Keep consequences close to the behavior when your dog misbehaves

Dogs don’t have amnesia. They can clearly remember things.

Dogs don’t have amnesia. They can clearly remember things. For example, many dogs run into the house and look for a bone they were chewing an hour previously, exactly where they left it.

However, when it comes to efficient dog training, consequences should happen immediately after the behavior. This is a grammar issue. Humans use language in rich, complex and nuanced ways. We can talk about future plans. We can discuss past experiences. It allows us to praise someone for actions that happened yesterday. Dogs can learn that words and phrases predict outcomes. While there are some exceptions, consequences usually happen right after an event or sequence of events. Pets learn that “car ride” means an outing. The event usually follows the phrase. We wouldn’t expect a dog to work out the connection if we said “car ride” hours before the trip. The closer the consequence is to the behavior, the easier it is for dogs to put two and two together. We have no way of using past tense to explain that what a pet did hours ago is making us happy or upset right now.

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