Pets and Their People Blog

Have you ever thought, “Why aren’t they getting this?” You are not alone. Many people get stuck while training their animals.

Whether it’s with clients or a post on social media asking for help, I see animal caretakers making the same mistakes over and over while training their animals. Professionals like us frequently make them too! In this multipart article, I’ll list mistakes I commonly see and how you can fix them.

Mistake #1 –Training without a Plan

Are you using a training plan to train your animal? If not, you need to start!

Training plans outline the start and end points when training a skill or behavior. They also clarify what variables are impacting our training.

If you have a plan, you can assess what has gone well so far and where exactly you’re getting stuck.

This assessment may give you information about where to add another step to the training plan when progress slows.

For example, you want to train a dog or horse to have a harness or halter put on. You have to start with building a positive association with the object, then teach them to stick their head through at their own pace.

For most animals, you’ll need to break down the training into small steps, such as being comfortable with something over the head, then with something being snapped or buckled, then slowly build duration wearing it. You can’t just throw it on them, snap everything together and expect the animal to be okay. Some will habituate and be okay, but many won’t.

And, if you’re starting with an animal who is fearful of the object, they will feel even worse if you just force it on them.

Not sure how to write a training plan? That’s a whole other article! There are many books and resources written by professional trainers outlining training plans for many species. This exploration can be a great starting point and you can always contact a professional to help you if you have questions.

Mistake #2 –Using the Wrong Training Plan

You’re using a training plan, but it’s not working. Your animal may even be regressing. This situation is a common problem when working on fears. When this lack of progress happens, I usually see people using a chunky operant conditioning plan instead of a classical conditioning plan. Let me explain.

Operant conditioning is teaching an animal a skill or behavior by cuing them, waiting for them to do the behavior, then rewarding them once they do the behavior. The animal over time learns, “If I see or hear x, then do y, I get a cookie!” This is a really great way to train animals to sit, stay, offer a paw or hoof and train for a variety of sports.

Classical conditioning is training through associations. X predicts Y.

The goal with classical conditioning is not to train a skill or behavior; it is to create a positive emotion for the animal.

We frequently use this protocol when training a halter, harness or muzzle, starting with just showing the animal the object. Harness appears, cookie is given. Over time the animal learns that the object appearing isn’t that scary and actually predicts some of their favorite food (or toys, for some animals). These types of associations are especially important when training pets for veterinary and grooming procedures.

Many caretakers and trainers try to train strictly using operant conditioning. If they use classical conditioning to build a positive association from the start, their training may be more successful.

When assessing your training plan, ask if you’re trying to train a behavior or change the animal’s emotional reaction.

• If training a behavior, such as sit, use operant conditioning (cue -> behavior -> treat).

• For changing emotions, such as fear, use classical conditioning (scary thing -> super awesome treat).

The last piece of this is “chunky vs. splitty”. What does that mean? When we assess training plans, we look at how “chunky” the plan is, meaning is the plan fairly short with steps that tend to be pretty big? Or is it “splitty”- lengthy with lots of tiny steps that make up the plan? Most training plans are somewhere in the middle.

If your training isn’t progressing, your plan may be too chunky and you need to add some extra steps.

Plans can also be overly-splitty, but the only downside is the plan taking a little longer to train.

There are eight more common training mistakes I frequently see. Check out Part 2 next!

---

About the Author

Erin Maloney, CTC is a dog and horse trainer in Canton, Ohio specializing in training fearful and aggressive animals. She trains in person and online through her businesses Raising Pawtential and Erin Maloney Equine Services. She is a graduate of the Academy for Dog Trainers and member of the Pet Professional Guild Equid Committee. You can find her on social media @RaisingPawtential and @ErinMaloneyEquines. For more information visit www.raisingpawtential.com and www.erinmaloneyequines.com