What is the Nothing in Life Is Free program?
NILIF is a simple and effective way to control our dog’s behavior, by controlling his most desired resources.
To implement NILIF, all we have to do is ask our dog to do something for us first, before giving him something in return. For example,
- If our dog wants to go out to the backyard, ask him for a Sit first, before opening the door.
- If our dog is looking for affection, ask him to Go Bed first, before scratching him on his favorite spots.
- If it is our dog’s meal time, then ask him for a Down-Stay before starting to prepare his food.
The Nothing in Life Is Free program is not a command or a single technique, rather it is a general strategy for dog behavior control.
With NILIF, we teach our dog that the best way to get what he wants, is to first do what we want.
Why Apply the Nothing in Life Is Free Program
With NILIF we teach our dog –
- To work for the things that he wants most.
- That people are the source of food, toys, play, and many other good things.
- That he gets the most resources by working together with us, staying calm, and following house rules.
This helps to build a strong bond with our dog that is based on cooperation, positive outcomes, and a good work ethic. It is an effective and non-confrontational way to achieve control.
Dogs have needs of their own. They are not mindless satellites that revolve around us, and that only live to serve us. With NILIF, we channel a dog’s energy into positive activities, and reward him well for his good works.
How to Apply the Nothing in Life Is Free Program
While applying NILIF on my dogs, I learned that it is very important to be consistent, firm, and fair.
1. Consistency
I set up a consistent set of rules, a consistent routine, and a consistent way of communication. My dogs understand what things they get rewarded for, and there is always ample opportunity for them to work for their supper.
Clear communication is also very important, so I identify good behaviors with a yes-mark (Yes or Good) and bad behaviors with a no-mark (Ack-ack). Similarly, they have a good dog name and a bad dog name.
Finally, dogs do not come with a ready-made human rulebook in their heads. For health and safety, we must teach a dog our very human rules. These rules will likely make very little sense to him, which is why we want to tie them to the things that he values most.
2. Firmness
If my dog fails to perform a command or only puts in a half-hearted effort, then I do not reward him for his lackluster performance; no matter how cute he looks.
For example, my Shiba Inu will sometimes only perform a half-down when I give him the command. When he does this, I just give him a look and wait for him to do it properly. When he sees that he will not get rewarded unless he does a good job, he puts in the extra effort.
He works even harder when I do group obedience sessions and he sees that my Siberian Huskies are being rewarded well for their good performance.
3. Fairness
All my dogs follow the same rules and get similar rewards. Their rewards are not always identical because they each have different temperaments, and are motivated by different things.
For example, both my Siberian Huskies are very motivated by food, especially Shania. My Shiba Inu is less motivated by food and more motivated by freedom, new objects and experiences, as well as chasing games.
Husky Lara likes to chase, jump, and weave between a person’s legs. Husky Shania loves meeting people, getting tummy rubs, and licking faces. A big part of being successful with NILIF involves understanding our dogs, and identifying what motivates them most.
I always try to set my dog up for success. In particular, I give him tasks where he has a good chance of completing. For example, I start by teaching him simple commands such as Look and Sit. I wait until he has mastered more basic commands before moving on to Fetch, Come, or Go Bed which are more complex commands, that include a sequence of actions. The more successful he is, the more confident he will become, and the more quickly he learns that working with me is a very rewarding activity.
Instead of throwing my dog into a situation that I know he cannot handle, I start small and we take small steps together. He works for each step, and gets rewarded for it with food, play, affection, and more.
I make sure to only reward good behaviors, and not give him anything for bad behaviors, including my attention and affection. Instead, when he does something undesirable, he may lose a reward or privilege.
In this way, a dog learns to repeat good behaviors because he gets what he desires most. Similarly, he stops bad behaviors because it gets him nothing, or he loses something that he desires. With NILIF dog training, we build a relationship that is based on trust and respect, rather than one that is based on confrontation and fear.
The Spirit of NILIF
Some people interpret the nothing in NILIF in the most extreme way. In particular, they give a dog access to some resource if and only if he completes a requested task. At other times, the dog is kept in a kennel or crate, so that he does not have his freedom, which in itself is a desired resource.
Confinement also prevents the dog from getting other desired resources on his own, including sticks to play with, or objects to chew on. In short, the only way he gets any and all resources is through us.
This may be one of those instances where we are trying so carefully to follow the letter of the law, that we end up defeating the spirit of the law.
