By Lisa Ellman
How many times do you call out your dog’s name before you give an associated behavior? I ask this because I often hear people calling their dog’s name repeatedly, without ever giving the dog any information. Owners sometimes refer to this as “selective hearing” — they say the dog’s name, but the dog doesn’t respond. Sometimes I think people expect the dog to know what they want, without having to say it. I hear just the name being called most often, without ever being followed by the actual behavior, when people want their dog to come.
What they’re witnessing is not selective hearing, but something called “Learned Irrelevance.” In scientific terms (according to Google), learned irrelevance “refers to a form of selective learning that develops as a result of prior noncorrelated exposures of the predicted and predictor stimuli. In learning situations that depend on the associative link between the predicted and predictor stimuli.” In other words, breaking it down to the essentials of dog training, your dog has learned to ignore you because there has been no connection between the stimulus (dog’s name) and the predicted stimuli (behavior). This is because the human has not communicated the desired behavior to the dog. All the dog hears is its name over and over, ad infinitum.
If you want your dog to respond to a behavior, it first needs to be taught to respond to its name, and then the desired behavior. This involves teaching the dog to associate a word, or sound, with the correct response. Some trainers use negative reinforcers for this, e.g. E-collars. If the dog ignores the trainer, it gets buzzed.
My training philosophy is based on positive reinforcers; when the dog responds correctly, it is reinforced with a treat or something the dog enjoys, leading to a repetition of successful responses.
Often, the first thing I do with students is have them teach their dog to respond to the sound of its name. After the dog is taught to turn to the owner at the sound of its name, the next step is to immediately give the dog a behavior. So now the process becomes name, behavior, response. Call the dog’s name, dog turns to look (attention), dog is given behavior to respond to, reward given for response.
Honestly, if you take the time to practice, sooner than later, especially when your dog is young, it becomes just another lifelong conditioned canine response. If you have children, it’s important to get them to learn and participate in this training as well, especially if you have a puppy or younger dog. Working with your children and the dog, one on one, is a great way to give them all the same successful experience of training and making a positive, respectful connection with the pup.
Good Dogma has been training humans and their dogs since 1996 and is currently taking new clients. Contact information for all offered services can be found on our website www.GoodDogma.net Readers are invited to submit questions to gooddogma@hotmail.com.
