Habits in dog training
You train your dog things you love.
You also train them things you absolutely hate.
And quite often, you don’t even realise you’re doing it.
Dog training isn’t something that only happens when you grab the treats and deliberately practise sit, stay, heel or recall.
Your dog is learning from the little patterns that happen every single day.
How you leave the house.
What happens when another dog appears.
What happens when they pull on the lead.
What happens when they ignore their recall.
What happens when you stop walking.
What happens before their dinner comes out.
All of these little repetitions can gradually turn into habits.
Some of them are brilliant.
Some of them make life much harder.
And understanding the difference can completely change how you look at your dog’s behaviour.
What Is a Habit?
A habit is basically a behaviour that becomes easier and easier to repeat because it has happened so many times before.
We do this ourselves constantly.
You probably sit in roughly the same place on the sofa.
You drive familiar routes without consciously thinking about every turn.
You pick your phone up and somehow find yourself on Instagram before you’ve even decided why you picked it up.
The behaviour has become familiar.
Dogs are no different.
Imagine walking across the same grassy field every day.
The first time you cut across the corner, you barely leave a mark.
Walk the same route tomorrow and you flatten the grass a little more.
Do it again.
And again.
Eventually there’s a clear path.
At that point, following the path becomes easier than walking through the untouched grass.
That is a really useful way to think about dog training.
Every repetition walks the path again.
Your Dog Is Learning Patterns
My dogs are normally fed in their crates.
I don’t have to tell them to go in when I start preparing their food.
They see what is happening and head towards the crates.
Why?
Because that sequence has happened hundreds of times.
Food gets prepared.
They go to their crates.
They get fed.
What probably started as deliberate training has become an everyday habit.
And we can break that down using something really simple called the ABC of dog behaviour.
Antecedent
What happened before the behaviour?
Behaviour
What did the dog actually do?
Consequence
What happened immediately afterwards?
Using the food example:
Antecedent: I start preparing their dinner.
Behaviour: They go into their crates.
Consequence: They get their dinner.
Repeat that enough times and the whole sequence becomes incredibly familiar.
The important thing is that we’re creating these sequences with our dogs all the time.
Sometimes deliberately.
Sometimes completely by accident.
How We Accidentally Build Bad Habits
Reactivity is a really good example.
Imagine you’re walking a reactive dog and another dog appears.
Before your dog has even reacted, your behaviour changes.
You shorten the lead.
Your hand tightens.
Your shoulders tense.
Maybe you reach for the treat pouch.
Maybe you start repeating:
“Look at me.”
Your dog notices all of this.
Then they see the other dog.
They bark.
They lunge.
You create some distance.
Eventually the other dog disappears.
Now look at the whole pattern.
Dog appears.
Everything changes.
Tension builds.
Dog reacts.
Distance gets created.
Reset.
Then you practise the same sequence again the next time.
That does not mean tightening your lead causes reactivity.
And it definitely doesn’t mean you shouldn’t manage your dog or create space when they need it.
Reactivity is much more complicated than that.
But it is worth noticing the patterns you and your dog repeatedly rehearse.
Because every repetition walks that same path again.
If your dog's reactivity is making everyday life difficult, you can find out more about working with me here:
https://www.thecraftycanine.co.uk/reactivity
Build the Behaviour Before You Need It
This is another really common dog training mistake.
Someone teaches a behaviour five or ten times in the house.
Their dog gets it right.
Then they go outside, another dog appears, a squirrel runs past or everything becomes exciting and suddenly the behaviour disappears.
That doesn’t mean the dog is stubborn.
The behaviour just isn’t strong enough yet.
Think of every successful repetition like one strand of thread.
One strand isn’t very strong.
Add another.
Then another.
Then another.
Eventually those individual strands start becoming something more like a rope.
That is what we want with our dog's behaviour.
We want enough successful repetitions that the behaviour is incredibly familiar.
Then, when life becomes harder, the dog still has access to it.
You wouldn’t learn to drive around an empty car park for ten minutes and then immediately enter a Formula 1 race.
Dog training is the same.
Build it when it is easy.
Make it strong.
Then gradually add difficulty.
Use Habits to Make Dog Training Easier
Habits aren't the enemy.
Good habits can actually start doing some of your training for you.
A really simple example is loose lead walking.
Start teaching your dog that whenever you stop walking, they stop too.
Walk a few steps.
Stop.
Help your dog into position.
Reward.
Walk again.
Stop.
Reward.
Again.
And again.
Eventually your dog starts recognising the pattern.
You stop.
They stop.
With enough practice, you no longer need to constantly tell them what to do.
Your movement itself starts becoming useful information.
Now your dog is paying more attention when you slow down, speed up, change direction or stop.
That small habit can make a massive difference to lead walking.
Build Check-Ins Into Your Walks
You can do exactly the same thing with check-ins.
Your dog is sniffing and exploring.
They look back at you.
Mark it.
Reward it.
Let them carry on exploring.
A little later they check in again.
Mark.
Reward.
Carry on.
You are creating another pattern.
Checking in with you pays.
Over time, looking back towards you can start becoming a natural part of your dog’s walk instead of something you constantly have to ask for.
Doorways Are Another Easy Example
Door opens.
Dog waits.
You release them.
They move through.
Repeat it often enough and waiting at the doorway starts becoming the normal behaviour.
This is where good dog training often becomes much easier.
You don’t necessarily need more commands.
You need clearer patterns.
What Are You Actually Practising?
For the next few days, don’t try to change everything your dog does.
Just watch.
Become a little more aware of the patterns happening around you.
Maybe you shorten your lead every time another dog appears.
Maybe you say your recall cue five times before your dog finally comes back.
Maybe your dog has learnt that pulling eventually gets them where they want to go.
Or maybe you’ve already created some brilliant habits without even realising it.
Look at the ABC.
What happened before?
What did your dog do?
What happened afterwards?
Then ask yourself one simple thing:
What are we actually practising?
Because every repetition makes a behaviour a little more familiar.
Make the behaviour you want easy to get right.
Help your dog where they need it.
Reward it.
Repeat it.
Then gradually make life harder.
The goal isn't simply for your dog to know the right behaviour.
The goal is to practise it enough that the right behaviour becomes one of the easiest options for them to choose.
Watch on youtube
Want Something Practical to Work On?
I've put together 30 Ways to Improve Your Dog's Behaviour in 30 Days.
It's completely free and gives you simple things you can start working on with your dog straight away.
Get it here:
https://www.thecraftycanine.co.uk/30-ways-30-days
Or if you want access to all of my online dog training, you can join The Training Hub for £1 for your first month:
https://www.thecraftycanine.co.uk/onlinedogtraining-waitinlist
Do More With Your Dog.
