There are those that believe a horse is a horse of course. I beg to differ, as what I learned and what I lost have proven that things are not always as they appear.

I have always thought that angels come to earth in many forms. In this case, one arrived in the form of a miraculous horse named Lumis (pronounced Loomis). This was a special angel and he really should have been in the body of a Clydesdale horse to accommodate the size of his soul and his heart. But here he was, neatly packed into a compact and sturdy little equine.

Lumis arrived to us as a boarder for our little barn, and over the next several years he became my counselor, my friend and my biggest concern. I don’t know why I worried about him so much but there was something about that little guy that drew me to look after him like an over-protective hen.Why that was became painfully clear in time.

When I was sad or not feeling well, it was the middle stall in the barn where I found myself seeking comfort. He would rest his head on my shoulder, I would lean my ear against his warm, solid neck and we would stand together in thoughtful silence. He was like a sponge. He absorbed my sadness and that feeling of un-wellness would be gone almost instantly. For me, it was an over-the-counter prescription that worked in minutes.

Lumis was also known for his sense of humour and outrageous social skills. He loved visitors and was a source of amusement for people with his habit of relaxing with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. He liked being invited into our workshop and would often knock his foot gently on the door to get attention. Being IN the shop was not the greatest idea as the painted floor did not mix well with polished iron shoes. I envisioned a scene from Looney Tunes with said horse splayed in four directions while destroying all contents in the shop as he tried to get his legs gathered under him. However, Lumis was a steady, thoughtful steed and he always managed to back out the same way he came in without turning himself into a floor polisher.

He was also a friend to other animals. Dusty, our 17 year old, almost blind, cat was his best friend. I would often find her in the barn, lying and purring happily between his front legs. His head would hang down just touching the top of hers and the two of them would look very content. When I first discovered this, my heart leapt to my throat, sure there would be a nasty flattening of cat. However they both protested loudly when I tried to snatch her away to safety. He was extremely gentle and always kept an eye on where she was. When Lumis moved away from our barn, Dusty mourned sadly outside his stall for days.

 I made it a habit to treat him to a specially made molasses horse cookie every night at bedtime. He was uncharacteristically frantic in his need to have that cookie and waited very impatiently for the evening chores to be done so that anticipated moment in his day would finally come – cookie time. He savoured that cookie like a connoisseur savours a $300 dollar bottle of fine wine. The look of ecstasy followed by a tiny bit of embarrassing drool and then a thorough licking of my barn jacket was Lumis’ way of thanking me for yet another wonderful daily experience.

A gentle, loving soul adopted Lumis a few months ago and when I went to visit him at Christmas, he was surrounded by other horse friends and he seemed very happy. I brought an entire molasses cake so he could share with his barn-mates. I wish now that I had spent more time with Lumis on that visit. Less than a month later, he had a very sad and unfortunate accident and he left this world, leaving a huge void in everyone’s hearts.

Lumis’ new owner was in shock and devastated at losing this loving companion and her decision was to honour him in death as he honoured us in life – with love and a proper send-off. On a cool Saturday afternoon, Lumis was laid to rest in a sunny corner of the paddock, surrounded by people who loved him, and a wonderful Shaman led the service. I had never been to a “horse funeral” so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What happened at that service changed us all forever.

The weather was cool but the sun was shining. It was quiet except for a breeze that stirred the branches in the cedars above us. As the Shaman placed the four classical elements of earth, fire, water and air around Lumis’ resting spot, the trees began to rustle as the breeze turned to a wind, bending the boughs and spinning the grass and earth from the grave in circles around us. Pellets of snow began to fall. My heart was hammering in my chest as I looked up at the sky to see it turn to a fantastical, ever-changing kaleidoscope of colour. I was holding my breath and my hands were clasped over my heart as I felt that knot of pain and loss twist again in my stomach.

And then my little space in which I was standing seemed to fall quiet within that storm of emotions and weather. I sensed a subtle movement near my left shoulder and as I turned my head, I inhaled a wonderful aroma that was so familiar. It was the warm, sweet smell of Lumis’ breath as he blew gentle encouragement against my cheek. I could feel his solid strength standing behind me and that feeling of peace returned that I used to have when he and I would stand together in the barn. My friend and counselor, Lumis the sponge, had come to absorb my sadness one more time.

As I looked around the circle, I could see that many were experiencing the same profound moment. Lumis was here – his spirit had made itself known to us as the wind carried his soul to that forever place where he can run free for all time.

Lumis – always the caregiver, quietly assuming his role, whereas people tend to insist that others know what they do. He needed no accolades for what he was. My role had never been to look after him in the way I thought I was supposed to. He was there to look after me and countless others. His contribution to us was huge. It was his time to go and maybe he’ll be back some day. Maybe not in the same form, but I’ll know him when I meet him. You can never forget meeting an angel. I miss you Lumis.

 Photo Credits

All photos by Wanda Lambeth

A horse in the sun casts the shadow of an angel.

That relaxed habit of tongue dangling always made people smile.

Please may I come in?

A Wind To Carry His Soul is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Is your dog “dominant” or willing to submit?  Could you be living with a dog determined to take over and control your household?  Dog Trainer Eric Brad looks as his own dog to see if the “warning signs” described by so many web sites could mean his dog is a tyrant in the making!

This week as I was surfing the web I ran across one of the many articles on how to determine if your dog is “dominant.”  Those of you who regularly read my writings know how I feel about the whole notion of dogs attempting to “dominate” their owners.  Those who may be new to my writings on dogs and dog training may want to read my previous articles The Myth of Alpha Dogs or Blunt Force Trauma – Canine Reality to get an idea of where I stand on the issue.  So as I read through this particular web page my reaction went from the usual eye-rolling to amusement.

I thought it might be interesting for me to share with you my assessment of my dog, Tiramisu, as I went through the description I found on the web page.  What always strikes me as interesting is the “warning” tone these articles present.  Here we have, in the dog, an animal specifically bred to be cooperative with humans.  Centuries of selective breeding have, presumably, produced the most compatible animal for working in human societies of all types.  And yet, somehow, articles like the one I ran across caution me to look out for signs of “dominance” in case my adorable companion should suddenly morph into a diabolically clever wild animal bent on controlling every aspect of my life.

The “Warning” Signs and Stuff

I suppose I should explain that I’m not including the author or address of the website where I got these warning signs.  The reason for this is simple.  You could just type “dominant dog” in your favorite search engine and you will come up with at least 50 articles that will tell you the same things I found on this particular site.  It seems that many dog trainers and dog training professionals are keenly interested in identifying your “dominant” dog for you.  I’m guessing that’s because they would be happy to help you with your “dominant” dog before something “bad” happens – for a fee, of course.

So let’s see how my dog stacks up against these “warning signs” of dominance that I encountered:

Protectiveness of possessions (to include toys, food, and even people); snarling and snapping when the dog feels someone or another dog is too close to his things. - The books I’ve read about dogs and behaviour have a term for this.  They call it “resource guarding.”  It’s how a dog lets a person or other dog know that this thing is “Mine!” and you can’t have it right now.  Since dogs are evolved scavengers, it’s no surprise that they would want to horde their resources unless they had easy access to more anytime they wanted.  So will my Tira snarl or snap if you try to snatch something away from her?  You bet!  And she regularly warns our other dog, Rizzo, when he makes a move for something she wants to keep.  But here’s the thing.  That’s not only natural, it’s the correct response!  You would be a little snarky if someone just walked up and took your brownie out of your hand.

But we also train our dogs.  Can I take anything away from Tira?  Yes.  Even food or something she really wants?  Yes.  We train two very specific commands – “Drop” and “Leave it” for just such occasions.  We train both with reinforcement.  ”Drop” what’s in your mouth and you will either get it back or get rewarded with something better for dropping what you have 80-90% of the time.  The same is true for “Leave it”; if you back off of the object when we ask you to, you will likely get a good reward for cooperating.

