Why is the message not getting through?
"How do I make myself the alpha?" "I need to show my dog who's boss." "If I don't use a [choke, prong, shock] collar I can't control my dog." I hear things like this all the time, despite the fact that there is scientific evidence that says positive reinforcement-based techniques work, and work best! So why do people still rely on these outdated methods? Why is the message not getting through? One answer is Cesar Milan and his various shows that can be found on television. They have been hugely popular over the years and, I admit, I used to be a fan. That is until I learned better. Following are excerpts from a trade publication: "Believing that one must dominate one's dog, combined with an absence of understanding for the dog's capacity to think, feel, and learn can lead to the belief that aversive techniques are appropriate, perhaps needed. Trainers who use and advocate these techniques believe that they are applying the latest scientifically based knowledge about dog behavior when they emphasize that the human needs to be a 'strong leader' as justification for the use of shock collars, prong collars, and even hanging by a lead. this is the old paradigm: The human must teach the dog that the human is the alpha, and being the alpha means meting out rewards and punishments." "One reason that old training methods based on dominance persist is that they seem to work. They do product behavioral compliance. As long as people believed that dogs were dumb mute creatures with no capacity for awareness, thought, or feeling, compliance seemed a reasonable goal. As long as one cannot discriminate between compliant behaviors motivated by fear and those motivated by a desire to please, by the presence of a reciprocal relationship, the old paradigm seems to work well." "But the reliance on dominance and aversive techniques shows the influence of that old paradigm. It dates from a time when dogs were seen as bundles of reflexes and habits. It dates from a time when there was no guidance for dog trainers or dog owners from scientists. It dates from a time before we knew that dogs are cognitively and emotionally complex animals." "The alpha dog concept is actually more about cooperation, with a leader who has more knowledge about the world, and more experience. For pet dogs, the human makes the plans. It's not the same as dominance. It's collaboration, even if it's asymmetric. The concept of family is often disregarded - working together for the benefit of the family." As for the use of aversive techniques, Dr. Karen Overall, VMD, PhD, of the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, writes, "It is often claimed that clients find that the dog [as a result of aversive techniques] becomes 'obedient.' Obedient dogs can be quite distressed, and suffer from profound anxiety while complying with a request." Overall refers to studies that found that choke collars can lead to eye problems, that both choke and prong collars can cause "neck instability, degenerative arthritis, and recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis," and that training with shock produces "untoward, negative, long-term effects." So back to my original question. Why isn't the message that positive reinforcement-based methods are the best for training dogs? "First, change is difficult. How long did it take Copernicus to convince people that the Earth was not at the center of the solar system? The old methods have been around a long time; people are used to them. The information needed to rethink one's beliefs is not always accessible. Second, the negative consequences of trying to dominate one's dog and of using techniques like the alpha roll or so called 'training tools' like prong collars or shock collars may not be apparent right away, and may not be apparent at all if one is looking only at compliance and obedience. They seem to 'work.' The third reason, one that is perhaps less obvious and more unfortunate, is that there may be some, often unconscious, pleasure in subjugating another being to one's control. It is easy to justify using strong, even harsh measures to do this. Finally, dog training that incorporates new findings is in some ways more difficult, even though the results can be wonderfully rewarding. We want everything at the push of a button. People don't want to invest the time. If you want a friend, you have to invest the energy to have a friend." So, if you are still using aversive methods or dominance style training I want you to look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself "why?" And answer honestly. Obviously by being a dog trainer I have access to professional and scientific journals that dog owners don't read, but that doesn't mean there aren't great books, articles, and videos out there that promote positive reinforcement-based methods. I'd be happy to recommend some. Just ask! What does it take to train a dog? That depends on what you want the end result to be. Just want a dog that will sit, lie down, and give a paw shake when cued? That may take 3, ten minute sessions per day for a week or so to teach such basic behaviors. More complicated behaviors or tricks