Many of you know I've been sick for a while. Unfortunately, the medicine I was on was an antidepressant that had the side effect of helping my ailment. Good for my headaches, but it made me very unmotivated. So one of the things to suffer was the Mudd Puppies Blog. I'm off the meds and trying to play catch up now. Hopefully I can get back to my schedule of every two weeks to a month. But, enough about that.
Well, a couple of things have gotten me thinking. If you read this blog regularly, you know last October I received my Dog Training Certificate from Companion Animals Sciences Institute (CASI). Since then I have been assisting at the Columbia Canine Sports Center (CCSC). I have the book learnin', now it's time to get the hands on experience.
Last week I sat through the orientation for students as a refresher and to get my next "assignment" for the next session with CCSC. I spoke with Kathy and Ginger after orientation and was surprised when they asked if I wanted to teach a class. After I was able to collect myself I told them I just needed a little time to get a lesson plan together but I'd be willing to give it a try. Truth be told, I'm very excited and very nervous about this, but I've started working on a lesson plan for a puppy class and basic obedience class and believe I'll be teaching next session.
What will be taught is the easy part. What I'm struggling with is the class discussions. I have so much information running around in my head from what I learned with CASI, blogs I read, videos I watch, journals I read, and other trainers I talk to. Not only am I trying to decide what to include, but how to keep it short, concise, and in a way that the students will retain the information.
The thing I've been thinking about the most is training methods. Not what method/s I intend to teach, but how I'll answer if someone asks when they should alpha roll their dog or what to do when their dog tries to dominate them. I saw a video the other day of a trainer touting the virtues of shock collars. These have many different names, but let's call them what they are. I was appalled that this trainer's (I wish I could remember his name, but I tried to erase it from my memory) technique was to slap a shock collar on a dog and call it training. The dogs are trained. A behavior is evoked in the presence of a stimuli, but where's the fun in that for anyone?
I have to wonder why some people get dogs. What's the point if the relationship is a constant struggle. I don't want to spend my time disciplining my dogs. I'd rather have a relationship with a dog who can think for himself and has learned how to make the right decision. I'd rather have a dog that looks to me for the right thing to do, not a dog that cowers because they aren't sure what to do.
I read and hear a lot of people say that dominance is the only thing that works on "red zone cases," but this is absolutely not the case. Most of the cases behaviorists see are aggression cases. The behaviorists I follow have been dealing with "red zone" cases longer than some tv personalities have been alive with as good or better rate of success. Most aggression in dogs stems from fear or insecurity. So first of all, what good is going to come from making a fear aggressive dog fear you? Second, if a fear aggressive dog is fearful, what is the natural response going to be except to protect himself. And third, if you use aversives to train a dog, if he doesn't totally shut down, or even if he does, there is the risk that eventually he will try to protect himself by aggressing. Why risk it when other, less aversive techniques are proven to work?
I personally don't believe you can be an all positive reinforcement trainer. It says to me that a dog can do no wrong or you totally ignore any inappropriate behavior. I would certainly not just sit and watch if one of my dogs raised his leg on the coffee table, for example. I also accept the fact that I use positive punishment - introducing a stimuli to lessen the frequency of a behavior. When I say "no" I've added a stimuli - the word - to lessen the frequency of a behavior - peeing on the coffee table. The most important thing is to use the "least intrusive effective behavior intervention" as James O'Heare calls it.
Why alpha roll your dog if he nips you when a sharp, quick cry of mock pain can teach him bite inhibition? Why use a shock collar to train your dog to sit when using a treat that can be faded can be used to lure him into position and he will learn to enjoy it? Why use aversives to teach an aggressive dog not to be aggressive when you can change the behavior instead of suppressing it by desensitizing him?
One of the things to look for in a trainer is their technique. I see a lot of trainers say positive reinforcement doesn't work, but shock collars do, choke chains do, or whatever method. Any training technique can work as defined above. The thing to remember is it's not an either/or decision.
Positive reinforcement can be clicker training, or target training for example. But you may also incorporate negative punishment - removing a stimuli to decrease the frequency of a behavior. An example of this might be turning your back to a dog - removing your attention - and crossing your arms when a dog jumps up on you. When searching for a trainer, remember that positive reinforcement is not a training method, it defines the method. Likewise, a clicker trainer, although this is my preferred method, may narrow their technique to the point of excluding any other possibilities. A trainer needs to be open to any technique that can work best for each individual dog while remembering to use the least intrusive effective behavior intervention possible.
Before choosing a trainer, find out what they mean by "all positive trainer" or "balanced trainer" or even "clicker trainer." The answer should be that your dog is going to enjoy the training as much as you do.
I want to leave you with two links.
This is another take on choosing a trainer:
http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/when-choosing-dog-trainer-buyer-beware
This is a great example on how to train a dog with an aggression problem:
http://drsophiayin.com/resources/video_full/counter-conditioning_a_dog_to_blowing_in_face
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