Dog Training is as Simple as A-B-C
Joker - waiting for me to get dressed one recent morning
Most of my work these days is with dogs who are fearful or aggressive. I’m happy to help those dogs and their families. But sometimes I really miss just teaching a dog to “do things” - like sit, stay, come, lie down, drop it, spin in a circle, or fetch. When I get the chance to do those types of things, people are so impressed by their dog’s ability to learn (and they should be!). Sometimes they say that I’m a “dog whisperer.” One person looked at me and said that I was practicing black magic! But really, I have no magic abilities. I just have a good grasp of the basics of how animals learn. And they all learn the same way - whether it’s a gorilla, a meerkat, a goat, a Basset Hound, or a Yorkshire Terrier. So, once you know the basics, you can teach a goat to touch your hand with their nose in exchange for some neck scratches (like I did recently at my favorite animal park) or teach an energetic shepherd mix to race to his bed (like I also did recently).
Since I’m writing this for dog owners and not dog trainers, I’m going to simplify this a LOT. But I’m also going to use some of the proper terminology because the goal is for people to learn how learning works - and sometimes using the right words helps.
So, let’s talk about the A-B-Cs. No, not the alphabet. These A-B-Cs stand for words that occur around any behavior that happens. And they describe WHY behaviors happen - and knowing that will help us CAUSE behaviors to happen when we want and upon request.
Let’s dive in:
Antecedent
Oxford Languages defines antecedent as “a thing or event that existed before or logically precedes another.” It’s the thing that exists before something else. Just as lightening precedes thunder, there are things that precede behavior. Some obvious example: hunger precedes eating, being tired precedes a nap, an itch precedes a scratch, a doorbell ringing precedes the dogs barking in our house. And in the dog training world, the word “sit” precedes the act of sitting (after it’s trained, of course - our dogs don’t speak the same language we do - so just saying “sit” to an untrained dog isn’t likely to result in the dog sitting).
The thing to keep in mind is that all sorts of things can act as an antecedent in the environment. Things like the presence of a squirrel, thunder, smells - all of those things might exist without us even noticing. But they can still affect the behavior that your dog does. They might chase the squirrel instead of sitting upon request. Your Beagle might wander off to explore a smell rather than coming when called. So, sometimes antecedents cause problems for us. Being aware of those things and controlling them (moving inside where there are fewer distractions, for instance) can be very useful.
And then there are the antecedents we intentionally create and use for training. Putting a smelly treat at a dog’s nose, lifting it an inch or two, and moving it back towards the dog’s eyes can usually result in the dog sitting. The lure of the treat comes before sitting. The lure is the antecedent. After practicing that several times, we then make sure to fade the treat out of our hand, replacing it with a hand signal, and then a verbal prompt.
Once we’ve done that, the word “sit” becomes the antecedent. It happens before the behavior of sitting (ooh, I’m getting ahead of myself).
It’s important that we be aware of the fact that things CAUSE behavior and that we can manipulate those causes by management or training. If we do nothing, dogs will “behave” based on the antecedents that exist in the environment - but those behaviors might or might not be the ones we’d like.
Behavior
The “B” in A-B-C stands for the actual behavior the animal does. Ideally, we say “sit” and the dog sits. And if we did the right training and managed the antecedents carefully, that’s exactly what will happen. But if we say “sit” and the dog stares at us, that tells us that the dog is either distracted by other antecedents in the environment or they are insufficiently trained (which means that we haven’t introduced an appropriate antecedent - a prompt that causes the dog to sit because they understand it).
Consequence
We usually use this word to mean something bad that happens. But consequences are simply the outcome of a behavior. And consequences can be good (the paycheck you receive at the end of the week is the consequence of the work you did earlier in the week, the veggies you pick from the garden are the consequence of the planting, weeding, and watering you did all summer).
If consequences are good, you’re likely to repeat the behavior that caused it. If the consequences are insufficient or bad (painful, scary, etc.), you’re likely NOT to repeat the behaviors that caused that outcome. Obvious examples:
Seeing your kids happy causes you to bake cookies again in the future
Biting into a delicious apple, causes you to fertilize the apple trees again next spring
Getting a bonus at work causes you to go above and beyond on the next project
Burning your hand on the hot stove causes you to avoid touching it again in the future (though it can still happen if you’re distracted - that happened to me just last week!)
The consequence we use most often to train animals is food. It’s efficient (I often feed an animal 8-12 times per minute during training sessions as opposed to 2-3 ball tosses in the same amount of time). And it’s effective (the studies are clear that food trumps the use of play, petting, or praise for the vast majority of dogs). And it doesn’t carry with it the negative side effects of increased fear/aggression that punishments do.
Training is a carefully-planned use of the A-B-Cs. Arranging the antecedents such that it produces the desired behavior and is reinforced as a consequence.
Understanding the A-B-Cs is fairly straightforward. DOING it can be more difficult. Noted animal trainer, Bob Bailey, says, “it’s simple but it’s not easy.” There are all sorts of other things to consider when training a dog. Everything from the value of the reinforcer (the treat), placement of the reinforcer, the rate of reinforcement, and other mechanics can speed up or slow down a training session tremendously. You can learn all those things and your dog will learn faster. But, eventually, your dog will learn even if you don’t know those things. Bob Bailey also says, “anyone can teach any animal to do anything using any method - the question is just how long it will take.”
On the other hand, maybe you don’t want to learn to be a dog trainer or you simply want your dog to learn faster. Just as there’s nothing wrong with hiring a professional to fix your car instead of taking the time to learn to do it yourself, there’s nothing wrong with hiring a professional who has already studied and practiced dog training on hundreds of other dogs. A good dog trainer will not only know the details of those mechanics, they will be experts at applying the A-B-Cs. And now, you’ll better understand what they are doing.
It’s not magic but it can sure feel magical.