Episode #94 Management vs Training

What is management and how does it differ from training? Is it necessary? When do we use management with a new puppy and when do we train? Michele Rielly joins Amy in studio to discuss. If you have a new puppy or are getting one soon, you'll want to listen in for sure. 

Transcript

Amy: 0:00

This is the puppy training podcast episode number 94. Management versus training. This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way, this is the puppy training podcast. And I'm your host, Amy Jensen. Hello, everybody, welcome to the puppy trading Podcast. I'm so glad that you're here today. And thank you for listening. Michelle is joining us again in the studio today. And we are going to talk about something that we're both very passionate about. That is management and training. And what's the difference? What are they? What does it look like? What does this mean for us as a family with a puppy in our home? So Michelle, welcome. Thanks for having me. I'm glad that you could be here today to share some thoughts and ideas on this. So can you just start out by explaining the differences between management and training?

Michele: 1:01

Dog behavior management refers to changing the environment to help prevent the animal from successfully practicing the problem behavior. In other words, you set up a situation so your dog can't fail. After all, practice makes perfect. So a puppy, if a puppy is biting your furniture, he's going to get better at it, it is essential to prevent the problem behavior from happening while implementing positive training to change the dog's behavior. So in other words, if our pups don't have access to our furniture, or jumping on us or doing behaviors that we don't want, they won't do it.

Amy: 1:34

Yeah, thank you for pointing that out. I think when we first bring a puppy into our home, you know, a question I get asked a lot is how do I get my dog to stop doing this? How can I get them to stop doing that? And a lot of times with these brand new puppies who don't have a lot of skills being in a household, it is management, right?

Michele: 1:50

Yes. So then on the other side of things, we can work on using positive reinforcement to teach our dogs a different behavior that they can form instead of doing those problem behaviors that they were doing. So this can look like starting, you know, training in a quiet environment with no distractions is just another type of management. But it can also be like, when our pups jump on us, we ask them for us instead.

Amy: 2:15

Yeah, I love that it's paired with training. I think these two go hand in hand so well, and so nicely, I think they're both necessary, right? So can you explain a little more how they are connected?

Michele: 2:25

Yes. So I think the best way to explain this is actually through an example. So let's take a pup who likes to chew on your shoes. So first thing we do, we manage the environment, we put all of our shoes away, then we can teach the dog to chew on appropriate things, such as chew toys instead of their of the shoes that you want. So we might need to make that toy super fun and exciting at first or wiggling it around and avoid kind of chasing our pups, but at the same time kind of finding ways to give them alternative ways to receive that treat or that reward without necessarily needing to say no, or drop it.

Amy: 3:02

I love that you brought that up at the end. Because I think that there's this, we've talked about this before. If you've listened to our podcast, you're familiar with our yes and no loops. And you can really see it with these new puppies when you know we're saying no, don't stop, leave it at you know, the frustration level on those pups goes way up. And their cooperation level seems to go way down. However, when we reverse that, and we do what you're saying, you know, show them what to do. And we're saying yes, and they're trying to figure out how do I get that next? Yes, we're starting to see a shift in behavior and they're more likely to cooperate with us. Have you seen that?

Michele: 3:36

Yes, definitely. I think the biggest takeaway is, the less opportunities our pups have to make a mistake they won't. I was talking to a client the other night about using a no bite versus distracting our pups and giving them a toy. Instead, she asked isn't this a type of reward or a chain behavior, I said, the biggest thing is that we're still bonding with our pups at the same time. And if we're constantly saying no drop, leave it removing objects from our puppies, this can be taking away from our relationship, we are trying to build your pups. So instead, next time your pup steals a shoe, let's go over to the Toy Bin and play with the noisiest toy you can find nine times out of 10 My puppy is going to drop whatever's in his mouth to play with the toy I'm playing with. So it wasn't necessarily rewarding my pup with any attention for stealing that shoe. So no reward but then I reward my pup with my attention for playing with the approved toy that I was like that we were playing with. So Michelle, why is it so important for families to know about this when they first bring a puppy home? Definitely. And it's kind of similar to what we talked about last time as well in terms of using that impulse control and patience. If we're able to really be patient and find ways for our pups to be successful from the beginning. They will continue to be successful from then on. So if a pup doesn't have access to jumping on kitchen counters when he's not when you're not in there to be with him. He's not going to learn to count or surf or do some of those other behaviors. So we just want to be cognizant of that opportunity to really work on those skills in advanced.

