Working through a socialization issue? Try not trying so hard. Try using more patience, with less effort. It doesn't look like training. It might not even BE 'training'! Could it be learning anyway?
My dog Lila (motto: "you can't be too careful") is wary of crossing wheelchair ramps, usually at corners of sidewalks, that are covered with rows of quarter-sized bumps, if we haven't encountered them for a while. (This regression with lack of exposure is a classic symptom of a socialization gap -- I don't recall seeing many of them when she was a puppy. Guess what my next puppy will do a lot of.)
So, today, not even thinking about it, I cross a ramp with her, she swings wide to avoid it. I cross back over the same ramp, she swings wide again. I turn back to make a third pass, and deliberately pause, waiting for her to feel ready. I don't know how to characterize what I am "feeling" for, but I don't even look at her. I just wait, believing she will regroup herself, and believing that she can do it when she is ready.
I feel it. We're ready. I say nothing. I do nothing to the leash. I make no eye contact. I make no deliberate body language gesture. I simply step forward. We cross. She stays closer to my side than her usual distance, but does not hesitate, bolt across, or otherwise show any sign of what I know to be a mild level of uncertainty. I don't react at all until a few steps later when we make eye contact. I smile, and we both just know. That was hard, and she did it. It wasn't a big deal, really. We then circle back and cross the same one and two different ones without pausing. She doesn't swing wide or "cling" to me. It's a big deal, but it's no big deal. I don't even bother to look. She knows I know how cool she is. I play it cool, too.
Not a soul realized we were "training", let alone how well it was going. Except me and Lila. (And, really,we're the only ones whose opinions matter.) I didn't work her through the situation like a dog trainer. I didn't cross the ramp like a dog handler or pack leader. If you watched her crossing, you'd have to know you were looking for that just slightly closer than normal proximity to me, and that just slightly lower than normal head carriage. It LOOKS like a regular human being and a regular dog just going about their day. (Ha! "Regular". Me? Lila? Looks are extremely deceiving!) It doesn't look like training.
If it were training, I'd be using a more deliberate cue that means "cross the scary and possibly uncomfortable bumps". It IS training, and the cue to cross the bumps is that there are bumps to cross.
If it were training, I'd be guiding her across, dragging her across, luring her across, placing intermediary surfaces to gradually remove over the course of the next 6 weeks, clicking for one toenail on the ramp,... I should be doing more than just standing there! But this IS training. I elicit her behavior by modeling the crossing several times, indicating my own belief in its safety. I model the target emotional state, which is near boredom. I deliberately wait for her readiness.
If it were training, I'd be using some kind of marker to indicate that she was doing it right. I'd use a release word or cue to mark the end of the exercise. Ok, maybe this isn't training after all. Horrors. Dogs can't learn unless training is being used, right?
If it were training, there'd be a reward of some kind. And "rewards" are only things like treats, petting, praise, play, attention, removal of pressure... Ok, you win. It isn't training. The immediate reward was... nothing! Deliberately!
Are dogs allowed to experience intrinsic motivation? The pride of doing something that was hard? Can dogs tell when we feel pride? Relaxed? Can they add up cross bumps + relaxed+ pride = I think I'll do that again? Can they feel a sense of relief at discovering that what they were worried about was actually nothing?
So, it isn't "training". I didn't shape anything. I didn't punish anything. I didn't work to elicit anything. I didn't reward anything. It's having a relationship. It's understanding that adding excitement while an event occurs helps to define it as "an event". (Crossing bumpy ramps is definitely a non-event, so no excitement.) It's appreciating the level of anxiety, of arousal, and how to avoid elevating it. In the end, it's indisputably learning.
Owners, handlers, and trainers can be motivated to engage in "dog training behaviors" by a mistaken idea of how learning has to look. Learning does not have to look like training, although it can, and often should. But, since we have a fixed idea of what changing a dog's behavior demands from the human's behavior, we repeat that behavior over and over, "rewarded" by the thought that we are "doing it right", or "doing what we should", or even "doing what we have to".
In reality, canine-human interactions have been so successful because both of our species are incredibly adaptable. There is no one "right answer". There is no One True Way.
If we are leashed to a dog who is "misbehaving", some of us feel compelled to look as if we are trying. "I [insert ineffective elicit strategy here: say ssst, get the treats, ask him to sit, jerk the leash] every time he does it, but he doesn't seem to get it. I thought he'd have gotten it by now that his behavior isn't working." It isn't nice, and shame on me, but when I hear this, I think: "Hmm... I thought you'd have gotten it by now that your 'training' isn't working." But, I guess, in the absence of a better strategy, it feels better to be using one that doesn't work but seems like trying, than to do nothing ('nothing') and appear as if we aren't trying.
As anyone who has ever skipped a class to explore the world already knows, learning doesn't just happen inside formal structure. Does formal structure have a place? Absolutely. Is it the only place learning happens? Absolutely not. Is it possible for humans to facilitate a dog's informal learning? I believe that's what I did today.
There are as many ways to learn, to teach, to understand as there are brains. There are many ways to provide formal training. There are many ways to provide informal training. Some of them work for some dogs. A few of them work for a lot of dogs. A lot of them only work for a few dogs. None of them work for every dog.
Keep trying until you find the way that works for you and for your dog, whatever it looks like.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
"It's only this one thing..."
An attractive, late 20s couple was examining the store's selection of muzzles as Lila & I strolled past, my arms loaded with 20 lbs of dog food, Lila, not so full of dog food as she would like. The woman was pregnant. Muzzle + pregnant? As insanely busy as I am, I had to go back.
Thankfully, the situation was not as grave as I feared. The 7-year-old "Heinz 57" or "all-American" had been acquired about 10 months ago, and has a habit of barking at animals on the tv.
The strategy they were considering to address this behavior was not unique. They were going to put the muzzle on the dog whenever the dog barked. This, they hoped, was going to teach the dog not to bark. Upon further discussion, I discovered that the dog has begun licking at herself.
They don't walk the dog every day.
The man does work with the dog on a routine of sits and downs, but nothing new has been added. He thought the dog was too old.
Of course, I expressed that I had heard about the failure of their approach, and that they should consider the entire lifestyle of the dog, add walking and more interaction, and also discuss the behavior with their veterinarian.
"She lays around a lot" meant "No, she doesn't need more exercise. This is a training problem" (it's a lifestyle problem) and "I don't feel like walking after a 12-hour day at work" meant he wasn't realistically going to be able to make that happen.
When I evaluate the situation, as if they were clients, or friends, or family, anti-anxiety medication would have to be part of my consideration. I don't like medications. They have side effects, and can be ineffective. They aren't my first recommendation. In fact, I grit my teeth when I can't simply dismiss them or postpone them as a back-up solution when other options are exhausted. There is no doubt in my mind that they are ridiculously over-prescribed. I've had clients who found that simply using common sense and diligence, they found much greater results than with medication.
But, coming from the dog's perspective, well... The dog won't know why she feels more relaxed. She won't be aware that it may slowly be killing her. She will experience better attitudes from the humans she lives with as a result of her relaxed behavior.
I think part of the reason why I don't like the medication solution is because it seems as if the human is refusing to do what I think needs to be done. More effort, more attentiveness to the dog, more exercise, more openness to new ways, more courage, more leadership... I rarely find myself telling people to back off of the work they are doing with a dog displaying problem behavior! But, the reality is that while we as "trainers" work with the human behavior, the goal is to make life better for the dog.
There is no One True Way. There are no "right" and "wrong" answers. We will always be choosing the best option we can from a list that does not contain ANY perfect solutions.
There are intellectual solutions, which work best for intellectual problems. There are emotional solutions, which work best for emotional problems. There are social solutions, which work best for social problems.
Then there are the shortcuts. These are what I call the "elicit" step. Getting the right answer to happen, sometimes shockingly rapidly. They are so addictive because they work short-term. Common practice is to use one until it stops working, then find another. Lots of hunting. Lots of stress at the moment when they stop working.
There are the mis-applied solutions. These are actually the right "elicit", being used incorrectly, and therefore ineffectively. Poorly used food rewards, inadequate praise rewards, improperly aversive techniques. They all fail, and can even make things worse.
Finally, there's good old optimism. "Optimism", I find, is a euphemism for "stupidity". You could call it optimistic to try to squeeze blood from a stone. Or you could call it stupid. Like the aforementioned muzzle approach, these solutions entail a hopeload of placebo effect when they work. They occasionally accidentally work, but not because they are good ideas. There are a lot of these solutions, and they seem to make their way around the dog park, doggie boutiques, groom shops, and, I've even heard some of them out of the mouths of veterinarians.
Interacting with a dog: cooperating with another complex organism, compromising and refusing to where appropriate, communicating, understanding is NOT a simple matter. Brain surgery is cutting your head open, when you oversimplify it, but saying so only displays your own lack of understanding!
Like everything else in life, it's just tough to know what you don't know.
Thankfully, the situation was not as grave as I feared. The 7-year-old "Heinz 57" or "all-American" had been acquired about 10 months ago, and has a habit of barking at animals on the tv.
The strategy they were considering to address this behavior was not unique. They were going to put the muzzle on the dog whenever the dog barked. This, they hoped, was going to teach the dog not to bark. Upon further discussion, I discovered that the dog has begun licking at herself.
They don't walk the dog every day.
The man does work with the dog on a routine of sits and downs, but nothing new has been added. He thought the dog was too old.
Of course, I expressed that I had heard about the failure of their approach, and that they should consider the entire lifestyle of the dog, add walking and more interaction, and also discuss the behavior with their veterinarian.
"She lays around a lot" meant "No, she doesn't need more exercise. This is a training problem" (it's a lifestyle problem) and "I don't feel like walking after a 12-hour day at work" meant he wasn't realistically going to be able to make that happen.
When I evaluate the situation, as if they were clients, or friends, or family, anti-anxiety medication would have to be part of my consideration. I don't like medications. They have side effects, and can be ineffective. They aren't my first recommendation. In fact, I grit my teeth when I can't simply dismiss them or postpone them as a back-up solution when other options are exhausted. There is no doubt in my mind that they are ridiculously over-prescribed. I've had clients who found that simply using common sense and diligence, they found much greater results than with medication.
But, coming from the dog's perspective, well... The dog won't know why she feels more relaxed. She won't be aware that it may slowly be killing her. She will experience better attitudes from the humans she lives with as a result of her relaxed behavior.
I think part of the reason why I don't like the medication solution is because it seems as if the human is refusing to do what I think needs to be done. More effort, more attentiveness to the dog, more exercise, more openness to new ways, more courage, more leadership... I rarely find myself telling people to back off of the work they are doing with a dog displaying problem behavior! But, the reality is that while we as "trainers" work with the human behavior, the goal is to make life better for the dog.
There is no One True Way. There are no "right" and "wrong" answers. We will always be choosing the best option we can from a list that does not contain ANY perfect solutions.
There are intellectual solutions, which work best for intellectual problems. There are emotional solutions, which work best for emotional problems. There are social solutions, which work best for social problems.
Then there are the shortcuts. These are what I call the "elicit" step. Getting the right answer to happen, sometimes shockingly rapidly. They are so addictive because they work short-term. Common practice is to use one until it stops working, then find another. Lots of hunting. Lots of stress at the moment when they stop working.
There are the mis-applied solutions. These are actually the right "elicit", being used incorrectly, and therefore ineffectively. Poorly used food rewards, inadequate praise rewards, improperly aversive techniques. They all fail, and can even make things worse.
Finally, there's good old optimism. "Optimism", I find, is a euphemism for "stupidity". You could call it optimistic to try to squeeze blood from a stone. Or you could call it stupid. Like the aforementioned muzzle approach, these solutions entail a hopeload of placebo effect when they work. They occasionally accidentally work, but not because they are good ideas. There are a lot of these solutions, and they seem to make their way around the dog park, doggie boutiques, groom shops, and, I've even heard some of them out of the mouths of veterinarians.
Interacting with a dog: cooperating with another complex organism, compromising and refusing to where appropriate, communicating, understanding is NOT a simple matter. Brain surgery is cutting your head open, when you oversimplify it, but saying so only displays your own lack of understanding!
Like everything else in life, it's just tough to know what you don't know.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Stop Handler Frustration with Good Showmanship
Thanks, J, for the idea! Sorry I didn't get this out sooner.
Our own frustration is an issue for every handler/trainer. Even the best have a day when they don't feel like training, feel rushed, feel pressured, or even have body aches and pains -- high likelihood of feeling frustrated!
When I feel frustrated, it's generally because I am expecting something beyond what _I_ know how to elicit -- which means that I have to lower my expectations -- i.e., reward a smaller piece of the behavior, OR come up with a new elicitation strategy (which involves some combination of creativity, conversations with trainer friends, and book/internet research).
In my training sessions, I take advantage of every "break" I can to take a deep breath and relax, look around. Very hard to have frustration in a relaxed body -- true for dogs or people! The break is usually after a release word, although when I am proofing an extended behavior (say attention, heel, or stays) for me losing focus, I will do it after a command.
I find that it also helps to have multiple items to work on. When LOOK isn't going well, switch to hi-5 or roll-over or something the dog will definitely get right, generally something the dog enjoys.
Although I self-monitor pretty well now, I haven't always. I find that lots of no, lots of corrections, and lots of frustration indicate a human being pushed (oddly, by their own brain) beyond their limits. It's hard to recognize that the kind of focus that good training demands is not much different than teaching a dog to pay attention. You can't start by demanding 20 minutes of staring at your face. Heck, 20 seconds of staring is a long time to begin with.
Humans, too, have a time limit for focus. I stretch mine by choosing various training activities to match my focus level. When I am fading, I do something not so demanding (like a nice long down stay, or something quick and mindless like jumps or tricks). When I am all gung-ho and excited about training, I do the hard stuff, the complicated, focus-demanding stuff, like very precise attention & heelwork.
The value of quitting while you are ahead is so large. It's so difficult to get really excited about a fantastic COME and then call it a day, but this is beneficial for both parties. Both of you think about how great that was, and end feeling great -- this is how we create an addiction in both parties-- and if you push through until you surpass the dog's and/or your limits, you both think about the crummy thing that training is.
It's like show biz. Leave 'em wanting more. If you give 'em (or yourself) all they (or you) want, if you DON'T leave 'em wanting more, if you give 'em as much as they want...? You are leaving 'em wanting NO MORE.
Our own frustration is an issue for every handler/trainer. Even the best have a day when they don't feel like training, feel rushed, feel pressured, or even have body aches and pains -- high likelihood of feeling frustrated!
When I feel frustrated, it's generally because I am expecting something beyond what _I_ know how to elicit -- which means that I have to lower my expectations -- i.e., reward a smaller piece of the behavior, OR come up with a new elicitation strategy (which involves some combination of creativity, conversations with trainer friends, and book/internet research).
In my training sessions, I take advantage of every "break" I can to take a deep breath and relax, look around. Very hard to have frustration in a relaxed body -- true for dogs or people! The break is usually after a release word, although when I am proofing an extended behavior (say attention, heel, or stays) for me losing focus, I will do it after a command.
I find that it also helps to have multiple items to work on. When LOOK isn't going well, switch to hi-5 or roll-over or something the dog will definitely get right, generally something the dog enjoys.
Although I self-monitor pretty well now, I haven't always. I find that lots of no, lots of corrections, and lots of frustration indicate a human being pushed (oddly, by their own brain) beyond their limits. It's hard to recognize that the kind of focus that good training demands is not much different than teaching a dog to pay attention. You can't start by demanding 20 minutes of staring at your face. Heck, 20 seconds of staring is a long time to begin with.
Humans, too, have a time limit for focus. I stretch mine by choosing various training activities to match my focus level. When I am fading, I do something not so demanding (like a nice long down stay, or something quick and mindless like jumps or tricks). When I am all gung-ho and excited about training, I do the hard stuff, the complicated, focus-demanding stuff, like very precise attention & heelwork.