Tries to stare your down – As I sit here writing this, Tira is looking at me from across the room.  She’s lying comfortably on the love seat and looking at me.  We make eye contact and she doesn’t necessarily look away to avoid my eyes.  Is this a staring contest?  Is it a battle of wills?  Hardly.  You see, Tira has been reinforced hundreds of times for looking at me.  It’s a behaviour we deliberately trained.  Why?  Because I will need her undivided attention from time to time.  I could just as easily train her to look away from me when I look at her but that isn’t nearly as useful.

Repeatedly ignores well-known commands/Refuses to move out of the way when you ask – Tira is a pretty well trained dog, I think.  She responds reasonably well to cues I give her in most situations.  She is, after all, a champion in the sport of Dog Agility.  But there are times when situations or environments are more distracting and there are things that are much more interesting to her than I am.  So I may have to repeat a cue several times before getting a response, if I even get one at all in high distraction environments.  And Belgian Shepherds are notorious for being right where you want to be when you want to be there.  It seems I frequently have to ask her to move out of the way.  And sometimes she’s looking for something or is into a smell that she’s not willing to leave right away.  I’ve taught Tira to “backup” and she knows directional cues if I point in a direction and ask her to “go.”  Somehow, we work it out.  I ask for the easy stuff when it’s very distracting and I’m willing to get her attention with a tough or a quick “Hey!” if I need to get her attention.  Am I being dominated?  I doubt it.

Nudges or mouths you insisting to be petted or played with, trying to make you comply to his wants – My Tira has never particularly been an “attention hound” when it comes to physical affection.  But Rizzo, our younger dog, can be very insistent about what he wants.  He regularly ambushes either my wife or me by shoving a toy into the back of a leg and wrapping a paw around to solicit play.  Similarly, he has no problem walking under an outstretched hand or ducking under an arm for some affection.  Do we give it to him?  Sometimes.  Does he always get what he wants?  No.  Who makes that choice?  We, the humans, do.  Here’s another “dog secret” for you.  All dogs are trying to get what they want all of the time.  Most well behaved dogs have learned from experience that nudging, mouthing, or pestering will not get them what they want so they use the things that they have found do work.  The very things that we teach them to do in order to get that treat, or be let out, get some physical affection from us.  Dogs will nudge and mouth and pester if we show them that it works to get what they want.  So how is that my dog’s fault?

Persisting to walk in front of you or go out of a door before you – I don’t think I’ve ever known a time when Tira was not walking out at the very end of her leash when we went for walks.  In fact, when she was only 8 months old, she snapped a leather leash trying to see what was in the bushes ahead of us.  It’s for that reason that I use a harness instead of a collar on walks (prevents injuries to the throat) and I clip her leash to my waist rather than let her pull at my arm holding the leash.  Does she go out the door before I do sometimes?  Yes!  Know why?  Because she wants to GO OUTSIDE!  Not because she wants to show me who’s boss around here.  But if I pull her in on a short leash and if I ask her, Tira will walk nicely next to me.  And she will wait before rushing out of a door, in the house or in the car, if I ask her.  There’s that training thing again.

Being stubborn, hard-headed and willful, demanding, pushy, forceful, and greedy – Well, now…on this one they have me stumped.  How on earth would I know if my dog is “hard-headed” or “willful”?  Aren’t all of those subjective terms?  Couldn’t I say Tira was being pushy if she needed to out and I didn’t feel like getting out of bed on a cold morning?  Is she being “stubborn” if she refuses to walk near something she finds scary when I know it isn’t dangerous?  And frankly, I would have to say all dogs are “greedy” considering they are scavengers and opportunists.  But again, that’s my value judgement and nothing at all objective.

Am I In Trouble Here Or What?!?

So if I look at the criteria set out in this and other articles to determine whether my dog is exhibiting “dominant” behaviours I might have to conclude that I might be in trouble here.  After all, Tira exhibits many of these “warning signs” on an almost daily basis.  But I write this , Tira is lying on the floor across from me.  She alternates between dozing and looking out the window at the trees.  I’m confident in my belief that she is not secretly constructing clever and elaborate plans for the ultimate take over and running of our household.  

There is a theme that runs the many of my articles here at Life As A Human.  And that theme is simply that we need a better understanding of the dogs that are such an important part of our lives.  Getting that better understanding isn’t that difficult; the information we need is out there.  The real challenge is sorting the marketing and the hype from the facts.  And as I’ve said in other articles, only the dogs themselves can give us the facts.

In his book “The Gift Of Fear”, security expert Gavin de Becker makes the case that there is an entire industry that has built up around “fear” and selling ways to keep you safe from vaguely described but ominious threats.  Selling you on the idea that your dog is a wild animal, like the wolf, and that without professional help you may be in “dire trouble” with your dog is just one more way that people can take your money.  Trying to sort out dog behaviours into easily understood analogies of human motives and behaviour doesn’t do justice to either our dogs or our ability to work and live with them successfully.

Maybe it’s time we took these “warning signs of dominance” for what they really are – outdated and amusing attempts to make dog training and management far more heroic than it actually is.  I don’t control my dog, I work with her.  I don’t command my dog, I cue behaviours.  I’m not my dog’s “Pack Leader” because dogs are not pack animals.  I am my dogs guardian, a “parent” if you will.  And I take that responsibility pretty seriously.  In the end, my dogs and I are pretty happy together – up here on the sofa where I let Tira be as pushy as I want her to be.

Until next time, have fun with your dogs!

 Photo credits -
All photos copyright Petra Wingate 2006-2012 

My “Dominant” Dog and How I Cope is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

For his first column of 2012, Eric Brad challenges his readers to challenge what they think they know about dogs.  As the Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people believe.”  Our best source of information about dogs is the dogs themselves!  Perhaps it’s time to ask them and see what they say. 

A new year, for many people, means a new beginning.  It’s a chance to start over or move down a different path.  So I thought, since this is a time of new beginnings, that I would challenge my readers to try something throughout the coming year.  It’s simple and it sounds a little revolutionary but I know from experience it can be great fun.

My challenge to you is this:  Question conventional wisdom when it comes to dogs and training dog.   Many of us have been around dogs and training for most of our lives.  How much have you tested whatever “conventional wisdom” you’ve been working with?  My biggest breakthroughs in dog training have come when I’ve chosen to test what someone in authority told me to try.  Does it really work that way?  Are there other ways to get there?  What if I could get the behaviour a different way?

Open Minds Open Doors

There is an old saying that goes something like “If you want opinions about dogs, ask the dog trainers.  If you want the facts about dogs, ask the dogs!”  It was the process of questioning and watching my dogs for the answers that helped me get to a much greater understanding of their behaviour.  But in order to take that process seriously, I had to be prepared to discover that what I thought I knew was either partially or totally wrong.

As it turns out, not everything I thought I knew about dogs was wrong.  But a lot of it was.  And not taking that personally or struggling to prove myself “right” made the learning process a lot easier.  Letting go of outdated information is difficult if you don’t have some new information to help you make sense of things.  If my dog is not “dominant” and trying to become “pack leader”, what is it that is motivating her?  This is where a few books and websites with great information were critical in helping me change my viewpoint.

Consider The Source

 There are literally thousands of books out there on dogs and training.  But the few books I looked into when re-educating myself differed in one important aspect.  They relied on science and a scientific approach to support the claims they were making.  If I didn’t believe that my dog would respond as the books were telling me, all I had to do was test it for myself.  I would learn pretty quickly if the book was based on fact or opinion!

One of the things that helped me learn about my dogs was understanding that we cannot describe how they think in human terms.  We can’t do that because, well, they are not human!  All we have to go by is our dogs’ behaviour to show us what is going on and that can be a process of trying something and observing the results.  If that sounds very scientific, it is.

Eliminating the Unnecessary

It’s one thing to find something that works and be content with that.  It can be a  very different thing to keep looking at something until you not only know that it works but why it works.  Many of the most valuable books I found along the way do exactly that; they talk about the process of finding out exactly how and why a particular thing works with dogs.  The language of Behavioural Science provides a suitably precise glossary of terms to describe all training methods.  And the best sources I’ve found can use that framework to describe detailed and repeatable processes for modifying behaviour and communicating with our dogs.