may take several weeks, or even months, to perfect. But a few things are sure: it takes time, commitment, and patience to train a dog and, for us, that was put to the test last night. Over the past 30 years I have lived with three dogs that were fearful of thunder storms, and two of them were storm phobic. The difference? For some people or animals, fear may be a normal reaction to a storm, whereas a person or animal that is storm phobic has an irrational fear of things they may relate to a storm such as loud noises, flashing light, or heavy rain or wind. When I was a young adult we had a beautiful Doberman Pinscher that had a terrible storm phobia. It became so bad that she became destructive when she would hear any loud noise, and my parents resorted to euthanizing her to put her out of her misery. Unfortunately we didn't know any better at the time. Fast forward to today and one of our current dogs, Ash, is storm phobic. Because we have had so many thunder storms lately she is afraid to even go outside at night. But with recent advances in the study of dog behavior science has found that behaviors such as this can be changed through systematic desensitization and counterconditioning (D&CC). Our other dog, Chase, is not currently storm phobic, and is not really even afraid of a normal thunder storm. But last night's storm was anything but normal. Around 3:30 AM I felt a lick on my arm. It was Ash, and I knew that wasn't good. Then I saw some lightening. Ash laid by the bed as I waited to see if the storm would quickly pass. What Ash really wanted was to go down to her safe haven, the basement. After it was apparent this one was going to last I got up and put her Thundershirt on her and opened the basement door. Now, Ash's storm phobia is so deeply rooted she will never be cured. What we do now is just treat her so things don't get worse. If the storm is not a bad one we will try to desensitize and countercondition her, as she will take food if she is not too stressed. But if it's a bad one, like last night, we just try to keep her comfortable by giving her access to the basement, with the lights and radio on to help drown out the lightening and thunder. With Chase, however, we always take the opportunity to desensitize him from storms. As I mentioned previously, Chase is not afraid of storms, and we want to keep it that way. When one pops up we will get out some string cheese and every time there is a flash or rumble the cheese will rain down, so he associates the storm with something good (food). But last night's was no normal storm. It was a doozy! So, from 3:30 until about 5:00 AM, there I sat with our string cheese, dropping bits of it for every flash and rumble. And boy, were there a lot! We went through nearly three pieces of string cheese. There were several times when we both jumped at the sight of a flash or the sound of a boom, but Chase didn't leave my side and readily ate the cheese that seemingly never stopped dropping to the floor. In between the really bad ones his tail would wag in anticipation of getting more treats. Finally the storm subsided, Ash appeared from the basement, and she and Chase traded appeasing licks. We all went to bed and eventually drifted off to sleep. Another storm survived. Yes, it takes time, commitment, and patience to train a dog. And to get the results you want you may have to do it at 3:30 in the morning. I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better. They fight for honor at the first challenge, make love with no moral restraint, and they do not for all their marvelous instincts appear to know about death. Being such wonderfully uncomplicated beings, they need us to do their worrying. - George Bird Evans Our baby-proofing training ended today with teaching Aston & Reilly how to Stay and Go to Spot. By doing so their owners can direct them to a certain place and have them stay there until released.
Clara learned Heel and Loose Leash Walking tonight. She did so well in her neighborhood that we decided to take her to a park where there were people, kids, and dogs. After initial excitement she did very well meeting all the strangers. Good job Clara!
A better night with Sammy. He seemed happy to see me and allowed me to pet him while I fed him treats. Because things were going so well we worked on desensitizing him to the stapler (the noise scares him) and he did really well.
Lexi already does some things very well - Sit, Leave It, Come When Called - but there are other important cues that she does not know, such as Down. Lexi is very high energy and is easily distracted, which made teaching Down a challenge. But by the end of the night she was doing it from both a verbal and visual cue.
"A dog will teach you unconditional love. If you can have that in your life, things won't be too bad." - Robert Wagner Clara learned recall games to teach her how to reliably Come When Called. She did extremely well. She is also jumping less and is starting to offer a sit automatically, which is awesome!
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AuthorJeff Dentler, CPDT-KA, IAABC-ADT, FFCP, CTDI Archives
April 2024
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