What is dog training?

Even though dogs have been trained for specific tasks since Roman times at least, the process of training them to become compatible domestic pets only really developed in the 1950s, when suburbanisation took place.

Dogs learn from the interactions they have with their environments. They learn in a variety of ways:

Classical conditioning

The dog forms an association between two stimuli.

Non-associative learning

The dog’s behaviour is modified through habituation or sensitisation.

Operant conditioning

The dog forms an association between an event, activity or other stimulus, and what happened as a consequence.

Well known methods of dog training include clicker training, dominance-based training, electronic training, the Koehler method, model-rival training, motivational training, and relationship-based training.

For a method to be successful, the trainer must understand the dog’s individual personality, ensure that communication is clear and consistent, and reinforce and/or punish at the appropriate time.

However, at CAS, we don’t believe in using any form of punishment during training; instead, we focus on positive methods based on love, praise and reward.