Why Quick Fixes Rarely Are

I’m writing this to help educate dog owners on the realities of training and behaviour change because I care very much about dogs’ welfare and the wellbeing of the humans who get caught up in this too.  I want people to make informed choices about their dog’s training and I want people to understand a different perspective to what’s often presented by trainers who offer the quick fix.

A couple of weeks ago I read a comment on a trainer’s page (I think it was a US one) that I came across accidentally after clicking through some links.  I didn’t save it, so this isn’t the exact wording, but it was along the lines of – “dog training is the only industry where people are criticised for getting quick results.  If you went to hospital for surgery and that is successful, nobody will say oh that’s no good it should’ve taken multiple surgeries.  Or if your car is fixed quickly by a mechanic, nobody will say they can’t have done a good job if it was done quickly”. 

For a brief second, I really thought they had a point.  Until I realised that they’d totally missed the point, as is often the case!  These analogies aren’t relevant for dog training and behaviour change because they describe single events ie surgery/car fix.

The more relevant analogies would be if someone said they’d been to TAFE for one week and they are now a qualified electrician; in one week.  Would you believe them?  Would you want them to rewire your house?  What would you think of the validity of the TAFE course?

If someone who’s been suffering from serious mental health issues for a long time had one counselling session and told you they were all good now, what would you think?  Would you believe that’s possible?  Would you trust that was the case?

Because dog training and behaviour change aren’t like getting your car fixed.  Training a dog and changing behaviour are ongoing processes that take time, just like education for humans.  I always smile to myself if someone tells me their dog is “fully trained”; is that fully trained in the same way I’m “fully educated”?  Training and education are never ending, there is always more to learn.  There is a fascinating thing called the Dunning-Kruger effect which you can read about here https://www.britannica.com/science/Dunning-Kruger-effect if you haven’t heard of it.

Basically, people who don’t know much about a topic overestimate their competency in that topic, because they don’t realise how much they don’t know.

The reason unskilled trainers can get some success is because even someone who knows a little bit may be able to teach someone who knows nothing.  Another car analogy is me showing a friend how to check their tyre pressure and put air in their tyres at a petrol station (only ones with the digital display I might add) because they didn’t know how to.  That hardly makes me an expert on car maintenance, but I successfully taught my friend something useful. 

Unskilled trainers may get away with it enough that it seems they know what they’re doing.  Until they try and help dogs with more complex issues especially those that involve aggression and/or anxiety, that’s when educated trainers and owners realise what’s going on. There are “training problems” which I define as problems that can be improved by teaching a dog to respond to cues, for example walking on lead, coming when called etc.  “Behaviour problems” however are different, they are almost always more complex and often involve an emotional component, often fear, anxiety, stress etc.  Examples of behaviour problems include lead reactivity, separation anxiety, resource guarding and any form of aggression.  A trainer needs to understand the motivation behind a behaviour to truly improve or solve it, with complex behaviours it's not a quick fix.

By now you know I love car analogies, so here’s another – a warning light comes up on the dashboard of my 26 year old car; I take it to a mechanic and I get it back with a black sticker covering the warning light and I’m told it’s all OK now; because I can’t see the warning light there’s nothing wrong; how silly (and dangerous) would that be?  When unskilled trainers try and deal with complex behaviour, especially those that involve aggression and/or anxiety, they most commonly suppress the behaviour, pushing it under the surface so it’s not visible just like a warning light out of sight.

For example, dogs who are reactive on lead towards other dogs (that is they bark/growl/lunge) put on a huge display, that’s “distance increasing” behaviour, they are saying “don’t come near me”!  They are trying to avoid conflict by making the other dog move further away so they won’t need to escalate and bite.  If a reactive dog suddenly isn’t reactive, after just one session (usually this is shown on social media with before and after videos), can you read and correctly interpret that dog’s body language?  I bet they’re telling you what’s just gone on.  Is the dog genuinely looking calm and relaxed around another dog (it’s possible but unlikely) or are they showing signs of the behaviour being suppressed (avoidance, lip licking, yawning amongst many other possibilities) or worse, no signals at all that indicate their emotional state; that means they’ve shut down.  Suppressing behaviour is easy, anyone can do that; the skill is in changing the behaviour and/or the underlying emotions by understanding why it’s happening and addressing the cause.  That takes knowledge, skill, education, and experience.

There are some quick fixes, I’m not going to deny that.  Some simple training exercises can be taught in one session, it’s possible a simple behaviour issue can be solved in one session.  But most can’t be, and most people who seek help for problems have been experiencing those problems for some time, at a minimum a few weeks, likely a few months and for some longer than that. 

Remember if it’s too good to be true ……………

Our dogs rely on us to make good choices and to advocate for their welfare.  Choose wisely.