Amy: 5:06

When we first rolled out our program, and people will tell, they tell me this all the time, they'll say, Amy, all your dogs are perfect, like they're trained puppies, you know. And it was hard making this program to show people what to do. Because, well, easy. On one hand, I could show them exactly what to do. But to capture the unwanted behaviors, I didn't do such a great job when I first rolled this program out because I knew what to do. I knew how to manage, I knew how to train. And so I wasn't dealing with a lot of these misbehaviors that and you know, the average everyday family is dealing with it simply because they don't understand management and training and how they work together.

Michele: 5:43

Definitely. And it's honestly been something that I've learned more through trial and error of having several pups over time of like, you know, my first pup had free range, the whole house. And now for Wilson, he's six months old. He's not nothing pours about him. But he only gets the room that I'm in for the most part, even now. And to that point, though, he's so well behaved and people are constantly asking me, how did you do this? And I said, he doesn't have access to misbehave, so he doesn't.

Amy: 6:10

So yeah, like, if you'll explain for us, in a nutshell, how you would use management on a daily basis with a new puppy, let's just set up this environment or the situation for a new family who was bringing home a puppy and what can they expect it to look like?

Michele: 6:24

Yes, so And like I mentioned before, Wilson is six months old, he's my current pup. And I still use baby gates, almost every single room of my house has some kind of gate, or a way that I can block it off. So he is stuck in a room with me and can't go check out where my roommates think issues are or the garbage can is kind of full. I think that's a great way to do it. But also we use play pins are a great opportunity for our pups to be in a room with us where they don't need access to necessarily our furniture, or my Wilson love the plants when I first brought him home, things like that are great opportunities to practice as long and also picking up things off the ground that they would love to chew on.

Amy: 7:07

Yeah, I get asked a lot. Well, when the kids come out, the puppy just wants to chase and bite them. And it always does come back to well, let's manage that situation. You know, the puppy can go in a playpen, like you mentioned, or behind a baby gate, have those kids walk into the room. And now they can go over and wait for some calm behavior from the puppy, which is that training side of it. Let's teach the puppy that you know the children will approach when they're sitting or though they're at least their paws are on the floor. And then the kids can interact with them and reward them for that behavior. And then that just becomes the new routine and the new habit. And we form these great foundational behaviors for these dogs.

Michele: 7:44

Definitely. Well, if you'll explain for us when you would use training instead of management, yes, so in some situations, management can take a lot of work, especially on the handlers part versus the dog. So a lot of it's us putting up those gates, it's us making sure our pups are getting into trouble. It's it's things like that where our pups are able to kind of make those mistakes. So we have to be constantly watching our pups or giving them opportunities to not fail. Versus then if, without some of this training, we risk that management could fail on us. So if our pup has always been in a playpen or a kennel, and really hasn't had an opportunity to practice being in other parts of our homes, this can bring up some behaviors that he's just overly stimulated by or excited to do. And my two on things are good into things that we didn't. He didn't have access to before, but he hasn't had an opportunity to practice being trained near them. And then there's always the safety aspect as well. leashes break collars do. Gates aren't always close. And we want to make sure that our dogs are willing to understand and learn that some of these train behaviors needs to be worked on and we give them opportunities to practice.

Amy: 8:59

Yeah, and it's like a balancing scale a little bit. You know, we're always adjusting and tweaking things here or there. And as the puppy grows and matures and their skills get better the more they learn, the more they know, the more we're able to use a six day a down stay await and those kinds of behaviors I leave it and that comes with time. So I love that you pointed out Yeah, we manage while we train. And then it becomes this nice little process where the dog matures and understands behaviors and knows okay, I supposed to leave shoes alone, but we're setting them up for success all along the way.

Michele: 9:34

Yes, and it's something too that I have clients ask me all the time like well when can I get my puppy more space and I say we'll go ahead and try it and if he has any struggles let's bring them back a step let's try that training a little bit more do a little more managing and then try again in a couple days. Or and it's kind of the same idea with distractions as well. You know if your puppy struggling with dogs being around or on leash and people and getting excited A lot of that can be worked on through management, but also training and kind of building up those steps.

Amy: 10:06

Well, thank you, Michelle, this has been super helpful. I think this is a really great topic that every family needs to know about from the get go. So I appreciate you taking time out of your schedule today to be with us to talk about this.

Michele: 10:16

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Amy: 10:20

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