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Does Your Dog Really Know He Did Something Wrong?

With a lot of frequency I have dog owners come to me and say, "My dog knows he isn't supposed to pee on the floor, but he keeps doing it" or "My dog knows that chewing my shoes is wrong but I can't get him to stop" or "Why does my dog keep digging in the back yard when he knows it is wrong?"

My first question is, of course, "How do you know that your dog knows that behavior is wrong?"

The response is always the same:
"Every time I see a puddle of his pee and look at him he slinks his head and walks away."
"Whenever I find that my shoe has been chewed I show it to him and he acts like he is sorry."
"If I just look at the hole she dug she runs away."

Cut and dry, right?  The dog knows that their misbehavior was wrong, correct?  Nope, sorry.  Whenever dog owners tell me these things I immediately know that they need more education about how dogs process information.  Allow me to explain.

I like to view a dog's world in terms of associations.  Dogs have positive associations with things and behaviors they like and negative associations with things and behaviors they don't like.  Simple enough, right?  Here is the catch, though.  Dogs can only form associations within about two seconds of any behavior.  Any longer than that and the dog can't form either a positive or a negative association.

So what that means is that if you want to show your dog that chewing your shoes, peeing on your floor, and digging in your yard is wrong then you must show them that WITHING 2 SECONDS of that behavior.  If you discover one of these behaviors after the fact, even several seconds later, you can't do anything about it.    

That leads to the next question, though.  If the dog can't form an association with a behavior after the fact why is it that he or she is appearing to be sorry?  Very simple.  Let's examine what the typical dog owner does when he discovers that his dog has destroyed something.  What does that dog owner typically do?  Most of the time he will bring his dog over to look at the chewed shoe, puddle of pee, or dug hole.  He will then tell him he is a bad boy.  He might yell at him.  Particularly bad dog owners will even go as far as smacking the dog or rubbing the dog's nose in the mess.  So guess what the dog learns over time?  There is something wrong with that shoe/puddle of pee/hole.  The poor dog is thinking, "Yikes, every time my owner sees this shoe/this puddle/this hole he gets ticked off."  That leads to the dog being afraid of these THINGS.  The dog isn't sorry for his BEHAVIOR, he just realizes that his owner is mad at a destroyed object and somehow that applies to him. 

His owner thinks that the dog is sorry for the unwanted behavior.  All the dog realizes is that his owner is mad at him because of a shoe.  Pretty ridiculous, right? 

So the next time you think you are going to discipline your dog after the fact just stop yourself.  You can't do it.  Instead, research proper dog training techniques that will teach the dog rather than confuse him.

About the Author

Author Ty Brown is a renowned dog trainer whose training adventures and clients have taken him to 18 states and 5 countries to teach others how to properly train their dogs. Go to dogbehavioronline.com for more dog training articles, advice, tips, and answers from a professional dog trainer.

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