Canine Nation

Getting results can be about "good", "good enough", or "GREAT!" It matters how we train. Ask Olympic athletes Usain Bolt and Oscar Pistorius. How you teach your dog can make all the difference in the world.

You know that horrible moment when you are at the park with your dog friends and you call your dog and they ignore you? Yeah, me too. It's a mystery why dogs sometimes choose not to do what we ask. Sometimes there are very good reasons why they don't respond. But other times, well, it's just a mystery.

Many think that Behavioural Science treats organisms like machines, manipulating behaviour and bending others to their will. But it's not simple. In fact, there is another side to Operant and Classical Conditioning. What you can learn about your dog while you are changing his behaviour might just surprise and delight you. You might just discover that the science can show you your dog's personality in wonderful detail!

The roots of reinforcement training based on behavioural science were in science labs at universities. But animal trainers quickly saw the value in positive training techniques and began adopting them as early as the 1960's. Today animals from fish to horses to birds to lizards are being trained with behavioural science. Perhaps most importantly to listeners of this podcast, even dogs are trained that way. Very successfully I might add!

Nobody likes it when their dogs “misbehave.” But can the cure be worse than the symptom? Dogs get bothered by things and if we stop them from expressing their emotions they may get frustrated and may lash out at a seemingly unrelated target. We must be careful that our attempts to “correct” our dogs don't create bigger problems down the road. There are better ways to help them cope.

I had a fun encounter with my sister's dog this past week. It gave me an opportunity to teach my sister something interesting. Sometimes the best thing we can do to improve our dog's behaviour is less. And sometimes the best thing to do...is nothing at all. Our dogs may be rewarded by our attention for certain behaviours even if that attention is intended to scold them or show our disapproval. We need to be careful what we reward especially when we intend the opposite!

There's an old saying - "There is no such thing as a free lunch."  Put another way, you could also say that "Nothing in life is free."  If you have a dog, there's a program by that name (NILIF for short) that can help you teach your dog that their behaviour has consequences both good and bad.  Many of the websites that describe NILIF programs portray it as a way to gain control of your dogs behaviour, a sort of boot-camp to get them back in line if they are "getting away" with misbehaving.  But it can be a lot more than that.

B.F. Skinner said that "Consequence dictates behaviour."  That is the essence of the NILIF program.  But Skinner's Operant Conditioning model can make a simple program like NILIF into so much more.  With some additional reading and some creative application of behavioural psychology, Operant Conditioning can pave the way for a very fulfilling and wonderful relationship with your dog.

It is the year 2012.   The 21st century.  This is an era that was supposed to show me flying cars, tours to the moon, an end to disease, and more.  At least that's how it was portrayed decades ago when I was a child.  And while modern science has indeed brought about many miracles, we still seem to be in the "dark ages" when it comes to training and living with our closest animal companion, the dog.

In an era when the Internet puts the worlds knowledge at our fingertips, I am amazed that there is still so much disagreement about the biology and behaviour of dogs.  We have come so far in so many fields.  But people still believe that dogs are status seekers in a struggle with us for "dominance", that a dog must "respect" their human, and that an animal that has been selectively bred to live in our homes could lash out at any moment unless tightly controlled.

Is your dog smart? I certainly think my dogs are.  Most dog owners have lots of stories to show how smart their dogs are. Dogs do have some pretty amazing abilities from stealing a snack from time to time from a counter to knowing which shoes we wear when we take them for a run at the part.  And those are things they learn on their own.

The variety of behaviours people have been able to teach dogs, it's pretty remarkable.  We can teach them useful skill and amazing tricks but the fact remains that we have underestimated dogs and their abilities for centuries.  It turns out that they can do many things better and faster than humans.  Their scent detection makes them excellent at police work and helping diagnose medical conditions.  What amazing things will we discover they can do?

Rizzo arrived here in our home just over 2 years ago.  We had just lost our dear Vince who had been with us for 10 years.  Vince was a dog who taught us a great deal.  Rizzo the puppy pranced into our lives.  Rizzo the dog still prances as he runs today.  My Adventures In Puppyhood articles has given me the opportunity to share the process and progress in raising Rizzo.

”Each dog better than the last.”  It was a goal my wife and I set for ourselves 9 years ago.  Our move to training our dogs with behavioural science and positive methods changed how we did things with our dogs pretty radically. Raising our newest puppy was no exception.   Instead of trying to keep unwanted behaviours in check and just teaching basic manners, we had much greater expectations.   We wanted to see how much we could teach Rizzo about the world in addition to the behaviours we wanted from him.