Free exercise · Do this first
Three columns. Every repeated behaviour your dog has. And underneath it, the thing that is actually causing all of them. Watch me fill mine in, then do yours below.
Roughly 5 minutes. Then scroll down and fill yours in.
01 Why bother
This is where every member inside MK9Plus started.
To resolve our issues for good, we need a plan. And a plan starts with knowing what is actually going on.
Most of us skip this bit. We go straight to the training. We buy the harness, we watch the recall video, we practise the sit. Then we wonder why it works in the kitchen and falls apart on the field.
It is like opening up a car engine with a full box of tools without first finding out what is broken. Sound familiar?
Do not worry if you cannot fully finish this yet. Some of the boxes will be guesses, and that is fine. Come back to it after you have done some learning, because your answers will change. Mine did.
02 How it works
Behaviour, then why they are doing it, then why they keep being in that state.
What your dog actually does. The bit you can see, the bit that annoys you or worries you.
ExampleDisappearing after smells. No recall.
What your dog is trying to achieve by doing it. Not what you want them to do instead. What is in it for them.
ExampleIt is incredibly fun and rewarding.
The state your dog keeps being in that makes them want it that badly. This is the one that changes everything.
ExampleA frustrated dog.
This is for behaviours that keep repeating, not one offs. One offs are situational and they tell you very little.
A repeated behaviour means a recurring emotion. A recurring emotion means a dog stuck in a certain state. That state is what is driving everything, and that is what we solve for long term success.
03 Your turn
Start with the two below, then hit the plus for every other behaviour you are living with.
Saved on this device
Your answers stay in this browser, so you can close the tab and come back to them. Nothing is sent anywhere.
04 Learn from an example
This is Enzo's, written out exactly as I did it on a piece of paper.
Enzo
Written before anything changed
| Behaviour | Motivator | Cause |
|---|---|---|
| Disappearing after smells | Really rewarding | Frustrated (he needs it) |
| Losing interest in food after time outside | Becomes more interested in the environment | Arousal gets high from doing too much |
| Pulling like crazy on the lead | Needs to do everything rewarding | Frustrated |
| Demanding and restless at home | Wants to do fun, rewarding things | Frustrated, and some days very aroused |
| Jumping on the table during dinner | Wants food | Really hungry, underweight |
| Snaps at dogs that go behind him | Uncomfortable, protecting himself | Pain? (turned out to be anal gland inflammation) |
| Barks when things don't go his way | Impatient, wants the rewarding thing | Frustrated |
Two of those rows had nothing to do with training. One was a dog who was underweight and hungry. One was a dog in pain. I would have trained both of those for years and got nowhere.
05 Now read it properly
Look at Enzo's first row again. He disappeared after smells and had no recall, no matter how much I trained it.
If I want recall around smells, I do not train recall. I fix the frustration. Otherwise I am training recall for the rest of his life.
Same with a dog who constantly jumps up. Behaviour: jumping up. Motivator: wants attention. Cause: usually high arousal or frustration. That is why it keeps coming back. The dog is always in that state, so the behaviour is always waiting.
Arousal does not create behaviour. It just exaggerates it.
Fear based behaviour works differently. A dog barking at other dogs might look like this:
Behaviour: barking at other dogs. Motivator: fear. Cause: could be a past bad experience.
You cannot undo the bad experience. But there are almost always other things making it worse, and those you can change:
These need addressing first. Otherwise you will struggle to make progress even with great training around the fear itself.
Look at Enzo's third column. Almost every issue he had came from the same place. He had just been frustrated for a very long time.
It was not seven separate problems. It was one problem, showing up in seven different ways.
That is why 90% of what most of us need to do is the same. You do not need a new training plan for every behaviour. Most dogs are frustrated, stressed or overloaded, and over time that turns into more and more problems.
So yes, you can work on all of it at once. By actually helping the dog.
Exercise by Max Randall, IMDT-qualified and OCN-accredited dog trainer · More free dog training guides · The philosophy: Don't De-Dog Your Dog