The value of quitting while you are ahead is so large. It's so difficult to get really excited about a fantastic COME and then call it a day, but this is beneficial for both parties. Both of you think about how great that was, and end feeling great -- this is how we create an addiction in both parties-- and if you push through until you surpass the dog's and/or your limits, you both think about the crummy thing that training is.
It's like show biz. Leave 'em wanting more. If you give 'em (or yourself) all they (or you) want, if you DON'T leave 'em wanting more, if you give 'em as much as they want...? You are leaving 'em wanting NO MORE.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Don't Kill Bill
I got such a warm fuzzy from the photos in the most recent post on this blog, I just had to share.
I do, of course, adore Boston Terriers, a bull-and-terrier breed. You can see the bully heritage on the doggie-tilt-a-whirl photo at the bottom of the post.
Bill is, however, not a fortunate son, when it comes to his genetic past. Bill is a puppy mill dog. His owner, Kyla's loving perseverance has helped him recover from tremendous deficits.
Bill's story is a classic example of how "normal" dogs are treated differently. Normal dogs go on walks. Normal dogs enjoy play with other dogs. Normal dogs get to act wild, and no one thinks, "Oh my god! He's about to... [insert nightmare here]."
Treating dogs who are NOT normal as if they ARE? This is no small feat. There is nothing normal at all about a quaking dog! Kyla has done a fantastic job of transitioning Bill from where he was, while constantly aiming for "normal". Bill could have been diagnosed as a "fearful" dog. Is that what you see in the pictures?
Focusing on what success looks like is significantly more important than focusing on what steps are taken to get there. In fact, excessive focus on the HOW of getting there interferes with focusing on WHERE you are going. It's a bit like driving a car by watching the steering wheel and the pedals!
Enjoy! And don't forget to share Kyla & Bill's story with your dog-loving friends!
I do, of course, adore Boston Terriers, a bull-and-terrier breed. You can see the bully heritage on the doggie-tilt-a-whirl photo at the bottom of the post.
Bill is, however, not a fortunate son, when it comes to his genetic past. Bill is a puppy mill dog. His owner, Kyla's loving perseverance has helped him recover from tremendous deficits.
Bill's story is a classic example of how "normal" dogs are treated differently. Normal dogs go on walks. Normal dogs enjoy play with other dogs. Normal dogs get to act wild, and no one thinks, "Oh my god! He's about to... [insert nightmare here]."
Treating dogs who are NOT normal as if they ARE? This is no small feat. There is nothing normal at all about a quaking dog! Kyla has done a fantastic job of transitioning Bill from where he was, while constantly aiming for "normal". Bill could have been diagnosed as a "fearful" dog. Is that what you see in the pictures?
Focusing on what success looks like is significantly more important than focusing on what steps are taken to get there. In fact, excessive focus on the HOW of getting there interferes with focusing on WHERE you are going. It's a bit like driving a car by watching the steering wheel and the pedals!
Enjoy! And don't forget to share Kyla & Bill's story with your dog-loving friends!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Keeping the Bumpus Hounds at Bay
The ubiquitous dog-related holiday disaster story appears in "A Christmas Story". Still, every year, I am contacted by distraught owners who just didn't realize how predictable and, sadly, preventable, holiday hoopla could have been.
To ensure you & your dog have a smooth holiday
Assess your situation:
Is this the dog's first holiday experience at your house?
Is the dog an adolescent (age 4 mos -3 years)?
Have you had the opportunity to properly socialize the dog?
Assess reality:
Are you able to make this a positive learning experience for the dog?
Have you been providing the correct levels of exercise, training, and stimulation over the past few weeks?
WHY are the holidays so tricky? So much can be non-routine. Here are some occurrences that your dog may not ever encounter apart from the holidays:
BEFORE THE BIG DAY
INCREASE, rather than decrease walks, training, and exercise. Bad weather means "bundle up", not "skip your walk". Get help if you can't realistically make it happen. Hire a trainer, a dog walker, a pet sitter, .... Even a trustworthy neighbor or family member will do!
Replace extended confinement whenever possible. Consider letting your dog spend the day with a trustworthy friend or family member, or use a reputable doggie daycare. Confinement to a crate, room, pen, or backyard, while safest, increases exercise demands to maintain desirable behavior.
Enroll in a training course. Not only will you learn great tips and tricks, but you also get a terrific opportunity to see what your dog can handle. A group class environment is a great indicator of how your dog may handle other highly stimulating environments (like your holiday get-together).
Test run confinement before the big day.
ON THE BIG DAY
Don't skip exercise; add extra. If you aren't providing extra exercise to accommodate increasing stress levels, you are adding risk factors. Skipping exercise is a risk factor above and beyond that.
Supervise, supervise, supervise! Multi-tasking is a myth. At moments when you can't provide the appropriate level of supervision for your dog's level of expertise, confine the dog to a mistake-proof area.
Deliberately teach through as much as you can handle. Calm is key. Feel harried, anxious, or rushed? Don't handle your dog. Opt for confinement until you feel calmer. Ask your favorite resource how to teach through real-world scenarios like greeting guests at the door, greeting seated guests, going to a designated spot and lying down on command, etc., while in a highly stimulating environment.
Avoid the problem. While a terrible long-term solution, it may be most realistic for your situation this year. Find a reputable boarding kennel, daycare, or even a dog walker, pet sitter, dog trainer, groomer, vet assistant, or other dog pro who can be trusted take the dog to their home. Realize that everyone else and their cousins will do this, too. Plan ahead.
There is no way to absolutely guarantee nothing will go wrong. Make the best choices you can, and don't worry about any minor mishaps. At the end of the day, if no one bled, no one died, and your home is mostly intact, call it "success", ... and memory material. Even the legendary Bumpus Hounds just made for a great story.
To ensure you & your dog have a smooth holiday
Assess your situation:
Is this the dog's first holiday experience at your house?
Is the dog an adolescent (age 4 mos -3 years)?
Have you had the opportunity to properly socialize the dog?
Assess reality:
Are you able to make this a positive learning experience for the dog?
Have you been providing the correct levels of exercise, training, and stimulation over the past few weeks?
WHY are the holidays so tricky? So much can be non-routine. Here are some occurrences that your dog may not ever encounter apart from the holidays:
- tired owners (alcohol or fatigue have similar effects on ability drive a car)
- stressed owners have litte patience or calmness in working with the dog
- rushed owners have no time for the dog
- irregular schedules
- prolonged confinement
- kenneling, pet sitters, or daycare sessions
- skipped or reduced-length walks and training sessions
- extended, overnight visits from family and friend
- visits can include other pets
- crowded rooms in your home
- unsupervised children
- food left out or accessible (You don't really think the trash can is inaccessible, do you?)
- atypical, highly-stimulating objects (toys that make noise or even move, blinking lights, candles, etc)
BEFORE THE BIG DAY
INCREASE, rather than decrease walks, training, and exercise. Bad weather means "bundle up", not "skip your walk". Get help if you can't realistically make it happen. Hire a trainer, a dog walker, a pet sitter, .... Even a trustworthy neighbor or family member will do!
Replace extended confinement whenever possible. Consider letting your dog spend the day with a trustworthy friend or family member, or use a reputable doggie daycare. Confinement to a crate, room, pen, or backyard, while safest, increases exercise demands to maintain desirable behavior.
Enroll in a training course. Not only will you learn great tips and tricks, but you also get a terrific opportunity to see what your dog can handle. A group class environment is a great indicator of how your dog may handle other highly stimulating environments (like your holiday get-together).
Test run confinement before the big day.
ON THE BIG DAY
Don't skip exercise; add extra. If you aren't providing extra exercise to accommodate increasing stress levels, you are adding risk factors. Skipping exercise is a risk factor above and beyond that.
Supervise, supervise, supervise! Multi-tasking is a myth. At moments when you can't provide the appropriate level of supervision for your dog's level of expertise, confine the dog to a mistake-proof area.
Deliberately teach through as much as you can handle. Calm is key. Feel harried, anxious, or rushed? Don't handle your dog. Opt for confinement until you feel calmer. Ask your favorite resource how to teach through real-world scenarios like greeting guests at the door, greeting seated guests, going to a designated spot and lying down on command, etc., while in a highly stimulating environment.
Avoid the problem. While a terrible long-term solution, it may be most realistic for your situation this year. Find a reputable boarding kennel, daycare, or even a dog walker, pet sitter, dog trainer, groomer, vet assistant, or other dog pro who can be trusted take the dog to their home. Realize that everyone else and their cousins will do this, too. Plan ahead.
There is no way to absolutely guarantee nothing will go wrong. Make the best choices you can, and don't worry about any minor mishaps. At the end of the day, if no one bled, no one died, and your home is mostly intact, call it "success", ... and memory material. Even the legendary Bumpus Hounds just made for a great story.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Today I Became Dairy-Free
Walking Lila on our usual route, I encountered something unusual. As our typical route takes us beside a dairy farm, the presence of cows is typical. The location of this cow, however, was not. She was outside the pasture fence.
"Oh, no," I thought, "She must have gotten out somewhere." I started to approach her, thinking I would find a way to use mildly-cow-phobic Lila to help herd her back into her pasture.
She didn't move right away on my approach. I wondered, "Is she tied out? Is she having a calf? Maybe she is having some vet procedure today, and needs to be easy to get to." She was lying down, and these all seemed reasonable possibilities.
As I got closer, she heaved her enormous body in an attempt to stand. It was then that I realized that she could not get up. "Has she hurt a leg?" I thought. I mentally cringed in anticipation of some kind of bloody, mangled mess. Still, it made sense to isolate a cow with a hurt leg, rather than allow her to be jostled and further injured by her fellow bovines.
I was still operating under the assumption that I wanted to believe: that she was tied out.
Reaching her, I found that my assumption was wrong. I didn't want to believe what I was seeing. Back legs tied together with twine. One side caked with mud, from face to rump. Bloody scrapes on the muddy side. And, most awful of all, tire tracks around her.
"Maybe she fell while they were delivering her? Maybe there is a single hand here today, who can't lift her, but didn't want her to run off while he tended to all the other chores, and he'll come out to take care of her in a bit." I really didn't want to believe what I was seeing.
What I was seeing looked like maybe they brought her to the back field, tied her back feet, and hit her with the truck.
But this farm always had the nicest looking cows! They were always clean, well-kept, and apart from the general structural breakdown the Holstein breed is experiencing, were fine-looking animals. The farm is generally exceptional tidy. These two qualities always made this farm seem a lovely contrast to the generally run-down, dirty, ill-kempt animals and farm properties I have, over the past 30 years, come to associate with Amish farming practices.
Yes, cows are, by nature, skittish animals, I grant you. However, it's me. Cows are curious animals, and if you communicate the idea that you are not a threat, generally, they are far more social than most city slickers probably realize. I have been licked by many cows. This cow, was traumatized. Her breathing was rapid. Before I even laid a hand on her, she tried to move away from me.
I touched her gently, slowly increasing pressure as I massaged the soreness I imagined that laying still for so long had probably caused, she began to relax. I used my nails to "nibble" her neck, like cow friends do to one another, and she relaxed even more. I leaned into her body, and she leaned back into mine. "Ah," I thought, "we're ok." And in my pride, I patted her neck with my open palm.
I may as well have shocked her. She leapt from the sensation, but bound by the twine, could go nowhere. I continued to work her, and then just crouched beside her. I knew she was doing ok when I saw the cows back at the barn stop staring at us and go back about their regular cow business, whatever that is.
Still, I just didn't want to think what I was thinking.
I called the police and reported a loose cow. I thought, "Well, if I am mistaken, they'll see what is going on here." Two hours later, sunset, 40 degree temps, the cow is still there, I note that she is mildly dehydrated, and the farm is still deserted.
I announced to my mother, "Of all the things I thought I'd get arrested for, this never made the list." I have, I admit, rather frequent misanthropic fantasies, and our joke is that I'll get arrested for following through one day. (I've never been arrested. I was a straight-A student.) I actually considered stealing a cow. I saw her standing in my parents' garage. (My parents who can't have a dog in the house because it's "dirty"?)
I called the Humane Officer, and mentioned the possibility that this was a cow who needed to be euthanized. She introduced the conclusion my mind did not want to accept. "Sounds like maybe they dragged her." she said. Instantly, I realized that I should have (as is almost always the case) trusted my instinct.
Today, I am done with dairy. As an enormous fan of dairy, and dairy products, this is a sacrifice. I'm not an extremist. In theory, there is nothing so inherently evil in keeping cows or drinking their milk. In fact, one of my dreams is to have a Jersey cow and/or goat of my own, whose milk I'd drink! I don't think they mind terribly, provided they are well-looked after, basically large pets, I guess, and that they aren't separated from their offspring, drugged, milked by machines, or otherwise mistreated.
However, the practical reality of what my money supports when I purchase milk and milk-derived products from the grocery store? What I saw today was obviously not a first. This was not the first dragged cow. And this is probably not the worst of what happens.
I think we probably all assume that the worst happens on large-scale farms, because many of us have a mental image of large soul-less corporations being uncaring. However, when it comes to animal husbandry, I can't imagine the large, adequately staffed, state-of-the-art operations engaging in what I saw today. I suspect someone wanted to avoid the cost associated with proper euthanasia.
And, I bet that it is mid-size operations that are most guilty of the worst offenses. Small-scale operations give their cows names. (Sometimes they even write it on the cow's ID tags.) Large scale operations find it more economical in the grand scheme of things to do things properly.
But unless I know the name of the cow from which the milk came? Well, Nicole is done with dairy. I cannot cause what I saw today.
What stopped me (before today) from this decision is a common human cognitive foible. Humans have, by nature, a bias for optimism. Daniel Gilbert does an excellent job of exploring this idea in his book, "Stumbling on Happiness". Our brain's "immune system", as he describes it, depends on our ability to put a positive spin on just about anything.
And, so, our brains simply don't want to believe that dairy operations involve what they do. Behold the power of cheese! We love cheese. More importantly, _I_ love cheese. With the possible exceptions of cottage cheese and cheesecake, both of whom, I feel, besmirch the reputation of cheese as being universally delicious, I have not found a cheese I didn't like. This brain, like most, simply doesn't want to accept information that results in a diminished cheese consumption!
Believing that such practices are anomalous, not the norm, (and when we look at a typical day on one or two or a dozen farms) we can justify not giving up the dairy.
A sweet, sensitive creature, whose only "sin" was to become ill was traumatized by being dragged across the farm. She had no idea what was happening to her, why, or what would happen next. She had no choice. And, she trusted. She could have kicked a few idiots in the head, but submitted to gruesome, awful, senseless, compassion-less treatment. (I hope she did, though, obviously, she'd not be able to do much damage to any heads on THAT farm. . .)
Did I mention how much I "love" the so-called "good Christian folk"? Let me proclaim, now and forever, that you can do such heinous things with impunity while Jesus is watching, since he only requires you to be kind to humans (or other Christian humans, is it? or politically influential Christian humans? I guess that varies) but don't let it happen while I am watching.
Rice and beans, anyone?
"Oh, no," I thought, "She must have gotten out somewhere." I started to approach her, thinking I would find a way to use mildly-cow-phobic Lila to help herd her back into her pasture.
She didn't move right away on my approach. I wondered, "Is she tied out? Is she having a calf? Maybe she is having some vet procedure today, and needs to be easy to get to." She was lying down, and these all seemed reasonable possibilities.
As I got closer, she heaved her enormous body in an attempt to stand. It was then that I realized that she could not get up. "Has she hurt a leg?" I thought. I mentally cringed in anticipation of some kind of bloody, mangled mess. Still, it made sense to isolate a cow with a hurt leg, rather than allow her to be jostled and further injured by her fellow bovines.
I was still operating under the assumption that I wanted to believe: that she was tied out.
Reaching her, I found that my assumption was wrong. I didn't want to believe what I was seeing. Back legs tied together with twine. One side caked with mud, from face to rump. Bloody scrapes on the muddy side. And, most awful of all, tire tracks around her.
