“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
– Cheshire Cat
The reader is asked to analyze the following content very carefully to avoid any misinterpretations. The author is making no accusations of any particular type of dog training being right or wrong, good or bad, better or worse, per se. The purpose of this article is simply to examine the differences between trick training and obedience training and the subsequent training considerations that should arise from such an investigation, particularly in regards to the wants and needs of pet dog owners.
Part 1 of this series discussed the confusion and disappointment that can happen when pet dog owners seek advice or training services from professional Working dog trainers and then find that their pet dogs are not fitting into their lifestyle.
Part 2 will look into similar confusion and disappointment that can happen when pet dog owners seek the advice or training services from Trick dog trainers (a.k.a. Clicker, Positive or Force-Free dog trainers) and then find that their dogs are not obedient.
What is Trick Training?
Most dog owners think of “Trick Training” as teaching dogs to do something fun or entertaining like Shake or Roll Over. We tend to consider tricks to be low priority, superfluous or non-essential for a pet dog. In other words, we don’t really care if our dogs do tricks or not, it’s just something we teach them for fun, if at all.
Due to the non-essential nature of teaching dogs to do tricks and the importance for the dog to look animated, as well as the need for the dog to maintain a high level of motivation to try new things, it can be counterproductive to use forceful or aversive tactics when teaching tricks. Therefore, the style of training used to teach tricks is generally Reward-Based, with very few exceptions.
Of course, this is fantastic! The dog is happy, the owner is happy, everyone is happy, happy, happy…until they’re not. Then it’s time for a reality check.
The reality is that I have worked with approximately 6,000 pet dogs over the last 18 years and approximately zero of their owners called me because they were struggling with training the dog to do tricks. People call me because they need their dogs to “behave” or because they need them to “listen”.
I have found that a majority of my clients struggle because they are applying Trick Training tactics towards behaviors such as Come, Stay, Off or Leave It, even though they don’t consider those behaviors to be “tricks”.
“Why would they do that?”
Well, if they knew it was Trick Training, they probably wouldn’t be doing it. The problem is that they don’t realize that what they are doing is Trick Training because they have been misled by marketing terms such as Reward-Based, Positive, Force-Free, Clicker or Dog Friendly dog training, erroneously assuming that these methodologies will lead to the same level of obedience achieved through Balanced Dog Training, which is simply not the case. In fact, it will not lead to obedience at all.
For the record, the above is not my opinion, it is a fact and it is not a secret. If you pay close attention to the narrative of “Positive” trainers, they are very honest about this BUT you really need to pay attention. Sometimes you have to read between the lines but the fact of the matter is that they are not selling a kinder, gentler version of Obedience Training, they are selling a radically different belief system that literally does not allow for Obedience Training. They don’t believe in “commanding” a dog to do anything. They don’t believe in forcing their will upon the dog. Therefore, they will never tell the dog to follow a command, they will only ask the dog to follow a cue. Which is totally fine, by the way. If that’s how they choose to live with their dogs and if their clients share those beliefs, then life is good. I am simply pointing out the facts regarding what can and cannot be expected from various types of training.
So, how do we define Trick Training?
Regardless of what the behavior is, if it is being trained in a way that allows the dog to “choose” whether or not they want to do it, it is a trick.
- If performing the behavior is optional, it is a trick.
- If it is never enforced, it is a trick.
- If the dog has no sense of accountability, it is a trick.
- If you are “asking” for the behavior, it is a trick.
Just in case I haven’t already made it clear, I am not against Trick Training. In fact, I LOVE Trick Training, when and where it is appropriate.
Hopefully this is all making sense so far but, if you are confused at all, try this mental exercise:
Every time you hear dog training terms such as Reward-Based, Positive or Force-Free, simply replace them with the term Trick Training and see if everything makes more sense.
What is Obedience Training?
Most of us, when we hear the term Obedience Training, think of teaching a dog to follow commands such as Sit, Come or Heel. We might even think of teaching a dog to follow negative commands such as No, Off or Leave It.
