Thursday, June 14, 2012

Identifying Displacement Behavior During Training

By Steve Cote


Displacement behavior is displayed by a dog to show that he is confused or sad inside a situation. Frequently shown during intense dog training sessions and sometimes missed by inexperienced trainers, this behavior is often a sign of a stressed dog.

When he's not sure what is expected your dog will show a displacement behavior, often right in the center of a training programme. An example of this is the dog that sits and scratches his neck whilst you are asking him to lie down. This dog is stalling, he isn't certain what you are expecting so is using a delay strategy to put off deciding what to do next.

Another displacement behavior is a yawn. People can find the yawn amusing saying that their dog is exhausted or bored. This is not the case, a yawning dog during training or another probably stressful situation is often worried or unhappy. Excessive sniffing the ground is another stalling strategy. The dog that sniffs an area of the ground continuously, despite the incontrovertible fact that he showed small interest in the blank area formerly, is avoiding his next move.

If you employ a good dog tutor they'll recognize these signs in your dog instantly. Be wary of any trainer or dog whisperer that does not acknowledge signs of stress or puzzlement in your dog. To be a good dog tutor means that the dog's contentment is always in the front line of one's mind.

Pro and positive reward based dog trainers are constantly on the lookout for this type of behaviour. These actions are signs that the dog is sad and a unhappy dog won't learn easily. To avoid your dog displaying these behaviors keep training sessions short and positive. Set your dog up to be successful every time you train and use plenty of praise and inducement when teaching your dog anything new.




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