Training Does Not Create Stable Dogs

At a time when dog training dominates both social media and the course market, the number of dogs with behavioural problems is rising dramatically.

Does this mean dog training is bad?
No. It means dog training is not suited to facilitating good behaviour.

The foundation of dog ownership is being able to distinguish between skills and regulation—that is, the ability to manage one’s surroundings.

A dog can learn different exercises without difficulty, understand what commands mean and respond to you quickly and precisely. But this means NOTHING in relation to whether the dog can manage what is around it or nearby.

For a dog to be able to display the behaviour required, commands are never what guide it. Commands are essentially a tool for controlling a dog that is not initially able to behave as we want, so we have to specify what the dog should do—that is, override potential unwanted behaviour.

This works well during training, because the whole point there is for the dog to perform exercises. These are mechanical exercises in which every movement is defined and directed by us humans.

Everyday life does not work that way. The dog must be secure, calm, observant but composed WITHOUT our having to instruct it constantly on how to behave. A balanced dog will manage its surroundings independently without difficulty. We can see this clearly in street dogs, rural dogs and dogs with a great deal of freedom that have excellent security and good, balanced frameworks.

All training involves activation, and the dog’s arousal (stress) increases. This means a higher pulse, increased cortisol (the stress hormone) and increased dopamine (the anticipation system).

After a training session, these levels return to normal with a little time (you cannot see this just because the dog is asleep). In isolation, this is not a problem.

The problem arises when activation becomes the dominant factor in the dog’s everyday life. The dog then does not have time to return to a normal arousal level before being activated again. The dogs are therefore more likely to develop a “chronic” elevated level of arousal, both because their expectations of activity increase (which in itself increases stress) and because they never get proper rest over time.

When a dog does not get rest, this is one reason its window of regulation shrinks considerably. The window of regulation describes the dog’s ability to deal with surroundings that are not controlled, that consist of continual new things, deviations and events that neither owner nor dog can control—as is true of most people’s everyday lives.

A dog with a wide window of regulation remains relaxed in response to all these events and can assess and act rationally. A dog with a narrow window has little ability to respond rationally to what is happening around it. Lacking this regulatory capacity, a dog compensates, and this is expressed in what people commonly call behavioural problems.

One of the basic elements in developing a wide window of regulation is allowing the dog to rest and be calm (calm means more than simply lying still).

We are not talking about training or giving the dog enough physical activity to exhaust it. This only increases internal arousal (which can be measured) and has the opposite effect over time. It is good to walk the dog, but do not focus on giving it as much activity as possible; it simply does not need that. Movement is never wrong, but do not push activity.

The dog does not need mental stimulation designed to tire it out; that makes things worse (capacity is not the same as need).

Increased arousal raises the possibility of a chronic state, reduces the window of regulation and leads to bad experiences. The dog then begins to react according to expectations about situations that have arisen because of this—and more besides.

When the owner does the same and responds with even more stimulation, techniques that sound impressive (for example, “look-at-that” training), and increased intensity to compensate for the fact that the dog can no longer be controlled so easily, a spiral develops that becomes difficult for everyone. It often ends with someone no longer being able to walk the dog, someone choosing times when nobody else is out, or someone simply locking the dog indoors to avoid all the problems.

As advice to increase activity, add more stimulation and raise intensity becomes more prevalent, the problems grow larger.

A small problem has then been made into a big one, potentially leading to drastic measures.

Doing a little training and having fun with the dog is enjoyable and good. In the right amounts, it does not stand in the way of good behaviour—but it does not create good behaviour.

Good behaviour requires entirely different qualities.

So if your dog has poor behaviour, training is not the right medicine. The dog needs a completely different foundation.

It needs regulatory ability, not techniques or training. It needs predictability, security, calm and stability. That is what is natural for dogs, what they seek themselves and what makes them so sociable—if we do not undermine it.

SAHD has worked with this for many years and has seen how good behaviour can be preserved, difficult situations can be turned around, and predictability, security and the dog’s own ability to behave safely can be maintained. This is done WITHOUT isolation, increasing intensity or luring dogs away from situations.

It is about building trust, creating balance and acting as a steady anchor in everyday life.

Anders H. Davidsen