Our communication is unclear.

(We can't get our message across.)

Another common training error is that our communication is unclear. (We can't get our message across.)

In the ‘Tappers and Listeners’ experiment, researchers asked a person to think of a tune people would know well (e.g. Happy Birthday) and predict whether others would recognise the tune if they tapped it out with their fingers. The tappers predicted the listeners would identify 50% of the tunes. That’s one out of every two tunes. The listeners actually identified 2.5%. That’s only one out of forty.

That’s the ‘Curse of Knowledge’. The tappers could hear the tune in their heads and found it hard to imagine NOT having the tune playing in the background. They were amazed that people couldn’t identify the songs.

When training animals and teaching people, you know what you want to happen. At least you think you do, (see my post about clarifying your agenda.)

You communicate what you want with that knowledge in your own head.

You can hear the tune playing.

Unfortunately your learner may not.

Most pet dog classes involve using food lures to get behaviour. It's a really effective way of training, but still requires a level of skill. Emotional states matter. You have to be engaged in the process, focused on what your dog needs and ready to make adjustments. Your dog has to be engaged in the process and motivated enough to learn, but not too excited. You have to get your dog's attention with the food. You often have to adjust how you hold the food, where you hold it, how you deliver it and how quickly you deliver it. What works for one dog may not work for another.

If you're in a class, you'll probably get help with this. If you're going it alone, you may not. You might get frustrated and think you have a faulty dog. You don't.

Even when you get success, it will initially be under very limited circumstances.

Here's an example.

Teaching sit.

It seems so easy.

Say "Jethro, sit" as you lure Jethro's head up.

His butt goes down.

You praise and reward.

Repeat a few times successfully.

Training finished.

Except it's not.

Jethro probably knows:

• when you stand a certain way,

• and when he is in a certain place (close by in front of you or beside you),

• and you look at him

• and have food in your hand,

• and hold your hand a certain way

• and say "Jethro. sit"

… parking his butt will get a food reward.

 Jethro may not have even noticed the word because of all the picture cues. If he has, he probably heard "Jethrosit" and that's what he might be listening for.

The tune playing in your head might tell you that Jethro understands the word, "Sit".

With some more focused training, he can learn to respond to the word – but he's showing you what he understands right now and it’s probably not a response to the word on its own. He needs the pictures.