The spirit of NILIF, as it is widely used today, is to build a strong bond with our dog that is based on trust and respect rather than on confrontation and physical force. We would hardly be doing this by keeping our dog locked up all day, with short bursts of freedom to hero-worship us. Such a strategy focuses purely on the human, and leaves nothing for the dog.
I train my dogs and use NILIF, not to boast about my dog training prowess, or to follow random rules for no reason. My ultimate goal is to provide my dogs with a good quality of life. Constantly depriving them of freedom and activity would hardly achieve this goal. Common sense dictates that this extreme interpretation of NILIF is not only untenable, but also unproductive.
When I implement NILIF, I reward my dogs for good behavior. It does not matter whether I asked for a behavior or not; if they behave well, they get rewarded. They are still working for their resources by behaving well, therefore they are not getting resources for free. However, I see absolutely no need to explicitly control every single action by my dog.
If my dog follows house rules, then he gets to roam freely in the house, play, rest, drink water, chew on toys, or whatever else. If he breaks an important house rule, then he may lose a reward, or very temporarily lose the privilege of his freedom.
Sometimes, I also reward my dogs with food and affection when they are resting calmly together. They get rewarded for sitting while greeting people. They get rewarded for staying calm while out on walks, and much more.
Isn’t the ultimate goal to get our dog to behave well on his own? Isn’t that much better than dictating his every move – like a robot controlled dog? It is extremely unhealthy to set ourselves up as the sole focus of our dog’s world, and take away all of his freedom and options. It is unhealthy for us, and unhealthy for our dog.
I like giving my dog options and helping him fulfill his needs. In my book, that is what trust and respect mean. That is also what love means.
We can nitpick on terms until the cows come home, and twist words to win online debates. At the end of the day though, what matters is not the terms used but what we do, and how we strive to give our dogs what they deserve – a good life that is safe and filled with happiness.
Hello, I have been reading more and more of your articles and am really intrigued by them. I am beginning to implement the dominance rules that you have stated and it is working greatly (i.e. NILF method and the keep calm and structured method). My question is: When I leave the house and my dog (Chihuahua) stays home alone, is it better to keep him in his closed corner we have for him with his bed and toys and food (I do not want him jumping on the furniture when we are not home) or should we trust him alone around the house?
Thank you
Dogs like getting on couches because we are on the couch a lot, and it smells a lot like us. My dogs will also get on the couch when they are playing, excited, or in an energetic state.
I have a three legged dog, Shania, so it is very important that I make sure she does not get up on the couch. Otherwise, she might get hurt while coming down.
In the beginning, I kept her in an enclosure when I am not around to supervise. When I am around to supervise, I teach her to lie next to the couch instead of going up. If she tries to go up, I no-mark and body block her away. If she manages to get up, I carry her down right away. I am totally consistent with this so that she *never* gets rewarded for being on the couch.
Instead, I give her the Down command when she is next to the couch, and then give her a lot of affection when she lies down next to the couch. In this way, she learns that trying to get on the couch = get nothing, but lying down next to the couch = affection, attention, and food rewards.
Once she is good with this, I slowly lengthen the time that I leave her alone. First, I am just away for 10 seconds. If she is good with that, I try for a little longer and so on. I make sure that she is calm and well exercised before leaving.
Hi! I’ve been browsing your site for the last few days. I am really wanted to get a shiba inu in the future. (Fairly far in the future…six months at the very least and that is unlikely) but I have quite a few questions.
First, how did you get Sephy? I’m trying to locate refutable shiba inu breeders but it is difficult.
Second, I am going to be living in an apartment. I am a college student, so I can schedule my classes to allow me to go back to my apartment throughout the day to check on the dog. I know an apartment environment is not ideal for any dog, but my research on this breed has led me to believe that they are good in apartments as long as you give them the proper exercise. What do you do with your dogs when you’re not home? I hate the idea of locking a dog in a crate all day, but with an apartment, I’d be wary of letting it run around for fear of tearing up furniture. And on that note, how do you stop them from chewing on furniture? What do you do to keep them entertained during the time you’re not home? It won’t be too long. At the least, I’d like to come back during lunch for a quick walk and to play with the dog.
Also, how do you find having Siberian huskies? A Siberian husky was my dream long for the longest time – still is, along with the shiba inu – but a lot of what I read about them really put me off of the breed. Basically just that they are so high energy and high maintenance and impossible to train. Of course, I’ve read the same thing about the shiba inu, so I guess that falls more on the owner than the dog? I wouldn’t be getting a husky any time at all in the near future, since I’ll be living in an apartment for a while, but I was just curious.
