How Important Is Consistency In Dog Training?

by Heidi Atwood

Picture this: you spend days and weeks training your puppy to focus on you because it’s rewarding. You prevent wandering, biting, jumping, and other negative behaviors while teaching your pup that calmness is rewarding. You try to socialize them to all sorts of people, sights, sounds, and all of the exciting things in your puppy’s world. Unexpectedly, your “loud and goofy” friend or relative shows up at the door, making a lot of noise and causing a lot of excitement. Your puppy runs over and jumps on them because they are instantly overstimulated, while your visitor says, “That’s ok, I like it!” They flop on the floor, and this person lets your puppy tackle and nip at them and engage in the type of play a littermate would. They are having a great time! However, a lot of your hard work can go right out the window if even one person is teaching your dog that an unwanted behavior is “just fine” with them. 

Dogs can’t generalize and understand that this is not appropriate behavior, and may try to tackle and interact with other people this way, even if you have worked hard at teaching them that calmness and appropriate behaviors are more rewarding. The confusion, the extra excitement, and the ability to continue the behavior can cause immediate setbacks in all the progress you have made with your puppy. Our goal is to move forward with training. Although we anticipate that issues and situations may arise, we aim to prevent training setbacks whenever possible. 

What can you do? Just as we would separate two dogs that are causing each other overstimulation, which often leads to biting, jumping, barking, and other unwanted behaviors, we may need to separate that person from our dog. You will most likely need to take your dog to a calmer area to help bring down their level of excitement. Keep in mind that no socialization is better than negative socialization, which can create long-term unwanted habits. If possible, relocate the puppy ahead of time if you suspect that a particular person is likely to encourage excessive excitement. The person can visit with the puppy if and when you bring them out on a leash, and let them get closer if they are BOTH calm enough. 

Children and puppies can unintentionally excite each other a bit more, or sometimes a LOT more, so be cautious when young children are near your dog. You can help kids learn to be calm and quiet around your dog, which will also help the dog remain more relaxed and help them learn how to interact with each other. Use the crate, baby gates, a pen, or tether your puppy’s leash to a solid object to prevent them from randomly lunging at or tackling a child in an attempt to play. Give them short periods of interaction, rewarding the puppy for remaining calm, and provide distance from the child if the puppy becomes overly excited. 

Another scenario to think about involves using the same cues for each task. It's important that every person who interacts with your pup uses the same training cues and methods. This will help prevent confusion and encourage a pup to respond correctly regardless of who is giving them the cues and rewards. This may mean that, as the primary handler of your puppy, you are helping the people around your dog become trainers if they are interested in interacting with your dog. For example, your dog responds well to the cue “off”, but another person is giving them the cue “down”. You have taught your dog to go into the “down” position when they hear this, but that might become very confusing for your pup if they are on the couch and they think they are being told to lie down when the person intended for them to get off the couch. Make sure family members, visitors, and any pet sitters know the cues you use and the way to reward your pup correctly. You could even make a list of the cues your dog knows and post it on the fridge or in another conspicuous spot, so there is no doubt. You can use whatever cues you want, as long as you are consistent and your dog is hearing the same thing from each person. 

Let's imagine that you just returned from a great vacation. Your friend watched your puppy at your home, and you know they love your pup. You left detailed instructions, spending some time going over schedules, feeding routines, familiar cues, and the house rules. You are thrilled to get home to your everyday routines, and especially the puppy you have missed tremendously. However, you quickly discover that your friend let a few things slide, and your puppy now lounges on the sofa, has slept in your friend’s bed every night, and there are tooth marks on your baseboards. Your puppy survived without you, was well fed and loved, but oh, the setbacks you will need to deal with! It will require a little extra effort. You may need to limit your puppy’s freedom more, get them back on their regular schedule, and reinforce the rules with positive associations. Keep in mind that your friend helped keep your puppy alive and happy, and there is no person who will do things exactly as you do. We do our best to find the right sitter for our puppies in our absence. It is normal to expect some changes in behavior and minor setbacks, but it's still beneficial to plan another vacation, as it allows for a chance to get away and create memories. 

Puppies need a lot of repetition and consistency when they are learning. Is one visit from your favorite but sometimes obnoxious uncle going to break your puppy? Probably not, as long as you are proactive and redirect or remove your puppy from the situation, and you are training that fun-loving uncle in appropriate puppy behavior as well! This could prevent this person from continuing this type of behavior with someone else’s puppy as well. 

If you experience behavioral setbacks due to inconsistent interactions with other people or different environments, reach out to our trainers for advice on getting your puppy back on track.