a bit more disciplinarian that you might like, or be comfortable with.  You might not want your dog to be handled this way. You may like being able to greet an excited dog by giving him a hug, or kissing his face or wrestling with him.  You may think it's mean to leave him hungry and not have food all day. But you NEED to remember that your dog does NOT speak ENGLISH as a 2nd language.  He speaks "Pack Language"... and he's not really good at learning new languages, especially ours.So we need to get better at learning their languages. We need to start realizing that dogs will either treat you as a pack leader or they'll BECOME the pack leader.  And you can either leave this to chance, or you can take active steps to determine which kind of dog yours will be. You'll find that some dogs will let you take charge easily, while others will be more defiant.  But just be observant.Watch for your dog taking the leadership role.And do your BEST to learn how to stop these behaviors before they start.

........ with thanks to Chet Womak   For more of Chet's training material and manuals visit
                                                     "Hands Off Dog Training Program"
                                                     TheDogTrainingSecret.com <info@thedogtrainingsecret.com

JUST FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

These are a few of the remaining Mexican brown wolves that only 100 years ago were common throughout northern Mexico and
Southern New Mexico. There's no special message here except to share with you these pictures I took of these very special relatives of your dogs and mine. Love and cherish them, there's little chance our grandchildren will get to enjoy their offspring.

LEAVE YOUR EGO AT THE BARN DOOR

Not long ago I was sharing training stories with a friend who trains dogs and like I, had spent lots of time working with all types of horses and she came up with an expression  which she credited to her father who was a trainer on race tracks in California. He was well known for saying, ”Leave your ego at the barn door.” We agreed that this is just as applicable to dog training.” Leave your ego at the kennel door.” You see, your dog isn’t interested in who you think you were or who you think you are today or who you think you’re going to be tomorrow. Your dog lives in the here and now and frankly is mostly interested in what’s in it for him. If you’re  going to successfully teach your dog a new skill or redirect him from performing  some  action which you feel he is doing improperly or just plain shouldn’t be doing, he has one thought on his mind. Is what you’re offering of more value than that which I am doing or just did? Is your treat, toy, “good dog routine” or whatever, of more interest to your dog at this time in this place, in view of all that is happening around us? If the dog chooses to ignore you and pursue some other course of action you have to put more chips on the table. Remember “there’s nothing for nothing.” There aren’t  any freebies in the world of training. You have to give to get. Until you accept and practice this you’ll be nothing more that another “jerk and pull” artist. The motivation doesn’t have to always be food or toys. It’s not unlike getting the twelve year old to hurry up and finish his homework. If he completes a task he gets something he wants. Such as hurry up and finish your chores and you and your friend can come to the mall with me and just hang out while I do my shopping. Is this bribery? Maybe, but is it more successful than the threat of “do your homework, or I’m going to tell your Father when he comes home”? Of course it is. First of all the benefit is imminent and the threat is tired and passé. You see you’ve used that one before. Ask Fido how many times he’s heard those empty threats of Come or else. Or else what? I’ll raise the volume but I won’t take any positive action and Fido will still ignore you and not come. The dog has to get an immediate hands on positive motivator or be deprived of some action or privilege in order for him to change his course of action.

 An example of the dog being deprived of something he wants is best illustrated with the case of the jumping dog. First of all, dogs jump for two reasons. They want attention, i.e. hands and vocal response. As a matter of interest they don’t differentiate between positive and negative reactions. A yell and a slap is the same as a hug and a baby talk reaction. From the time they were puppies they learned that jumping up got voice and hands and that’s all they’re after. The normal reactions include jerking on the leash and yelling “off”, stomping on their feet, kneeing them in the chest, and a variety of other Neanderthal treatments. The simplest method is to take away that which the dog wants. ATTENTION. Fold your hands across your chest and bury your hands under your arm pits. Put your chin up and your folded arms up so the dog can’t see your face and turn your back to the dog. You’re going to have to keep turning away from the dog at the outset because if he’s a dedicated jumper he’ll keep circling and jumping. Your job is NO LOOK, NO TOUCH, NO TALK. Within a minute or two the dog will sit near you. This is where most people fail. They say something like good dog and bend down and touch the dog and he immediately goes back into jumping mode because he got what he wanted’ HANDS AND VOCAL. The correct thing to do is to continue to ignore and shun the dog until he goes several feet away and lays down. This shouldn’t take more than a minute. Again we continue to shun the dog. When he lays down, count to 200 at which time he will be convinced that there’s nothing in this process for him. Then and only then, walk half the distance to him and invite him to you in a normal conversational tone of voice. No more baby talk or high squeaky luvy talk. Now reach down with your hand at his nose level and offer him a reward for good behavior. For at least a week the exercise must be repeated by all parties involved with the dog’s life EVERYTIME YOU ENTER HIS ENVIRONMENT OR HE ENTERS YOURS. If you follow this simple hands off no talk process you will change even the most committed jumper. If he reverts to his old ways you simply go back to no look, no touch, no talk. That is an example of motivating the dog by taking something away from him that he wants as opposed to giving him a food treat or a toy.

