FF310 1.3 How to Handle Mistakes
Dogs make mistakes. It’s going to happen. There’s no way around it. So what do we do?
Knowing what to do in the moment can be challenging! It generally requires some thinking about what happened and where the dog’s understanding of what you were asking fell short. However, it’s hard to think in the middle of a session! So what should you do?
Don’t Blame the Dog!
Most importantly, don’t blame the dog! It’s rare that the dog chooses to blatantly disobey – and even if your dog did make that choice, some piece of learning history taught the dog that choosing not to do the behavior is more advantageous to the dog than doing it.
Generally, dogs make mistakes either because of a lack of understanding or distractions/inability to perform in that environment. The solution to both of these is more training!
The first is easy to discuss. You ask the dog to lie down but you haven’t taught it thoroughly. The dog doesn’t do the behavior because he simply doesn’t understand what you’re asking for.
More typically though, dogs don’t perform the behavior because the context is different. That could be a distraction that the dog is struggling with, a change in the environment, or a change in the handler cues.
Let’s talk about an example. You’ve taught your dog to lie down by luring him down with a treat. He’s doing pretty well, so you decide to just say down and see what happens. Your dog looks at you like he’s never heard the word in his life.
Or this scenario: your dog is so good at sitting for a treat in your kitchen, but when friends come over you can’t get him to stop jumping, let alone sit.
More Training?
In both situations, the dog needs more training. For the down, you have to show the dog a down without the lure, then fade the hand signal, before you can simply cue a verbal down. Sit needs to be taught in various environments with different levels of distraction before you can expect your dog to sit during an exciting time.
I’m going to share a very important secret of good dog trainers – we don’t cue the dog if we aren’t reasonably sure the dog will perform the cue. I mean, why would you want to cue come as your dog is chasing a deer out of the field? Your dog will hear the cue, but probably won’t come unless you’ve done quite a bit of recall training. The only thing that teaches the dog is to ignore your cue. This relates to our first lecture, setting your dog up for success.
There are a couple of reasons that dogs make mistakes that I didn’t cover. Sometimes, just like us, dogs have off days. Maybe your dog doesn’t feel well or is tired. He might know the behavior that you’re asking for, but because he’s not feeling 100%, doing that behavior might be challenging. If you suspect your dog isn’t feeling well, take the day off.
Finally, if your dog is scared or fearful, it’s unlikely that she will respond to cues as she would normally. Getting a scared or anxious dog into a situation where they feel more comfortable takes priority over any training.
Most of the time, we know that dogs who make mistakes need more training – either training the actual behavior itself or adding generalizations and distractions to the behavior. Just as we wouldn’t ask a complicated math question to a second grader, we can’t ask complicated behaviors of our dogs until we are confident the foundation for that behavior is understood.
Try, Try Again … Or NOT!
So, let’s think about this. Dogs that make mistakes need more training, don’t feel well, or are scared. In all three of these situations, repeating the failed behavior over and over doesn’t help anyone! And yet, what is our natural response to a mistake? Try again until the dog gets it right!
If we continue to repeat the behavior without changing something, both you and your dog will become frustrated. To have a productive training session, frustration is something you want to try to avoid.
So what should we do instead? Of course, that depends on the situation and the dog!
If your dog is happy and confident, and you’re reasonably sure the dog knows the cue, go ahead and repeat it. If your dog responds, great! Reward! If not, the dog is clearly telling you he can’t do it in this context, so it’s your job to make it easier. Go ahead and throw another reset treat while you think through what to do.
On your next rep, change something! Even if I’m confident he knows it, I will change something to increase the chance of success on the next rep. Continued failures aren’t good for you or your dog!
See if you can guess why the dog didn’t perform. Are you in a new environment? Are you in a busy room with lots of other dogs? Are you trying to fade a body movement cue and get the behavior on a verbal? Is your dog excited because you have a guest at your house?
In any situation, I want to break the dog out of the behavior and get him moving, so my go-to is to throw a reset treat. If I have a sensitive dog that flattens a little when he makes a mistake, I will ask for a super easy behavior to reward before I try again, just so the dog can feel successful. If you’re unsure how to handle any mistake, throwing a reset treat or asking for an easy behavior to reward is never a wrong way to react!
Let me share one more secret. Dogs don’t go into a training session thinking “I’m not happy with my mom so I’m going to blatantly ignore everything she says today just to make her mad.” Sounds ridiculous when we put it that way, doesn’t it? And yet, what are we thinking when we say things like “he KNOWS this!”? We are assuming that the dog knows the behavior, is completely capable of performing the behavior, and is choosing not to in order to spite us or make us mad. Dogs just don’t think that way!
Examples
Let’s discuss some examples.
Your puppy sits great in your living room, but at puppy class, she stares at you like she doesn’t know what the word means.
This is likely a generalization and distraction problem. We have to teach our dogs that sit means sit in different environments, not just in the living room. Also, the other dogs are likely distracting the pup, compounding the problem.
I would not re-cue the dog in this case. I would get high-value treats and move as far away from the other puppies and people as possible. When you hold a treat, most dogs are likely to offer a sit, so I would reward a few offered sits, then away from the distractions I would cue the sit. If she did it, I would reward and praise, then repeat once more before I went a bit closer to the distractions. If she did not do it, I would stop asking her in that session and brainstorm how I could further break down the environment and distractions to help her be successful, while I put some more reward history on the behavior at home.
Your dog misses the down signal during a training session.
The first thing that I’m going to do is help my dog be successful by following the signal with a verbal. I will then reward and reset the dog. While I’m doing this, I will ask myself, does the dog really know this cue, in this situation? If I think the answer is yes, I will try again. If the dog is successful, awesome!
Sometimes, especially when they are further away from us, dogs get unsure. They don’t want to make a mistake, but their confidence is low. In this case, many dogs will resort to freezing rather than make a mistake. If you feel this describes your dog, it’s essential that you increase confidence. Getting closer to your dog, giving the verbal and signal simultaneously, and moving to a less distracting area are all good choices!
Your dog is at a training class for the first time, is very shut down, and will not take food.
Your dog is likely overwhelmed and scared, and is not in a state of mind for learning! Go sit in a quiet corner of the room and let her acclimate. Don’t attempt any training until your dog is comfortable enough to eat food.
Your dog is just acting off in a training session.
If your dog is not his usual happy self and has delayed responses to cues he typically knows well, he is likely not feeling well. It’s time to quit the session and try again another day.
Always End on a Good Note – Or Not??
One phrase I’ve heard over and over during my 20-plus years of training dogs is “Always end on a good note.” Many people believe you must keep cueing the behavior until the dog gets it right. Repetition over and over without success is detrimental to most dogs. I will never allow more than two mistakes in a row without changing something to ensure my dog can be successful.
Sometimes, especially if you suspect that your dog isn’t feeling well, it’s best just to walk away from that session. It’s okay to quit. You will do far less damage to your dog walking away after a failed attempt than trying to repeat the behavior over and over until the dog gets it right.
Remember that your goal is a happy, confident dog, so set your dog up for success as much as possible!
Instructor: Nicole Wiebusch 