"Maybe she fell while they were delivering her? Maybe there is a single hand here today, who can't lift her, but didn't want her to run off while he tended to all the other chores, and he'll come out to take care of her in a bit." I really didn't want to believe what I was seeing.
What I was seeing looked like maybe they brought her to the back field, tied her back feet, and hit her with the truck.
But this farm always had the nicest looking cows! They were always clean, well-kept, and apart from the general structural breakdown the Holstein breed is experiencing, were fine-looking animals. The farm is generally exceptional tidy. These two qualities always made this farm seem a lovely contrast to the generally run-down, dirty, ill-kempt animals and farm properties I have, over the past 30 years, come to associate with Amish farming practices.
Yes, cows are, by nature, skittish animals, I grant you. However, it's me. Cows are curious animals, and if you communicate the idea that you are not a threat, generally, they are far more social than most city slickers probably realize. I have been licked by many cows. This cow, was traumatized. Her breathing was rapid. Before I even laid a hand on her, she tried to move away from me.
I touched her gently, slowly increasing pressure as I massaged the soreness I imagined that laying still for so long had probably caused, she began to relax. I used my nails to "nibble" her neck, like cow friends do to one another, and she relaxed even more. I leaned into her body, and she leaned back into mine. "Ah," I thought, "we're ok." And in my pride, I patted her neck with my open palm.
I may as well have shocked her. She leapt from the sensation, but bound by the twine, could go nowhere. I continued to work her, and then just crouched beside her. I knew she was doing ok when I saw the cows back at the barn stop staring at us and go back about their regular cow business, whatever that is.
Still, I just didn't want to think what I was thinking.
I called the police and reported a loose cow. I thought, "Well, if I am mistaken, they'll see what is going on here." Two hours later, sunset, 40 degree temps, the cow is still there, I note that she is mildly dehydrated, and the farm is still deserted.
I announced to my mother, "Of all the things I thought I'd get arrested for, this never made the list." I have, I admit, rather frequent misanthropic fantasies, and our joke is that I'll get arrested for following through one day. (I've never been arrested. I was a straight-A student.) I actually considered stealing a cow. I saw her standing in my parents' garage. (My parents who can't have a dog in the house because it's "dirty"?)
I called the Humane Officer, and mentioned the possibility that this was a cow who needed to be euthanized. She introduced the conclusion my mind did not want to accept. "Sounds like maybe they dragged her." she said. Instantly, I realized that I should have (as is almost always the case) trusted my instinct.
Today, I am done with dairy. As an enormous fan of dairy, and dairy products, this is a sacrifice. I'm not an extremist. In theory, there is nothing so inherently evil in keeping cows or drinking their milk. In fact, one of my dreams is to have a Jersey cow and/or goat of my own, whose milk I'd drink! I don't think they mind terribly, provided they are well-looked after, basically large pets, I guess, and that they aren't separated from their offspring, drugged, milked by machines, or otherwise mistreated.
However, the practical reality of what my money supports when I purchase milk and milk-derived products from the grocery store? What I saw today was obviously not a first. This was not the first dragged cow. And this is probably not the worst of what happens.
I think we probably all assume that the worst happens on large-scale farms, because many of us have a mental image of large soul-less corporations being uncaring. However, when it comes to animal husbandry, I can't imagine the large, adequately staffed, state-of-the-art operations engaging in what I saw today. I suspect someone wanted to avoid the cost associated with proper euthanasia.
And, I bet that it is mid-size operations that are most guilty of the worst offenses. Small-scale operations give their cows names. (Sometimes they even write it on the cow's ID tags.) Large scale operations find it more economical in the grand scheme of things to do things properly.
But unless I know the name of the cow from which the milk came? Well, Nicole is done with dairy. I cannot cause what I saw today.
What stopped me (before today) from this decision is a common human cognitive foible. Humans have, by nature, a bias for optimism. Daniel Gilbert does an excellent job of exploring this idea in his book, "Stumbling on Happiness". Our brain's "immune system", as he describes it, depends on our ability to put a positive spin on just about anything.
And, so, our brains simply don't want to believe that dairy operations involve what they do. Behold the power of cheese! We love cheese. More importantly, _I_ love cheese. With the possible exceptions of cottage cheese and cheesecake, both of whom, I feel, besmirch the reputation of cheese as being universally delicious, I have not found a cheese I didn't like. This brain, like most, simply doesn't want to accept information that results in a diminished cheese consumption!
Believing that such practices are anomalous, not the norm, (and when we look at a typical day on one or two or a dozen farms) we can justify not giving up the dairy.
A sweet, sensitive creature, whose only "sin" was to become ill was traumatized by being dragged across the farm. She had no idea what was happening to her, why, or what would happen next. She had no choice. And, she trusted. She could have kicked a few idiots in the head, but submitted to gruesome, awful, senseless, compassion-less treatment. (I hope she did, though, obviously, she'd not be able to do much damage to any heads on THAT farm. . .)
Did I mention how much I "love" the so-called "good Christian folk"? Let me proclaim, now and forever, that you can do such heinous things with impunity while Jesus is watching, since he only requires you to be kind to humans (or other Christian humans, is it? or politically influential Christian humans? I guess that varies) but don't let it happen while I am watching.
Rice and beans, anyone?
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Don't Quit Now!
No, this isn't a post about me quitting twitter! But, I did quit, so I'm relying on you, my readers to spread the word about my blog and my unique viewpoint. E-mail a link to this blog to your dog friends!
Quitting is a common problem on both ends of the leash. Faced with the impression of less success than desired, the subject says, "Hey, this isn't working. I should stop now, because this is a waste of time." (Ok, dogs don't waste time thinking words, but you get the idea.)
When the subject is quitting destructive behaviors, like yank-based training or digging holes, quitting is a good, smart thing! We could call that "extinction". It makes good sense to quit doing things that fail to work. We've all heard the quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
But when the learner quits due to a false sense of failure, quitting is a huge mistake.
In order for a dog to learn, things have to go successfully, or as desired, only slightly more than half the time for the dog to learn. Animals, in general, have a much better understanding of probability than humans. If you are getting what you want 3 out of every 4 times? 75% success? You are well on your way to more success!
Unfortunately, what often happens is that humans don't see 75% success as good enough. They look at that same 75% success as 25% failure, focus on that failure and blow it way out of proportion. The situation feels out of control, the dog is "untrainable", the technique doesn't work, and we throw out baby and bathwater and just give up.
"We'll just have to put her in the back room when company comes over."
Or, instead of just giving one repetition where the dog is asked to sit, the door yanked open, and the dog jumps -- maybe you could just persist in opening the door only when the dog is calm, refusing to allow the entrance of your guests (and the prize: greeting sniff) until all 4 dog feet are firmly on the floor.
Sure, it will take two dozen reps the first time, but that's how the learning works. The next time, it takes 10. Then it takes 4. Successful application of this approach tapers down.
UNLESS you quit before you get what you need. Wherever you quit, whatever you call "good enough", the dog will call this "success". You will not ever get better behavior than that. You will simply get the level of behavior where you quit more rapidly over time.
If you quit when he sat before he jumped, then you aren't ever going to see him not jump at all. His understanding of what you want is sit-then-jump. Because that's where you quit -- even though if you had persisted on every opportunity with the exact same pattern, you would have been able to achieve no jumping!
Quitting when things ARE going well? Yup, it happens. Way more often than you might suspect.
People lack confidence when it comes to the effectiveness of any kind of dog-related interaction. They lack so much confidence in the approaches they select, that they tend to fixate on figuring out IF it "works" than on the more relevant task of HOW it works -- learning every detail of applying it properly. They tend to forget that they, too, have learning to do!
While mastery of the no-jump guest-greet is a fine place to "quit" the dog's learning, learning about dogs is no place for quitters. Dog behavior "experts" who insist that there is only One True Way of dog training? These are people who have quit learning.
Don't quit now. There is so much more!
Quitting is a common problem on both ends of the leash. Faced with the impression of less success than desired, the subject says, "Hey, this isn't working. I should stop now, because this is a waste of time." (Ok, dogs don't waste time thinking words, but you get the idea.)
When the subject is quitting destructive behaviors, like yank-based training or digging holes, quitting is a good, smart thing! We could call that "extinction". It makes good sense to quit doing things that fail to work. We've all heard the quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
But when the learner quits due to a false sense of failure, quitting is a huge mistake.
In order for a dog to learn, things have to go successfully, or as desired, only slightly more than half the time for the dog to learn. Animals, in general, have a much better understanding of probability than humans. If you are getting what you want 3 out of every 4 times? 75% success? You are well on your way to more success!
Unfortunately, what often happens is that humans don't see 75% success as good enough. They look at that same 75% success as 25% failure, focus on that failure and blow it way out of proportion. The situation feels out of control, the dog is "untrainable", the technique doesn't work, and we throw out baby and bathwater and just give up.
"We'll just have to put her in the back room when company comes over."
Or, instead of just giving one repetition where the dog is asked to sit, the door yanked open, and the dog jumps -- maybe you could just persist in opening the door only when the dog is calm, refusing to allow the entrance of your guests (and the prize: greeting sniff) until all 4 dog feet are firmly on the floor.
Sure, it will take two dozen reps the first time, but that's how the learning works. The next time, it takes 10. Then it takes 4. Successful application of this approach tapers down.
UNLESS you quit before you get what you need. Wherever you quit, whatever you call "good enough", the dog will call this "success". You will not ever get better behavior than that. You will simply get the level of behavior where you quit more rapidly over time.
If you quit when he sat before he jumped, then you aren't ever going to see him not jump at all. His understanding of what you want is sit-then-jump. Because that's where you quit -- even though if you had persisted on every opportunity with the exact same pattern, you would have been able to achieve no jumping!
Quitting when things ARE going well? Yup, it happens. Way more often than you might suspect.
People lack confidence when it comes to the effectiveness of any kind of dog-related interaction. They lack so much confidence in the approaches they select, that they tend to fixate on figuring out IF it "works" than on the more relevant task of HOW it works -- learning every detail of applying it properly. They tend to forget that they, too, have learning to do!
While mastery of the no-jump guest-greet is a fine place to "quit" the dog's learning, learning about dogs is no place for quitters. Dog behavior "experts" who insist that there is only One True Way of dog training? These are people who have quit learning.
Don't quit now. There is so much more!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Get 'Em Under Control with ... Play?
It occurred to me today that I had looked at something repeatedly without ever seeing it.
If you own multiple dogs, you will have looked at this, too. If you've SEEN it, bravo!
Ginger (my rock-solid example of nearly flawless leadership--I miss her intensely) and Lila (possibly the world's most aloof dog) had such a close bond, that when given the opportunity to play with other dogs, would still choose to play 90% of the time with each other.
Lila and I have a relationship, there's no denying it, but nothing like what Lila & Ginger or Ginger & I had.
Ginger & I played. LOTS. Our primary interaction was tug or retrieve play. Hard, rough, intense, occasional bruising of the human from collision with feet, WOO HOO, wild-ass play.
Ginger & Lila played. LOTS. Their primary interaction was wrestling. Ginger never really had the stamina for chase play, so they wrestled. Chest-to-chest, I-throw-you-down, I-throw-myself-down (auugh... I'm dying, kill me!), all-the-books-say-don't-let-em-do-it, ROUGH play.
Lila & I do not play. I can bribe her to retrieve, but it's an exercise.
Until today. I decided that since Ginger taught me everything I know about everything else, I'd finally just go along with her ideas on how to manage Lila.
So, on today's off-leash romp, after one of her famous "see ya later" sprints, we wrestled. Not alpha roll flattening, but the best imitation I could do of the self-alpha-roll?, initiator belly-up, Lila on the top romping I could do.
I have never seen her stick so close to me.
And, that was when I got it. The thing that I have looked at hundreds, probably thousands of times, by dogs everywhere and I never saw.
Dogs use the idea of rewarding undesirable behavior to excellent effect.
Think about it. Watch for it.
Dogs want each other to pay attention to each other, engage with each other, play with each other, communicate with each other. Awareness of "each-other-ness" is the essence of being social, isn't it?
Therefore, separation from, or "distraction" from each other would be an "undesirable behavior" that is "extinguished" by the use of play reward.
Now, don't get me wrong. This is a MODEL of the behavior. This is not how it works, this is just a way to make our human minds evaluate, observe, and assess the interactions that take place without much serious cognition on the part of either canine!
But watch your dogs. Watch your neighbor's dogs. Watch dogs at the dog park. And let me know what you see!
If you own multiple dogs, you will have looked at this, too. If you've SEEN it, bravo!
Ginger (my rock-solid example of nearly flawless leadership--I miss her intensely) and Lila (possibly the world's most aloof dog) had such a close bond, that when given the opportunity to play with other dogs, would still choose to play 90% of the time with each other.
Lila and I have a relationship, there's no denying it, but nothing like what Lila & Ginger or Ginger & I had.
Ginger & I played. LOTS. Our primary interaction was tug or retrieve play. Hard, rough, intense, occasional bruising of the human from collision with feet, WOO HOO, wild-ass play.
Ginger & Lila played. LOTS. Their primary interaction was wrestling. Ginger never really had the stamina for chase play, so they wrestled. Chest-to-chest, I-throw-you-down, I-throw-myself-down (auugh... I'm dying, kill me!), all-the-books-say-don't-let-em-do-it, ROUGH play.
Lila & I do not play. I can bribe her to retrieve, but it's an exercise.
Until today. I decided that since Ginger taught me everything I know about everything else, I'd finally just go along with her ideas on how to manage Lila.
So, on today's off-leash romp, after one of her famous "see ya later" sprints, we wrestled. Not alpha roll flattening, but the best imitation I could do of the self-alpha-roll?, initiator belly-up, Lila on the top romping I could do.
I have never seen her stick so close to me.
And, that was when I got it. The thing that I have looked at hundreds, probably thousands of times, by dogs everywhere and I never saw.
Dogs use the idea of rewarding undesirable behavior to excellent effect.
Think about it. Watch for it.
Dogs want each other to pay attention to each other, engage with each other, play with each other, communicate with each other. Awareness of "each-other-ness" is the essence of being social, isn't it?
Therefore, separation from, or "distraction" from each other would be an "undesirable behavior" that is "extinguished" by the use of play reward.
Now, don't get me wrong. This is a MODEL of the behavior. This is not how it works, this is just a way to make our human minds evaluate, observe, and assess the interactions that take place without much serious cognition on the part of either canine!
But watch your dogs. Watch your neighbor's dogs. Watch dogs at the dog park. And let me know what you see!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Denial of Canine Social Hierarchy
There is a school of thought, unfortunately all too common among positive trainers, that denies the very existence of a social hierarchy among dogs.
I believe there are several reasons for this mistaken perspective:
1. They genuinely don't see it
Women, especially, seem to fall prey to this idea, which may be related to their own human social experience. Women do not form hierarchies in their own social interactions!
There are men, too, who don't see the social hierarchy, possibly because dogs tend to yield rank to individuals possessing testosterone, eliminating the need for the canine(s) in the household to establish a hierarchy among themselves.
Finally, if you have not owned multiple dogs, you don't get the same perspective. Yes, dogs can and will form loose lead-follow relationships at the dog park, during play dates, and the like, but the leadership role is not quite the same as the type of leadership role exhibited with the family.
2. There is motivation to make the claim
They don't want to support "dominance" techniques. Recognition of a social hierarchy absolutely does not constitute endorsement of practices like alpha rolls, scruff shakes, stare-downs, muzzle grabs, etc, that present serious risk of "miscommunication". If your dog learns that no amount of appeasement will make you stop aggressing, you can effectively ELICIT aggression.
A stable, effective leader dog elicits cooperation from the follower dogs through performing the duties of a leader. Owners often misinterpret growls from a low-ranking dog protecting resources from a higher ranking dog as evidence that the growler (low rank) is actually the leader!