Thanks! I really love this blog! It’s been very helpful in my research!
* that was supposed to say “dream dog”, not “dream long”! Sorry!
Re: Shibe Breeders
I got Sephy from a local breeder. At the time, we didn’t know much about dog breeders so we got her name from one of those online puppy sites. That was a mistake. Sephy’s breeder was not very interested in our house environment, and she was not interested in following up with Sephy after selling him to us. We called her a few times to ask her questions about Sephy’s care, but I don’t think she cared much after she made the sale.
In contrast, I got both my Sibes from a breeder that I got off the Siberian Husky Club of America site. They are the AKC-recognized breed club for Siberian Huskies. My Sibe breeder is awesome. We first met with her to look at her puppies. During this time, she showed us their mother and gave us health certifications for both parents. She also talked to us a lot about the breed. Then, she came over to our house with puppy for a house check.
After that, she gave us a blanket with puppy sibling smells, a favorite toy, and a bunch of kibble. We had Sephy then, so she told us that we can keep Shania for a few days and see how things go. If things don’t work out with puppy and Sephy, she will take Shania back. Later, she hooked us up with Husky club events, sent us local club newsletters, and also comes over to visit the pups several times a year.
If you are interested in buying, I highly recommend getting from an AKC-registered breeder. Here is a list of breeders from the National Shiba Club of America
http://www.shibas.org/breeders.html
In my experience, many of these breeders love talking about their breed and are great sources of information. Even though I was not looking for another puppy after I got Sephy, I visited with several Shiba breeders and just talked to them about Sephy and the Shiba breed in general. They were quite helpful in helping me understand some of Sephy’s behaviors.
Re: Home alone time
In the beginning, Sephy stayed in his crate. Before we left him home alone, we first crate trained him and also did some short alone time runs. When he was ready, we left on short trips, about 2 hours at most. After he matured and was more calm, we let him have more freedom around the house. Now he gets to roam anywhere downstairs. We have a gate at the bottom of the stairs.
Another possibility is to use an enclosure instead of a crate. For example, gate off the kitchen area or some other safe room. We kept Shania in an enclosure when she was young. We put nice blankets and bedding in it, as well as potty pads so she could do her business. We also gave her some safe chew toys. Because she will be chewing on those toys without supervision, we made sure that she can’t tear-off chunks and swallow it, which may become a choking hazard. Also, some chew toys are too hard and may crack a dog’s teeth.
My favorite are food toys. When they were puppies, I gave them all a lot of Frozen Kongs. The cold is good for teething puppies, and the food keeps them interested in the toy. Plus then, they have to work for their food. I make sure to have a fixed schedule, and I exercise puppy very well before her nap time.
Re: Siberian Huskies
I love Siberian Huskies. As you say though, they are very high energy; much more high energy than a Shiba. However, my Sibes were *much much* easier to train than my Shiba. Shiba Sephy is extremely crazy stubborn. Here are a couple of articles that may be interesting –
Shiba Inu vs. Siberian Husky
Why Shiba Inus are such a difficult breed to train.
my dog is deaf, he understands more than he pretends to; but nevertheless I’d still like some pointers on how to manage him and train him to behave. I have another dog who is ten years old this January, she’s fine and wonderful, but can be very jealous. they do get along better as time goes by, but training my deaf puppy is my main priority. thanks for any info.
Hello Mary,
I don’t have any first-hand experience so I am not really sure how much help I can be. My dogs respond very well to hand commands though. In fact, they usually respond better to hand commands rather than verbal. I teach them hand commands first, then only add on the verbal after.
The key thing is consistency. I establish a clear yes-mark and no-mark (can be hand gesture instead of a verbal command), and then reward them well for doing good behaviors.
Here is how I taught my dogs some basic commands using hand targeting-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-tips-solutions#look
Here is more on what I did to train my pups-
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-i-trained-my-husky-puppy
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-dogs-learn-how-dogs-think
Here is a bit more on what I did to introduce a new puppy.
We just adopted a sheba inu/shitshu mix she is really a handful but i am hoping she will get better or we will. she is very stubborn we have tried keeping her in a fenced yard no luck i put her on a chain no luck now she wont come to me what should i do. I want to keep her safe but dont want to leave in a cage like she was before please help
I am not sure what you mean by “no luck”? Does she escape from the fenced yard? How does she escape? Is she an outside dog? or are you using the fenced yard as a timeout location?
