03/02/2024
'I used 'no' all the time my dog understands it'
'Dogs need boundries'
'Woke dog trainers, now we can't even say no to our dogs'
'Dogs don't understand 'no''
'No, isn't effective'
'I tell my dog 'no' and every time he looks at me and stops what he is doing'
Deep breaths everyone. For once everyone is right. 🙂
What the genral press and dog training circles are referring to is that 'no' isn't an instruction.
When we use cues they are paired to a behaviour- right? So sit means put your bottom on the floor. Down mean rest on the floor, bed means go to your bed. Each of these things we have taught our dog the meaning by pairing our cue with their behaviour.
When you use 'no' in multiple different senario's where the dog is say chasing, or jumping, or licking a childs face etc it's really just an interupter, it makes the dog stop and notice you. It isn't a trained behaviour to stop moving if someone shouts, hiss, tap, click- whatever, that's something inate- a survival instinct to stop and take heed at something unusual. However, if that behaviour of stopping is rewarded or punished consistantly, the result of that same interuption 'no' will then either strengthen or weaken the behaviour and so 'No' gets paired with a behaviour and actually can become a cue- with caveats.
So lets say a puppy one day goes to pick up a food wrapper off the ground and you say no- the pup freezes, looks at you, and hopefully at that point reward them for making that choice, so staying still and looking at you, when you said 'no' ended up being rewarded. So the next time you say 'no' that might be the behaviour you get. You are happy the pup knows 'no' the pup is happy it get rewarded for stopping and looking. If it get reinforced every time then it does become a cue right? 'No' means stop and look at me. That's how animals learn.
Wait, did I just disagree then? How can that be right too?
Because the way 'no' gets used isn't ever consistant and even with regular consistancy, there are still issues.
Say for example, best case senario - that same puppy grows up consistantly being told 'no' in cases where the owner wants a freeze and look, and thats rewarded, it become the behaviour for that word. Then the puppy jumps on the sofa one day and is told 'no' and they do what they have done every other time - stay still and look, this time the mood is different. The pup is still on the sofa, so then other cues start flying around, 'down', 'off', and the pup having never heard them before is confused but does the last thing you instructed and they understood 'no' so they stay still and look. By now the pup owner is really confused, the owner thinking the pup is CLEARLY being stubborn, so they go to take the pup by the collar and the pup digs in its heels (dragging anything towards an edge results in backward pressure) or worst still growls in frustration or confusion. Then it comes again 'NO'. The puppy being a good dog stays put and looks at the owner, who is now thinking they are being a defiant little sh*t and acting aggressively to boot.
Yeah, it never ends well.
This is why as dog trainers- we advise to teach a behaviour, rather than the notion of an absence of behaviour, and to prrof the behaviour in almost every environment. We all agree dogs need boundries and that means working on strengthening the behaviours we have. Teach a proper sit and proof it you have a boundry the size of the dogs backside, that's pretty tight boundry.
Let's take that wee pup again, back happy on his walks, the timing on the walk coincides with school run. Great if you have space and opportunity to watch from a distance but this time nope and the puppy naturally starts to pull. 'No', nothing happens, no stop and freeze this time- why? Too many competing environmental factors, the puppy is overwhelmed and can't respond. 'No, no, NO!' as the puppy gets more worked up and the owner frustrated that every time before 'no' made the pup stop still and now it's just not working. That leaves the puppy owner feeling crap their 'training' failed, the puppy in the dog house and everyone miserable.
Moral of my wee story, don't want a pup on the sofa/thesurfaces/people teach it 'off', don't want your dog picking up objects? Teach 'leave'. Teach them in different places, and gradually increase the amount of distractions til they can handle anything. 🙂
Don't underestimate how clarity and communication will boost the training level you achieve. So, while I would agree 'no' for many dogs does become understood as a kind of 'stop/freeze/wait' cue it often gets muddied because people then try and use it in a way that has little chance of working.
Lets have a wee think about what might be a more normal scenario.
If you think about the times you use 'no' do you always follow up with a reward or a punishment? Say you walk in the kitchen and your dog had their head in a bin and you say 'no' stearnly like the internet dudes like you to. The dog responds, stops what they are doing and retreats, are you likely to them praise the dog thats just been feasting on carcase remains? I don't think many people instinctively would and so in training terms that particular 'no' was followed by a punishment (the food resourse access) even if you didn't scold them. Punishments reduce behaviour so the stop and retreat- less likely next time. The bin raider, despite being told and doing 'it' the first time, is more likely next time to keep on munching.
And that is why 'no' becomes defunct as a training cue, it has no consistancy and no clarity.
