The Top Dog Blog

Success in Dog Training - The Most Important Element, Consistency

Consistency is the basis of all good dog training systems.  You will hear dog trainers repeat the mantra…

“The biggest problem is when you are consistently inconsistent.”

Why is that the biggest issue?

Being “consistently inconsistent” actually trains our dogs to misbehave and conditions them to do it at a level where it becomes harder to fix down the road.  In a way you are reinforcing unwanted behaviors and basically creating an environment where it is done randomly so the dog becomes motivated like a gambler playing the slot machine… only the reward is the “chance” to do the unwanted behavior.

Let’s look at jumping on people... 

We decide tomorrow that we are not going to tolerate it.  

No attention for jumping up.  Period.

The dog tries, we ignore it and the dog walks away.  That occurs for most of the day and the dog is starting...