What is her daily routine like?
I have used to NILIF system with my dog, Lola. She is the daughter of a Beagle (mother) and a German Spitz (father). She does really well 90% of the time. She is just under a year old. She displayed a LOT of resource guarding for a while. We have since got that under control. We have two problems now and I am just at my wits end!! 1) She will NOT leave my two cats alone! She attacks and drags them across the floor by their necks. They have hissed, swatted and bit her ears and drawn blood. I figured after a few good swats from the cats- she would leave them alone. But no- she will not. We keep her in her crate while we are having dinner and if a cat walks by, its like she is pouting bc she is in her kennel and she will growl like she is about to attack if they walk near her kennel! The second thing- my 1 year old likes to walk around with a snack or two in her hands. And Lola will go and snatch the cheese, fruit loop, gummy, cracker.. etc out of her hand. She goes as far as to follow my daughter and will NOT leave her alone! I have tried distracting and using the “leave it” and “drop it” commands. But she just won’t do it!
Do you have any suggestions?
Re dog-cat training:
I don’t have any house cats so I don’t have any first-hand experience in this area. This is an interesting thread on how some Shiba owners divert their dog’s attention-
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/7120/problem-with-cats/p1#Comment_125511
Re jumping for a snack:
Dogs often jump on people because they inadvertently get rewarded for the behavior. For example, if a dog jumps on a table and often finds a yummy snack, she is getting rewarded for the behavior. This will encourage her to keep jumping up on tables, and she may even try to jump up onto other things. The same is true with a dog that is jumping up on people.
With my dogs, I have found that the best way to stop them jumping up on people is to make sure that they do not get rewarded for it.
1. I make sure that they never get any food for jumping up on people.
2. If they jump on me or others, I no-mark the behavior, and give them an alternate positive command, e.g. Sit (something that they already know how to do). If they redirect, I reward them well with food and attention. In this way the not only learn not to jump, but they learn what they should do instead of jumping.
3. If they ignore me and continue, I fold-up my arms, turn away from them (in-place) and ignore them. If they are jumping on someone else, I lead then away from the person, and they have to stay right next to me for a brief period of time. This shows them that jumping = no food and no attention.
4. If they escalate their behavior and start biting at me or my clothes, then I say timeout, and briefly put them in a timeout area. This teaches them that if they cannot behave around people, then they do not get to be around people. The same applies if they are jumping on other people.
hi, i have an 8 week old sibe, shes lovley but is taking the nipping to extremes, she becomes very aggresive and digs her teeth in as hard as she can, i shout ouch everytime and take my hand away if i can! but she comes at you all the more, i sometimes wonder if she likes me at all, i am the one who tells her no and is here all day training her i use food rewards and im starting a class in 2 weeks when she fully vaccinated, despite this im the one she follows and sleeps at my feet all the time wherever i am she is there so i dont understand why shes like this, i also have two cavalier king charles spaniels and she is bullying them and jumping on them all the time and im spending all day telling her no off! i know its a strange combination of dogs to have together but i thought it would be ok as ive had a husky before and never had these problems she was very gentle and very easy to train and great with all annimals of any size, im beginning to think i just got lucky with her! im afraid of her agression i have 4 children aged 5+ so i need to be able to trust her and cannot bare to think i may one day have to part with her ive never rehomed any pet ive had before but obviously my first priority is to keep my children safe can u suggest and ideas or advice plz plz
Hello Joanna,
Yeah a Sibe puppy can be quite a handful. The breed is already high energy and athletic, so when you combine it with the energy of puppyhood, you get an Energizer Bunny that keeps going and going.
In terms of the biting, my Sibe puppies usually do it in play. It has nothing to do with liking or not-liking. In the beginning, everything is new to a puppy so she will be testing out her boundaries and trying out various behaviors.
When I got puppy Lara, I set up a routine and a consistent set of rules for her right away. I find that it is best to start things as early as possible, so that puppy learns that there are limits to her behavior. Here is a bit more on how I trained puppy Lara.
In terms of biting, I do bite inhibition training with all of my dogs. Bite inhibition training helps to teach a dog to control the force of her bites especially when interacting with people.
Depending on the situation, I will also sometimes do timeouts. When puppy Lara bites-
1. I use a consistent no-mark (Ack-ack) to let her know that it is undesirable behavior. What I use here is also dog-dependent. For more calm puppies, I may use the Ouch. The idea of the Ouch is that it will startle puppy and cause her to stop whatever she is doing. However, doing high pitched sounds may sometimes get a puppy even more excited. Therefore if puppy is already excited, I use a calm no-mark (Ack-ack).
