A Comparison Of The Success Mindset vs. The Non-Success Mindset When Fixing Chewing Problems!
Let’s assume that both the Successful dog trainer and the Non-Successful dog trainer start out owning two exactly identical three-year-old dogs. And let’s pretend that these dogs are a perfect genetic match, and will do the exact same behavior for each owner (initially). This way, we can see how it is actually the Success Mindset that ends up with a well trained dog that will no longer have a chewing problem. And how the Non-Success Mindset will never have a reliable dog. Let’s refer to the dog trainer with the Success Mindset as “SMDT” (Success Mindset Dog Trainer.) And the Non-Success Mindset Dog Trainer as “NSMDT.” (Non-Success Mindset Dog Trainer)
SMDT will own Fido#1.
NSMDT will own Fido#2. Again, both dogs are a complete genetic match (for all intents and purposes, it’s the same dog.) First behavior: The genetically matching dogs, Fido#1 and Fido#2, begin to chew on the owner’s new leather couch! Both owners come home two hours later. NSMDT says, “Oh my, you’re a bad doggy,” and spanks the dog. However, the dog was sleeping at the time and mistakenly thinks that the spanking was for sleeping next to the heater. (Not to mention the fact that spanking isn’t the right way to correct a dog, anyway.) SMDT, seeing the same thing, recognizes that the dog has just demonstrated that he cannot be left alone, but that it is too late to correct him. SMDT then goes out and buys a crate, so that the dog will not be able to chew the leather couch without receiving a correction.
Behavior #2: Fido#2 chews on the leather couch, for the second time. Fido#1 is in the crate, and therefore cannot chew the couch. When NSMDT comes home, three hours after the fact, Fido#2 shows submissive body language. NSMDT mistakenly thinks that Fido#2 “knows he did something wrong.” But in reality, Fido#2 has associated the spanking he got THE LAST TIME NSMDT came home, and is worried he might get spanked again, for reasons he can’t understand. When SMDT returns home, he lets Fido#1 out of the crate and goes outside to play ball.
Behavior #3: Both Fido#1 and Fido#2 go to the couch and begin to chew. SMDT, recognizing that this WAS going to happen again, and that the dog learns through trial and error… smartly had a training collar and tab (a 1 foot leash) on the dog beforehand. When Fido#1 started chewing on the couch, SMDT said, “No!” and went over to the dog and administered a correction. NSMDT, on the other hand, did not have the foresight to put a training collar on the dog. Nor did he have the discipline to keep his eye on the dog in order to catch him in the act. And when Fido#2 chews on the couch, it is again 15 minutes later that NSMDT finds the evidence, and at that point, Fido#2 is again sleeping next to the heater. With another spanking, NSMDT (using the wrong technique for correcting the dog, and not understanding the basic concepts of timing, consistency– outlined in my Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer Book– and motivation) incorrectly assumes that:
1.) Dog training doesn’t work.
2.) Her dog is dumb.
3.) The dog KNOWS he shouldn’t be chewing. Now, SMDT may not be done with his job, either. However, with the Success Mindset, SMDT recognizes that his dog’s behavior is a direct reflection on HIS OWN UNDERSTANDING AND USE OF THE RIGHT TECHNIQUES. So, Fido#1 may try to chew on the couch again, but he’ll be sure to get a consistently motivational correction that is applied RIGHT when he chews. And after he’s corrected a few times, and then set-up, tested, and re-tested to make sure he’s trust worthy… only then will he be allowed to have free roam of the room where the leather couch is… without being supervised!