Will boot camp help my aggressive dog?
Will boot camp help my aggressive dog? In a word - NO! We hear time and time again that when dogs have bitten, growled, or otherwise threatened to bite someone, or are fighting with other dogs, people reach for board and train or boot camp for help. We understand the public perception that a boot camp or board and train for a troubled dog is the most effective way to stop problem behaviors, but that approach is not supported by peer reviewed evidence. And punishment may suppress behaviors in the short term, but ultimately makes things worse. Here’s why boot camp is not the best choice for your dog.
Your dog stays with a professional trainer who trains with your dog every day, but they aren’t training in the context in which your dog is rehearsing the behaviors. Wait, did you read that right? Yup. You did. If your dog is resource guarding from other dogs in your home, you might think that having a professional trainer practice with resource guarding with other dogs at their facility will help prevent that at home, but the truth is that behaviors are very context specific. This means that working on those behaviors at a training facility will not necessarily resolve those behaviors in the specific environments in which they have been rehearsed (i.e. your home or neighborhood), or with you as the handler. Dogs don’t generalize behavior well, so having a trainer practice behaviors with your dog, will not universally cause your dog to perform the same behaviors with you.
Most boot camps employ punishment or the threat of punishment. The use of training that employs punishment may cause behaviors to happen less often (that’s actually the definition of punishment, if you want to get technical about it), but it can and does have significant fallout. Punishment suppresses the outward warning signals that aggression may occur (growling, lunging, barking), but it doesn’t address the underlying anxiety or fear that causes those behaviors. Ultimately, punishment makes the behaviors worse over time. Trainers are very good at marketing their services, and they market punishment based training under a lot of different and deceptive labels including “balanced training”, “leadership training”, “deference training”, and the like. You can read more about punishment and its fallout here: AVSAB-Humane-Dog-Training-Position-Statement-2021.pdf
Oftentimes trainers who run board and train facilities are not credentialed. They may tout experience as K9 handlers, but they are not certified trainers or credentialed behavior experts.
You are paying not only for a trainer to work with your dog, but for your dog to board in an unfamiliar environment, and that environment is likely stressful for your dog. Just like humans, dogs do their best learning when their stress levels are lower.
A board and train is not a holistic approach. Most of the time, aggression results from a combination of genetics, early socialization history, learning history at home, and an underlying sensory, anxiety or other condition. A complex behavior problem needs a comprehensive solution. This is often a combination of safe management at home or in the community, training to reduce the fear or anxiety response to triggers through counterconditioning, operant conditioning to teach coping strategies and replacement behaviors, and sometimes medical intervention to address any underlying health causes. More often than not, you will get only training for avoidance or basic obedience from your board and train.
They are unnecessarily costly. Nuff said.
In short, sending your dog to a professional board and train may seem like the best option because our perception is that something that costs more and is intensive is better, but in every case, a holistic, evidence based approach to resolving and managing problematic behaviors is best. If your human child were striking out at peers when they were panicking at school, you wouldn’t send them off to a private school in the country to learn basic arithmetic. You would seek help from your pediatrician, your dog’s therapist, and you would make changes at home and school to set them up for success. Aggression in dogs is no different.
Please don’t send your dog to boarding school for aggression. Contact your dog’s therapist, A Pleasant Dog for help.