These behaviors are typically thought of as “obedience commands” because, unlike tricks, they are essential skills that can be used to control and guide dogs in a variety of real life situations. However, the emphasis should be put on the word command rather than on the specific behavior being trained.
Obedience Training uses commands, and commands are mandatory. Contrast this with the optional nature of using cues in Trick Training and we find the main thing that defines Obedience Training is that it is essential that the dog actually obeys, even when they don’t want to. For that matter, you could say especially when they don’t want to because those are the times that will test whether you actually have compliance or not.
“But if you have cooperation, you don’t need compliance.”
Yes, that is totally true, as long as we substantially emphasize the word “IF” in that sentence. IF you have cooperation…but what IF you don’t?
If you want to achieve reliable obedience, there needs to be enforcement. Therefore, Obedience Training cannot be based purely on positive reinforcement. It can include rewards, of course, but rewards can only motivate, they cannot enforce. Therefore, Obedience Training must also include some form of negative reinforcement. The typical preparation for future enforcement of commands is teaching the dog to yield to pressure, most commonly starting by communicating with the leash.
“That sounds mean. I only want to use positive reinforcement.”
You are not alone, a lot of people feel that way, but you need to decide if you want obedience or not. If you do, you may be surprised to learn that there are relatively gentle ways of teaching dogs to yield to pressure, commonly known as Balanced Dog Training, which might be less “mean” than you think.
I must admit that even Balanced Dog Training isn’t as gentle as Trick Training but we have already discussed the fact that Trick Training will never achieve obedience, so that comparison is more or less irrelevant for this topic. Also worthy of note is that there are some intense or emergency situations where being gentle simply won’t get the job done. In those situations, it is critical to realize there is nothing “nice” about failing to achieve results. Success or failure in some of these situations can literally be a matter of life or death. All of that being said, there are definitely ways to be relatively gentle while still achieving reliable obedience.
Of course, you may not even want Obedience Training, which is totally your prerogative. I’m just attempting to define what obedience is and what is required to achieve it.
Conclusion
Whether something is a Trick Training or Obedience Training is actually not a matter of what you are teaching, it’s a matter of whether you are teaching it as a “cue” or a “command”. It’s not a matter of teaching Come vs teaching Roll Over, it’s a matter of understanding that cues are optional and commands are mandatory. Another way of saying it is that commands are enforceable and cues are not.
So, even though a Positive or Force-Free dog trainer may be able to teach a dog to perform behaviors that are traditionally considered obedience, such as Sit, Down, Come and Stay, they are teaching those behaviors as a cue, not a command. Therefore, it is not Obedience Training, it is Trick Training.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with Trick Training, as long as you are fine with the fact that the behaviors you are “requesting” of your dog are, by definition, optional. In other words, as long as you are fine with the dog “choosing” whether they want to follow your “cues” or not, then there’s nothing wrong with Trick Training (aka Positive, Force-Free, Reward-Based, Clicker, Dog Friendly, etc.)
If, on the other hand, your goal is to have a happy and obedient dog, then you may want to investigate the concept of Balanced Dog Training.
Here at Thriving Canine, we are strong believers in the value of Balanced Dog Training, which means we believe that Obedience Training should be both rewarding and mandatory. Another way of saying this is that we believe Trick Training and Obedience Training can dovetail with each very nicely.
At the end of the day, it’s not a matter of right or wrong, it’s simply a matter of knowing where you’re going.
I could keep going down the rabbit hole but, for now, let’s end this segment as it started, with a little wisdom bomb from Alice in Wonderland:
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
– Cheshire Cat
Chad Culp – Certified Dog Trainer, Canine Behavior Consultant, Owner of Thriving Canine.
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Related Topics
Knowing Where You’re Going part 1: Working Dog vs Pet Dog Training
Balanced Dog Training: Best of Both Worlds