Aggression has been linked to canine leadership in the minds of many humans. Aggression is neither a tool nor a communicator of leadership. Aggression is, by definition, a strategy for handling social conflicts, which result from MISSING or INEFFECTIVE leadership.
3. Not as much as as we need to know has been researched in DOGS
One of the common assumptions made is that canids are canids, and that foxes approximate wolves approximate dogs. Well, in very general terms, this is correct, just as it is to say that primates approximate humans.
But in specific terms, humans are not monkeys, and dogs are not wolves.
While I argue that there is evidence to support the idea of dogs understanding a social hierarchy among dogs, there is even less research that explores how dogs (and other species who form social hierarchies) frame the inclusion of other species.
My point is simply this: keep an open mind, and look for what is really there, not evidence that simply weighs for or against a social hierarchy.
I have very strong feelings about the importance of what I call good leadership, but there are many possible explanations for why the recommendations I make work, which may or may not have anything to do with a social hierarchy that may or may not include humans.
I believe there are several reasons for this mistaken perspective:
1. They genuinely don't see it
Women, especially, seem to fall prey to this idea, which may be related to their own human social experience. Women do not form hierarchies in their own social interactions!
There are men, too, who don't see the social hierarchy, possibly because dogs tend to yield rank to individuals possessing testosterone, eliminating the need for the canine(s) in the household to establish a hierarchy among themselves.
Finally, if you have not owned multiple dogs, you don't get the same perspective. Yes, dogs can and will form loose lead-follow relationships at the dog park, during play dates, and the like, but the leadership role is not quite the same as the type of leadership role exhibited with the family.
2. There is motivation to make the claim
They don't want to support "dominance" techniques. Recognition of a social hierarchy absolutely does not constitute endorsement of practices like alpha rolls, scruff shakes, stare-downs, muzzle grabs, etc, that present serious risk of "miscommunication". If your dog learns that no amount of appeasement will make you stop aggressing, you can effectively ELICIT aggression.
A stable, effective leader dog elicits cooperation from the follower dogs through performing the duties of a leader. Owners often misinterpret growls from a low-ranking dog protecting resources from a higher ranking dog as evidence that the growler (low rank) is actually the leader!
Aggression has been linked to canine leadership in the minds of many humans. Aggression is neither a tool nor a communicator of leadership. Aggression is, by definition, a strategy for handling social conflicts, which result from MISSING or INEFFECTIVE leadership.
3. Not as much as as we need to know has been researched in DOGS
One of the common assumptions made is that canids are canids, and that foxes approximate wolves approximate dogs. Well, in very general terms, this is correct, just as it is to say that primates approximate humans.
But in specific terms, humans are not monkeys, and dogs are not wolves.
While I argue that there is evidence to support the idea of dogs understanding a social hierarchy among dogs, there is even less research that explores how dogs (and other species who form social hierarchies) frame the inclusion of other species.
My point is simply this: keep an open mind, and look for what is really there, not evidence that simply weighs for or against a social hierarchy.
I have very strong feelings about the importance of what I call good leadership, but there are many possible explanations for why the recommendations I make work, which may or may not have anything to do with a social hierarchy that may or may not include humans.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
300 Word Limit?
I was reading the blog of another writer, who suggested that blog posts be about 300-400 words long.
What do you think? Would you find my blogs more useful or readable if there were shorter posts?
(that was 37 words)
What do you think? Would you find my blogs more useful or readable if there were shorter posts?
(that was 37 words)
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Cue-Elicit-Release-Reward Model
All effective dog trainers, regardless of "technique", provide a standard framework for learning. Some very successful trainers do so without even realizing it! Whether intentional or accidental, the presence of this framework provides a predictable pattern for the dog, which is key to providing successful learning experiences to dogs. By contrast, the absence of a standard framework creates unpredictable experiences. A missing or variable framework can be responsible for the failure of otherwise very excellent training.
It is predictability that allows us to communicate. "Predictable", a word often used by dog trainers, has a similar meaning to "consistent", the word often used by dog owners. No matter which word you use to describe the idea of presenting an identifiable pattern, you no doubt recognize the importance of presenting a pattern, and the potential confusion (& stress, the end product of confusion) of failing to present an identifiable pattern.
The interesting thing about this framework is that it describes what dogs are looking for in any interaction:
The reactive, stressed, unmotivated, or frustrated dog? She'll probably just shut down.
By taking the "confusion" on-board the human circuitry instead of dumping it on the canine, the dog's learning experience is greatly simplified. Make no mistake, shifting the thinkery to the human is very taxing for the human! The amount of focus the human is able to sustain is often not much more than what the canine can.
When designing or assessing a learning experience for a dog, I use the terms "cue", "elicit", "release", and "reward" to refer to the concepts expressed by the 4 questions above. These elements, successfully applied, occur sequentially, not simultaneously. For beginning dogs, the sequence must be so rapid that it can look to novice observers as if it is simultaneous. It is not.
The most "controversial" aspect of dog training, among dog professionals, anyway, is the "elicit" step. Getting the dog to actually do what you are looking for. There are ways that are acceptable and there are ways that are not, and those vary dramatically, depending on who is doing the accepting or rejecting!
Chances are, you think that the elicit step alone is what determines the success or failure of "training". For many people, "elicit" = training.
OWNER: "How do you get him to sit?"
TRAINER: "Well, you just wait for him to do it... raise a treat over his head... push down on the rump... pull up on the collar... pinch his ear (!)... [insert "trick" or"technique" here]"
OWNER: "Ohhh...."
This is absolutely NOT good training. Does the elicit step work? YES! That's why we use it. And, unfortunately, that is why it has become synonymous with "training". All those little tips and tricks we use to get the dog to get the right answer are effective in the moment they are applied, but no matter how often you repeat them, your
And, if you want to keep doing them forever, that's your decision to make. It's just that you won't really have a "trained" dog, you'll have good handling skills. Really good handlers can take a completely untrained dog and make it look marvelous in about 20 minutes. Of course, when the dog is handed to YOU, the dog has not thought about or deliberately selected any behaviors, so it's still completely untrained!
In too many training classes, the focus is on those little tips and tricks that elicit desirable behavior. Without following through and teaching students how to incorporate those tips and tricks and "techniques" into a framework, well, ... students end up with the kind of results that are too often seen.
This phenomenon applies to just about every elicit technique out there. The good ones all WORK for someone, which is why they exist. There's absolutely nothing ineffective about simply waiting for the dog to lay down, but it is frequently ineffectively applied.
Choke chain communication can be highly effective, and NOT aversive, but it's frequently used as a handling tool, rather than a training one-- meaning, it works as long as you are yanking away, but the dog never gets the right idea. Food lures also fall victim to the same issue. Luring the dog around with cookies--fantastically effective as an elicitor, but often falls apart when it is used only as a handling tool. Although, if you have a super-food-motivated dog for whom it never stops working? Why not use the food forever? Who cares why your pet dog behaves? Distractors like noisemakers, squirt bottles, and tickle-touches work extremely effectively for even the most severe behavior problems -- but they only elicit cooperation. They do not teach!
Engaging the dog's brain, using your tool of choice to help nudge the behavior in the right direction, is TEACHING. Teaching is training. Repetition is important, but repeated application of elicitors is NOT TEACHING.
In training your dog, by focusing on making the CUE-ELICIT-RELEASE-REWARD framework a habit FIRST (training the human behavior first), to later add any elicit "technique" for any behavior you like or need is a piece of cake! It is the framework that engages the dog, establishes communication, and ultimately enhances your relationship and partnership performance.
It is predictability that allows us to communicate. "Predictable", a word often used by dog trainers, has a similar meaning to "consistent", the word often used by dog owners. No matter which word you use to describe the idea of presenting an identifiable pattern, you no doubt recognize the importance of presenting a pattern, and the potential confusion (& stress, the end product of confusion) of failing to present an identifiable pattern.
The interesting thing about this framework is that it describes what dogs are looking for in any interaction:
- What do I do? What is expected of me?
- How do I do that?
- When am I done?
- Why should I do it again?
The reactive, stressed, unmotivated, or frustrated dog? She'll probably just shut down.
By taking the "confusion" on-board the human circuitry instead of dumping it on the canine, the dog's learning experience is greatly simplified. Make no mistake, shifting the thinkery to the human is very taxing for the human! The amount of focus the human is able to sustain is often not much more than what the canine can.
When designing or assessing a learning experience for a dog, I use the terms "cue", "elicit", "release", and "reward" to refer to the concepts expressed by the 4 questions above. These elements, successfully applied, occur sequentially, not simultaneously. For beginning dogs, the sequence must be so rapid that it can look to novice observers as if it is simultaneous. It is not.
The most "controversial" aspect of dog training, among dog professionals, anyway, is the "elicit" step. Getting the dog to actually do what you are looking for. There are ways that are acceptable and there are ways that are not, and those vary dramatically, depending on who is doing the accepting or rejecting!
Chances are, you think that the elicit step alone is what determines the success or failure of "training". For many people, "elicit" = training.
OWNER: "How do you get him to sit?"
TRAINER: "Well, you just wait for him to do it... raise a treat over his head... push down on the rump... pull up on the collar... pinch his ear (!)... [insert "trick" or"technique" here]"
OWNER: "Ohhh...."
This is absolutely NOT good training. Does the elicit step work? YES! That's why we use it. And, unfortunately, that is why it has become synonymous with "training". All those little tips and tricks we use to get the dog to get the right answer are effective in the moment they are applied, but no matter how often you repeat them, your
And, if you want to keep doing them forever, that's your decision to make. It's just that you won't really have a "trained" dog, you'll have good handling skills. Really good handlers can take a completely untrained dog and make it look marvelous in about 20 minutes. Of course, when the dog is handed to YOU, the dog has not thought about or deliberately selected any behaviors, so it's still completely untrained!
In too many training classes, the focus is on those little tips and tricks that elicit desirable behavior. Without following through and teaching students how to incorporate those tips and tricks and "techniques" into a framework, well, ... students end up with the kind of results that are too often seen.
This phenomenon applies to just about every elicit technique out there. The good ones all WORK for someone, which is why they exist. There's absolutely nothing ineffective about simply waiting for the dog to lay down, but it is frequently ineffectively applied.
Choke chain communication can be highly effective, and NOT aversive, but it's frequently used as a handling tool, rather than a training one-- meaning, it works as long as you are yanking away, but the dog never gets the right idea. Food lures also fall victim to the same issue. Luring the dog around with cookies--fantastically effective as an elicitor, but often falls apart when it is used only as a handling tool. Although, if you have a super-food-motivated dog for whom it never stops working? Why not use the food forever? Who cares why your pet dog behaves? Distractors like noisemakers, squirt bottles, and tickle-touches work extremely effectively for even the most severe behavior problems -- but they only elicit cooperation. They do not teach!
Engaging the dog's brain, using your tool of choice to help nudge the behavior in the right direction, is TEACHING. Teaching is training. Repetition is important, but repeated application of elicitors is NOT TEACHING.
In training your dog, by focusing on making the CUE-ELICIT-RELEASE-REWARD framework a habit FIRST (training the human behavior first), to later add any elicit "technique" for any behavior you like or need is a piece of cake! It is the framework that engages the dog, establishes communication, and ultimately enhances your relationship and partnership performance.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Mistakes Happen!
Mistakes are an unavoidable part of learning. Are they an essential component of learning? No, not really. There's some new human cognition research supports this idea, and I'd expect a parallel concept to apply to canine cognition.
In theory, perfectly designed learning experiences would prevent all mistakes. In practice, the mistakes help us design more and more perfect learning experiences. The mistakes help us see where the gaps in learning truly are.
For example, a dog trainer's client repeatedly uses the word "No" where a command cue, not a feedback cue, is appropriate. The trainer realizes: "Hey, we need to discuss a LEAVE IT command."
Ideally, the trainer would have been able to download this idea to the client's brain during the first few moments of interaction. Practically, the client had so many other, more pressing issues to process, that introducing this concept first would likely have resulted in the same lack of learning.
Another example is a dog's idea of a SIT. A dog who has difficulty sitting in the proper HEEL position (aligned with & adjacent to the handler's feet, not angled toward or away from handler, not ahead or behind handler, not too close to handler or too far away) may have an idea that SIT is something you only do when someone is standing or when someone is in front of you or when someone is close to you.
SIT should be simply a rump-lowering manueuver, regardless of where you are, where your handler is, or what your handler is doing -- at least, if it is going to be used as an instructional prompt in the HEEL exercise! (If you teach SITs only in the space in front of your feet, SIT really becomes a recall cue because it means "plop yourself in front of my feet". Do as you wish with this knowledge.)
The idea is easy to recognize when mistakes fall into the above kinds of less emotionally-charged categories. But when mistakes include pulse-raisers like cringing, shivering, staring, teeth-baring, hackles-raising, growling, tail-thrashing, lunging, ... It's difficult to keep the perspective that these are simply indicators of where learning needs to occur!
I am not attempting to minimize the seriousness of any of these behaviors. These are indeed very, extremely serious behaviors, and addressing them should only occur under supervision of a qualified professional. I am also not suggesting that all of these behaviors can be sufficiently addressed to make a dog a safe pet! Some dogs have simply been the unfortunate recipients of a imperfect storm of genetics, upbringing, and/or management. Not every dog should be considered "just in need of some training". Some would be better off in a sanctuary, and, if one is not available, in the interest of best addressing needs that cannot be met -- well, the Best Day Ever should end with a trip across the Rainbow Bridge.
A solid learning experience is designed to elicit significantly more successes than errors, but also anticipates the occurrence of errors. How do we handle them? How can we minimize their impact? Do we ignore them? Do we (humanely) punish them? If so, how? What does a specific mistake indicate that we need to re-teach? At what point do we go back to the drawing board? These are issues you should discuss with your trainer.
Because errors can come from both ends of the leash, many owners feel that they are to blame for every mistake their dog makes. This is blatantly untrue. Every dog is different, and what one dog chose to do in a given context is not necessarily what another one would have. Owners & dogs who are shy, anxious, damaged, even neurotic do seem to find each other, but this is not to say that one causes all the behaviors of the other!
Sometimes, though, it is the human's error. Apart from immediate, "in the moment" errors, like missing a click or feedback marker or release word, which are recognized by most humans immediately, errors in judgment are often more typical of the kind of mistakes humans make.
Instead of keeping my dog on leash at twilight on a cool, damp August evening while walking through a cornfield frequented by deer, like any sensible dog owner would -- I didn't. I'm a dog trainer, after all! After some mind-bogglingly awesome responses to sit and down commands (from motion, no less), I released her from a SIT, looked to see what had caught her attention, and watched the blur of fur that was her get smaller and smaller as two deer lead her through the field. Yes, I got her back & no one died (my sole criteria for "a good off-leash experience"), but to call the event a high-value reward for release from the sit? Well, as much as I'd like to, even I can't quite convince myself that the judgment call was a good one!
Instead of training their dogs during puppyhood, a charming couple decided to simply give the dogs whatever the dogs "needed", which the dogs would communicate to them. Dogs don't lie, after all. Apparently, what the dogs "needed" was to fight with each other, occasionally biting their owners in the process. Since the owners had done no training to establish any kind of communication skills, nor were there any learned behaviors on cue, the kind of interventions that could have addressed the friction before it erupted were impossible. Fortunately, these owners realized in fairly short order the error of their ways and contacted a qualified, experienced professional.
Mistakes are definitely undesirable & unpleasant, and consequences are something all teachers wish they could shield their students from, but they will happen. They say that good decisions come from experience -- and experience comes from bad decisions!
In theory, perfectly designed learning experiences would prevent all mistakes. In practice, the mistakes help us design more and more perfect learning experiences. The mistakes help us see where the gaps in learning truly are.
For example, a dog trainer's client repeatedly uses the word "No" where a command cue, not a feedback cue, is appropriate. The trainer realizes: "Hey, we need to discuss a LEAVE IT command."
