This page on Dog Training Basics is part of the Beginners Course of the
D.S. Dog Training Workshop, and an element of the Dog Science Network

Comprehensive Behavioral Conditioning for Dogs
Section One of the Beginner's Course

Dog Training Basics
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Introduction to the Formula for Changing Behavior

As we take stock of our current progress and you make note of your present predicament, you will realize that you now have a list of dos and don'ts, but a dog who can't read. You also have a general sense of how to influence your dog's behavior by either making him feel good or by making him feel at least somewhat upset, as you turn the event into an unpleasant experience, depending on how he comports himself. What you probably don't have at this point is a clear sense of how you can put the two together.

It is, indeed, fortunate, for all concerned, then, that somehow, some very smart people found the time to think things through and research it all out, which produced a unifying formula for changing behavior that actually works, be your subject human or canine.

That formula is one of the keys to bringing your dog up to his full behavioral potential.

Astoundingly, the formula for changing behavior always works, every time, provided that you have almost total control over all the contingencies in your subject's life and you know enough about what you are doing to plug the formula in correctly. Achieving that degree of control over all the factors in the life of a human being is extremely difficult, which is what makes it so challenging to control human behavior. But now your dog - that is a different story.

To be sure, your dog is never going to be able to rise above his genetics. A Bloodhound is never going to be the world's best watchdog, and a Rottweiler is never going to be a world class retriever of ducks, no matter how good you might be at handling dogs. Nonetheless, if you grasp the mechanism of the formula for changing behavior, you can use it to ensure that your dog will become all that he can be. That is to say that you can make him all that his genetics will allow, because if the other members of your family will cooperate, you can achieve total control over your dog's life. If everyone will pull together, you will then be in a position to exert an exquisite degree of control over your dog's behavior. But first, you'll need to study the formula, and get the hang of plugging it in to change your dog's behavior.

The Formula for Changing Behavior

  1. Give your dog something else to do.
    (something rewarding that is incompatible with the problem behavior)
  2. Remove all the pay-offs.
    (for the problem behavior)
  3. Make sure that it becomes an unpleasant experience.
    (every time your dog engages in the problem behavior)

Plugging In the Formula

Let's start the process of learning how to plug in the formula by focusing on the possibility that your dog might someday bark at the postal carrier, which is one thing you surely will not want him to do.

In an absolute best case scenario, the first time letters are dropped through your door slot your dog will not bark. If that is the case, then, you may need only to immediately reward him for that first response in which he does not bark at the postman. With a little luck, just a few instances of rewarding your dog for not barking at the mailman may be all it takes to keep him from ever getting into the habit.

To happenstance train effectively, a little light needs to go on inside your head every time your dog passes up the opportunity to do something wrong. Especially early on in the relationship when the animal is still learning right from wrong, it is important for to you to reward him for passing up provocative opportunities to misbehave, because rewarding good behavior is one of the best ways to ward off its destructive counterpart.

In the second best case scenario, your dog will bark at the letter carrier. However, you will be there to see it. If you, then, insert yourself into the situation in an abrasive fashion, you can ensure that your dog's first ever bark-at-the-mailman response in the new setting will become an unpleasant experience, thereby, greatly reducing the chances that it will happen again.

That is especially true if your dog's first ever bark-at-the-mailman response is paired with emotional upset during your dog's critical stage of development. In that instance, you can pretty much be sure that it won't ever be happening again.

However, for the sake of illustration, let us assume that your dog has already somehow gotten into the habit of barking at your local letter carrier. Let's take a look at how the formula for changing behavior can be plugged in to put a stop to that or any other behavior you may target for change.

The Formula Applied:

Target Behavior: Barking at the letter carrier
 Goal: To cause your dog to stop barking at the letter carrier

  1. General Rule: Make it rewarding for your dog to do something else.

    Specific Application: Pet or give your dog a treat when he does not bark at the mailman.

  2. General Rule: Remove all the pay-offs.

    Specific Application: Every time your dog barks at the mailman, check to make sure that he does not receive any sort of payoff for doing so.

  3. General Rule: Make sure it becomes an unpleasant experience.

    Specific Application: Make sure that barking at the mailman always ends with your dog feeling at least somewhat upset.

    To read the barking at the letter carrier example in proper, behavioral terms.

The Formula in a Nutshell:

That's what the formula for changing behavior is all about. It is a three-pronged approach in which you make your dog glad when he does the right thing and sorry when he does the wrong thing, while at the same time, you make him realize that there is no point in doing the wrong thing in any case, because bad behavior is never rewarding enough to be worth the effort.

Three Chances to Test Your Grasp of the Formula

Once you are sufficiently familiar with the formula and how it works, you can readily figure out for yourself how to apply it, both to change your dog's existing behavior, as well as to teach him to do some new things he has never done before.

In the interest of familiarizing you with the formula, here it is once more in plain language and general terms:

    The Formula

    1. Give your dog something else to do.
      (something rewarding that is incompatible with the problem behavior)
    2. Remove all the pay-offs.
      (for the problem behavior)
    3. Make sure that it becomes an unpleasant experience.
      (every time your dog engages in the problem behavior)

    Here is your first chance to try plugging in the formula.

    Question One:
    If you have a problem with your dog chewing up your shoes, how can you apply the formula to put a stop to it and keep it from happening again?

    Take a look at the formula, immediately above, while you think about it for a minute, then,
    Click here to read the answer.

    Question Two:
    How can you plug in the formula to keep your dog from begging for food at the dinner table?
    Click here to read the answer.

    Question Three:
    How can you use the formula to keep your dog from urinating on the carpet?
    Click here to read the answer.

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    This page on Dog Training Basics is part of the Beginners Course of the
    D.S. Dog Training Workshop, and an element of the Dog Science Network