2. Then I make sure to redirect puppy into doing something else. I may give an alternative command that puppy already knows (e.g. Sit) or redirect puppy onto biting a toy. If she redirects, then I praise her and reward her with a fun game. In this way she learns that –
Biting on me = no playing; Following commands or biting on a toy = Attention and fun play session.
3. If she does not want to redirect and goes back to biting me, then I withdraw my attention and stop playing with her. I do this by standing up, folding my arms, and turning away from her.
4. If she escalates her behavior and jumps on me or bites my clothing, then I say “Timeout” and calmly remove her to a timeout area.
Great website!, My wife and I recently got a Shiba (Quarter American Eskimo) and now he is 5 months old. We had him sleeping in a crate at the foot of our bed but, a month ago we broke down and let him sleep on the bed with us. He was very good until a couple of weeks ago, then he wakes us up in the middle of the night to let him out every couple hours. Thinking he needed to go to the bathroom we always let him out but, he just sat on the back deck. My wife thinks we should ignore him when he asks to go out (except for 1 time) and I think there maybe a better alternative. What are your thoughts?
I think it depends on the dog.
With Lara, she likes being outside all night long, especially when it is hot.
With Sephy, we will take him out once (on-lead). Then, he can go back into his crate to sleep if he wants. But usually, he prefers to just roam about downstairs. If he fusses in his crate a second time, he loses his bedroom privileges and goes downstairs.
If we keep letting Sephy out, he will just keep going in/out all night long. Give Sephy an inch; he will take a mile. 😀
Shania is really good about being calm and usually rests nicely in her crate. The only time she fusses is when she is too hot or when she really needs to go out. During the summer, we set up a fan next to her crate so that she is comfortable at night. I let Shania out or in whenever she needs it.
Lara, Sephy, and Shania are fully potty trained. We took them out a lot more during the potty training period.
Let us know how it goes, and big hugs to puppy!
I was wondering if you recommend a book on picking and training a puppy?
Hello Paul,
I probably learned the most about training my Shiba Inu by visiting the Shiba meetup group forums. There are a lot of Shiba veteran owners there with very good advice.
http://shibainu.meetup.com/
There are other meetup groups for most other breeds as well.
Ian Dunbar’s books Before You Get Your Puppy
and After You Get Your Puppy
also offers some good information.
There are many areas in the books where Dunbar does come across as somewhat alarmist, but overall, there are some good exercises and information in there. For example there is good stuff about bite inhibition exercises, how to socialize a puppy, and handling exercises.
Be cautious though and make sure to customize exercises to suit the temperament of our own dogs. For example, many people including Dunbar suggest holding a dog to calm him down and not letting him go until he is calm. The idea is to teach the dog that he gets his freedom or gets to play again when he calms down. However, this exercise did not work well with my Shiba. Boxing him in like that only made him feel threatened and afraid. He knew that he could not run away if he needed to, which stressed him out even more. Rather than following exactly what the books say or what any one particular trainer says, I learned that it is best to be flexible, carefully observe our dog, and do what seems most appropriate based on his temperament.
Other books that were recommended to me –
1. Other End of the Leash
2. The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson
3. Don’t Shoot the Dog
4. Bones Would Rain from the Sky – This is less of a training book and more of a dog relationship book. I really enjoyed it though and it changed how I viewed dog training and dog relationships.
The other books give some good background on the psychological underpinnings behind dog training, but for breed specific information or for solving specific issues, going to breed specific forum sites, e.g. the meetup groups, was the most helpful for me.
I’ve seen clicker training suggested for Shibas. Have you tried it with Sephy at all? I really want a Shiba puppy [and I have my eye on one in particular], so I really want to have a game plan for training her once I get her home. Thanks! 😀
Hello Jacki,
I mostly use reward training with Sephy. It is very similar to clicker training, except instead of using a clicker to mark a good behavior, I just use a verbal mark, e.g. Good Boy. The advantage of using a clicker is that it produces a unique sound that does not occur in normal people conversation. In this way, it allows us to communicate clearly and consistently with our dog. However, any other unique sound that we use consistently, will achieve the same goal.
Here is a bit more on dog training and how dogs learn-
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-dogs-learn-how-dogs-think
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-i-trained-my-husky-puppy