One of the concepts I discovered in my reading was something called “Superstitious Learning.”  In dog training, this can mean the dog learns that something they are doing is earning a reward but it is not the behaviour we want.  An example would be the dog turning it’s head as it sits and being rewarded and then repeating the head turn each time with the sit.  We only wanted the sit but we got the head turn because of “superstitious learning.”  So one has to be careful what one rewards because you get what you pay for!

Interestingly this concept can work in reverse.  Sometimes it’s the trainer that does the “superstitious learning” by believing that one set of cues makes a behaviour work with their dog when it is really another.  The story I like to tell on myself is when I tried to get my dog Tira to spin in a circle without any visual cue.  One evening I proudly demonstrated my dog’s newly trained ability to spin on just a verbal cue.  My wife laughed and said “You’re flicking your head.”  What?!?  I made a conscious effort to keep my head stone still and repeated the cue.  Know what?  My dog stared at me as if she had never done the behaviour.  

Obviously I didn’t teach what I thought I had taught her.  We went back to the training room and eventually got it right.  If my wife hadn’t pointed my mistake out to me, I might have believed my dog was responding inconsistently if sometimes I flicked my head and other times I didn’t.  It might have been very easy for me to just assume my dog was being inconsistent instead of me.  Fortunately, by looking closer at the issue I discovered what was really going on and I could correct my own training.

Bottom Line It

So what am I saying here?  Test it out.  No more and no less.  If something is supposed to work with your dog, does it?  Does it work every time?  Does it work for the reasons they say it does?  What happens if you try it a different way?  When you look at what you’re supposed to do, does it make sense to you?  Doing something “that works” isn’t as useful as knowing why it works and being able to apply that principle to other situations.

Let me give you an example.  I once attended a class where the instructor wanted us to teach our dogs to side-step towards us on command.  The instructions were to hold the dogs leash behind my back and offer her a food treat just out of reach away from me.  I was then to step away from my dog being careful to both hold the treat out away from me out of reach and pull toward me with the leash while offering a verbal cue.  I shook my head.  Where was the dog supposed to learn the side-step?  I offer her a treat so she turns her head away and while she’s looking at it, I yank her sideways in the opposite direction?  I was assured that hundreds of dogs had been taught this way and it shouldn’t take more than a week or two to train.  Using a combination of behaviours I had already taught using clicker training, I taught my dog to side-step without the “yanking” method I was given.  And I did it in 10 minutes between my first and second turn in class.

Using Your Brain and Not Your Leash

Perhaps the best thing about learning to think differently about dog training has been the ability to be creative in how I approach teaching behaviours.  The highly reinforcing process of Mark and Reward training makes my dogs eager to try anything I come up with because chances are rewards will happen and certainly nothing bad can happen since we never mark errors.  The ability to go to books and websites helps a lot.  It can be great to see how another positive trainer approaches the problem of teaching a given behaviour.

There are many ways to train behaviours.  We should feel the freedom to explore them but only if our dog is willing.  If you are less focused on getting what you want and focus instead on seeing what happens, you and your dog can both learn something from training and no one has to feel stressed or frustrated.

And this goes for the well-worn cliches about dogs as well.  Does using treats make your dog a “food hound”?  I don’t know.  Try it for a week and see!  Does clicker training mean that your dog won’t perform the behaviours you train without the clicker present?  Learn how to do clicker training properly and see if that’s true.  Will letting your dog up on the sofa make them “dominant”?  Try it and see!  If you are like me, you might be surprised at how much of what you have always been told about dogs is just not true.

It can be quite an adventure for both you and your dog to go out and try new approaches to things.  So ask your questions, try your “what ifs”, and explore what’s possible with your dog.  It’s a new year and a new chance for new experiences and new discoveries.  It’s never too late for old dogs or old trainers.  I’m proof of that latter one!

Have a great 2012 and have fun with your dogs!

Photo credits - 

Happy New Year – Hackbits 2011
Cigar – shouldbecleaning 2006
Good dog – Sean Davis 2010
Looking Forward – R0Ng 2008 

For the Dogs: New Year, New Challenges is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

It’s been a great 2011 for Canine Nation and I thank all my readers (and listeners) for their support and comments over the past 12 months.  Here’s wishing you all a successful and joy filled 2012 with your dogs!

As 2011 draws to a close, I find myself looking back at a great year here at Life As A Human.  There were many terrific comments and conversations that have come out of my Canine Nation articles.  It’s been my pleasure and privilege share some thoughts with so many of you and to meet you through the comments you have shared here, on our Canine Nation group on Facebook, and through Twitter and emails as well.  

I thought it might be fun to finish off 2011 with a few thoughts on some odds and ends from Canine Nation this year.  So here, in no particular order or priority, are some random thoughts on some topics from the year just past.

The Podcast!

At the encouragement of a few of my readers, we started producing our own Canine Nation podcast in July of 2011.  The concept is simple, the podcast allows listeners to take my Life As A Human articles on the road with them.  I read the articles in my own radio-ready voice (or so I have been told) and each podcast presents one article written for Life As A Human.  The response has been great!

We started with an average of 400-500 downloads per month and that is now up to an average of over 800 downloads per month.  So now you can read my articles here or take them on your walks or in the car and let me read them to you.  They are available at the Canine Nation Podcast website or from the iTunes store.  You can find a link to the podcast website at the bottom of all my articles here.  We have some plans to expand the podcast but I will let you know more about that in the new year.

May I Be Blunt?

One of the more surprising responses I received was to my article Blunt Force Trauma – Canine Reality.  It was an article that was really written out of my frustration at some recent discussions I had read on various blogs.  It has always amazed me that people could claim that dogs could dominate humans considering that we provide the food, water, and shelter for them.  It all came out in one rush of thoughts and I wasn’t sure what the response would be.  I truly expected this article to stir some controversy but I was pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming positive response from my readers.  The article got nearly 1000 reads on the first day it was published and has generated lively discussion on several blogs and Facebook pages.  I am incredibly honored that this article has been linked and referenced on several websites around the Internet.  It is nice to know that my frustrations and conclusions are shared by so many and that can only mean that things will get better for dogs.

Balance Is Good

One of the big surprises from the podcast world has been the popularity of my article A Balanced Dog: Coping Skills and Stress Management.  It is one of those the most consistently downloaded of the podcasts I have posted so far.  Comments and conversations on both Facebook and some of the blogs out there has been very encouraging.  My own use of Mark and Reward training has taught me to be a keen observer of my dogs and so seeing signs of frustration and stress in them (and most dogs) is not that difficult for me to identify.  Many readers commented that they have not even considered stress management for their dogs and likely do not read the canine body language that goes with it very well at all.  I am glad that this article and podcast has resonated with so many and hopefully it has encouraged readers to become more familiar with signs of stress in their dogs.

Talking The Dog Talk

Some of the most lively discussions we have had in the Canine Nation discussion group on Facebook have been around the various terminology we use when we talk about dogs and training.  You would think that terms like correction or leadership would have fairly common definitions among dog people by now.  The truth is there is still a great variety in how we interpret and define many terms about dogs and dog training.  

Several of my articles over the past year have dealt with common terms or phrases that can sometimes trip us up in either our own training or in talking with others about dog related topics.  I love the fact that behavioural science has provided us with a well-defined and precise set of terms to describe our training work and behaviour but most people are not even aware of behavioural science or that the terminology exists.  And so, I will continue to wrestle with language issues as we move into 2012 and hopefully we can find a way to avoid misunderstandings with both people and dogs in the new year.

Wisdom From Brats

Having our younger dog Rizzo has provided a fabulous source for a few articles here as he has grown up.  One important aspect of having a puppy in the house this year is that I had the opportunity to share with my readers some of our experiences in raising him.  I was delighted by all of the wonderful comments from our friends in the Belgian Shepherd community who all seemed to relate to the trials and tribulations of raising our boy and also those who have raised other breeds who saw so much familiarity in our challenges.  Several readers expressed a certain amount of relief in hearing that others were dealing with the same things they were and that there was a light at the end of the puppy-hood tunnel.  Rizzo will turn 2 years old in just a few months and he has turned into a very handsome and mostly well behaved dog.  I look forward to sharing more about him with you in the new year.

