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History of Training Dogs in America

Caveman and Domesticated Dog
Millions of years ago cavemen brought wolf cubs into their dens as companions, thus beginning the life of the domesticated dog. They were used for purposes like hunting, droving, pulling sleds, and killing vermin. How were they trained to do these tasks? There were no dog obedience classes, no manuals, and no videotapes to teach your dog. The most likely scenario is a trial-and-error based training provided by the handlers. Americans have done little to document dog training in the past. Most dogs were not valued as the beloved pets they are today, which leads us to believe there was no need for the formal dog training that is so popular today. As time went on there were instances when people started to become more interested in higher levels of training. Beginning in the 1800s dog trainers were implementing procedures similar to Skinner's method of operant conditioning. Then we skip ahead to WWI where we started using dogs to assist service men in combat. Due to the high rate of death the armed forces began to train vast quantities of dogs. This need for rapid training brought about the birth of formal dog training and in that time compulsion training. The basics of this training method include using leash corrections when the dog makes a mistake, using nylon slip collars, metal choke collars, or metal prong collars. Unfortunately, compulsion training is still implemented today, even though our knowledge on animal behavior has evolved. After the war ended lots of military trainers were discharged, and at this same time, factory farms were becoming popular. The  
typical family dog was coming into some hard times, and since it was being left alone more often, it had more time to get into mischief. Owners found it necessary to "train" their dogs out of their mischievous behavior. Then, in the '30s, the American Kennel Club introduced obedience training in the U.S. Obedience shows were one of the results of the training and created what we now know as dog shows. A couple more wars happened and compulsion training was spun into a more aggressive and dominating method. The military practically introduced physical punishment and choke collars to society as a means of training. In the '80s, the training world of dogs began to talk about dominance. Some trainers believed that if you were not dominating your dog then it was dominating you. Lots of research was started about pack mentality and whether or not you could train your dog without domination. Finally, in the '90s, Skinner's research surfaced in the form of clicker training. The dogs who were taught with this method began to excel in the obedience and sport ring. When other trainers started to catch on to how well operant conditioning worked, they started using it themselves. By the late '90s it was the most popular method of training in the United States. To find out more information about training methods used today, look for my next blog post. I will be going into detail about the pros and cons of differing methods and discovering what the best method of training is.

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