The Power of Patterns for our Dogs

The power of patterns in raising our dogs... 

Think about your daily life. How many patterns can you recognize throughout your day? 
Your bedtime routine, the side of the bed you sleep on, your wake-up routine, how you get your kids ready for school or how you get ready for work, your shower routine, how you brush your teeth, how you tie your shoes, the route you take to work... Patterns are powerful and they offer our brain a chance to not have to process what is going to happen next. They offer predictability and therefore a feeling of safety and security.

The same is true for our dogs. 

​Let me explain...

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What are patterns?

When referring to patterns, what exactly do I mean?

A pattern is a regularity in the world. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner.

Humans and animals seek patterns because it is a natural tendency to try to understand and make sense of their surroundings.

Patterns and knowing what to expect (often without even having to think about it) offers a sense of:

• Control
• Predictability
• Safety

Natural patterns throughout your dog's day

Our dogs follow natural patterns. Their waking up routine, the route to daycare, knowing the difference between work and walk shoes, and even their internal time clock that doesn't seem to adjust immediately with daylight savings...

With these patterns, dogs learn when they are accompanying you on an outing and when they're staying home.

They learn if they're arriving to the Vet's office or heading to daycare.

They learn what time to expect their human siblings to get off the bus.

They learn how to scare away the mailman

​They learn how to get you to feed them (my own dog Willow has a pattern of pretending she needs to go outside, just so that I will let her in to feed her dinner).

​These examples are only a small sampling of their daily patterns. But no matter what patterns your dog has created, they offer them a sense of safety and stability in knowing what to expect.

How can we use this improve behavior?

Consider the dog who always barks at the mailman. We call this mailman syndrome and it's very predictable. The mail(person) comes to deliver mail - leaves.

Now insert the barking dog. The mail(person comes) to deliver mail - dog barks until... - mail(person) leaves. 
According to the dog, this might be a necessary routine. After all, who else is going to scare off the intruder? 

But what if we created a different routine?
What if... when the mail person comes, the dog barks - lets us know they are there, we call them to a spot in the kitchen where a treat is deposited. Mailman leaves. 

Are we rewarding the barking? Maybe
Are we rewarding them for coming to the spot in the kitchen? Absolutely.
Will it lessen the barking? It absolutely should.
Is it always that easy? No. But it's an idea and a pattern your dog can begin to rely on.

That's just one common example.

Here's the thing - your dog is always going to act in a pattern. He will follow a similar sequence of behavior according to the context and trigger. 

What if we took the above routine and took it one step further?

What if we told our dogs how amazing they are for noticing the mail(person), not barking, and then they get to go get their special kitchen treats? Well, now we're really on to something...

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Watch Willow demo her delivery pattern, based in Mister Rogers style validation.

Using patterns for behavior change

Trainer Leslie McDevitt has created Pattern Games in her Control Unleashed Program.

I would like to talk a little bit about why I love these games within the context of changing behavior and acclimating a dog to a trigger in a patterned way.

Watch the following video to see how Phoebe works on her overreaction to a leash being picked up and handles having her collar go on, within the context of the Side to Side Pattern.

Interested in learning more about how to implement these patterns into your dog's behavior change plan? 

Come on in to the Miss Behavior Membership where you'll learn about the Side to Side Pattern and so many more. Get the support you're looking for in raising your family dog. 

Visit MissBehaviorTraining.com/membership to learn more and sign up!