Will Not Work For Food

My last article on why some dogs “won’t work for food” received some interesting comments and I wanted to add to that discussion before any more time had passed.  Several readers commented that stress, fear, arousal, or distraction might be sufficiently overwhelming so that a dog might not take treats during training.  These comments surprised me and I think that was my own fault for not providing enough background in the article.  I was trying to discuss deliberate training situations and not just any occasion in which one might try to offer food to their dog.  

When actively training our dogs, I think these other conditions my readers mentioned should be taken care of before trying to train.  Things such as ensuring that you are training in a safe environment that is within your dog’s distraction or arousal tolerance or making sure the dog is not over stimulated and willing to focus should be basic to training.  This article assumed that these other conditions had been set up for the dog and there would be no reason for fear, stress, or arousal reactions when presenting the food.  

So I acknowledge that many of those comments about dogs that are over their tolerance threshold for fear, stress, distraction, or arousal are correct and that dogs in those situations will not be interested in taking food.  That said, I think it is important that we set our dogs up for success and choose our training opportunities with care.  In fact, trying to present food to your dog under those adverse conditions might create the negative Classical Conditioning I refer to in the article.  If your dog would not take treats in a given situation, trying to engage them in training at this point might not be the best idea.

Back To The Future

The new year will hold lots of interesting things for all of us.  We have some interesting plans for expanding our Canine Nation family and reach.  We will continue to invite readers to join us over at our Facebook Canine Nation discussion group to continue our conversation on various dog related topics and there is the possibility of adding a discussion forum to the Canine Nation Podcast website as well.  Another project we are looking into is making all of my Canine Nation articles here on Life As A Human available in the form of ebooks with some expanded content.  I would be most interested in your suggestions and feedback on the ebook idea and hopefully we can get something going before summer.

In fact, I would welcome any comments or suggestions for article ideas, feedback on how to improve the articles or podcasts, or just about anything you might have to share.  I would also welcome any questions or requests for more information on anything I write here and I’ll do my best to get back to you with the best answer I can manage.

Please leave your comments and suggestions here at the end of my articles.   You can reach me on email at eric.ctdogs on the gmail.com servers.

You can find the Canine Nation podcast website here or subscribe on iTunes.  Comments can be left at the podcast website as well.

The Canine Nation Discussion group on Facebook can be found here – just click to ask for membership and join us. 

For now, thanks so much for reading and supporting Canine Nation and Life As A Human.  Spread the word and 2012 will be an even bigger and better year for all of us and our dogs!

Happy New Year to everyone and most importantly – Have Fun With Your Dogs!

Photo credits - 
 Dominated? – Elvissa 2007 from Flickr
White dog – klynslis 2007 from Flickr
Protest – 2008 McPig (modified – sign added)
Tiramisu & Rizzo photos – Petra Wingate 2010-2011

2011 – A Year For The Dogs and The Canine Nation is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

“Daddy, did you get Jimminy a Christmas present yet?”, asked my 10 year old daughter, my angel and the light of my life. Now as Jimminy is a lizard (a bearded dragon to be exact) he was not exactly on the top of my Christmas list.

“No, honey,” I replied, “I haven’t.”

“Oh good, because he could really use some worms.”

This had to be the most unusual Christmas present request I’ve ever had. Now Ariana has this way of looking at me with her big blue liquid eyes that melts my heart and generally gets her most of her requests granted, though I endeavor not to spoil her.

“You have to be careful, though, Daddy. They hatch into beetles and crawl all over the place if you leave them for too long.”

Well, that settled it. A gift certificate to Jungle Pets it was going to be.

I only tell you all this to explain why I was out on Christmas eve looking for worm gift certificates. I arrived at Jungle Pet’s in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia where one can pick up such exotic creatures as parrots, macaws, monkeys, myriads of fish and a huge assortment of various sized and shaped lizards, frogs, fish and other animalia.

The young lady who served me explained that there were a great variety of worms available from the garden variety meal worm to huge aqua blue, spotted, striped and horned suckers who looked like they’d put up a respectable fight. I decided to take one of those and also plunked down fifty dollars for a certificate. The aqua horned suckers were $1.89 apiece but they threw in one for free so that Jimminy would have a treat that very Christmas eve.

Arriving home, I completed the Christmas card and gift certificate in its owner’s full name “Jimminy B. Cricket” (apologies to Disney; he was named not for his resemblance to a cricket but rather to his culinary predilection for the aforementioned insect).

I showed Jimminy his card and gift certificate, then placed him next to his bright aqua blue Christmas treat. Jimminy had had a big breakfast but eyed the worm (about a quarter of his length in fact) with interest. He contemplated the wiggly treat for some time, then with a lightening-like dart of the tongue he munched down the larval bug, with evident relish.

Unfortunately his eyes were bigger than his belly and the last quarter of his Christmas present remained languidly waving its tail while Jimminy tried in vain to finish it off. Finally he gave up and the worm found its way back to the light, albeit somewhat the worse for the wear.

Jimminy went back to a corner of his terrarium and started munching on some greens. I think he may have turned vegan. The problem now is what do we do with a fifty dollar gift certificate for worms for a vegetarian lizard.

“We could always put it towards another lizard,” opined Ariana, “or maybe a horse!”

Photo Credits

All Images By George Burden – All Rights Reserved

A Jimminy Christmas is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Food is something every dog has every day.  Unless they are ill, there should be no reason for our dogs to turn down any snacks we offer them.  But many dog owners claim their dogs won’t work for them for food treats as a reward.  How can this be?  Dogs are scavengers by nature.  Could it be something we humans are doing that puts them off sometimes?

As a dog trainer, I’m always amazed when I hear dog owners tell me that their dog is not interested in food. I am a Mark and Reward trainer and that would take away one of the most obvious and easiest rewards I can use to help me teach my dog.  But there seems to be a paradox here.  If the dog is not interested in food, what happens at meal time?  In fact, most of the dogs I’ve met whose the owners claim they won’t work for food rewards are not exactly malnourished.  In fact, it’s often the opposite.

All dogs eat.  So there can only be a few reasons that a dog won’t make some effort to get the food a trainer is offering.  Either they are simply not hungry when the food offered (e.g., just after a meal) or they just don’t like what’s being offered.  Assuming this is a normal dog who is hungry and that I have a yummy bit of food like cheese or roast beef, it shouldn’t be hard to get them to take a treat. 

Enter Pavlov

Could there be other reasons a dog might refuse food other than a distaste for what’s being offered or not being hungry?  To answer that question, we need to look to the work of Ivan Pavlov.  Pavlov’s work in the early 20th century laid the groundwork for what is now called Classical Conditioning in psychology.  In short, Classical Conditioning deals with the association of previously unconnected objects and/or event in the mind of the subject.

The simplest and perhaps the most useful examples of Classical Conditioning is our dog’s name.  Prior to living with us, my dog had no meaning for the word “Tira.”  But we’ve said it thousands of times to her and we always interact with her in some way.  Maybe it’s to let her out or to ask for a behaviour but there is a reason for her to give us her attention.  So now when she hears “Tira” she will come to us or look in our direction.  That’s intentional conditioning; I want that association to be there so I can use it in future.

But there is also unintentional conditioning that goes on.  Our dogs are aware of their environment at all times and, just like other animals, are constantly working out what is going on in their world.  The noise of the dog cookie jar brings our dogs running in our house.  The jingle of a leash being taken out can signal a walk.  Even putting on the right pair of shoes could signal to a dog that a car ride is coming.

The Dark Side of Classical Conditioning

This unintentional conditioning can have some unfortunate consequences if we don’t manage it well.  If a dog is threatened or frightened, it may make an association with something in the environment they believe is related.  If my dog sees a red towel and is startled by a loud noise at the same time, she could suddenly become wary of red towels.  Some classical associations take longer to form but are no less powerful.

