Training Tuesday: Learn to earn programs

A secure dog is a relaxed dog. Photo: Melissa Garcia Logan

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Nothing in Life is Free

You may have heard of training programs that tie work to reward. Sometimes dubbed NILIF ("Nothing in life is free") or "Learn to earn" programs, they stress control of resources. Used correctly, a learn to earn program can help you develop a secure household for your dog that encourages her to look to you for leadership.

Leadership is a tough job; take a look sometime at any senior-level manager, or family matriarch, and you'll see. It can be very stressful controlling the resources and dealing with all of the anxiety that is involved with decision-making. Dogs who do not receive sufficient, clear leadership from their person will begin to take on the stress and anxiety of making decisions herself. She may bark at the door to protect the house, she may help herself to food or furniture, and she may guard resources because she believes she has to be in control in order to be secure. In a recent case, a dog in Monmouth County bit a visitor, drawing blood, in an attempt to protect his home, his owner, and himself against someone he perceived as an intruder. It's an extreme case, one that warrants evaluation by a trained professional behaviorist, but demonstrates the extreme lengths to which insecurity will drive a dog.

Managing Expectations

A good learn to earn program will shift control of resources and decisions from your dog to you. When used appropriately, you can create a loving, fun, structured environment that makes sense to your dog, encouraging her to relax and trust. Please note: Learn to earn is not about dominance. It is not about asserting your authority or reinforcing pack positions. It is about teaching your dog what behavior is discouraged, what they should be doing instead, and that good things happen when they offer appropriate behaviors. It's about allowing your dog to manage your expectations successfully; when they understand and can manage those expectations, it builds confidence and a sense of security, reducing anxiety and stress.

Many problem behaviors have their root in fear. If you can create a secure environment for a fearful or insecure dog, you will be well on your way to defusing that fear and the problem behaviors. Learn to earn is similar to child-rearing techniques that reward behaviors you want to see, withholding rewards until those behaviors are exhibited. A young child screaming for a cookie is politely ignored, but a child who asks "May I please have a cookie?" will be met with a smile, a reply, ("Thank you for asking so nicely!") and a cookie. In the future, that child will remember that when they asked nicely, they got a smile and a cookie and when they screamed they went unacknowledged. Learn to earn goes further, by manufacturing opportunities for the dog to succeed, to reinforce lessons and for the dog to receive rewards.

Be a Leader, Not a Bully

Learn to earn programs should not hold your dog hostage. It is imperative to set up many successful opportunities for reward, while ignoring (or redirecting, if necessary) the unwanted behaviors. If you withhold love, affection, play, toys, or treats without setting up ample opportunities for your dog to win them, then you are creating a stressful, negative environment for your dog. When you control the resources you cannot hoard the resources or you will create a tense, deprived environment for your dog who will then get into trouble out of desperation. That is setting your dog up for failure.

Rules Of The “Learn To Earn” Program
(from University of Southampton School of Psychology's "The 'Learn to Earn' Program" by Anne McBride, BSc PhD Cert.Cons FRSA)

1. Toys and food belong to you, so ensure you are in control of both of these "resources’.
2. Dogs have to say “please” in some way to ask for one of their "resources", whether it is food, toys or your attention.
3. Humans start all interactions.
4. Humans finish all interactions.
5. Ignore all your dog’s attempts to start interactions or prolong interactions.

For more information: The Learn to Earn Program

Additional Resources

If you would like more information on training your dog using "motivational" training methods (as opposed to "aversive" training methods), your dog is exhibiting problem behaviors, or you would like to have your dog evaluated by a professional, then please consider contacting one of these local trainers:

Pamela Dennison's Positive Motivation Dog Training
Side by Side Dog Trainin with Sarah Walker
Sit and Stay Dog Training and Behavioral Counseling with Joana Watsky
St. Hubert's Dog Training School

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All text in this article is copyrighted and the sole possession of Melissa Garcia Logan, unless otherwise indicated. Available for reprint and/or publishing only with written permission from author. Contact Melissa Garcia Logan with your comments, suggestions, questions, and ideas.