Q: How
do dogs "earn"
food, toys, attention, and
anything else dogs value?
A: The dog earns these
valuables by working.
Q: What kinds of work
can a dog do?
A: Dog work is any time
the dog is following an
instruction. The work is only
limited by the pet parents
ability to clearly teach dogs
what very specific words and/or
hand signals mean.
Q:
What is the "Learn to Earn"
training technique?
A: Dogs need employment to ward off boredom so now
your dog needs
to learn - with your help - how to earn everything! each your dog
how to "sit" before attention,
food, treats, going through
doors, getting toys, etc.
"Learn
to Earn" as a Behavioral Therapy
During
the Invisible Dog
stage of behavioral therapy, a pet earns visibility
by learning to earn attention. Most
pet parents see immediate
results when they begin Invisible Dog
instead of non-stop
pet pampering. When the dog
"tests out" of Invisible Dog,
the next behavioral treatment
step is called, Learn to Earn.
The dog earns visibility during
hand feeding. Once the dog readily accepts kibbles
gently, one at a time,
Learn to Earn means the
dog begins to "work"
for each kibble.
Begin Learn to Earn
by teaching the dog to quickly
and happily follow simple
instructions such as
sit.
When the dog responds
consistently to the verbal cue, move the
exercise to a different room
of the house, or add new
instructions.
Teach one instruction
(verbal cue word) at a time.
As
weeks go by, teach other
words such as: come, wait,
down, quiet, inside, outside,
take it, leave it, etc.
Caution: because we love our dogs a great deal, our natural
tendency is to pamper them. We think it's cute when they show us what they
want so we respond by giving in to them. Dogs learn they can
teach us when we respond to their cues such as giving food
when they rattle a dish, petting them in response
to a nudge, letting them
out a door when they
bark or scratch on it. Unfortunately, our desire
to simply take care of our dogs often leads to
our dogs developing unwanted
behaviors such as excessive attention-seeking.
Even
after your pet has reached the plateau stage of a behavioral
treatment program
and is doing great,
continue learn to
earn to maintain progress and reinforce your role as the teacher and
your pet's role
as student.
If not making progress or
find yourself using the same verbal cues over
and over without progressing to
new words, consider a
pet behavior
history analysis,
a private in-home training
visit, or group
dog training classes.