"STUBBORN DOG?" TRY ANOTHER WAY

 Before I went to graduate school, I worked with severely handicapped adults. As part of my job there,  I went to a seminar entitled "Try Another Way." The presenter was Marc Gold, an educator who worked with developmentally disabled clients and individuals with multiple handicaps. His idea was that if people weren't learning, it was up to the teacher to figure out a way to help them learn; it wasn't due to the incompetence of the student, but of an inability of the teacher to figure out a way to teach the material .He gave these workshops back in the 1970's and his methods were new at that time.  He died in 1980 but his ideas live on.

I often get phone calls from people saying their dog is "stubborn," that he doesn't "listen" to them. Miriam Webster lists the definition of stubborn  as "...refusing to change your ideas or to stop doing something."  I don't know about changing a dog's ideas, but if your dog isn't doing what you want, rather than consider him "stubborn" ( I prefer to call such a dog "persistent," anyway), it's more helpful to look at what he's doing from a behavioral point of view.   Rather than worrying about your dog being "dominant" or whether you're "alpha,"   just teach the behavior you want.    Besides, I doubt dogs really stay up at night plotting Machiavellian ways to take over us or the world; when they're barging through a door ahead of you, it's not because they're being dominant, they just want out the door, they're really not thinking of you at all.

 If your dog's not learning what you want him to learn, instead of labeling him as stubborn, take a step back and observe what's going on.  What exactly is the dog doing? When does he do it? What happens when he does it? What happens right before he does it? How often does he do it? What's he getting out of it, what's the payoff?  These questions will help you more in the long run than a label.  When I do this, usually what I find out is that the dog really doesn't know what he's supposed to do, and dogs being dogs, he's doing  something that we consider obnoxious but which he considers great fun. In that case, it can be matter of showing people how to be clear and consistent in how to get and maintain the behavior we want.

 Learning theory and behavior modification are the best ways to change behavior in dogs, and we  are beginning to learn more about the behaviors we can't usually see, such as brain function, through the use of  fMRI. Obviously, we have to take into account the dog's genetic and physiological make-up--they don't know what words mean unless they've been taught, they can't read, they emphasize scent and body language more than we do, they have smaller brains, different breeds may have different characteristics, etc. -- so  we have certain parameters we need to follow.

But what if the owner is doing what generally works with most dogs, and this particular dog just doesn't seem to be getting it?  When that happens, it's easy to get frustrated with the dog and ourselves.  Since dogs are so tuned into our emotions, they sense this, and the whole process can turn sour.  Instead,  we need to come up with a plan, and that usually involves flexibility on our part. The basics of "Try Another Way"  was to think about new methods to teach a concept. I  might need to break the behavior down into smaller chunks to make it easier for the dog to grasp, something called behavior analysis. I might need to think of a unique way to get the behavior, maybe something that is better suited to the dog. Maybe the reward I'm offering isn't as strong as the rewards the dog is getting for doing the behavior. Maybe something the dog has learned previously is interfering with the dog's learning now, either because what he's doing is such a habit (such as jumping up), or due to something else, maybe an internal response such as anxiety, fear, etc.  One thing to keep in mind is that the reason a behavior initially started, and the variables maintaining it, don't necessarily have to be the same.

Whatever the reason, it helps to remember that the dog isn't really "out to get you" or being "defiant."  He's probably just being a dog; and you're being a human, and our methods of communicating aren't the same. Maybe the dog thinks we're the ones being stubborn,  that we're just not getting it. Take some time out and  watch him get enjoyment out of doing silly doggy stuff, and remember why you wanted a dog in the first place. Then, call a trainer if you need some guidance to get your relationship on track.