Returning Home Checklist: Schedule and Protocols
Congratulations are in order! Your dog is returning home soon after successfully completing the obedience course.
Returning home is the most challenging part of a dog's training. There is the danger that he could immediately snap back into old behaviors. Let's talk about that.
There are not innumerable reasons why a dog does a behavior, whether it's a good behavior or a bad one. There is no mystery about shaping a dog's behavior.
A dog does an action or behavior because he finds the result beneficial or pleasant. He ceases an action or a behavior because he finds the result disagreeable or unpleasant.
That's it. There's nothing more complicated than that to molding a dog's behavior. If he does something you like, make sure he enjoys a pleasant outcome for it. If he does something you dislike, make sure he receives an unpleasant outcome for it.
Once that concept is fully understood, the trainer or owner gets creative and tactical with selectively giving agreeable or disagreeable outcomes. The more consistent the outcome, the faster the dog learns. The clearer the difference between very good and very bad, the better the dog learns. In one moment you may give a very disagreeable outcome for a bad behavior (for example jumping up on you) and the very next instant giving a very pleasant outcome (for sitting in front of you instead of jumping).
The behaviors that you wanted fixed with training were behaviors that had been reinforced with agreeable outcomes at home - perhaps unknowingly, perhaps by the environment, perhaps despite your best intentions.
During your dog's training program, the behaviors that you wanted stopped were stopped because we gave your dog disagreeable outcomes for them. We replaced those behaviors with new behaviors.
Your job now is to maintain those disagreeable outcomes for the wrong behaviors, while reinforcing desired behaviors with positive outcomes.
During the time your dog was with us they learned the basic obedience commands of walking on leash, sitting, drop and stay. They also learned many useful things for everyday life, such as sleeping in a crate and going to “bed”, sitting before meals and before going through doors. These are routines and protocols that would be wise to continue once your dog returns home.
One of the more important aspects of your dog's stay with us has been a very consistent routine and schedule. Routines help a dog stay sane and really reduce anxiety by providing your dog with a predictable schedule.
Dogs thrive when they understand what's expected of them, have a routine, know what their schedule is going to be, and receive predictable outcomes for their behavior.
Many cases of reactiveness and separation anxiety are cured by providing your dog with consistent outcomes and routines. Another important part of their life with us has been trust building and respect. We understand and respect their needs as dogs; they learned what our expectations were for them and that there are positive outcomes or negative outcomes for their actions. This is fairness. It is predictability. It is mutual respect and trust-building. Most importantly, having and enforcing boundaries, rules and schedules communicates that YOU are the leader.
Coddling and unlimited affection, access to toys and treats will teach your dog that those things have little or no value. After all, if those things are free, they aren't worth anything. When you find yourself needing to get your dog to do something he doesn't want to do, you suddenly realize that you have given away all your leverage.
Protocols:
Before every meal, your dog is expected to sit and pause momentarily before being invited to eat.
Before crossing any threshold or going through any door, your dog is expected to sit and wait for our signal to pass through the door.
When your dog has been free and interacting with us, we have always had the training leash and collar on them which gives us the ability to guide or correct them for inappropriate behavior.
When out on a walk we often meet people or people with other dogs. In those situations, your dog is expected to sit and wait calmly while we chat. He is corrected for getting up out of the sit, rushing towards the person or dog, or reacting in a fearful or aggressive way. We have practiced and cultivated this calm attitude with your dog.
When a guest arrives at our house, your dog will be allowed to bark several times to let us know that someone has rang the doorbell or knocked. This is allowable (if he chooses to do so) because it is his job to alert us that there is a stranger entering our territory. After notifying us, we will reward your dog and send him to a place to wait and chill out. We will answer the door and allow the guest to enter the house without being harassed by your dog, and clearly communicating to your dog that his job is done and he must stand down and allow us, the home owner and boss of the pack, to handle things from here.
Freedoms
I wish it were the case that all dogs could have unlimited freedom of space and time. Unfortunately, that much responsibility and judgement is too much for most dogs. The dog is living in a human world and misunderstanding situations is common. Not only does a dog feel better when he has guidance, it is also necessary for the safety of the dog and the people and his surroundings. Instead of allowing the dog to form bad habits such as biting on furniture or barking at passersby, it is more effective and efficient to avoid those habits in the first place.
Supervising your dog and making sure that they know where they should be and what they should be doing is vital.
Schedules
While your dog was with us he maintained a very exact and consistent schedule. Meal times, toilet breaks, training sessions were all very consistently timed so to give your dog a predictable time to hold onto in his mind.
Predictability keeps your dog sane.
For puppies, we record the times of each of your dog's pee and poo breaks so that we can better estimate his needs. When your dog returns home, it would be wise to follow this schedule as best as possible so as to maintain the predictability of toileting. We will provide you with the exact schedule for exercise, meals and toileting.
Routines
Having set routines will teach your dog what's expected of him. The predictability keeps him sane. He doesn't have to guess what you want or decide on his own what's expected because you've shown him what is expected and also shown him that following your expectations will be beneficial for him.
The first step is for you to decide what is expected of him in any given situation. If you don't know what you want of him, he has little chance of doing the right thing.
If you are clear about your expectations, it is easy for him to please you and to do the right thing.
What are “any given situations”? Some specific examples are when a stranger comes to the door. Where should he be? What should he be doing? Greeting a friend while on a walk: Should he pull towards them and jump up on them demanding attention? Or should be sit patiently waiting for an invitation to interact? While the family watches TV, should he be roaming freely around the living room chewing on furniture or harassing everyone for attention? Or should he be happy to be in your company while doing his own version of Netflix & Chill?
TIP: Setting expectations should be a description of an exact desired behavior, with a finite place and time, and a practical routine. These are things to do. Expectations should not be phrased as negative actions, such as “not jump” or “not bark”, and they should not be vague statements of behavior, such as “not be obnoxious”. Phrase the expectations as a remedy or replacement for the bad behavior with actions or behaviors thar you will find appropriate and polite.
EXAMPLE: Our expectation is that the dog will join us while we're having dinner. He'll lay at our feet or under the table and be relaxed and calm throughout our meal. He'll be acknowledged and praised for his good behavior frequently, and will be corrected for getting up, barking or begging.
After setting our expectations, we will then see if this is actually possible to do. Is there space for him? Will the children drop food off the table making it almost impossibly difficult to resist breaking the command? We will probably need to use a leash and training collar to practice this exercise until he understands there are positive outcomes for following our expectations and negative consequences for breaking the rules. We will practice the routine until our dog clearly understands what is expected and has been both rewarded for doing the right thing, and corrected for doing the wrong thing. Once these boundaries are established, most dogs will gladly comply.
Returning Home
Aside from the above, when your dog is returned home there will be specific tips and recommendations that will maintain the training.
The 21-Day training program is the major portion of the dog's overall training. However, a very important aspect of the transition is to work with the trainer several times to ensure you understand how to maintain the dog's balance and training. There may be several lessons involved in the transition. Perhaps the trainer will recommend that you attend a group training session. If you have questions or problems along the way, be sure to ask.