Increasing Play Drive in Your Dog
by Fanny Gott on her blog on April 3.
http://www.fannygott.com/increasing-play-drive-in-your-dog#comment-3723
Thanks to the very reinforcing comment from Russia in the last blog post, I decided to translate my latest Swedish blog post into English for my foreign readers. It’s about developing your dog’s love of tugging:
As we are seeing a lot of new students right now, we talk a lot about developing rewards and mainly tugging. It’s very hard to train a dog without rewards and we feel that you need more than one good reward. With our own dogs, we focus a lot on developing both food and play as a reward. This is something that we also want to share with our students. Food is a really good reinforcer if you want to give many rewards in a short period of time, maybe without dog breaking it’s position at all. Food is also often calming and is appropriate when teaching precision. Play is a good reinforcer when you want speed and intensity, or if you want to throw the reward a long way. Play increases arousal in the dog and brings out new sides to the dog compared to food. It’s therefore a great advantage to be able to switch between food and play depending on where you want to go with your training.
We often prefer tugging to chasing a toy, but often use both in combination. If the dog likes to chase a toy, but won’t tug, we try to develop the dog’s love for tugging so that the dog wants to end the chasing by grabbing, pulling and winning. At many times, we want the dog to grab the toy immediatly when it’s presented (or when the dog is cued to ”get it”). It could be because we want the dog to drive straight to the handler after a turn on the agility course, or to get full speed and focus towards the handlers left side on a recall. Games of chasing, where a toy is dragged on the ground by a piece of rope, can be a really good reinforcer in other situations, mainly as a jackpot for focus and endurance. But even then, the intensity and joy will be better if the dog really wants to grab the toy.
Not all dogs do automatically like a game of tug. It’s a reward that needs to be developed in many dogs. Our opinion is that it always is worth to teach the dog to play if you want to get the most out of the dog you have. The dog might not have to enjoy tugging as much as food, but he should play with high intensity when we present a toy. For some dogs, tugging will be the ”motor” in training, the thing that makes training worth while for the dog. For other dogs, food will be the ”motor”, but they can still learn to really engage in tugging between food rewards, so that you’re able to gain from all the great things that come with tugging. And with time and good training, the dog’s priorities might change.
Shejpa was a dog that often would not tug. Not while food was around, not out doors, not if she wasn’t in the mood… I worked a lot with her tugging and it’s really good now. I can use 90 percent tugging in training (but she still needs that occational chicken neck to keep the engine running) and most of the time, you can’t tell that it’s a ”trained” tug. I’m convinced that she wouldn’t run half as fast if I didn’t use tugging in training. I can also see how tugging is getting more and more reinforcing for her, that she really does enjoy it more and more.
When developing our young dogs, we always have a goal in the back of our heads. We want the dog to grab the toy immediatly when it’s presented (or cued), tug intensly with weight shift and a straight top line (from head to tail). We want to be able to be passive (moving equipment around, talking to the instructor or student, filling up with more treats) and still have the dog tugging on the toy. If we tell the dog to ”out”, we want the dog to drop the toy. If we throw a toy or let the dog win while tugging, we want the dog to come right into us and deliver it to hand (we use a hand touch for this). At the same time, we want the dog to have fun and find tugging reinforcing.
This is a long term goal. It does not mean that all playing must look that way from the start. If the dog prefers to just chase a toy, that’s where we’ll begin. If we have to be very active to get the dog tugging, we will be. Our first priority is to get the dog to have fun with a toy. I think that good dog trainers have the ability to have a lot of fun with the dog, while reinforcing behaviors that will bring him closer to the long term goal. To reinforce behaviors while playing does not mean that you have to click and treat. It could be that you get more intense when the dog pulls harder, that you let the dog win when he weight shifts. You can find out what your dog really finds reinforcing when playing and use that to reinforce glimpses of what you’d like to see more of in the future. If you reinforce increased intensity in that way, your dog will be more intense and then also enjoying tugging more.
We feel that playing is addictive. You can starve a dog and get him to work better for treats, but it doesn’t work that way with playing. Play regularly with your dog to increase his love for playing. But don’t play for long. Always end the game when it’s at it’s best and make sure that you are ending the game, not the dog. You want the dog to be a bit disappointed when the game ends, dancing after you to get it to start again. That might mean that the first sessions are so short that the dog doesn’t even get to grab the toy, just chase it with high intensity, before it goes away.
Pick the right opportunity to start playing with your dog. You don’t want to present a toy and fail in getting the dog to play. It’s a common misstake to give up way to fast if the dog isn’t immediatly turned on to the game. Some dogs are slow starters in the beginning, but don’t give up. Don’t try to force the toy on the dog, rather act as if the toy is really valuable to you and you’re having a lot of fun with it. Experiment with different ways to get your dog started. Pick really fun toys and make sure that there is a piece of rope or a long handle on it, so that you can drag it along the ground and get it away from your body. Turn away from the dog and drag the toy away.
You can absolutely use food to reinforce tugging and transfer the value from one reward to another. It does require good dog training skills and it isn’t my first choice. It is really important that the criteria is raised fairly fast and that the dog is really engaging in the game before the food is presented. To use few, but really attractive food rewards is better than to use many pieces of low quality food. Timing is also really important; make sure that the dog is really into the game of tugging before the reward marker is used. If you use food to reinforce play, it’s still important for you to be active and have fun while playing. You want the dog to find out how fun playing can be even without food rewards.
