Nothing in your life changes until you do - which is why it is so important to reflect on yourself throughout your training journey.
The Human Aspect of our Training
Throughout our years of experience working with dogs and their families, we have learned that most behavioral issues arise out of miscommunication and misunderstanding. Dogs communicate quite clearly and simply, but in traditional dog training methodology, we spend most of our time trying to get our dogs to understand us. We believe, and we have found to be true, that you will be much more successful if you spend your time learning how to understand them, and adjusting your habits and lifestyle where appropriate. Healthy relationships require compromise and understanding. With this in mind, your level of success will primarily be based on your ability to absorb new information and put it into practice consistently through the building of new habits.
In order to build new habits, it’s important to understand a bit about how your brain works, and how to work with it to overcome its natural inclination to streamline everything you do. Our brains are primed for patterns and for efficiency because that’s how we survive: if every time we did something (drive our car, open our front door, make a cup of coffee) we had to think through every step, we would never grow or evolve. So our brains create neural pathways (or subconscious patterns) once we have practiced something enough times, and it becomes second nature. More importantly, once a pattern is built, it is extremely hard to break because that neural pathway is the path of least resistance. Your brain and body don’t like the unknown, even when the known is maladaptive or inefficient. So once you start to practice something new, it will be extremely uncomfortable until you overcome the initial friction of uncertainty.
It takes a tremendous amount of effort, then, to build new habits, because you have to bring attention to them constantly and choose a new way even when it is uncomfortable. But the good news is that you can absolutely do this, because our brains have the ability to build new neural pathways. You just have to bring attention to what you want to change, why you want to change, and how to get there. And you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
That’s why we put together these tips and tools, based on neuroscience, to help you in this journey. And we have linked our primary resource below!
Consider the following tools as you start to implement new ways of being with your dog:
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Visualization and Mental Rehearsal
Your brain is incredibly powerful and can create change through thought alone. There are powerful studies showing that even spending time imagining a task can make you better at that task; even that seeing yourself flexing a muscle in your mind's eye repeatedly can strengthen the muscle. Spending time each morning (or before training) visualizing what you will do with your dog that day, how it will go, and how it will feel to be successful can make a difference in your training and in your ability to remember the new habits you want to practice with your dog.
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Repetition and Consistency
Your brain has something called a salience network - a collection of regions of the brain that select which stimuli are deserving of our attention, i.e. what is important. By reminding yourself often of the changes you want to make and reinforcing them throughout your day (watching YouTube videos or listening to podcasts on dog training, following similar trainers on Instagram, setting reminders on your phone to remember your intention), you will pay more attention to it on a daily basis and you will rewire your brain to your new habit much quicker.
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Habit Stacking
You can use your existing habits (good and bad!) to help create new habits. By stacking a new habit on top of an existing habit, you use the neural pathways that you have already developed to develop new pathways. For example, if you always drink your coffee and watch the news in the morning before you walk your dog, you can use that time to put your dog on place and practice discipline and calm before a walk. Or if you always watch TV at night before bed, you can stack on a training activity to that time as well. If you listen to music while you walk your dog, put a sticky note by your headphones to remember to have your dog wait at the door before you leave. You can also use a bad habit (like petting your dog every time they approach) to do this: when you catch yourself doing that, send them to their place after to start to rewire that habit. There are so many ways to use this to your advantage, so get creative and outsmart your subconscious brain!
Remember…
There will be times during this training where both you and your dog may be uncomfortable, and that is to be embraced as long as the discomfort is being applied in the right way. Certain levels and forms of stress, when applied appropriately, helps us grow and become more resilient. That’s why we talk about certain training exercises as “discipline”. An example of this for humans is exercise. An example for dogs is more crate time and less time by your side when you are home. At first, it will be challenging and stressful for the dog if they have separation anxiety, but over time it teaches them that they can be safe without you (and you can be safe without them) and makes them more independent and resilient. It also teaches you that they can do it. By practicing low level, controlled stress in safe environments (via the training you do in the home, practicing less affection and more impulse control, for example), you prep yourself and your dog to have less intense emotional reactions in higher stress situations, like out on a walk when you see a dog or a squirrel. You are teaching each other that you can do hard things together and come out better than before. It builds trust and understanding, and it’s key to behavior change for your dog.
It’s worth reiterating, change is HARD and stressful. You will be challenged and you will be uncomfortable, so we highly recommend also learning about effective tools to improve your ability to regulate your emotions and stress responses such as deep breathing exercises, meditation, cold exposure, heat exposure, somatic therapies, etc. The better you are at managing your emotions and discomfort, the better you will be at managing your relationship with your dog. It’s all connected! Your dog can be your greatest teacher if you allow them to be.