If a dog is scolded every time he enters a particular area or goes near a particular object, the dog may form a negative association with that place or object.  In fact, many professional dog trainers are called in to work with dogs who have developed just such phobias.  Fortunately there are many safe and humane techniques that can be used to successfully treat these problems.  Desensitization tries to provide a positive experience with a feared place or object while gradually increasing it’s intensity.  Counter Conditioning is a method that attempts to replace an unwanted response to an object or situation (e.g., barking, running away, cowering) with a more desirable behaviour by rewarding any occurrence of a new behaviour such as looking at the owner or sitting quietly.

Poisioning the Rewards

One of the most important topics being discussed in behavioural training for dogs has been “Poisoned Cues.”  A Poisoned Cue is a command that has taken on both a positive and a negative meaning for the dog.  For example, if I teach my dog to sit by rewarding them, this creates a positive association – everytime the dog hears “sit”, she knows there is an opportunity for a reward.  If the trainer then begins to punish the dog for being bad by demanding “Sit!” and then scolding the dog, the cue “sit” now takes on a second, unpleasant meaning.  The trainer could find that soon the dog is no longer responding to the “sit” cue or only doing so reluctantly.  The cue has been “poisoned”, the dog can no longer be certain if they will be rewarded or scolded if they sit. 

So what does all of this Classical Conditioning and Poisoned Cue business have to do with why dogs might not work for food?  Well, the natural association dogs have with food is a positive one.  It tastes good and sets off positive bio-chemical processes in their bodies.  Many trainers also use food to teach behaviours by luring the dog to follow their hand which holds food.  When the perform the desired behaviour, the trainer rewards the dog with the treat they were following.  So an offered hand can be a cue to the dog that treats are available.  We also use words like “cookies”, “treats”, “nummies”, etc. to let the dog know there are treats available to them to get their cooperation.  Can we “poison” those cues for food?  You bet!

Fake-outs and Other Unpleasantness

I cannot tell you the number of times I have seen a desperate dog owner jam their hand in their empty pocket and yell “Cookies!” to get their dog to come to them at the park.  When the dog comes running back, they are grabbed by the collar and clipped to the leash.  Fooled ya!  So instead of the promised cookie, play time is over and they have to leave the park.  Is it any wonder I may see that same dog owner at the park in the future yelling “Cookies!” to a dog who is standing warily just out of reach trying to decide if there really is a cookie or not?

These kinds of fake-outs are useful in the moment but they could be doing long term damage to your communication with your dog.  You may be unintentionally poisoning that “cookies” cue.  And once you demonstrate that you can fake your dog out with one cue, why wouldn’t your dog start suspecting all of the other cues you have taught them?  They might or they might not.  That depends on how often you fake them out, I suppose.

Also consider that our dogs are aware of more than just the immediate moment.  It is one thing to teach your dog to go into their crate and reward them.  It is quite another to lure your dog to you and then grab them and put them in the crate and toss the treat in afterward.  Those kinds of “payoffs” rarely erase the memory of the unpleasant event.  

Most dogs don’t like being grabbed.  So your dog may make an association between that offered treat and the unpleasant experience of being grabbed.  The same can be said of being lured into the car for a trip to the vet where they may be afraid.  In fact, luring a dog into any situation that they would prefer to avoid could lead to poisoning that food lure.

Will NOT Work For Food

Jean Donaldson, director of The SF/SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers and author of several books on dog training, commented here at a seminar in Victoria BC that, “If you can’t train a dog with food, you’re an incompetant trainer.”  And I agree.  Biology makes food a very powerful reward for teaching our dogs.  All dogs eat and all dogs enjoy eating.  But used improperly, you can see how food could turn into a warning signal for the dog.  Not all food is good food, even if it tastes good.  There may be a price to pay for that treat you are offering.

Often when I work with dog owners who say their dog won’t work for food, I am careful to watch for the dynamics in their relationship.  Is the owner a dependable and clear communicator?  Does the dog look like she trusts the owner?  Do the dog and owner look comfortable together?  While it may be that the dog is not hungry or food treat isn’t one that the dog particularly likes, often there is some other dynamic at play.  

Fool your dog enough and they won’t trust you.  Force your dog enough and they might not react so well to bribes of food.  As animal trainer Bob Bailey says, “Pavlov is always on our shoulder.”  Our dogs are always paying attention and making their decisions about our behaviour.  Classical Conditioning is always acting on our dogs.  We can use that to our benefit or ignore it at our peril.  Once we create a negative association for our dogs with getting food treats, the road back can be a long one.

So maybe think twice the next time you consider luring your dog into something they don’t want to do.  You may get what you want from them this time but what are the long term consequences of that approach?  Are you turning that food lure into a warning signal for your dog?  Or, more importantly, are you teaching your dog that you don’t always mean what you say.  It’s something to think about.

Until next time, have fun with your dogs.

Photo credits - 

Protest - 2008 McPig  (modified – sign added)
Nope –  2009 ben_onthemove
What’s it gonna be? - 2009 adria.richards 
Trust - 2011 FreeWine

Some Dogs Won’t Work For Food is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Some dog trainers use a kind of shorthand when they are describing dogs.  Dog trainer Eric Brad thinks that some of those common terms can unfairly shift the responsibility for success or failure off of the trainer and onto the dog.

Whether you choose to look at philosophy, psychology, or semantics, there is little doubt these days that the words we use in describing the elements of our world have a tremendous influence over how we think and feel about them.  In fact, the entire field of marketing and advertising is built on that very premise.  Use the power of words and their meaning to lend their good influence to a product or to give you a bad impression of a competitor’s product.  The power of words has also been acknowledged by therapists and counselors who tell us that the words we use in our “inner dialogues” are important to our self image and our perceptions of our world.

What about the words we use in relation to our dogs?  Does it matter if we call it a “correction” or a “reprimand”?  Does it make a difference if we call it a “cue” or a “command”?  What about “bribe”, “reward”, “stimulus” (a term for the electric shock from shock collars), “red zone dog”, and others?  Language and the specific choice of words can be helpful to us for discussions as dog trainers but it can also get in the way of good, clear training.

Fooling Ourselves?

Some of the terminology we use in training is harmless and a little definition can clear up meanings quickly.  That allows trainers to exchange ideas productively.  But there are other words and phrases that work on our own sense of the relationship we have with our dogs.  It can have a profound influence on our sense of expectations and responsibilities. 

In my opinion, I’m the responsible party from the moment I bring a dog into my home.  That means if something isn’t working, it’s my job to figure out what to do about it.  I suppose it’s only natural for me to flinch when I hear dog trainers use words or phrases that unfairly shift that responsibility onto the dog instead of owning it themselves.  They may not mean to do it, it may be a phrase they heard someone use and it seemed appropriate at the time.  But as any good life coach would tell you, what you tell yourself about your dog will very strongly shape how you perceive her.

Truth or Consequences

One phrase people often use about their dogs makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  ”What I like best about Fido is that he’s an honest dog.”  It is often used as praise for a dog who is predictable and steady, one not prone to unexpected behaviour.  But the first thing that usually pops into my head when I hear this is “Compared to what?  All of the other sneaky, lying dogs out there?”  I’m sure if most dog owners really thought about it, they would agree that dogs are just not sophisticated enough to misrepresent themselves by outright lying.  They just can’t be dishonest.  It’s not in their power to do so.

I think most owners who talk about their “honest dog” are really expressing their understanding of their particular dog.  They know what their dog will do in almost any circumstance and that’s a great thing!  But doesn’t that speak more to a trainer who has taken the time and effort to learn about their dog, and to know what motivates her and how to predict her responses accurately?  I think the trainer is the one being honest here, not the dog.

And what about those trainers who have “dishonest” dogs?  Perhaps they haven’t invested enough in their dog to understand them.  But every unexpected response becomes, what, a lie?  How much more convenient to shift the responsibility for that lack of understanding to the dog.  It would be easier for me to say “he’s not a very honest dog, so I struggle” than it would be to admit that I am not a very good trainer.

