Applying training principles gleaned from behavioural science led Eric Brad to enjoy a more rewarding, less tension-filled relationship with his dogs.
When we went through our difficulties with our dog Vince ten years ago, I’m not sure I understood what a life-changing experience it would be. A lifetime of attitudes and understandings about dogs was stressed to the breaking point. My comfortable and familiar view of dogs was shattered. All that was left was to sift through the remaining shards to determine if anything of my faith in what I thought I knew remained.
Although it ultimately led me to a new and better understanding of dogs, it is not an experience I would wish on anyone. To look into the eyes of an animal we brought into our home to be a companion and see only fear and mistrust was heartbreaking and shocking. Yes, our dog would sit and stay and would never dare to bite us (at that point) but at what cost? Good for us, we got our dog to do as he was told. We won. Or did we?
Exploring a New Frontier
My wife and I have been through a lot in the previous decade including major career shifts, the loss of my wife’s father, and a much deeper involvement with dogs than either of us could have imagined. Through it all, the things we have learned from behavioural science and the ethology of domestic dogs have stayed with us and been both a comfort and tools that we found useful in the most unexpected ways.
For me, using Clicker Training was an experiment with my new puppy Tiramisu. If I was so wrong about dogs, I wanted to know what was right. I chose Clicker Training and positive reinforcement in part because it was so different from the training I had done before. I immersed myself in it and tried using these training techniques as they were intended. No modification and no changing things by adding my own spin on it.
It started as something that I did for a few minutes at a time a few times a day with my 10-week-old puppy. Teach a “Sit”, teach a “Down”, teach my dog to walk around an object — these were the elements of a training plan for my new dog. As we trained, I kept reading. I’m the kind of person who wants to learn the principles behind things and so, as my success with positive training grew, I wanted to try more and more things with this little puppy to see how far the principles could be applied.
Technique Becomes a Lifestyle
Tiramisu grew up. She’s a very smart dog. Maybe the smartest dog we’ve ever had. Positive Reinforcement Training, Mark and Reward (Clicker) Training, and the things we’ve learned from behavioural science have helped us produce a remarkable and well-adjusted dog. But something else happened — I got to know Tiramisu as a unique personality.
As the days and months went by, we started applying the principles of behavioural science to all of our interactions with our dogs. It just became the way we interacted with our dogs. No more knee-jerk “bad dog!” episodes, we examined situations to see what WE could have done better as teachers and caretakers. Did our dogs still “misbehave”? Sure! But now we could effectively teach our dogs what was not acceptable rather than just “punishing” them and hoping it didn’t happen again.
Slowly over those first few months, the concepts taught by behavioural science — consequence dictates behaviour, teaching must be incremental and rewarded, punishment must be well timed and appropriate, do not expect behaviours that have not been taught, and others — became part of our everyday life. We started to see our dogs and their behaviour in a different way.
Profound Changes
Something wonderful was happening. Our frustration with our dogs was being replaced with understanding. What we had learned about behaviour and dogs was demystifying our own dogs’ behaviour. They were even becoming predictable.
Oh, sure, things still got stolen off the counter. Lord knows that Mario and Vince had their disagreements and fights. And Tira was on guard as much as ever in case someone should get to a morsel of food faster than she could. But now we had some understanding of what was behind those behaviours and we had behaviour modification tools at our disposal to change them if we wanted. And though it took some trial and error, we got better and so did our dogs.
Then, two years ago, we lost Mario. He was only three years old but a fluke heart infection was diagnosed too late to be treated and he passed away. And then last year, cancer took Vince at the age of 10 years. It was a difficult time. A time for grieving and a time for reflection.
The Next Decade
We have two Groenendaels, black Belgian Shepherds. Tiramisu is seven years old now and going strong, and our youngest puppy, Rizzo, has just turned 15 months. I couldn’t be happier!
Rizzo is the third dog we have raised from a puppy with this new understanding of dogs and behaviour. It shows. You may have followed his development here in a few pieces I’ve written for Life As A Human. A new puppy has not been without challenges over the past year but we’ve met them all with much more wisdom and confidence than ever before.
“Each dog better than the last” has been our motto in our home. We keep reading and we keep learning. We learn as much from the dogs themselves as we do from the books. What has become clear to us is that the path we have taken since abandoning the old way is now a way of life and not just a means to an end. It’s not just about training and performance.
My wife and I feel better about ourselves. We feel like we are better teachers and partners to our dogs. Behaviour issues aren’t problems anymore; they are just training or management challenges. We try to solve them with our dogs in a proactive way that gives everyone a chance to be successful. What a wonderful surprise to find that living like this with my dogs can, in itself, be Positive Reinforcement for both the dogs and the humans. Behavioural science has been much more than a useful tool for us. It has been a gift.
Until next time, have fun with your dogs!
Photo credits –
All photos copyright Petra Wingate 2004-2011
Reading this reminded me of the precious last 24 hours you had with Vince as you gave him the gift of sharing those hours with friends and doing what Vince loved most. They may not have been the same had you not taken the turn in your training methods and adjusted your beliefs. I’m so happy for all of you, human and dog!
Another great article bro! Love you!