Ideally, the trainer would have been able to download this idea to the client's brain during the first few moments of interaction. Practically, the client had so many other, more pressing issues to process, that introducing this concept first would likely have resulted in the same lack of learning.
Another example is a dog's idea of a SIT. A dog who has difficulty sitting in the proper HEEL position (aligned with & adjacent to the handler's feet, not angled toward or away from handler, not ahead or behind handler, not too close to handler or too far away) may have an idea that SIT is something you only do when someone is standing or when someone is in front of you or when someone is close to you.
SIT should be simply a rump-lowering manueuver, regardless of where you are, where your handler is, or what your handler is doing -- at least, if it is going to be used as an instructional prompt in the HEEL exercise! (If you teach SITs only in the space in front of your feet, SIT really becomes a recall cue because it means "plop yourself in front of my feet". Do as you wish with this knowledge.)
The idea is easy to recognize when mistakes fall into the above kinds of less emotionally-charged categories. But when mistakes include pulse-raisers like cringing, shivering, staring, teeth-baring, hackles-raising, growling, tail-thrashing, lunging, ... It's difficult to keep the perspective that these are simply indicators of where learning needs to occur!
I am not attempting to minimize the seriousness of any of these behaviors. These are indeed very, extremely serious behaviors, and addressing them should only occur under supervision of a qualified professional. I am also not suggesting that all of these behaviors can be sufficiently addressed to make a dog a safe pet! Some dogs have simply been the unfortunate recipients of a imperfect storm of genetics, upbringing, and/or management. Not every dog should be considered "just in need of some training". Some would be better off in a sanctuary, and, if one is not available, in the interest of best addressing needs that cannot be met -- well, the Best Day Ever should end with a trip across the Rainbow Bridge.
A solid learning experience is designed to elicit significantly more successes than errors, but also anticipates the occurrence of errors. How do we handle them? How can we minimize their impact? Do we ignore them? Do we (humanely) punish them? If so, how? What does a specific mistake indicate that we need to re-teach? At what point do we go back to the drawing board? These are issues you should discuss with your trainer.
Because errors can come from both ends of the leash, many owners feel that they are to blame for every mistake their dog makes. This is blatantly untrue. Every dog is different, and what one dog chose to do in a given context is not necessarily what another one would have. Owners & dogs who are shy, anxious, damaged, even neurotic do seem to find each other, but this is not to say that one causes all the behaviors of the other!
Sometimes, though, it is the human's error. Apart from immediate, "in the moment" errors, like missing a click or feedback marker or release word, which are recognized by most humans immediately, errors in judgment are often more typical of the kind of mistakes humans make.
Instead of keeping my dog on leash at twilight on a cool, damp August evening while walking through a cornfield frequented by deer, like any sensible dog owner would -- I didn't. I'm a dog trainer, after all! After some mind-bogglingly awesome responses to sit and down commands (from motion, no less), I released her from a SIT, looked to see what had caught her attention, and watched the blur of fur that was her get smaller and smaller as two deer lead her through the field. Yes, I got her back & no one died (my sole criteria for "a good off-leash experience"), but to call the event a high-value reward for release from the sit? Well, as much as I'd like to, even I can't quite convince myself that the judgment call was a good one!
Instead of training their dogs during puppyhood, a charming couple decided to simply give the dogs whatever the dogs "needed", which the dogs would communicate to them. Dogs don't lie, after all. Apparently, what the dogs "needed" was to fight with each other, occasionally biting their owners in the process. Since the owners had done no training to establish any kind of communication skills, nor were there any learned behaviors on cue, the kind of interventions that could have addressed the friction before it erupted were impossible. Fortunately, these owners realized in fairly short order the error of their ways and contacted a qualified, experienced professional.
Mistakes are definitely undesirable & unpleasant, and consequences are something all teachers wish they could shield their students from, but they will happen. They say that good decisions come from experience -- and experience comes from bad decisions!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Leadership versus Dominance
Leadership is a grossly misunderstood concept. Leadership is often associated with words like “dominance”, “alpha”, “authority”, “respect”, and “challenge”. Rarely, if ever, is it associated with the word “trust”. Which may explain the tremendous lack of demonstrated leadership present in today’s human society!
Leadership is a role that requires the earning of trust from followers. Trust cannot be demanded. Force (the tool of the Dominator) creates resistance. Trust can only be given, not taken. Leadership, unlike "dominance", requires followers to CHOOSE to follow. Trust is broken in a heartbeat, but repaired, re-earned, only over a long period of time--not hours, but days, weeks, even months or years. Sometimes, it's irreparably broken.
An individual dog always has the right to choose whether to follow another dog or not. Even the most severe aggression will not force an individual dog to follow a leader it does not willingly choose to follow. It is only the benefit offered by the leader that encourages a follower to follow.
Whether we are referring to corporate management, family structure, or canine management, the basic principles of effective leadership remain the same:
To lead is to set the example. To design structure of activities. To plan. To create expectations. To minimize conflict. To intervene and mediate conflict. To consider the best interests of all parties when creating boundaries or structure. To listen as often as speak. To compromise your own ego, your immediate interests for the benefit of all parties, putting the needs of your followers before your own. A good leader builds willing cooperation.
To “dominate” is to bully. To ignore the needs of your followers when it conflicts with your own personal interests or desires. To repress free will. To have one-directional conversations. The product of domination is conflict, since only one party’s will or desire is considered, but all parties have needs. The “dominator” forces “cooperation” (compliance).
Among households with canine family members, lack of leadership is a common cause for serious problem behaviors. Failing to plan is planning to fail, they say. Responsibility for leadership issues is often shifted to the dog, calling the dog "dominant".
While a dog may have strong leadership tendencies or even capabilities, it is the yielding of follow that creates a leader. When a human or another dog reacts, rather than initiates, that individual is following. Interestingly, this "reaction" is the very hallmark of application of "dominance" techniques-- wait for the dog to screw up, then intervene. Who is leading who?
Waiting for the car to run off the road before steering is obviously a bad idea. But somehow "because dogs aren't like us", this approach is often attempted.
Sadly, I've seen a well-intentioned "positive" approach used in the same way. The dog jumps up, THEN the person asks for a SIT. This is ineffective for so many reasons, now "positive" training has been misidentified as the cause of ineffectiveness.
The key to leadership for your canine pals is developing the ability to read the current situation, anticipate what behaviors come next, identify "crossroad" moments when steering is needed, and a toolbox full of ways to elicit the behavior you want BEFORE an undesirable behavior emerges.
I'm often asked by folks with dogs displaying aggression toward other dogs what to do if the dogs get into a fight, again, reflecting the "follow the dog" backwards approach. Some people are looking to use the fight to "teach their dog a lesson". Others are simply trying to prevent injury to the dogs.
Returning to our model of leadership as steering the car, PREVENTION is the key strategy to address accidents. Maybe there's that 1-in-a-million race car driver out there who can adeptly intervene WHILE the car is crashing--maybe. But if you were that 1-in-a-million dog owner who could effectively intervene while your dog was in a fight...your dog wouldn't be in a fight to begin with!
Once you've "crashed the car", once you've missed the "crossroad moment" where you needed to steer the behavior in the correct direction, once the dog has jumped or barked or lunged -- the dog's learning is out the window. You may be able to use the moment to learn how to handle such a circumstance, but the dog's learning for application to future interactions has ceased.
By learning to lead effectively, you will not see the "crashes"!
Leadership is a role that requires the earning of trust from followers. Trust cannot be demanded. Force (the tool of the Dominator) creates resistance. Trust can only be given, not taken. Leadership, unlike "dominance", requires followers to CHOOSE to follow. Trust is broken in a heartbeat, but repaired, re-earned, only over a long period of time--not hours, but days, weeks, even months or years. Sometimes, it's irreparably broken.
An individual dog always has the right to choose whether to follow another dog or not. Even the most severe aggression will not force an individual dog to follow a leader it does not willingly choose to follow. It is only the benefit offered by the leader that encourages a follower to follow.
Whether we are referring to corporate management, family structure, or canine management, the basic principles of effective leadership remain the same:
To lead is to set the example. To design structure of activities. To plan. To create expectations. To minimize conflict. To intervene and mediate conflict. To consider the best interests of all parties when creating boundaries or structure. To listen as often as speak. To compromise your own ego, your immediate interests for the benefit of all parties, putting the needs of your followers before your own. A good leader builds willing cooperation.
To “dominate” is to bully. To ignore the needs of your followers when it conflicts with your own personal interests or desires. To repress free will. To have one-directional conversations. The product of domination is conflict, since only one party’s will or desire is considered, but all parties have needs. The “dominator” forces “cooperation” (compliance).
Among households with canine family members, lack of leadership is a common cause for serious problem behaviors. Failing to plan is planning to fail, they say. Responsibility for leadership issues is often shifted to the dog, calling the dog "dominant".
While a dog may have strong leadership tendencies or even capabilities, it is the yielding of follow that creates a leader. When a human or another dog reacts, rather than initiates, that individual is following. Interestingly, this "reaction" is the very hallmark of application of "dominance" techniques-- wait for the dog to screw up, then intervene. Who is leading who?
Waiting for the car to run off the road before steering is obviously a bad idea. But somehow "because dogs aren't like us", this approach is often attempted.
Sadly, I've seen a well-intentioned "positive" approach used in the same way. The dog jumps up, THEN the person asks for a SIT. This is ineffective for so many reasons, now "positive" training has been misidentified as the cause of ineffectiveness.
The key to leadership for your canine pals is developing the ability to read the current situation, anticipate what behaviors come next, identify "crossroad" moments when steering is needed, and a toolbox full of ways to elicit the behavior you want BEFORE an undesirable behavior emerges.
I'm often asked by folks with dogs displaying aggression toward other dogs what to do if the dogs get into a fight, again, reflecting the "follow the dog" backwards approach. Some people are looking to use the fight to "teach their dog a lesson". Others are simply trying to prevent injury to the dogs.
Returning to our model of leadership as steering the car, PREVENTION is the key strategy to address accidents. Maybe there's that 1-in-a-million race car driver out there who can adeptly intervene WHILE the car is crashing--maybe. But if you were that 1-in-a-million dog owner who could effectively intervene while your dog was in a fight...your dog wouldn't be in a fight to begin with!
Once you've "crashed the car", once you've missed the "crossroad moment" where you needed to steer the behavior in the correct direction, once the dog has jumped or barked or lunged -- the dog's learning is out the window. You may be able to use the moment to learn how to handle such a circumstance, but the dog's learning for application to future interactions has ceased.
By learning to lead effectively, you will not see the "crashes"!
Monday, August 24, 2009
A "Routine" for Walks
Most dog owners, trainers, behaviorists, veterinarians, etc, agree that walking and outings provide an essential daily component of dog life.
What many dog owners don't realize is... Need = REWARD.
For many dogs, the reward of a walk is so alluring, so powerful, that even the most scrumptious edibles pale by comparison. Even the discomfort of leaning on a flat collar or twisting your face on a headcollar or pinches from a pinch collar often fail to distract you from the surge of elation you feel when anticipating a walk! The reward is totally worth any hassle to try to get to it faster.
Since your dog views the walk as a reward, your dog believes that whatever behavior it engages in makes the walk happen. This is called "transitive logic".
If your dog is pawing and barking at you, and you go get the leash-- what made you go get the leash? When your dog leaps and thrashes while you attempt to attach the leash, what behavior made you finally get the leash attached? Jumping & thrashing, of course! And when you walk to the door with your riot on a string, what makes the door open? Its obvious to any dog. The rioting did.
Now, your dog knows your personal sequence of events. Every step in that sequence is a reward. Any, god forbid, reversal in the sequence is a punisher. Hesitation or slowness is a mild punisher that can serve as a useful elicitor.
Remember back to where we observed that walking was worth ANY hassle? Make the hassle being calm -- or at least controlled!
Walks should start as your idea, not the dog's. Ignoring any previously rewarded behavior (like the pawing, barking, whining, pacing stuff) will cause the behavior to worsen. The dog thinks, "I know this works -- I just have to do it harder, louder, faster, over here, over there, in combination with something else..." The dog has to exhaust every possible variation of the thing that he KNOWS works until he realizes, "Hey, amybe this doesn't work anymore..."
Try choosing a command you want to use to earn the walk. It can always be the same one. It can be a different one every time. Don't forget a release word!
OR
Perform your regular sequence at about 1/2 speed.
In either case, by continuing with your sequence when you are seeing things you like, and reversing your sequence when you see things you don't like, you can communicate quickly to the dog what works and what doesn't with regard to getting to go for a walk.
To make things even clearer, you can use the word "good" repeatedly to mark every single correct behavior. At least one every 2 seconds! Use a single marker like "oops", "eh-eh", or even clear your throat at the second you see something you don't like AND simultaneously demonstrate that it doesn't work by reversing your sequence.
Using the markers alone may distract the first few times, but if they doesn't predict anything meaningful (i.e., we are moving toward or away from walking), they will soon be disregarded. Show, don't tell!
Showing works so well that you can do it in absolute silence (no markers), and the dog will still catch on! This silent interaction is what was historically meant by "dog whispering".
"What if he has to go the bathroom?"
For many of us who work typical 9-5 jobs, the evening meet-up has an added level of reward intensity. The urgency of needing to go to the bathroom can really make things difficult. It makes the reward of the walk of even HIGHER value! So whatever the dog is doing just prior to this walk is REALLY working. At least, according to the dogs.
How do we combat this? Well, I suppose a hard-core dog trainer would insist that you just make the dog behave before giving it access to this reward. Lucky for you, and all my own spoiled dogs, I am far from hard-core!
For this circumstance, if you believe it IS urgent, I'd suggest taking the dog directly (no sniffing or meandering--hustle!) to a designated potty spot as close to the house as possible. Then, return to the house with the same hustle. Make it your idea to go on for a real walk when it is convenient for you. OR, if you prefer to do it right away after the potty, you could ask for a command response near the potty spot and go. You could simply expect (wait for) calm behavior and go. You could still hustle back to the house and go.
However, you know your dog's routine -- does she step out the door and then not potty for 20 minutes? If this sounds more like your dog, I'd be a little more skeptical about interpreting the "urgency" of the behavior when you arrive at home!
The idea of instituting a deliberate walk routine is often problematic for dog owners. So let me simply remind you -- if you do what you've always done, you'll get the results you've always gotten! The cognitive demands of giving 100% attention and interaction with your dog after a long, hard day place on you, the owner, often serve to dissuade (punish?) us from doing what will ultimately enable us to think less and walk more conveniently. However, as someone who doesn't have chaos for walks, let me tell you -- it's totally worth it. Once your new routine becomes "what you've always done", those results will be what you always get!
What many dog owners don't realize is... Need = REWARD.
For many dogs, the reward of a walk is so alluring, so powerful, that even the most scrumptious edibles pale by comparison. Even the discomfort of leaning on a flat collar or twisting your face on a headcollar or pinches from a pinch collar often fail to distract you from the surge of elation you feel when anticipating a walk! The reward is totally worth any hassle to try to get to it faster.
Since your dog views the walk as a reward, your dog believes that whatever behavior it engages in makes the walk happen. This is called "transitive logic".
If your dog is pawing and barking at you, and you go get the leash-- what made you go get the leash? When your dog leaps and thrashes while you attempt to attach the leash, what behavior made you finally get the leash attached? Jumping & thrashing, of course! And when you walk to the door with your riot on a string, what makes the door open? Its obvious to any dog. The rioting did.
Now, your dog knows your personal sequence of events. Every step in that sequence is a reward. Any, god forbid, reversal in the sequence is a punisher. Hesitation or slowness is a mild punisher that can serve as a useful elicitor.
Remember back to where we observed that walking was worth ANY hassle? Make the hassle being calm -- or at least controlled!