Tough Enough

 Another term that has lost it’s meaning for me as I’ve come to learn more about behaviour and training is when trainers describe a dog as a “hard dog” or a “soft dog.”  Frequently this is used to describe a dog’s endurance when in a training situation.  A “hard dog”, for example, will continue to work with their trainer for many repetitions or exercises even in highly distracting environments.  On the other hand, a dog described as a “soft dog” is one that requires lots of extra care when training.  Perhaps the dog is hard to motivate or will not tolerate long training sessions.  Perhaps it is easily distracted or will stop trying after only a few failed attempts.  The general observation I have of people in dog performance sports is that “hard dogs” are good and that “soft dogs” are bad.

It’s interesting that some trainers have even gone to the extent to label entire breeds of dog as “harder” or “softer” due to their trainability using some standard training techniques.  What’s even more interesting to me is that the growing popularity of positive training methods has turned some of those “soft dog” breeds into exceptional champions in many dog sports.  So is it the dog or is it the trainer/training method that is at work here?

My own experience tells me it’s the trainer and the training skills they bring to the table.  Any dog that will keep working with you no matter what could be considered a “hard dog”.  But if I take that to an extreme, I could also say that any dog that will work with you no matter what, is borderline obsessive compulsive about working!  On the other end of the spectrum, any dog that does not display a certain amount of enthusiasm in working with their trainer is considered “soft.”  Not all dogs are not highly motivated by food.  Some dogs are highly motivated by the opportunity to play.  Still other dogs are motivated by affection and social interaction.  If a trainer encounters a dog that has a complex make up of what motivates that, the dog could be considered difficult to train; a “soft” dog.

Does this again shift responsibility from the human trainer onto the dog?  When I hear someone say “Oh, I just couldn’t work with him.  He was such a soft dog.”, all I can think is that this is a trainer who did not want to take the time to figure out what was needed to work with that particular dog.  Many dogs share some general traits and will respond in a similar way in training situations.  But a gifted trainer can spot the subtle differences in dogs and play to their strengths while minimizing their weaknesses.  Thankfully, most dog owners will tend toward breeds they know and understand already.  That makes training much easier and “hard” or “soft” doesn’t really come into it.  To me, using “hard” and “soft” to describe a dog is more an indicator of the training skills of the trainer than the dog.

Saying Too Much

Every so often in this column I poke a “sacred cow.”  There is an entire vernacular out there about dogs, especially in the community of dog sports.  I honestly believe that most of that language evolved as a way to try to get some understanding about how to better work with our dogs.  My learning about dog behaviour and behavioural science has radically changed the way I view some of the language we use about our dogs.  Unfortunately, a lot of the catch phrases I hear work more as a way to relieve trainers of their responsibility and shift the problem onto the dogs instead.

I think that’s unfortunate.  I have yet to meet a dog that didn’t want to work with me or be successful.  I’ve had to work hard to earn the trust of some dogs.  For others I’ve had to be very creative in how I approach the training game with them.  Some like very short sessions and some respond best with lots of play breaks in between.  Some dogs will work all day as long as I have food but are better off if we take a break after a few minutes.  Still other dogs need to build their confidence in small increments over a period of weeks or months.

And so, to me a dog is not “honest”, nor are they “hard” or “soft.”  They are just dogs.  Unique in their own way and open to working with me if we can find a level to work on.  That’s my responsibility, finding the level.  I have the big brain, I can figure this out.  But I can only do that if I get past the language that says it’s the dog’s problem and not mine.

Just something to think about.

Until next time, have fun with your dogs! 
 

Photo credits - 

Willard – chadmiller  2006
Puppy –  cote  2008
Lying Dog – Kim G. Appels  2006

Maybe It’s Not The Dog That’s The Problem is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

When training dogs, it’s sometimes helpful to prompt them for the behaviour we are looking for.  Trainer Eric Brad cautions that “prompts” can be as much a distraction as a help.  Knowing how to “fade” them out of the picture can be just as important in good training.

There’s a fundamental “law” of positive reinforcement training – in order to reinforce the behaviour you want, that behaviour has to actually happen  so you can reinforce it.  The same is true of more traditional methods that use “corrections.”  If the behaviour we want doesn’t happen, we’re just nagging the dog with our “not that!” corrections.  So getting the dog to do something like we want is the beginning of training a behaviour.

All behaviours start somewhere.  Some are just natural to being a dog.  Other behaviours like “shake a paw” or touching a target with their nose are extensions of natural abilities.  And some behaviours, like getting your dog to back up between your legs, are within the physical abilities of the dog but not something they would ever do, even by accident.  So training a dog to do a particular behaviour is actually asking them to do things they are able to do in a particular order of our choosing.  But how do we get them to understand what we want and the order we want it to happen?

That’s Right!

 No matter what training philosophy you use, the important thing is for the dog to learn what we want.  We need to get to that moment where we can say “That’s right!  That’s  what I was looking for.”  In Mark and Reward training, we use a marker like a “click” to tell the dog when we see the behaviour we were looking for and then reward them with a treat or a toy for their efforts.  But how does the dog discover what behaviour they should be doing in the first place?

It can depend on the behaviour we’re training.  If it’s a naturally occurring behaviour like “sit” or “down”, we could just wait until our dog naturally does the behaviour and then mark and reward it.  That’s a process called capturing where a natural behaviour is captured and reinforced.  But we might be carrying around food treats or a toy for a hour or more and that’s not particularly convenient.  If what we are teaching is a more complex behaviour that our dog doesn’t do naturally, we could be waiting even longer.  Many trainers, myself included, often use a tried and true method of getting behaviours relatively quickly – prompting.

Playing Charades

We’re all familiar with prompts.  We use them every day.  A prompt is anything we use to help communicate the action we want to happen.  If I ask you to “hand me that pencil”, I might point to the pencil on the desk.  The pointing gesture is a prompt to get you to reach for a particular pencil.  Prompts come in a lot of different forms and some are more easily understood than others.  Some prompts need to be learned while others are instinctive and seem to be understood due to some internal wiring.

Let’s take a look at some general categories of prompting:

Instinctive/Causal – Some behaviours are built into our dogs.  For example, a dog will instinctively follow motion (having evolved from a predator – the wolf) so a wave of the hand will get a dog to turn their head in the direction of the motion.  Following instincts are strong, especially in puppies.  And many dogs will stretch into a “bow” after getting up from lying down.  Being ready to reinforce the bow is making use of a known behaviour.  

Molding – This is probably the most obvious form of prompting.  To mold a behaviour, we physically move the dog into the position or action we want.  You are probably familiar with pushing down on a dog’s rump to get them to sit.  Another example would be picking up a paw to teach “shake hands.”  A variation of this is to place obstacles in the dog’s way so they can only move in certain directions.

Luring – Luring engages the dog’s sense of smell.  By offering a food lure and moving it in front of the dog, we can lead them through any number of behaviours.  A dog’s interest in food is instinctive but they also have to devote some thinking to what they are doing with their body so they don’t trip or bump into things.  That awareness is what makes luring work as a prompt.

Targeting – Targeting is a learned skill.  It involves teaching the dog to use their nose or paw to touch a specific target such as the end of a stick or a closed fist.  Then, by positioning the target, the dog can be prompted to perform a behaviour on their way to touch the target.  For example, you could place the target on the other side of an obstacle the dog has to jump over. 

What Goes In Must Come Out

The trick with using prompts to teach behaviours is that they can become too obvious to the dog during training.  If you place a chair near the wall to help you teach your dog to back up, does your dog end up believing that the chair must be there for them to back up?  It’s possible for the prompt to become part of the behaviour itself.  And this is where the concept of Fading becomes important.

Fading is the process of making a prompt less and less obvious so that the dog learns to ignore the prompt and focus on the desired behaviour.  This can be challenging because the prompt was there to help the dog get the behaviour in the first place.  So fading the prompt may result in the dog losing understanding or focus.  Think of it like helping a child to learn to ride a bicycle.  You want to offer enough help for them to be successful but not so much that you are doing the work for them.  Gradually you help less and less until they are riding the bike on their own completely.

Let me give you an example – let’s say I want to teach my dog to turn in a circle.  I’ll use a food lure as a prompt.  To begin training, I would offer a food treat in my hand in front of my dog’s nose and slowly move it in a large circle so that they follow the hand walking after it in a circle.  The first step in “fading” that prompt would be to use an empty hand doing the same motion.  I’ve taken away the smell they were following and they are now visually following my hand.  The next steps would be to make the motion of my hand smaller and smaller until the large circle became a small circle and the small circle becomes a mere wave of my hand that I will use as a cue for that behaviour.