TYING IT TOGETHER

Wow! Yes boys and girls, time flies when you're having fun. This week end Shep became 17 weeks old. Six and a half weeks since we started his training process and he's doing just fine thanks. We started with all the basics to hand signals only and at the same time we did the name imprint process daily. Even though it was tempting to move ahead quickly because he was responding so well I hung in there and followed my training plan for a full ten days until he was pretty solid on sit, down, stand, and come sit with hand signals, lure, and reward.
Next I started to introduce one single word as he performed the tasks and by the end of week three I was using words, hand signals, lures , and rewards and starting to taper off on the lures as he became more solid with a separate task. At this stage I withhold the reward for a second or more as a means to begin the stay process.
In the fourth week we were working on heeling in a distraction free environment and by the end of that week we ventured into public places because I wanted to get on with socializing and gaining some experience with the great unknown. I probably pushed the process too quickly here because I had several occasions where the distraction was much more interesting than paying attention to my end of the leash so we had a few stop, sit, let's cool it for a minute or two, sessions. Shep has now met in excess of fifty new people plus dozens of dogs on and off leash so I'm prepared to have a few "oops" because I believe these experiences are extremely valuable if we are to have a well rounded dog as opposed to the student who does well in a controlled environment and falls to pieces when he ventures out into the real world.
As I introduce Shep to new people I give them a small treat and ask them to put the treat near to his nose and say sit as they move the treat between his ears and towards his tail. As soon he sits they are directed to open their hand and offer the treat. Since he has a pretty good handle on the task he almost always sits and receives the treat and praise. Occasionally his performance is less than perfect because of some distraction or more often the presenter having difficulty with their end of the the task. The purpose is for Shep "to learn that people are nice and people will reward him with a treat and praise if he will sit and be polite". Because I expect my dogs to work in public places with lots of distractions, I find this to be extremely valuable in their training.
Shep has learned to sit and wait for his food until he is invited to eat and he never bothers when I pick up his food or stir it around when he is eating. This way he is learning respect for the hand that feeds him and to trust me that I can pick up his food and move it around and pretend to eat it but I will return it to him. He is pretty solid on sitting and waiting before he goes through doors and gates. He can still be tempted in places with lots of distractions but I try to never compromise. Remember dogs don't understand compromise, they simply learn that there is another way to perform the task and if we allow this we have another snag that requires retraining. It's always easier to do it right the first time.
So for the most part things are developing pretty much on schedule. I'm never completely satisfied with where I am in the training process but that's just me. I always think I can do better. Shep is becoming a pleasure to be around. He is developing very acceptable manners and so far hasn't exhibited too many annoying puppy mannerism. Does he still do some puppy no nos? Sure but that's part of raising and training youngsters.
Stay with us and we'll move into recalls, stays, and more of the tasks that have distance and duration factors in addition to distractions.

Teaching the Basic Heel

The final step of our basic off leash "lure and reward" training is to teach Shep to heel off leash with a simple hand signal. As you see in the first photo we have Shep on our left side (as I explained before we are using a leash for this demonstration only because of where we shot the pictures). By now he knows to look up when I move my hand in his direction because he has been rewarded for looking up and performing certain tasks. As he looks up I step off and let him come along and very soon you will note that he looks up and assumes a proper heel position. As long as he moves along freely in this proper position I will keep walking. If we can do ten or twelve steps like this I'm happy. When we stop I give him the hand signal for the sit and he begins to learn to sit quietly beside me when ever we stop. In most instances it is this simple. I proceed in small sessions always rewarding for correct performances. If I go slowly with small segments I won't worry about my dog charging ahead or dragging behind because I've created a situation where he always suceeds and is not rushed or pushed too quickly into situations where distractions will become more interesting to him than the proper performance of the task at hand. Shep is young and we have lots of time so it's easier if we do many small and successful walks instead to striking out to go to town to "get the mail" and encounter all the inevitable annoyances like bikes and skateboards, overly friendly dogs or yappy ankle biters. It's much easier to go slowly than to rush out and create new challenges and problems and then be faced with fixing your mistakes while you're trying to move smoothly ahead with your training.
If I was working with this dog several times a day on a daily basis I would be at this stage by the end of about a week. I hesitate to cast these things in stone because then we have owners putting marks on their calenders and phoning with possible unrealistic expectations. Remember just because the pup will perform these tasks pretty well with me in an environment without distractions doesn't mean he will be ready to do "show and tell" when Mommy comes to see him.