What Is Behavior Modification?

Management, training, behavior modification.

These are all very different things. Management and training can be used to inform true behavior modification, but they are, in themselves, not creating lasting change. Why? Because true behavior modification is changing the dog’s mind about how he feels about an event in question.

Level 1 - Management (medication, kenneling, muzzles, barriers) is incredibly beneficial and generally used when there is either no established training or the training techniques are not effective.

Level 2 - Training is typically thought to be obedience commands. Rewarding what you want, punishing what you don’t, and asking for alternative behaviors, but again, none of these, alone, change a dog’s mind. They are merely delivering a consequence when the behavior arises and this is what MOST trainers will consider to be behavior modification.

Level 3 - This is the boss level tier. TRUE behavior modification. If you ever catch yourself wondering where you are at in your journey simply ask - how does my dog feel about this event? If you haven’t changed their mind, you are stuck on level 2.

True behavior modification is altering the behavior to the point of creating a new reaction or eliminating a current one in response to a stimulus. Essentially, your dog chooses a new way to react (or not react) to something they previous did or did not react to.

And you, at this level, should not be needing to do anything in response to their reaction (or lack thereof) because however they react (or don’t) has your stamp of approval.

If you don’t mind micromanaging your dog, by all means, stick at level 2, however please know, there is a different way if you are willing to change your own preconceived notions about what dog training truly is.