A Fundamental Dog Training Concept You Must Understand For Success With Your Dog

I moved into a new house about 14 days ago.

The funny thing about this house is that—when you walk into the
master bathroom, the light switch is on the left side, opposite
of where the sink is.

Well, practically every other house I’ve ever lived in has
always had the light switch on the right side—or at least on the
same side as the sink.

And I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if EVERY SINGLE TIME I’ve walked
into that bathroom, my hand doesn’t instinctively reach to the
right to turn the light switch on. Even after 14 days, my prior
conditioning has been so engrained that when I consciously try
to remember which side the light switch is on… my hand still
shoot out to the right, instead of the left.

This is the exact same type of conditioning we aim for when
training our dogs. And this is why I advise that--- even after
your dog understands a command—you continue to say, “come” and
then give a tug on the line… up to a year after the initial
training session.

I want your dog to be so conditioned to respond to commands that
it becomes an automatic response—just like turning to the right
instead of the left, to turn on the bathroom light.

As I’ve already touched on this concept a few years ago in my
book, which you can read more about at Dogproblems.com … I just
had to share this experience with you, because it was so comical
to the extent to which we animals (yes, we’re animals too!) can
develop conditioned responses.

Just like our dogs.