Fading to Perfection

It’s easy for prompts to become important to behaviours for many dogs if not faded quickly enough.  Remember, when I start teaching my dog a behaviour, she doesn’t know what is and isn’t important to being successful.  It’s my job as the trainer to show her the important parts and get the unnecessary stuff out of there as soon as I can.  So taking some care in choosing how I’m going to prompt a behaviour I wish to train is important.  Knowing how I’m going to fade that prompt is just as important; maybe more important.

A poorly chosen prompt that becomes too obvious can be disruptive when you start to fade it.  If the dog thinks it’s critical to the behaviour,  things may break down and they may become confused or frustrated as you attempt to fade the prompt.  Go back to the analogy of Charades.  Sometimes a player can get started down the wrong track and it can be difficult to get them back.  The good news is that we can always start teaching again with new prompts and be sure to fade more carefully.

Baby Steps

If prompts can be intrusive and disruptive to the training process, then no prompts would be ideal.  No fading!  But we could wait a long time for a dog to figure out how to weave between poles for agility or sit and wait for their leash to be put on.  Reality is, we’re going to use prompts.  And if that’s the case, we should at least be smart about it.  I try to choose prompts I’m familiar with, prompts that I know won’t be too interesting or distracting to my dog, and prompts that I have a reasonable plan for fading out of the behaviour.

Generally, prompting is strongest at the start of a new behaviour and gets less as learning progresses.  I see it as a “2 steps forward, 1 step back” kind of process.  I will reduce my prompting until I see my dog start to struggle a bit and then add a little prompting back in, but not as much as was there before.  I’m always careful to make sure that I give enough help to keep my dog successful most of the time.  Too much failure and it’s not fun to play “training” anymore!

We all use prompts.  But we don’t always think through how or when we want to fade them.  Sometimes we end up leaving some of the prompting in permanently.  Ever see someone who has to bend over their dog to get them to sit?  That’s left over prompting that never got faded.  If the trainer wants that, great.  If not, well, maybe he should have thought about prompting and fading before he started training.

Prompting and fading seem like such simple concepts until you start looking at them more closely.  Unfortunately our dogs look at them closely every time we train something new.  So I think it’s not too much to ask that we pay some attention to how we want to approach using prompts and how we make them less important in our training.  Give it a think and we’ll talk more about prompting in the new year.

For now, go and have fun with your dogs! 

Photo credits - 

Unsure – TheGiantVermin 2009
Milo –  MShades 2007
Dog Training - nancybeetoo 2001
Service Dog – pmarkham 2009

Improve Your Dog Training With Prompts and Fading is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Dog training can sound almost like a chore that needs to be done.  But dog trainer Eric Brad finds it an almost musical experience.  Working with your dog in training can be a wonderfully creative experience.  

Before all the dogs, I had music.  I still have music.  Over the years I’ve learned to play a few instruments, learned recording technology, even produced a CD or two of some great musicians.  I still play and I still listen.  And music has been very useful in providing  appropriate metaphors when teaching dog agility handling and dog training.

I’m a fan of jazz.  I’m not skilled enough on any instrument to play jazz well but I listen to it a lot and I have friends who are great jazz musicians.  Although rock music has a fair amount of improvisation in it for the musicians, there is nothing like jazz for improvisation.  Really gifted jazz musicians play off of each other and seem to invent music out of thin air.   I think training my dogs is like jazz in a way, too.  As much as I am trying to teach them, I also have to be tuned in enough to learn just how much they are understanding and when they might need more help.  That immediate “give and take” reminds me of jazz.

A Little More, A Little Less

When I talk to my students about dog training, I use the “Goldilocks” analogy from the fairy tale.  We have to know what’s “too much” and what’s “too little” in order to find what’s “just right” when working with our dogs.  When I start training a new behaviour with my dog, I generally use a few things to help her get the idea of what I want.  It could be a gesture or a food lure or even a special piece of equipment like a touch-plate.  In order to get the behaviour I’m looking for, I may have to help more or less based on my dogs current understanding.  And that changes from training session to training session.  Sometimes it even changes within the same session if something suddenly works.

It’s a balancing act of sorts.  It’s based on some science – the mechanics of the Mark and Reward process, the steps I use to teach the behaviour, and obviously the principles of behavioural science.  But there seems to be an art to it as well – when to help and when to let my dog work it out, knowing the difference between “boredom” and “confusion”, recognizing the subtle signs of fatigue or frustration in my dog.  All of these are difficult to quantify.  They are different for each dog and they can even be different for different behaviours or on different days with the same dog.  A jazz musician might call that distinction of “science and art” something more like “technique” and “feel.”  The best jazz players and dog trainers would be hard pressed to separate their technique from their feel.  It’s just something that just happens as they work.

Manufactured Spontaneity

This synergy of art and science crosses into other performance arts as well.  Magician and entertainer Don Alan performed for over 40 years professionally.  His legendary magic performances always seemed to be happening for the very first time with his audience of the moment.  In his later years, Alan confided that only through hours of repetition and practice did he develop the skill necessary to make his act look spontaneous.  It was a powerful blend of learned skills and a wisdom of how and when to apply those skills to best effect.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It seems to be an evolution from applying basic techniques to a more subtle and effective application of skills at the right time and in the right measure.  Knowing how to do something may be enough to get results but knowing when and how much to apply can get you great results. 

Jazz Dog Training

So this blending of science and art, whether it be in music, performance, or even sport, seems to require three basic elements – learning, practicing, and experimenting to achieve some additional insights.  Dog training, however, is not a solitary exercise.  We have a partner with ideas and preferences of their own.  How do we account for them while we develop our skills as dog trainers?

This is one of the areas where training based on positive reinforcement (like Mark and Reward training) can offer a tremendous advantage.  My dog has a vested interest in helping me be a better trainer because there are frequent rewards built into the process.  Even if I am less than brilliant in my technique, I can still get results that are worthy of rewarding my dog.  As I improve my communication and training skills, I may be able to teach her new things in less time but the rewards are always there.

But what about failures?  Yes, there will be mistakes.  But not too many.  One of the basics of Mark and Reward training is that if your dog isn’t “getting it”, it’s the trainer’s problem to solve and not the dog.  As long as rewards are coming 70-80% of the time, most dogs will happily play along until you find a way to show them what you’re looking for.

That built in tolerance for occasional errors gives the positive reinforcement trainer another distinct advantage – the ability to experiment!  One of the most fun parts of Mark and Reward training is playing “what if” games with different training techniques.  Using different ways to prompt for a behaviour might bring different results.  Differences in timing, waiting for the dog to offer behaviour, might also bring surprising results.  Creative application of different techniques can sometimes lead to breakthroughs for your dog in learning something new.

Training Stew

There are a lot of elements that go into training a dog – techniques and planning, fun and rewarding training sessions (for both humans and dogs), and learning and understanding what you are trying to do.  All of these things play their part.  When I use all of these elements in a good balance I get a kind of “training stew” where all of the various elements combine to make for a great experience even if I can’t distinguish which elements created which results.

When I began teaching my dog with Mark and Reward training, I didn’t have the skill to work with the ease and spontaneity of  magician Don Alan.  Far from it!  But over the years of learning and practicing and experimenting with training techniques, I have developed my own style of working with my dog.  And just as Don Alan suggested, the easy rapport and seemingly spontaneous ability I have to teach dogs comes from having taken the time to learn about behaviour, practice the mechanics of training, and experiment with what I’ve learned.

Even the greatest jazz musicians began somewhere simple.  But it was a passion for the music that drove a Louis Armstrong or Pat Metheny to become not just brilliant performers but creative contributors to their art as well.  Our passion for our dogs might not produce a brilliant timeless jazz tune but we could create a brilliant dog.  We have the ability to enrich the life of another animal just by our working with them.

It’s not about control or pack leadership or dominance.  It’s about teaching our dogs – and all that jazz!

