Eliciting Good Behavior

How do I get my dog to do what I want? This is the fundamental problem most humans have with canine behavior.

It's not that they have NO clue. They have a few specific ideas that seem to work, and they feel that influencing behavior is a collection of stacks of specific rules. Which is why they are always asking me for tips.

People believe that I, as a dog trainer, simply know 1000s more rules than they do, and while they would pay me for say, 100 of them, giving 1 away free isn't too much to ask.

This philosophy, this belief, that getting the dog to do what you want is knowing a zillion tricks is... not always right. Is it partially right? I guess so. I mean, there are a lot of tricks that make things easier.

But the point is NOT to know what the tricks are. The point is to understand WHY and WHEN the tricks work. WHY NOT and WHEN NOT to use tricks when they don't work.

Developing an experimental and analytical understanding will help you elicit the behaviors you want to reward.