Over the last 20 years, there has been a major shift in the field of dog behaviour and training, away from what might be termed compulsion training towards methods that encourage and include ‘consent’.
Historically, many of us subscribed to the idea that dogs should obey and pretty much do as we ask, within reason, after all, we ‘own’ them. Non-compliance was viewed as a training fault or a fault with the animal. The notion that the dog should have a say in anything was dismissed as ‘woke’ nonsense. Many dogs can indeed be cowed into submission and just learn to endure types of handling they dislike, but not all. I see dogs that dislike certain forms of handling so much they are prepared to bite anyone who tries.
The remedy for handling issues brings us to two different approaches. The first is to force or punish the dog so that they dare not retaliate; it is risky, it is inhumane, but it can work. The second is to empower the dog to communicate it wants to stop or that it consents to us proceeding. In training lingo, these are called stop and start buttons.
Getting consent training underway does take time and patience, but it really pays off once understood and once both trainer and dog are fluent. The upsides are massive, building trust and giving your pet a sense of control over events that might scare, hurt, or anger them.
There are many types of consent training protocols out there. The two I tend to use most are the wonderful Chirag Patel’s ‘Bucket Game’ and a stationing technique involving a chin rest.
The chin rest is quite simple and can be built in stages. First the dog is taught to rest their chin on your cupped palm, having first been lured into position with a tasty, soft treat. Once the exercise has been developed so that the dog will rest their muzzle on your outstretched palm on cue and for varying durations, you move on to stage two.
The second part of the exercise involves teaching your dog to transfer the skill of resting their muzzle onto your upturned palm to resting it on a chair or box, so they can station at standing height. The rationale is that you will need both your hands to perform any grooming, or medical procedures like ear cleaning. I recommend adding a rolled-up towel, or similar, to increase your dog’s comfort. The dog learns to rest their muzzle on the rolled-up material, on cue, and for increasing durations. We do not increase the duration each time but toggle back and forth.
Once you and your dog are fluent and your dog understands that to earn their reward they station with their muzzle resting on something, you can start to carefully introduce those elements of handling the dog is resistant to. This must be done in tiny stages and if your dog has shown any aggressive behaviour, I would recommend you work with a behaviourist. However, the core message and principle is that the dog learns that the millisecond they lift their muzzle, whatever it is you are doing stops. If they resume stationing, they are giving you permission to continue. The chin rest becomes a way to communicate consent.
See a simple training outline at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oifO3HJL_MI