You will find that the quickest way to train using sound is to set things up in a controlled way.Then we can train our Labrador with 4 repetitions.
Taken to it’s extreme, these four repetitions should be performed in four different places, or with different people, dogs, or whatever the “props” involved may be. Understanding how dogs think, learn, and process information is a stretch of the imagination for most of us. It is obvious that they know more about psychology than we do.
They think, have a sense of humor, communicate, tease, lie, steal, etc. just like any one else. But, they don’t think human. Dogs are limited to thinking like dogs. It’s your responsibility to think things out from their perspective and try to use good judgement.
By being consistent with your dog, and using reflex conditioning, it is possible to change any of his behaviour patterns. If you are not consistent your dog will get confused.
We will be using a set of cans in our demonstration. These allow us to change the direction of the sound quite simple by moving the string. This is all we need to change a behavior. We are going to create sound and follow it immediately with praise. What you do is let the unwanted behavior begin nad create a sound from a different direction, and then praise him.
Every time we create a sound this way, we praise him until he stops the behavior. You have to be ready to start the sound again when the behavior starts. You have to get past the point where you say to yourself “why should i praise him ?” but it works. As we said before you have to stop thinking like a human.
Of course, you may continue correcting your dog forever, as most trainers do. We do not understand why a trained dog needs correction. Seems that if he were trained, that would be the end of it. That would imply that if a trained dog makes a mistake, that this mistake is probably not an accident, but rather, a challenge to your authority.
Perhaps this is why so many trainers seemingly enjoy correcting their dogs forever. I guess the real reason it is so difficult for us to share the Wits’ End Dog Training Method with other pet professionals, is because we take all the satisfaction out of “dealing with” and obstreperous dog. The problem is, that corrections do not teach new behavior.