Improve Your Dog Fostering Skills - Take A Basic Manners Class!

One of the best ways you can improve your dog fostering skills is to take a dog through a basic manners class.

Foster Dogs With Love AND Knowledge

Plato reportedly wrote, “Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.” I like the quote, even if Plato may not have said this at all.

I know for sure that desire, emotion, and knowledge are plentiful in rescue work and in most foster homes.

But knowledge can be obsolete, you know?

My Very First Basic Manners Class Taught Me How To Use Collar Corrections

20 years ago, after growing up around dogs and witnessing my parents train dogs using now antiquated techniques, I enrolled myself and a new Boston terrier puppy in a puppy class.

Oh my! My eyes were opened to a whole new way of training my puppy! I no longer needed to use rolled up newspaper, flyswatters, or the like.

At the instruction of my teacher, I bought a nylon correction collar and learned how to quickly “pop” and release the collar every time my little puppy did not do the behavior I wanted her to. I was told: your puppy will learn how to avoid the collar correction and will eventually do what you want. It would just take a few (or more) corrections to get my young puppy to learn.

Over the next six weeks, the instructor taught: sit, down, stay, come, leave it, drop it, and maybe one or two other skills. I was a good student and I did my homework. Derby and I practiced in 2-3 mini-sessions every day. Derby was a happy puppy and she graduated head of her class. In the end, she went on to become certified as a Canine Good Citizen dog and a Certified Animal-Assisted Therapy dog.

Collar Corrections Are No Longer Recommended In Better Basic Manners Classes.

Fast forward to 8 years ago when I began fostering. Once again, I enrolled in a dog class. WOW! The training curriculum was definitely quite different. Nearly every technique I’d learned in my puppy class 12 years prior was now not recommended. No longer were collar corrections viewed as the best way to teach a dog. This time, everything involved giving dogs a treat.

I had some unlearning to do. It took a long time for me to completely break the impulsive habit to “pop” the collar to correct. No question, breaking old bad habits can be a challenge.

Even now, 8 years later, the training industry continues to evolve as researchers study the complexities of how animals learn and how they relate with humans and other animals. New approaches and tweaking of current techniques will always evolve. Certainly, techniques I learned in a private session with Lovey years ago now are not recommended as a first-line approach for a dog with her particular fear issues.

It is one of the reasons I think it is smart for every dog foster home to have a connection with a certified, LIMA (least intrusive, minimally aversive) dog trainer or behavioral consultant. These professionals use techniques based on the best science available and they can help you help your foster dog recover from behavioral challenges.

Think about it: Why would we ask a dog to live in fear for years when a trainer might help that dog feel better in a matter of months?

Today’s Basic Manners Class

Today’s basic manners class looks different than it did just 5 years ago!

If you are using techniques that you learned 5, 10, 15 years ago, are you sure they are still recommended by science-based professional trainers? They may be effective but are they the best ways to teach a dog a skill? Would you like to provide your foster dog the best there is to offer? Would you like to offer your personal pet a kinder, gentler, and ultimately more effective training method?

Take a class. Again.

Providing our best means staying up-to-date with the latest research and new best practices.

How Will A Basic Manners Class Help Improve Your Skills?

A well-chosen basic manners class will teach you the concepts around reward-based training AND the best way to apply those concepts. You are the student, not your dog.

You will learn things like:

The best treat to give your dog
The best way to give your dog a treat
How to get your dog to want to pay attention to you
How to get your dog todo what you want without touching them
Training your dog without saying a word
When to give your dog choices
how punishment fits into the reward-based training method.

When you learn some of the above techniques, teaching your dog sit, down, wait, come, stay, walk nicely on a leach – all of these become super easy. Like, really easy.

How To Find A Good Basic Manners Class

Start by searching these directories:

PetSmart isn’t a bad choice IF you do your homework! Be sure to check PetSmart’s website for a write-up of their current training philosophy, always interview the trainer(s) and definitely shadow a class to watch the trainer teach. Finally, it is a good idea to interview former class attendees if you can. Don’t rely on Yelp or Google reviews.

First, ask around. Plenty of good trainers do not teach classes, but they know where to find them! They are undoubtedly your best source for finding a great basic manners class.

Second, if your veterinarian is well-read on current research, they are also aware of happenings in their local dog-training community and may have recommendations for you.

Sometimes, I get good information when I ask questions on my local “NextDoor” network. I learn quickly who is using reward-based training and who is relying on the prong collar or shock collar to do all the work. Posting on NextDoor sometimes shortens my call list quite a bit.

Bottom line, taking a basic manners class is going to help you during your fostering journey. Even if you’ve taken a class before, take a new one. You will receive your money’s worth, I’m sure of it. Most importantly, your foster dog will benefit from your fresh knowledge. And the next foster dog, and the next one, and the next.