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Dog Training Workshop, and an element of the Dog Science Network


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Double Teaming Your Dogs

The term double team refers to the practice of actively involving two people in the training process.

The purpose of the double team is to allow one person to command the dogs, while the other person helps to move the animals into position in order to demostrate for them how they should be responding as they receive their commands. The second person can also ensure that the dog or dogs that he is watching, remain in position until either the release or a new command is given.

The presence of the second person also makes it easier to run a this - not that, procedure and, in general, dispense reinforcement and punishment as indicated by the behavior of your dog(s).

Because dogs are social animals, you are likely to find that your dog is very much swayed by the second person, whose presence drives home the impression that his own family pack and intersocial circle are all in agreement that he should learn his commands and develop obedience skills.

The Double team technique is especially useful when you are simultaneously training more than one dog to receive commands, because some dogs tend to think that when you give a command to a second dog, that cancels out any previous commands that you may have issued to your first dog. A double team can quickly make it clear that that is not the case.

Obviously, it is also possible to triple or quadruple team a group of dogs to good effect.


Go to the index of the Glossary of Terms


This page is a component of the Glossary of the Dog Science, CBC
Dog Training Workshop, and an element of the Dog Science Network