How do you teach a dog consent?

Consent petting is the practice of reading your dog's body language to determine if, when, and how they want to receive physical affection. When we give an animal the ability to choose something, rather than use force, we are showing the animal that we listen to them and will respect their needs. As a general rule, if you touch your dog in a certain way and they move away from you, it’s safe to assume they didn’t want to be touched like that at that moment. However, just because your dog moves away once doesn’t mean they never want to be touched that way. If your dog reliably moves away from you when you touch them in a certain way, you can assume that sort of touch is unwelcome, but if it only happens at certain times it’s possible they don’t like any touch under those circumstances. When your dog places themself within an arm's distance from you, use your hand to scratch their neck, under their chin or behind their ears. It's always better to go under, than over! Reaching over your dog's head can be uncomfortable for them. Scratch them 2-3 times, and then stop and move your hand back onto your lap. If they stay where they are or move away from your hand, don't pet again. If they lean in, nudge you, or paw towards your hand, repeat the above steps for another few scratches. In general, if a dog is moving away from you, that's a good indication to stop, and if a dog is moving towards you, that's a good indication to keep going.

When it comes to carrying out consent conditioning with your dog, you can begin by finding a safe space or situation. Once you’ve found a place where your dog feels naturally comfortable, instruct them to stay stationary before going ahead and teaching them the next step, such as wearing a harness. It’s best to think about consent conditioning as a training method that allows your dog to feel comfortable and calm with certain situations. Once the dog cues that they feel comfortable — maybe by sitting in a favorite spot or place in the home — you can then instruct them to carry out specific tasks or behaviors, such as wearing a harness or collar. You can also use this technique to keep them calm during grooming sessions, vet trips, or other potentially stressful situations. The idea behind consent conditioning is that if a dog is happy and comfortable, they are more likely to take well to training rather than being forced to carry out behaviors that might be unnerving or stress them out. When attempting to add consent conditioning to your training regimen, it’s important to pay attention to your dog’s body language and pick up on any signs of unhappiness or distress.

At CYC we define canine consent as the dog being a willing and active participant in the conditioning exercises. They should approach their task in a calm but focussed manner, interacting happily with their owner/trainer. We pay close attention to subtle body language and behavioural signs that can give us clues as to how comfortable a dog is with a particular situation – for instance, lip licking and yawning can be a dog’s way of saying “this is a bit too much for me right now”, so in response we might slow things down, or try a different approach. Working at each dog’s pace, reading body language and behavioural signals and paying attention to them, and breaking training sessions down into manageable chunks are all ways we can ensure that the dogs in our care are treated fairly and with respect. It is also vital to look out for subtle signs of fatigue so that our dogs are not worked past their physical or mental tolerance level.