Canine Capers: Don’t Just Say No

By Lesley Liddle

Lesley Liddle is a certified service and pet dog trainer. First Mate Lulu is a Corgi/Red Heeler with spots like a baby harbor seal; Crewman Leonard is a Chihuahua/Doxie with tall ears like a rabbit. Both dogs have very short legs and were originally found in California shelters.  Lesley has average legs and can be found on Orcas Island.

Not long ago Lulu and I were down on the beach at the Anacortes Ferry Landing  waiting for the Orcas ferry. We watched a woman walk by us with a golden lab puppy on a leash. She was jerking the the leash hard and saying in a very angry voice “No! …No!… No! …”  and this kept on until she was out of hearing.

I wondered why she even bothered to walk on the beach in such a bad mood. I felt very sad and a little sick at heart for the puppy, because he was truly in a no win situation.He was “being bad”,  but no alternative action was being shown or allowed to him so he had no way to be good. The only thing the puppy was learning was that he was bad, bad , bad. It was awful to watch and I felt terrible for the puppy.

To be good, one has to be presented and encouraged with the opportunity to be good. Merely getting repeatedly jerked by the neck and told “No!”  is not training – it is just abuse as long as the dog has no way to learn by experience that walking alongside with a loose leash receives praise, is the alternative and is what is being asked.

Yes, it is possible if not desirable to extinguish an undesirable habit with negative punishment, but you have to offer some sort of activity as a replacement. This puppy was up against a wall of “No”. He will either become aggressively more difficult to manage as he is repeatedly told he is bad, or he may become despondent, unconfident, fearful and/or shut down. The joy of feeling like a beloved puppy is being taken out of him and that is a great shame.

One of my favorite activities to do with my dogs first thing in the morning when we awake is to walk around the perimeter of our property, I in my bathrobe and wellies, snow, rain or shine. The dogs rush past me wildly down the hill towards the ocean and when they get to the cliff I yell for them and flap my arms. They spin around and run as fast as they can back up to me and I swear they are laughing.

Then they rush back down the hill and I call them again and they rush back up and we greet again and together we all walk down to the cliff. It is a game they love, and has resulted in building a great recall when we are out walking. Together we finish meadering around the garden and stroll back up to the house for breakfast.

Perhaps the greatest feature about modern dog training methods, and I believe horse training methods as well, is that the training itself is fun and exciting for both trainer and pupil. We work as a team with the desire to synchronize, and to please. The learning is no longer from the bare and urgent need to avoid pain.