Walks should start as your idea, not the dog's. Ignoring any previously rewarded behavior (like the pawing, barking, whining, pacing stuff) will cause the behavior to worsen. The dog thinks, "I know this works -- I just have to do it harder, louder, faster, over here, over there, in combination with something else..." The dog has to exhaust every possible variation of the thing that he KNOWS works until he realizes, "Hey, amybe this doesn't work anymore..."
Try choosing a command you want to use to earn the walk. It can always be the same one. It can be a different one every time. Don't forget a release word!
OR
Perform your regular sequence at about 1/2 speed.
In either case, by continuing with your sequence when you are seeing things you like, and reversing your sequence when you see things you don't like, you can communicate quickly to the dog what works and what doesn't with regard to getting to go for a walk.
To make things even clearer, you can use the word "good" repeatedly to mark every single correct behavior. At least one every 2 seconds! Use a single marker like "oops", "eh-eh", or even clear your throat at the second you see something you don't like AND simultaneously demonstrate that it doesn't work by reversing your sequence.
Using the markers alone may distract the first few times, but if they doesn't predict anything meaningful (i.e., we are moving toward or away from walking), they will soon be disregarded. Show, don't tell!
Showing works so well that you can do it in absolute silence (no markers), and the dog will still catch on! This silent interaction is what was historically meant by "dog whispering".
"What if he has to go the bathroom?"
For many of us who work typical 9-5 jobs, the evening meet-up has an added level of reward intensity. The urgency of needing to go to the bathroom can really make things difficult. It makes the reward of the walk of even HIGHER value! So whatever the dog is doing just prior to this walk is REALLY working. At least, according to the dogs.
How do we combat this? Well, I suppose a hard-core dog trainer would insist that you just make the dog behave before giving it access to this reward. Lucky for you, and all my own spoiled dogs, I am far from hard-core!
For this circumstance, if you believe it IS urgent, I'd suggest taking the dog directly (no sniffing or meandering--hustle!) to a designated potty spot as close to the house as possible. Then, return to the house with the same hustle. Make it your idea to go on for a real walk when it is convenient for you. OR, if you prefer to do it right away after the potty, you could ask for a command response near the potty spot and go. You could simply expect (wait for) calm behavior and go. You could still hustle back to the house and go.
However, you know your dog's routine -- does she step out the door and then not potty for 20 minutes? If this sounds more like your dog, I'd be a little more skeptical about interpreting the "urgency" of the behavior when you arrive at home!
The idea of instituting a deliberate walk routine is often problematic for dog owners. So let me simply remind you -- if you do what you've always done, you'll get the results you've always gotten! The cognitive demands of giving 100% attention and interaction with your dog after a long, hard day place on you, the owner, often serve to dissuade (punish?) us from doing what will ultimately enable us to think less and walk more conveniently. However, as someone who doesn't have chaos for walks, let me tell you -- it's totally worth it. Once your new routine becomes "what you've always done", those results will be what you always get!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Buy Us a Round of Entropion Surgery?
"Jamais deux sans trois" (Never 2 without 3), they say in French. Bad things do seem to come in threes. In the case of MidAtlanticBullyBuddies(MABB)dogs, it happens to be 3 eyes with entropion.
Two eyes belong to Lilly, a charming young adolescent dog, possibly a Boxer mix, for whom MABB set up a ChipIn widget.
Then the third eye with entropion arrived. It belongs to a sweet baby girl who also has kennel cough and an as-yet unidentified skin condition causing her to lose hair (NOT demodectic mange). Her pink paws and skin look so painful, but she doesn't quit being sweet! She is receiving treatments from the vet to make her more comfortable. No widget has been set up for her vet bills yet, but it will be shortly.
Man, after a run of dogs not needing much of anything except to find a good home, MABB is seeing a run of dogs with medical issues. I guess it couldn't last forever. =(
Two eyes belong to Lilly, a charming young adolescent dog, possibly a Boxer mix, for whom MABB set up a ChipIn widget.
Then the third eye with entropion arrived. It belongs to a sweet baby girl who also has kennel cough and an as-yet unidentified skin condition causing her to lose hair (NOT demodectic mange). Her pink paws and skin look so painful, but she doesn't quit being sweet! She is receiving treatments from the vet to make her more comfortable. No widget has been set up for her vet bills yet, but it will be shortly.
Man, after a run of dogs not needing much of anything except to find a good home, MABB is seeing a run of dogs with medical issues. I guess it couldn't last forever. =(
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
"What Else Can I Do?"
No matter what behavior you are dealing with, sufficient walks are often THE critical component missing from your dog's life, and contributing significantly to your dog's inability to handle what should be non-events.
Add extra walks. Not treadmills, not backpacks, not running beside bikes or rollerblades, not heeling, not training walks -- just good old walking, meandering, sniffing, being a dog.
Dogs who jog or sprint given this opportunity are dogs who have been living under a pattern of insufficient walks.
As a component of a "rehab" or "detox" program for reactive or otherwise misbehaving dogs, are responsible for at least 60-80% of the results. You could conceivably lapse on EVERY OTHER ELEMENT and still see significant results from adding sufficient walks.
It might take you a few weeks to "catch up" on all the walks you've missed on a daily basis so far, but providing THE basic element of canine cognitive experience will make the biggest impact on your dog's behavior.
But, still... The owners ask, "What else can I do?"
It's as if they are asking, "Well, other than driving between the lines of the right-hand side of the road, what can I do to improve my safety behind the wheel? Realistically, I'm just not going to stay on the right hand side of the road."
Uh,... then, realistically? You shouldn't be driving.
Some dogs CAN do with less exercise. Certainly elderly dogs and physically challenged dogs cannot tolerate the exercise a 14-month-old Border Collie can. But if you are not providing enough exercise to keep your dog from displaying behaviors like barking, biting, digging, self-mutilation, chewing, and other unhealthy AND undesirable behaviors -- what kind of a home are you providing?
Actions speak louder than words. Dogs know: Walks = love.
Add extra walks. Not treadmills, not backpacks, not running beside bikes or rollerblades, not heeling, not training walks -- just good old walking, meandering, sniffing, being a dog.
Dogs who jog or sprint given this opportunity are dogs who have been living under a pattern of insufficient walks.
As a component of a "rehab" or "detox" program for reactive or otherwise misbehaving dogs, are responsible for at least 60-80% of the results. You could conceivably lapse on EVERY OTHER ELEMENT and still see significant results from adding sufficient walks.
It might take you a few weeks to "catch up" on all the walks you've missed on a daily basis so far, but providing THE basic element of canine cognitive experience will make the biggest impact on your dog's behavior.
But, still... The owners ask, "What else can I do?"
It's as if they are asking, "Well, other than driving between the lines of the right-hand side of the road, what can I do to improve my safety behind the wheel? Realistically, I'm just not going to stay on the right hand side of the road."
Uh,... then, realistically? You shouldn't be driving.
Some dogs CAN do with less exercise. Certainly elderly dogs and physically challenged dogs cannot tolerate the exercise a 14-month-old Border Collie can. But if you are not providing enough exercise to keep your dog from displaying behaviors like barking, biting, digging, self-mutilation, chewing, and other unhealthy AND undesirable behaviors -- what kind of a home are you providing?
Actions speak louder than words. Dogs know: Walks = love.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Happy Ending for Pit Bull Stabbing Victim!
We did it! Ceasar (now called "Rocky") has recovered from his injuries, and is now living with his new person, Emily, who calls him "the coolest dog ever". I think that's just because he is.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Good Training is...Good Training
"This is Nicole, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I was just wondering what kind of method you use?"
There ARE no methods! Dogs recognize no "methods". There are two kinds of training: Good training, and bad training.
There is good training: The dog understands, and demonstrates understanding with reliable performance of correctly chosen criteria. The handler can consistently perform the requisite elements. The success of such training enhances dog-handler relationship. Ultimately, good training results in increased desired behaviors and decreased undesired behavior.
There are many, many ways to get this to happen. Every effective way relies on precise timing, effective communication, consistency of message, showing--not telling, presentation of contrast, and intellectual engagement from both dog and handler. These create predictable expectations, predictable and controllable consequences. Predictability is the antithesis of anxiety.
There is bad training. The dog does not understand. The handler does not understand it. The trainer teaching it does not understand it. No one knows what is going on, but something is happening. 'We have to do something, and this is something, so we are doing this.'
There's a shot gun approach of 'we're trying this', 'Oh, we've stopped that, now trying another thing', often due to the human's inappropriate expectations or incorrect diagnosis. There is a wide variety of ideas conveyed for a short period of time, and then a new idea, replacing the old idea, (often in stark contrast to the old notion) appears out of nowhere.
Confusion, inconsistency, poor timing, emotional intensity, lack of clarity result in a lack of predictability. If you wanted to create a monster, (or if you wanted to make a dog just stop trying--see Martin Seligman's research)removing predictability, removing controllable consequences, and generally increasing frustration, arousal, and anxiety is a good way to accomplish that.
Some dogs are frankly not negatively psychologically impacted by pain alone. These are the rough-players of the dog world, who make great police dogs, Schutzhund & Ringsport players, unstoppable trackers, and tolerant therapy and service dogs. Pain does not necessarily equate to stress for all dogs.
However, even for dogs who DO have a high tolerance for pain, anxiety, confusion, frustration DO negatively impact the dog's psychological state, and therefore performance and compliance. Maintaining appropriate emotional state is a critical component of effective training. Stress-tolerance can be taught, but never demanded.
Stress is the hallmark of abusive, aversive interactions.
Stress, anxiety, confusion, and frustration are NOT unique to methods using pain. You can easily stress, confuse, and frustrate your dog using treats or play alone! Selection of tools ALONE does not determine whether your dog is receiving "good" or "bad" training.
I have watched Schutzhund dogs have a wonderful time, happy tails, and excited to work, and frustrated when prevented from working! These are dogs on precisely used slip, choke, prong, and remote collars. Their handlers are emotionally neutral, and there is no yelling.
I have seen Schutzhund dogs mistreated, abused, confused, and FAIL, as they AND their cretin owners misunderstand the exercise, the tool they are "now" trying, and resultantly the two creatures generally yell, scream, and otherwise act a fool!
I have watched dogs in reward-only classes shut down in confusion as treats are waggled but not delivered. Watched their insistent owners ratchet up the pressure, reaching for higher and higher value treats, trying for "another way to get him to do it". As if they can force the dog into wanting! Good trainers wait until the time is right to work. They can identify the body language that indicates a good time to work.
I've watched frustration build in a dog leaning into a flat collar while the owner inclines away from the dog, who is only interested in sniffing a new dog, sparking aggressive outbursts. Using only a flat collar, that generally accepted as among the most benign of tools, mixed with a little ignorance, misunderstanding, or inattentiveness, --we've created aggression!
The issue I take with the labeling of training as "positive" or "traditional" or "dog whispering" or "natural" or any other label used for marketing purposes is that I have yet to find any relationship between the label and whether or not the training is good, fair, and enjoyable, --or bad, unfair, and stress-inducing.
When you are making decisions about how to interact with your dog, remember that it isn't the label that matters to your dog. It's reducing anxiety. It's making you happy. It's having a good time. Dogs are, above all, supposed to be fun!
Go have some fun with your dog.
"Well, I was just wondering what kind of method you use?"
There ARE no methods! Dogs recognize no "methods". There are two kinds of training: Good training, and bad training.
There is good training: The dog understands, and demonstrates understanding with reliable performance of correctly chosen criteria. The handler can consistently perform the requisite elements. The success of such training enhances dog-handler relationship. Ultimately, good training results in increased desired behaviors and decreased undesired behavior.
There are many, many ways to get this to happen. Every effective way relies on precise timing, effective communication, consistency of message, showing--not telling, presentation of contrast, and intellectual engagement from both dog and handler. These create predictable expectations, predictable and controllable consequences. Predictability is the antithesis of anxiety.
There is bad training. The dog does not understand. The handler does not understand it. The trainer teaching it does not understand it. No one knows what is going on, but something is happening. 'We have to do something, and this is something, so we are doing this.'
There's a shot gun approach of 'we're trying this', 'Oh, we've stopped that, now trying another thing', often due to the human's inappropriate expectations or incorrect diagnosis. There is a wide variety of ideas conveyed for a short period of time, and then a new idea, replacing the old idea, (often in stark contrast to the old notion) appears out of nowhere.
Confusion, inconsistency, poor timing, emotional intensity, lack of clarity result in a lack of predictability. If you wanted to create a monster, (or if you wanted to make a dog just stop trying--see Martin Seligman's research)removing predictability, removing controllable consequences, and generally increasing frustration, arousal, and anxiety is a good way to accomplish that.
Some dogs are frankly not negatively psychologically impacted by pain alone. These are the rough-players of the dog world, who make great police dogs, Schutzhund & Ringsport players, unstoppable trackers, and tolerant therapy and service dogs. Pain does not necessarily equate to stress for all dogs.
However, even for dogs who DO have a high tolerance for pain, anxiety, confusion, frustration DO negatively impact the dog's psychological state, and therefore performance and compliance. Maintaining appropriate emotional state is a critical component of effective training. Stress-tolerance can be taught, but never demanded.
Stress is the hallmark of abusive, aversive interactions.
Stress, anxiety, confusion, and frustration are NOT unique to methods using pain. You can easily stress, confuse, and frustrate your dog using treats or play alone! Selection of tools ALONE does not determine whether your dog is receiving "good" or "bad" training.
I have watched Schutzhund dogs have a wonderful time, happy tails, and excited to work, and frustrated when prevented from working! These are dogs on precisely used slip, choke, prong, and remote collars. Their handlers are emotionally neutral, and there is no yelling.
I have seen Schutzhund dogs mistreated, abused, confused, and FAIL, as they AND their cretin owners misunderstand the exercise, the tool they are "now" trying, and resultantly the two creatures generally yell, scream, and otherwise act a fool!
I have watched dogs in reward-only classes shut down in confusion as treats are waggled but not delivered. Watched their insistent owners ratchet up the pressure, reaching for higher and higher value treats, trying for "another way to get him to do it". As if they can force the dog into wanting! Good trainers wait until the time is right to work. They can identify the body language that indicates a good time to work.
I've watched frustration build in a dog leaning into a flat collar while the owner inclines away from the dog, who is only interested in sniffing a new dog, sparking aggressive outbursts. Using only a flat collar, that generally accepted as among the most benign of tools, mixed with a little ignorance, misunderstanding, or inattentiveness, --we've created aggression!
The issue I take with the labeling of training as "positive" or "traditional" or "dog whispering" or "natural" or any other label used for marketing purposes is that I have yet to find any relationship between the label and whether or not the training is good, fair, and enjoyable, --or bad, unfair, and stress-inducing.
When you are making decisions about how to interact with your dog, remember that it isn't the label that matters to your dog. It's reducing anxiety. It's making you happy. It's having a good time. Dogs are, above all, supposed to be fun!
Go have some fun with your dog.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Retrieves!
Retrieves are a great joy for both the dog and handler. Their complication encourages teamwork, while the independent function of the dog can foster relaxation.
Retrieves consist of
1)Picking up the Object
2)Dropping the Object in the indicated spot
Everything else is problem-solving for the dog!
Picking up the Object
To begin teaching a dog who doesn't naturally retrieve, start with an object the dog WANTS to pick up and hold.
Although my other dogs were highly toy-motivated, and picked up on the retrieving game right away, my Labrador RETRIEVER mix, Lila, who has clearly not read her veterinary paperwork indicating her genetics, did not.
Lila's retrieving started with what I called, "The Chicken Bag". It's just as gross as it sounds, but she loved it. I used a standard Outward Hound treat bag, and filled it with lightly drained canned chicken. The liquid leaked out of the bag -- revolting for me, enchanting for her. I had no trouble with her wanting to put her mouth on it!
The Chicken Bag was placed on the ground a few feet away. After a SIT, she was released and told to BRING, as I stepped toward the object, using my hand to lure her nose near it.
