I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked these questions, so I want to publish them here for all to read.
A few short questions:
(1) How do you show a dog you don’t need protecting, that you can protect yourself, and do it fairly if the dog has grown to believe his job is to protect you?
This is an interesting and complex question, yet the answer is quite simple. We can’t show a dog that we “don’t” need protecting, instead we show a dog that we “CAN” handle ourselves. The primary way we do that is to exhibit the characteristics of a “dog-leader:” we are FAIR, STRONG and INDIFFERENT. We’re not afraid to deliver a correction if someone in our pack acts out of line, we don’t get overly emotional whether its for praise or correction. We remain neutral. Most importantly, we don’t allow our dog to fail. If your dog is acting nutty and you remove him from the situation that makes him act that way, you’ve not solved anything, in fact you’ve reinforced his behavior. If your dog is afraid of other dogs, for example, I would take him in the vicinity or neutral other dogs (never letting him get close enough to play, bite or get bit) and mark his positive behavior with treats or praise. Take it slow, this takes a long time. Also, I use a desensitization technique of moving a dog past the dog he sees and then bringing him back around. If your dog sees that he can walk by another dog without incident, he will become more trusting of the situation.
(2) How do you get into a dog’s head in order to toggle some of the switches, so to speak?
This will also reflect back to question #1. I believe in a positive based training approach, so everything the dog does that is good gets a reward, when he acts like a goof, he gets a correction, and when he acquiesces to that correction, he once again receives a reward. It’s generally pretty easy to see when a dog’s triggers get thrown. Before he throws his switch you need to step on and redirect the dog to something positive. If he starts to stare at another dog, we get the dogs focus back on us… whatever it takes to do that. Once he is focused on us, we can “correct” the dog for looking away and not paying attention.
(3) Are you able to send a list of marker and/or basic training exercisers to accomplish what I’ve asked about above?
I think the single most important thing to do is marking your dogs connection with you. in other words, when he looks at you, he gets a reward, when he looks away – he doesn’t. When he looks away and does something stupid, like lunging at a dog – he should be corrected. The correction should be strong enough to get him to understand that what he is doing is dangerous for him and you. When he complies, your praise must be strong enough and exuberant enough to overshadow the correction. Bottom line, the dog must understand that being around you and being good is the best thing in his life. You must remain more interesting than the thing that is distracting him. This comes from many hours of bonding and game playing. It does not come from yanking a dog around and expecting compliance.