Consistency is the Key

I have been having a terrible time recovering from my knee surgery. It seems like every time I head in for physical therapy there's a new ache or pain in a newly discovered part of my right leg. The doctor tells me it all boils down to one problem: I'm not being consistent with my exercises. Without that consistency, I won't just fail to make progress. I'll continue to regress.

There's no secret to dog training, but there certainly is a key: consistency.

I often refer to dogs as "pattern matching machines." I'm being facetious – of course I think of dogs as more than machines – but dogs are very good at recognizing and storing patterns. It makes sense too: predators and scavengers that can quickly recognize where prey or food might or might not be are rewarded by nature.

You've undoubtedly seen your dog pick up on these patterns. The sound of someone approaching your door. The sound of their favorite family member's car. The sound of the refrigerator door opening. Each of these is a chance to store and later recall an association. That is how learning works.

So, when there is no obvious pattern, it is very difficult to learn. When your dog cannot learn, he'll improvise. You probably don't want that.

A consistent environment that is full of consistent signals is what you need to present to your dog. A predictable environment results in predictable behavior. The result of an unpredictable environment? Not good.

This is a big part of what I end up teaching families. Simply adding a small degree of predictability to a dog's life makes a tremendous difference in behavior. The specifics are less important than the total picture: it's simply a matter of providing consistent input, resulting in consistent output.

This is why trainers on all sides of the methodology debate can't really make a compelling case about which sort of techniques are more effective: at the end of the day, consistency trumps all. Any consistent regime, no matter how punitive or rewarding, is an improvement over permissive, unpredictable, and inconsistent chaos.

Trying seeing your household from the dog's eye view for a few days. Are the signals you see consistent?