She began by licking it, then pawing at it, then FINALLY, putting her mouth on it. I waited silently through the initial behaviors, and nearly shouted "YES!" when her teeth made contact. As long as her teeth were in contact, I encouraged her with Lila's special blend of tertiary reinforcers: "That's it, good, good, yes, excellent..." (I don't know why Lila likes the blend more. All the other dogs generally just prefer the simplicity of "Good".)
Dropping the Object in the indicated spot
Many people begin retrieves with some great distance thrown into the mix. The distance is not really an essential component of the behavior!
A beginning retrieve can consist of the dog lifting the Object off the floor, and "accidentally" dropping it into your hand, which you have sneakily chosen to place directly under the dog's chin. Voila! You & your dog have completed an entire retrieve.
For Lila, once The Chicken Bag, well, slopped(mmmm....) into my hand, I cringed, opened the drawstring, and pulled out some of the delicious, runny, chicken-y goodness. If it didn't fall into my hand, I used an NRM, and didn't (phew!) open the bag to give any chicken.
Once you have the dog picking the object up and dropping it into your hand (or a basket, or a hoop, or any other indicated spot), you can simply add more challenge (escalate criteria).
You can start by making either component more difficult, but if you are not working with a natural retriever, I don't recommend doing both components at once. Start by making it harder to pick up the Object (object placed at greater distance from dog or thrown to greater distance) or by making it harder to put it in the right spot (moving your hand left or right or farther from the dog).
Once your dog catches on to the game, you can use a new, previously less desirable object. Very likely, you will have to begin again with Object on ground, waiting for dog to pick it up, catching the Object, and then gradually escalating through the same progression.
Want your dog to pick her toys? Say CLEAN UP. Use a unique, moving body language signal. Now use BRING. Hold your hand over the toy box as the dog brings the toy to your hand. "Miss" catching the toy and let it fall into the box. YES! Toy is in box. No problem. Gradually make it harder for the dog to find the toys AND toy box (move it left or right or farther away), and eliminate the BRING command. In no time, your dog will be able to pick up her toys on command.
What kind of ideas for retrieving tricks do you have?
Retrieves consist of
1)Picking up the Object
2)Dropping the Object in the indicated spot
Everything else is problem-solving for the dog!
Picking up the Object
To begin teaching a dog who doesn't naturally retrieve, start with an object the dog WANTS to pick up and hold.
Although my other dogs were highly toy-motivated, and picked up on the retrieving game right away, my Labrador RETRIEVER mix, Lila, who has clearly not read her veterinary paperwork indicating her genetics, did not.
Lila's retrieving started with what I called, "The Chicken Bag". It's just as gross as it sounds, but she loved it. I used a standard Outward Hound treat bag, and filled it with lightly drained canned chicken. The liquid leaked out of the bag -- revolting for me, enchanting for her. I had no trouble with her wanting to put her mouth on it!
The Chicken Bag was placed on the ground a few feet away. After a SIT, she was released and told to BRING, as I stepped toward the object, using my hand to lure her nose near it.
She began by licking it, then pawing at it, then FINALLY, putting her mouth on it. I waited silently through the initial behaviors, and nearly shouted "YES!" when her teeth made contact. As long as her teeth were in contact, I encouraged her with Lila's special blend of tertiary reinforcers: "That's it, good, good, yes, excellent..." (I don't know why Lila likes the blend more. All the other dogs generally just prefer the simplicity of "Good".)
Dropping the Object in the indicated spot
Many people begin retrieves with some great distance thrown into the mix. The distance is not really an essential component of the behavior!
A beginning retrieve can consist of the dog lifting the Object off the floor, and "accidentally" dropping it into your hand, which you have sneakily chosen to place directly under the dog's chin. Voila! You & your dog have completed an entire retrieve.
For Lila, once The Chicken Bag, well, slopped(mmmm....) into my hand, I cringed, opened the drawstring, and pulled out some of the delicious, runny, chicken-y goodness. If it didn't fall into my hand, I used an NRM, and didn't (phew!) open the bag to give any chicken.
Once you have the dog picking the object up and dropping it into your hand (or a basket, or a hoop, or any other indicated spot), you can simply add more challenge (escalate criteria).
You can start by making either component more difficult, but if you are not working with a natural retriever, I don't recommend doing both components at once. Start by making it harder to pick up the Object (object placed at greater distance from dog or thrown to greater distance) or by making it harder to put it in the right spot (moving your hand left or right or farther from the dog).
Once your dog catches on to the game, you can use a new, previously less desirable object. Very likely, you will have to begin again with Object on ground, waiting for dog to pick it up, catching the Object, and then gradually escalating through the same progression.
Want your dog to pick her toys? Say CLEAN UP. Use a unique, moving body language signal. Now use BRING. Hold your hand over the toy box as the dog brings the toy to your hand. "Miss" catching the toy and let it fall into the box. YES! Toy is in box. No problem. Gradually make it harder for the dog to find the toys AND toy box (move it left or right or farther away), and eliminate the BRING command. In no time, your dog will be able to pick up her toys on command.
What kind of ideas for retrieving tricks do you have?
Freedom in The House
The most common mistake I see owners making with regard to freedom in the house is trusting too much too soon.
There are two "flavors" of this mistake.
One variation is to base trust on puppy behaviors.
Few people start out making the mistake of leaving the puppy loose in the house all the time. They realize this is potentially disaster, and use an error-proof zone to contain their puppy when they cannot directly supervise.
When this more common mistake happens, the puppy is generally about 4-6 months old, just prior to the onset of adolescent behaviors. The puppy has been a very good puppy when they have allowed it supervised freedom. They have supervised it extensively, rarely needed to distract it from mistakes, and have decided that NOW is a good time to introduce freedom. "After all," the owner thinks, "It's been two (or four) whole months with no (or only a few minor) mistakes."
And that is true. The dog has been good. But what the owner doesn't realize is that adolescence is the timeframe when most more major mistakes occur. The adolescent brain is developing the focus to keep at something that the puppy brain would lose interest in more rapidly! Adolescents also are developing increased confidence and curiosity. They are now much more willing to investigate items in which they previously had no interest.
This is a very risky point at which to begin leaving the dog unattended. It's not impossible -- just requires slower progression from leaving 2 minutes, then 3, etc.
The second variation applies to almost everyone, whether starting with a puppy, adolescent, adult, or even senior dog.
Leaving the dog loose and unsupervised for too long!
Most dogs do the majority of any damage during the first 15 minutes of separation. This means that owners need to very gradually work up to 15 minutes of separation. Most owners try "only 20 minutes" or "only an hour" for their first (disastrous) trial.
How do we gradually work up to these time frames? Trial separation.
No, you don't need a lawyer. This means leaving the dog for short periods of time when you don't actually HAVE to leave. It's pretend leaving.
All success starts with the dog actively engaged in something. This can be chewing something appropriate, or eating some kibble sprinkled on the floor or from a bowl. If you are providing sufficient exercise, midday generally consists of laying around calmly, which is its own kind of activity.
I've had a lot of success with not mentioning anything about my leaving to my dogs. I just sort of drift away while they are engrossed. However, not everyone has this luxury. If you have a "troupe" of partner, offspring, other pets you may be leaving with -- well, they have to participate in the trial separations! If you can't avoid signaling separation to your dogs, ask them to WAIT. (WAIT is a version of stay that does not have a release command.)
Choose a good moment to begin leaving. Immediately after a tiring exercise, play, or training session is good. Midday is generally R&R on dog time. Sunrise and sunset are times when dogs would naturally engage in hunting behaviors, so the dog can be more stimulated at those times. Leave those times for later teaching.
Leave for a miniscule amount of time. If the dog begins to approach the door and whine or scratch at it immediately, don't leave! You need a better activity, a tired-er dog. Though your overall goal is to increase the time duration the dog is left unattended, you may not want the dog to not know exactly how long to expect. Once you increase the time, always do a few of shorter length times to keep your dog guessing.
However, there are dogs who enjoy and thrive on exact predictability. If you suspect this is your dog (often the more shy, not bold dogs)--use a very gentle progression of slightly and slightly longer each time. This is the exception dog, though, not the general rule.
Return calmly. Ignore the dog entirely until it is calm or ignoring you. You will be excited that the dog hasn't destroyed anything, and you'll want to reward it. Unfortunately, this moment is now too late for the dog to associate your reward with its good separation behavior. You will be creating an anticipation of reward when you walk in the door, which leads to excitement. Excitement makes your departure and arrival an event, when what you want is for it to be a non-event. Totally routine, boring, and hardly of note.
What are YOUR best activities to engage a dog when leaving?
There are two "flavors" of this mistake.
One variation is to base trust on puppy behaviors.
Few people start out making the mistake of leaving the puppy loose in the house all the time. They realize this is potentially disaster, and use an error-proof zone to contain their puppy when they cannot directly supervise.
When this more common mistake happens, the puppy is generally about 4-6 months old, just prior to the onset of adolescent behaviors. The puppy has been a very good puppy when they have allowed it supervised freedom. They have supervised it extensively, rarely needed to distract it from mistakes, and have decided that NOW is a good time to introduce freedom. "After all," the owner thinks, "It's been two (or four) whole months with no (or only a few minor) mistakes."
And that is true. The dog has been good. But what the owner doesn't realize is that adolescence is the timeframe when most more major mistakes occur. The adolescent brain is developing the focus to keep at something that the puppy brain would lose interest in more rapidly! Adolescents also are developing increased confidence and curiosity. They are now much more willing to investigate items in which they previously had no interest.
This is a very risky point at which to begin leaving the dog unattended. It's not impossible -- just requires slower progression from leaving 2 minutes, then 3, etc.
The second variation applies to almost everyone, whether starting with a puppy, adolescent, adult, or even senior dog.
Leaving the dog loose and unsupervised for too long!
Most dogs do the majority of any damage during the first 15 minutes of separation. This means that owners need to very gradually work up to 15 minutes of separation. Most owners try "only 20 minutes" or "only an hour" for their first (disastrous) trial.
How do we gradually work up to these time frames? Trial separation.
No, you don't need a lawyer. This means leaving the dog for short periods of time when you don't actually HAVE to leave. It's pretend leaving.
All success starts with the dog actively engaged in something. This can be chewing something appropriate, or eating some kibble sprinkled on the floor or from a bowl. If you are providing sufficient exercise, midday generally consists of laying around calmly, which is its own kind of activity.
I've had a lot of success with not mentioning anything about my leaving to my dogs. I just sort of drift away while they are engrossed. However, not everyone has this luxury. If you have a "troupe" of partner, offspring, other pets you may be leaving with -- well, they have to participate in the trial separations! If you can't avoid signaling separation to your dogs, ask them to WAIT. (WAIT is a version of stay that does not have a release command.)
Choose a good moment to begin leaving. Immediately after a tiring exercise, play, or training session is good. Midday is generally R&R on dog time. Sunrise and sunset are times when dogs would naturally engage in hunting behaviors, so the dog can be more stimulated at those times. Leave those times for later teaching.
Leave for a miniscule amount of time. If the dog begins to approach the door and whine or scratch at it immediately, don't leave! You need a better activity, a tired-er dog. Though your overall goal is to increase the time duration the dog is left unattended, you may not want the dog to not know exactly how long to expect. Once you increase the time, always do a few of shorter length times to keep your dog guessing.
However, there are dogs who enjoy and thrive on exact predictability. If you suspect this is your dog (often the more shy, not bold dogs)--use a very gentle progression of slightly and slightly longer each time. This is the exception dog, though, not the general rule.
Return calmly. Ignore the dog entirely until it is calm or ignoring you. You will be excited that the dog hasn't destroyed anything, and you'll want to reward it. Unfortunately, this moment is now too late for the dog to associate your reward with its good separation behavior. You will be creating an anticipation of reward when you walk in the door, which leads to excitement. Excitement makes your departure and arrival an event, when what you want is for it to be a non-event. Totally routine, boring, and hardly of note.
What are YOUR best activities to engage a dog when leaving?
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Tapering Off Food Rewards
The advice often given by positive trainers to avoid the undesired effect mentioned in my last post ("How to Stop GOOD Behavior") is to taper off reinforcement (rewards).
The advice is that, gradually, you give less and less food. On some repetitions, even though the dog did the right thing, and you want to pay it with food, you just don't. You cheer, you celebrate, you pet, you massage, you allow access to other rewards, but you don't feed.
This is a hard thing for most pet owners to do. Their dog has done something, and they want to pay it. Which is a fantastic breakthrough from the old-school training days of NEVER feeding! Nothing wrong with that inclination.
And, it bears stating: If you can be committed to continuing your reward schedule of 100% -- go for it!! There is absolutely no reason for you to stop. There are too many people who are ashamed of using food to encourage their dog's behavior. Trust me, the general public doesn't give a rat's behind WHY your dog behaves--only that he DOES!
One way to continue to increase good behavior while decreasing food is to escalate criteria. This can be difficult for most owners to recognize at first. They are so excited that the dog complies at all that they can't imagine more!
Escalating criteria automatically tapers off the rewards, because your dog will not meet the new criteria 100% of the time.
What does "escalating criteria" mean?
"Criteria" means the precise behavior (usually multiple behaviors for beginng dogs) that earns the reward. The criteria can be thought of as the dog's "definition" of the behavior.
"Escalating criteria" is redefining the behavior, making it harder for the dog. It means you expect a teensy bit more than what you used to expect. You are making a new and more specific "right answer".
For example, you reward faster reponses -- ones within 2 seconds instead of 5. Stays are now with distraction. Or more tempting distraction. Or you only reward the down position if both rear feet are on the floor (Sphynx position), not if the hips roll over to the side. You reward ONLY recalls where the dog sprints as a response to your call, instead of any response at all.
Choosing correctly escalated criteria is what "separates the the men from the boys". Make it too hard, and the frustration is punishing. Make it too easy, and the boredom is punishing. Just to make it even more complicated--there is no one "recipe" of the right criteria for every dog!
However, choosing criteria that the dog gets right about 75% of the time is a good place to start. This is, however, just a suggested rule of thumb! No magic. If you and your dog have the patience and drive to attempt something the dog only gets right 10% of the time, it doesn't mean it's wrong. However, choosing criteria that keep a high success rate (high rate of reward) will keep your and your dog's interest and enthusiasm high.
Once you have chosen your new criteria, you STOP food-rewarding anything that does not meet that new, exact definition. It is important to note that this failure to provide an anticipated reward could be called "negative punishment" by your dog. This negative punishment is what conveys the idea that the lesser responses no longer consitute the "Right Answer".
Should you ignore the NOW undesired, but still very good answers? NO! Acknowledge that those formerly right answers are STILL right-ish. Provide encouragement and appreciation-- pet, praise, get excited. Use your dog's lower-value rewards.
The advice is that, gradually, you give less and less food. On some repetitions, even though the dog did the right thing, and you want to pay it with food, you just don't. You cheer, you celebrate, you pet, you massage, you allow access to other rewards, but you don't feed.
This is a hard thing for most pet owners to do. Their dog has done something, and they want to pay it. Which is a fantastic breakthrough from the old-school training days of NEVER feeding! Nothing wrong with that inclination.
And, it bears stating: If you can be committed to continuing your reward schedule of 100% -- go for it!! There is absolutely no reason for you to stop. There are too many people who are ashamed of using food to encourage their dog's behavior. Trust me, the general public doesn't give a rat's behind WHY your dog behaves--only that he DOES!
One way to continue to increase good behavior while decreasing food is to escalate criteria. This can be difficult for most owners to recognize at first. They are so excited that the dog complies at all that they can't imagine more!
Escalating criteria automatically tapers off the rewards, because your dog will not meet the new criteria 100% of the time.
What does "escalating criteria" mean?
"Criteria" means the precise behavior (usually multiple behaviors for beginng dogs) that earns the reward. The criteria can be thought of as the dog's "definition" of the behavior.
"Escalating criteria" is redefining the behavior, making it harder for the dog. It means you expect a teensy bit more than what you used to expect. You are making a new and more specific "right answer".