Until next time have fun (jamming with) your dogs! 

Photo credits - 

Guitar Dog – lavacado@sbcglobal.net 2008
Dog Play – grantlairdjr 2005
Don Alan/That’s Incredible video – posted to YouTube by MrBongers

Training Your Dog and All That Jazz is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN

Sometimes our dogs don’t want to do what we ask of them.  Sometimes the rewards we offer them are not enough and they turn to “self-rewarding” behaviours.  But are those behaviours really self-rewarding?  It’s what our dog chooses to do so it must be.  But what else is “self-rewarding” behaviour?  The answer might surprise you.

Years ago my wife and I were introduced to a training term – “self-rewarding behaviour.”  At the time, my wife and our Belgian Tervuren Vince were attending agility classes.  This particular training company had handlers and their dogs form groups of 3 or 4 teams and rotate between 4 “stations” that included different exercises and agility equipment.  This system required the dog and handler to wait their turn, often for several minutes at a time.  During that waiting time, our dog Vince used to grab his leash in his mouth and chew on it, sometimes going right through it.  This was identified by the instructors as “self-rewarding behaviour” because Vince was deciding for himself what to do because he wanted to do it.

That definition, “self-rewarding behaviour” seemed perfectly reasonable to me until I started reading more about behavioural science and the use of Operant Conditioning in training animals.  After learning some basic principles of behaviour, the term “self-rewarding behaviour” no longer made sense to me.  There seemed a better way to express what was going on and it also made it easier to manage as a handler.

Reinforcement Versus Reward

One of the problems we face as dog trainers is the imprecise language we use when talking about training our dogs.  Not only can it make talking with other trainers challenging, not having clear definitions can cause us to fool ourselves into trying techniques that are ineffective or worse.  One example of this is how we use “reward” and “reinforcement” (and their variations) in relation to how we train.

The terms “reinforcement” and “reward” are often used interchangeably by trainers.  While they do seem to mean the same thing, they may mean very different things in different situations.  The term “reinforcement” comes from psychology and behavioural science and, by strict definition, means anything that causes a behaviour to become more likely, more frequent, or more intense.  By this defintion, things we don’t consider to be “rewards” may still act as “reinforcement” in making a behaviour stronger.  

One example of this happens in my own home.  Over the years we have left food items on our counters within reach of a doggy nose.  These occasional “snacks” for my dog Tira have led to her becoming a tireless counter-surfer who checks out the surfaces daily.  Our carelessness was never meant as a “reward” but they have certainly “reinforced” her counter-surfing behaviour!

On the other hand, many dog owners “reward” their dogs all the time without any thought to training or increasing a particular behaviour.  We love our dogs and many times we “reward” them with a cookie or some play time just because they are adorable and we enjoy their company.  We “reward” our dogs because we intend to do something nice for them, not necessarily just to train behaviours.  I’m pretty sure that “being cute” isn’t a behaviour but I reward my Tira for it quite often!

Serve Yourself Rewards

In my experience, most trainers who use the term “self-rewarding behaviour” are referring to unwanted behaviours being performed instead of what you want the dog to do.  For example, your dog is “self-rewarding” by sniffing along the fence instead of coming when called and walking at “heel” next to you.  The dog is simply choosing to do something that they like instead of what is being asked.  As someone who uses behavioural science to train, this poses an interesting question – doesn’t my dog always make the choice to do what I ask or not?

Mark and Reward Training, like Clicker Training, uses “reinforcement” to increase the behaviours we are trying to train.  The whole training approach depends on offering my dog something she wants.  That could be food treats, play, affection, or anything that she is interested in working for.  So in a very real sense, the proposition for my dog is this: do this thing I’m asking for and you get this reward.  In this case, since I’m using it to increase behaviour, the “reward” is, in fact, a “reinforcement” (assuming I’m a good trainer and the behaviour increases).  So not all “rewards” are reinforcements and not all “reinforcement” are rewards.

So here’s the confusing problem; doesn’t my dog ultimately decide if she wants what I’m offering or not?  In the case of training, I’m offering what I believe is a high value “reward” in exchange for her cooperation in learning the behaviour.  If my training is successful, my “reward” will reinforce the behaviour and make it easier for me to get her to give me that behaviour next time.  But my dog must first decide to try to get that reward.

It’s All Self-Rewarding!

This is where the logic of the phrase “self-rewarding behaviour” broke down for me all those years ago.  If my dog is always deciding to get the reward or not, all of her behaviour is self-rewarding and not just the behaviours I didn’t ask for.  It may seem a subtle distinction but my dog is, after all, choosing to cooperate when she responds to me when I say “Come” or “Sit.”  She is finding more value in cooperating with me than doing anything else.

This might seem like just a difference in wording or language but, as I discussed earlier, the words we use can be important to how we proceed with our training.  The usual response I see when someone uses the term “self-rewarding behaviour” in response to an unwanted behaviour is to try to stop the behaviour.  If the dog is finding something other than the trainer more interesting, why not look at the reward system rather than the behaviour?

Competing Rewards

The world is full of stuff dogs like.  Consequently, there is pretty fierce competition for your dog’s attention.  I could spend an entire article on dealing with competing rewards (and I will, to be sure!) but for now, let’s just assume that on any given day a smell or a sound might be more enticing to your dog than your cue to “Come.”  Not to worry!  There are things we can do as trainers to give ourselves every advantage.

Rather than deal with terms like “self-rewarding behaviour”, my wife and I have chosen instead to focus on “rewards management.”  We do the best we can to have control over what rewards are available to our dogs in any given situation.  So if we are teaching a new behaviour, it’s best to work in a relatively boring environment without a lot of distractions that could compete for our dog’s attention.  Deciding what environment to work in can be very important to how successful we are in working with our dog.

We also have a special tool we use.  History.  Behavioural Science has shown that the more a dog has been reinforced for a particular behaviour, the more likely they will be to perform that behaviour in the face of distractions or competing rewards.  Think of it as a good habit.  So the better rehearsed a behaviour is, the better our chance of success in complicated situations where lots of rewards may be available.  For that reason, we work on behaviours with our dogs while slowly moving them to more and more distracting environments until I can ask for “Come” or “Sit” at a crowded park on a spring day without my dog running off to meet the poodle across the way.

Reframing The Problem

We’ve changed our approach.  It’s not a “self-rewarding behaviour” problem to us anymore, it’s a “rewards management” problem.  It’s up to us as handlers and trainers to be aware of what rewards are out there and to prepare ourselves and our dogs as best we can so that everyone gets what they want from any given situation.  By focusing on managing access to rewards rather than trying to control behaviour, my wife and I have worked out a system that sets our dogs up for success and keeps us focused on keeping their training challenges achievable.

For us, it’s more about cooperation than it is confrontation.  Rather than fight with my dog about whether or not they should be doing a particular behaviour, we try to manage access to the reward that makes that behaviour appealing.  It just seems to be a simpler approach to the problem and it puts the control squarely in our hands.  Instead of trying to change the dogs behaviour so they don’t try to get something they want, we just make sure we offer them something more valuable or remove their access to that competing reward.

If we knew back then what we know now, my wife would have thought to bring a toy for Vince to play with instead of his leash (she did eventually bring a ball to class for Vince) and we might have saved a few bucks replacing them.  But more importantly, she would have been spared the frustration of trying to figure out why Vince was engaging in “self-rewarding behaviour” instead of working with her.  Eventually we learned.  Control the available rewards and things can sort themselves out pretty quickly.

Next time you see your dog doing something you might consider “self-rewarding” ask yourself what you could do offer something more rewarding that might change that behaviour.  Of course there are things you could do to make the current reward less appealing like yelling at your dog or threatening them if they don’t stop.  But I believe that my readers are much more creative than that!  Manage the rewards and you can manage the behaviour.

Until next time, have fun with your dogs!

Photo credits - 

Sniff – Orin Zebest 2008 
What’s this – LifeSupercharger 2011
Theft – Soggydan 2009
Good Girl – sneakerdog 2007 

A Closer Look At Self-Rewarding Behaviour is a post from: LIFE AS A HUMAN