For example, you reward faster reponses -- ones within 2 seconds instead of 5. Stays are now with distraction. Or more tempting distraction. Or you only reward the down position if both rear feet are on the floor (Sphynx position), not if the hips roll over to the side. You reward ONLY recalls where the dog sprints as a response to your call, instead of any response at all.
Choosing correctly escalated criteria is what "separates the the men from the boys". Make it too hard, and the frustration is punishing. Make it too easy, and the boredom is punishing. Just to make it even more complicated--there is no one "recipe" of the right criteria for every dog!
However, choosing criteria that the dog gets right about 75% of the time is a good place to start. This is, however, just a suggested rule of thumb! No magic. If you and your dog have the patience and drive to attempt something the dog only gets right 10% of the time, it doesn't mean it's wrong. However, choosing criteria that keep a high success rate (high rate of reward) will keep your and your dog's interest and enthusiasm high.
Once you have chosen your new criteria, you STOP food-rewarding anything that does not meet that new, exact definition. It is important to note that this failure to provide an anticipated reward could be called "negative punishment" by your dog. This negative punishment is what conveys the idea that the lesser responses no longer consitute the "Right Answer".
Should you ignore the NOW undesired, but still very good answers? NO! Acknowledge that those formerly right answers are STILL right-ish. Provide encouragement and appreciation-- pet, praise, get excited. Use your dog's lower-value rewards.
How to Stop GOOD Behavior?
I recently read a fantastic explanation of a commonly recommended, but highly counter-intuitive approach to diminishing unwanted behavior at http://aspergersexpert.blogspot.com.
The approach is simple. There are three steps.
STEP 1: When your pupil (dog or child) engages in deliberate, undesirable, self-rewarding behavior -- reward it. Every time. Heavily.
WHAT?!? Reward BAD behavior???
Yes, reward a bad behavior that is BOTH deliberate and self-rewarding (this is where a professional diagnosis is highly recommended).
When this idea is applied to dog brains, you can put the behavior on command by giving a cue for it (such as JUMP or SPEAK).
STEP 2: Repeat. Establish the idea that this behavior will receive a reward 100% of the time, in addition to "just feeling so right."
The amount of time necessary for this approach to work is likely to vary by individual.
STEP 3: STOP all rewards. Cold turkey.
This works, if used on the right behaviors, and if the reward is given 100% of the time.
Dog trainers like to believe that by putting it on cue and never issuing the cue, that your compliant dog will never engage in the behavior. I do not agree with this explanation. The kind of dogs who engage in the behaviors to which this approach is best suited are generally not in a good, willing compliance relationship with their owners.
The explanation given by the author of the Asperger's Expert blog is that the accompanying frustration associated with unmet expectations functions as a punisher. That the behavior no longer feels as SUPER-right as it did when there was the added reward PLUS the initial self-rewarding nature of the behavior.
This is an explanation that makes sense to me.
Now, what's all this about stopping good behavior? One of the very real problems with "positive" training is the real-world application. Owners get gung-ho about the first few weeks of puppy training. Some behaviors are getting 100% rewards -- every sit, every down, every everything. And that is fantastic! Nothing wrong with that.
Then, the real world reality -- something interferes with this 100% schedule. They run out of treats. The dog gets sick. The vet puts the dog on a special diet.
So the dog is slammed from 100% reinforcement schedule to 0% reinforcement schedule. Which, as we see above, is a great way to STOP good behavior.
The approach is simple. There are three steps.
STEP 1: When your pupil (dog or child) engages in deliberate, undesirable, self-rewarding behavior -- reward it. Every time. Heavily.
WHAT?!? Reward BAD behavior???
Yes, reward a bad behavior that is BOTH deliberate and self-rewarding (this is where a professional diagnosis is highly recommended).
When this idea is applied to dog brains, you can put the behavior on command by giving a cue for it (such as JUMP or SPEAK).
STEP 2: Repeat. Establish the idea that this behavior will receive a reward 100% of the time, in addition to "just feeling so right."
The amount of time necessary for this approach to work is likely to vary by individual.
STEP 3: STOP all rewards. Cold turkey.
This works, if used on the right behaviors, and if the reward is given 100% of the time.
Dog trainers like to believe that by putting it on cue and never issuing the cue, that your compliant dog will never engage in the behavior. I do not agree with this explanation. The kind of dogs who engage in the behaviors to which this approach is best suited are generally not in a good, willing compliance relationship with their owners.
The explanation given by the author of the Asperger's Expert blog is that the accompanying frustration associated with unmet expectations functions as a punisher. That the behavior no longer feels as SUPER-right as it did when there was the added reward PLUS the initial self-rewarding nature of the behavior.
This is an explanation that makes sense to me.
Now, what's all this about stopping good behavior? One of the very real problems with "positive" training is the real-world application. Owners get gung-ho about the first few weeks of puppy training. Some behaviors are getting 100% rewards -- every sit, every down, every everything. And that is fantastic! Nothing wrong with that.
Then, the real world reality -- something interferes with this 100% schedule. They run out of treats. The dog gets sick. The vet puts the dog on a special diet.
So the dog is slammed from 100% reinforcement schedule to 0% reinforcement schedule. Which, as we see above, is a great way to STOP good behavior.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Invisible Fences are NOT COOL
I have encounter dogs who are... unfazed by the electric shock given by invisible collars, but I can't honestly say I've met a single one who was unaffected. The added stress of such extreme positive punishment or so many less extreme positive punishments is perceived by the dog as at least moderate levels, if not extreme.
Invisible fence collared dogs tend to be very hyper, at best, and very prone to aggression, at worst.
Some dogs will even use aggression to keep owners &/or guests from being bitten by the bad thing that is out there.
They fail to physically prevent the dog's access to danger.
They expose the dog to the danger posed by other dogs who are now reacting to your e-collared dog who has learned that other dogs "bite" when you approach them.
Dogs who receive a warning tone end up reacting to the warning tone in exactly the same way as they do to the HIGHEST LEVEL of shock ever experienced. The warning tone is actually MORE stressful than collars that increase in shock intensity.
Is it the shock alone? I don't think so. I've actually seen dogs trained on remote collars who act completely normal. Granted, these are high-drive dogs in the hands of a trainer with precise timing receiving a consistent message in extremely rewarding environments where they have a pretty good idea of what is expected of them already.
What is it that makes invisible fences so effective at creating problems?
Today's incident with Lila was absolutely typical. A not-so-new dog on a fairly new fence. I guess around 18 month old-- intact black Labrador male. Sees Lila. Lila, though spayed since 6 mos, literally drives male dogs insane. (Dogs really do resemble their owners! Well, I drive the boys crazy... not the spaying part.)
Runs to check out the Hot Chick Dog. On his way, she BITES him! From a distance! (collar zap, for our sleepy readers) Well, distance biting is FIGHTING WORDS. He runs at Lila making sounds and quick movements like he wishes to eat her. (This terrifies my mother, who said her adrenaline shot through the roof.)
Lila is a very well-socialized dog. Extremely. When we are at an off-leash park, and I am ready to leave, I would say she is OVERLY social. No matter what kind of nut job she meets, she "talks it out".
In today's interaction (which many owners would be inclined to describe as an "attack"), she stands stock still at 90 degrees to the other dog's loud and maniacal approach. She lifts her head to say "No, you're not going to bite me", and gives a warning growl. She slowly lowers her head, telegraphing her intention to sniff the other dog's butt "Is this ok with you?" He says, "No. Sniff my face." and shoves his face to hers. She repeats the intention to butt sniff. Now that she's older, there's a bit of pee-fighting. (Just a slight "piss on your bad attitude"?) There is more sniffing, and thoughts from the male of mounting, which between my body language (angle of approach and a few well-timed pokes) and Lila's dirty, disdaining looks (she is very proper), he gets the message "That's a no-go, crazy pants." She says "Let's just be friends instead." Finally there is a butt-sniffing circle. This is highly desirable, and on the way to working it out. There is a reversal of direction to the doggy-handshake-butt-sniffing circle. We've changed from challenge to working it out. (It can go the other way, too. Reversal of circling direction is very communicative.) Sniffing ensues. She takes a short sprint away with her tail held at a crazy angle which invites him to play. I curse my short leash 6' instead of my 26' retractable, which is fantastic for controlled romps with crazy dogs. We've worked it out.
Why was it so critical for us to stay and work it out? Couldn't we have just walked past?
Round 2. A few hours later.
On this round, he knew she was nice. So when he got nailed by the collar again on his way out of the yard, well, he learned that it was worth it. Just a quick flash of pain, and then --freedom and sexy romps with the hot grey Lab chick! "Totally worth it," I hear him say in a 15 year old voice.
His owners, trying to be responsible, realize in short order that he is loose. They call him back into the yard -- while they are standing INSIDE the fence. Poor great doofus charges back to them, yipes as he hits the fence, and continues into the house. NOW he has learned that listening to COME takes away the hot female & freedom, gets him bitten again, and then he ends up in confinement. I don't think you have to be a pro to guess what effect this is going to have.
Why do people use them?
Sadly, I think it is with good intentions. It makes them feel good. They can give their dog more freedom. They are protecting the dog from traffic. And, let's face it, these things are well-marketed, and cheap and easy compared to a fence.
Unfortunately, they believe the hype, and they discredit the concerns of folks like me because sometimes, they DO work. Or they appear to work. A mild-mannered dog is not highly motivated to leave the yard in the first place, and a highly aversive punishment definitely keeps the dog in the yard.
And that's their goal. No matter what the cost to the dog, or what side effects it causes, they will only turn their tunnel vision towards keeping the dog in the yard.
Even when the fence fails, the frustration they feel makes the dog's pain seem acceptable. At least they didn't hit him. At least he "learned a lesson" (of course, which one is it??). They truly believe that their dog is just slow, and that it will just take more pain and more loose running in the neighborhood for the dog to learn to stay in the yard.
I admire their optimism, and stalwart resistance to being confused with facts.
Invisible fence collared dogs tend to be very hyper, at best, and very prone to aggression, at worst.
Some dogs will even use aggression to keep owners &/or guests from being bitten by the bad thing that is out there.
They fail to physically prevent the dog's access to danger.
They expose the dog to the danger posed by other dogs who are now reacting to your e-collared dog who has learned that other dogs "bite" when you approach them.
Dogs who receive a warning tone end up reacting to the warning tone in exactly the same way as they do to the HIGHEST LEVEL of shock ever experienced. The warning tone is actually MORE stressful than collars that increase in shock intensity.
Is it the shock alone? I don't think so. I've actually seen dogs trained on remote collars who act completely normal. Granted, these are high-drive dogs in the hands of a trainer with precise timing receiving a consistent message in extremely rewarding environments where they have a pretty good idea of what is expected of them already.
What is it that makes invisible fences so effective at creating problems?
Today's incident with Lila was absolutely typical. A not-so-new dog on a fairly new fence. I guess around 18 month old-- intact black Labrador male. Sees Lila. Lila, though spayed since 6 mos, literally drives male dogs insane. (Dogs really do resemble their owners! Well, I drive the boys crazy... not the spaying part.)
Runs to check out the Hot Chick Dog. On his way, she BITES him! From a distance! (collar zap, for our sleepy readers) Well, distance biting is FIGHTING WORDS. He runs at Lila making sounds and quick movements like he wishes to eat her. (This terrifies my mother, who said her adrenaline shot through the roof.)
Lila is a very well-socialized dog. Extremely. When we are at an off-leash park, and I am ready to leave, I would say she is OVERLY social. No matter what kind of nut job she meets, she "talks it out".
In today's interaction (which many owners would be inclined to describe as an "attack"), she stands stock still at 90 degrees to the other dog's loud and maniacal approach. She lifts her head to say "No, you're not going to bite me", and gives a warning growl. She slowly lowers her head, telegraphing her intention to sniff the other dog's butt "Is this ok with you?" He says, "No. Sniff my face." and shoves his face to hers. She repeats the intention to butt sniff. Now that she's older, there's a bit of pee-fighting. (Just a slight "piss on your bad attitude"?) There is more sniffing, and thoughts from the male of mounting, which between my body language (angle of approach and a few well-timed pokes) and Lila's dirty, disdaining looks (she is very proper), he gets the message "That's a no-go, crazy pants." She says "Let's just be friends instead." Finally there is a butt-sniffing circle. This is highly desirable, and on the way to working it out. There is a reversal of direction to the doggy-handshake-butt-sniffing circle. We've changed from challenge to working it out. (It can go the other way, too. Reversal of circling direction is very communicative.) Sniffing ensues. She takes a short sprint away with her tail held at a crazy angle which invites him to play. I curse my short leash 6' instead of my 26' retractable, which is fantastic for controlled romps with crazy dogs. We've worked it out.
Why was it so critical for us to stay and work it out? Couldn't we have just walked past?
Round 2. A few hours later.
On this round, he knew she was nice. So when he got nailed by the collar again on his way out of the yard, well, he learned that it was worth it. Just a quick flash of pain, and then --freedom and sexy romps with the hot grey Lab chick! "Totally worth it," I hear him say in a 15 year old voice.
His owners, trying to be responsible, realize in short order that he is loose. They call him back into the yard -- while they are standing INSIDE the fence. Poor great doofus charges back to them, yipes as he hits the fence, and continues into the house. NOW he has learned that listening to COME takes away the hot female & freedom, gets him bitten again, and then he ends up in confinement. I don't think you have to be a pro to guess what effect this is going to have.
Why do people use them?
Sadly, I think it is with good intentions. It makes them feel good. They can give their dog more freedom. They are protecting the dog from traffic. And, let's face it, these things are well-marketed, and cheap and easy compared to a fence.
Unfortunately, they believe the hype, and they discredit the concerns of folks like me because sometimes, they DO work. Or they appear to work. A mild-mannered dog is not highly motivated to leave the yard in the first place, and a highly aversive punishment definitely keeps the dog in the yard.
And that's their goal. No matter what the cost to the dog, or what side effects it causes, they will only turn their tunnel vision towards keeping the dog in the yard.
Even when the fence fails, the frustration they feel makes the dog's pain seem acceptable. At least they didn't hit him. At least he "learned a lesson" (of course, which one is it??). They truly believe that their dog is just slow, and that it will just take more pain and more loose running in the neighborhood for the dog to learn to stay in the yard.
I admire their optimism, and stalwart resistance to being confused with facts.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Monash Canine Personality Questionnaire
(Title links to article.)
"Extroversion"= energetic & bouncy “hyperactive” to “eager” to “quiet”
"Neuroticism"= nervousness, sensitivity and caution, combined with curiosity
Similar but not identical to human neuroticism. Canine neurosis, unlike the human version which mainly consists of anxiety, may be related to that of hyenas.“Perhaps a combination of fearfulness and curiosity represents a single factor in the dog but contributes to two separate factors in humans . . . further research will be required to determine the exact components of ‘neuroticism’ in dogs,” says the study.
"Amicability"= happy-go-lucky or gentle
different from friendliness in humans “lacked the altruism qualities commonly found in human studies
"Training Focus"= characteristics selectively bred by humans, such as the ability to follow a scent or retrieve a bird
"Self-assurance"= assertiveness, dominance and comfort in its surroundings.
"Extroversion"= energetic & bouncy “hyperactive” to “eager” to “quiet”
"Neuroticism"= nervousness, sensitivity and caution, combined with curiosity
Similar but not identical to human neuroticism. Canine neurosis, unlike the human version which mainly consists of anxiety, may be related to that of hyenas.“Perhaps a combination of fearfulness and curiosity represents a single factor in the dog but contributes to two separate factors in humans . . . further research will be required to determine the exact components of ‘neuroticism’ in dogs,” says the study.
"Amicability"= happy-go-lucky or gentle
different from friendliness in humans “lacked the altruism qualities commonly found in human studies
"Training Focus"= characteristics selectively bred by humans, such as the ability to follow a scent or retrieve a bird
"Self-assurance"= assertiveness, dominance and comfort in its surroundings.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)