This blog post could go on for ever. I’m making it shorter by ending with a few tips in a list. These points has helped me to increase tug drive in my own dogs:
* Start all your training sessions with a game of tug.
* Tug with your dogs for every 3-5 pieces of food you give him in training
* Put running around with the toy on cue and use it to reward good tugging
* Let the dog tug with you before he can have his food at every meal
* Play in many different settings
* Find really good toys (sheep skin, real fur, braided fleece etc.)
* Snatch the toy away from the dog if he looses the toy. Tease him with it for a while before he can have it again.
* Check out Susan Garretts ”How to create a motivational toy”.
* Put sticky food (raw tripe, minced meat, liver pâté or similar) into a wool stocking and let your dog chase it. As he grabs the toy he’ll get a taste sensation directly in his mouth. (NB! Make sure your dog doesn’t get hold of the toy at any time, as it can be dangerous if he tries to swallow it).
* Encourage interest in objects, grabbing, holding and weight shifting in your regular training sessions – train picking things up, retrieving, pulling on dead objects etc. and reward with food. But don’t forget the unrestrained, fun play. This is just a complement.
* Don’t ever give your dog a treat if he refuses to play (rather put the dog away if you decide to give up).
* Get your dog aroused before presenting the toy. Do restrained recalls, let the dog chase you or wrestle with your dog (if he likes to).
* Believe that it really is possible to get your dog to tug. It is!
----------------------------------------
HOW TO CREATE A MOTIVATING TOY
Article by Susan Garett
From the site:
http://www.clickerdogs.com/createamotivatingtoy.htm
Many times in agility training the need will arise to use a toy to motivate your dog to move on without you (example: teaching a "get out" or doing weave poles or any sequence of obstacles for a gamble). People will ofren lament that their dog is not "into" toys. Some dogs will not innately want to play with toys but you can create the desire within them with a little work on your part. If your dog is really motivated by food and has never shown any interest in toys, an option available to you is to take the motivating toy you have chosen to work with and simmer it in a pot of liver, or chicken broth to make it more attractive to your finicky hound. BE LEERY--if you choose to go this route, be very careful your dog is never given an opportunity to be alone with this wonderful smelling toy or THEY MAY EAT IT. Surgery to remove this from their gut will be neither pleasant nor cheap. The key to training old Rover to play with you and your toy is that you are SINCERELY interested in playing with your dog. If you are truly not having fun, your dog will quickly realize this and will be even more reluctant to join in. So be sure that you are both enjoying yourselves. Now let's begin!
* Choose a throwable toy--i.e. one that you can toss, but won't roll too much, like a tug rope, or a ball in a sock or a stuffed animal.
* Attach this toy to a light line, string or lead that is about 3 meters long.
* Put the toy in a drawer in the midst of your living area--example, in the kitchen or somewhere else that is easily accessible at all times.
* Before each meal start to act a bit loony. While saying really fun things to your dog (like "oh no", "what is it", "do you want this", "where's your toy", etc.) walk, dance, skip...basically act goofy while you make your way over to the special drawer.
* S-l-o-w-l-y open up the drawer while continuing to say nutty things to your dog.
* Stop talking momentarily (a pause for effect) and then pull the toy out of the drawer, like you just unexpectedly came across a $50 bill and run with it into the next room.
* Swing the toy above the ground while acting nutty to show the dog what a great time you are having with this fun toy.
* Dance around for a few more seconds and then toss the toy out like a lure on the end of a fishing pole.
* Drag it around but BE SURE THE DOG DOES NOT GET HIS MOUTH ON IT.
* This whole process should only take 1-2 minutes the first time you do it.
* End your fun game, which didn't include your poor dog, by running ack to the drawer, yhour toy in tow snatching it up and quickly putting it back in the drawer with a phrase like "oh no, it's gone".
* You may then proceed about your regular routine as if nothing out of the ordinary just happened.
* Re-enact this bizarre performance 2-3 times a day. After the second day, allow the dog to get his mouth on the toy if he is really keen--but only for a few seconds. Pull on the line to try and steal it from him. Once you get it away (be sure you are taking it from him in a very informal, fun way), play with it a little more by yourself before quickly putting the toy away.
* Gradually progress, letting him play with you and the toy (tog of war style) a little more each time until you have a dog who loves to see the toy come out.
* Do not allow him to play with this toy at any other time except during this routine and, when he is ready, at agility class.
* Ideally, you should remove any other toys that are lying around the house during this time. Leave out only things your dog can lie down and chew on by himself, such as his chew bones.
* Be sure during this training/play session that you never give your dog any sort of verbal for anything he might do.
* Before you know it you will have a dog who is as nutty about this toy as you apparently have been!
* This method works particularly well on new puppies.
---------------------------
onsdag 17 juni 2009
måndag 15 juni 2009
Thoughts on training with food rewards
This weekend I was repeatedly asked the question whether it is a good idea to train with so many treats. The argument was that "if he [Noch] always gets a treat, won't he always be expecting a treat?". The worry here was that treats would forever be a training "crutch".
I understand this worry as it is one of the hardest things to grasp when one starts to clicker train. When I first started out trying to clicker train I treated too little and with too long intervals (a very common problem apparently). I also trained for too long periods of time. This resulted in slow learning and frustration and extinction of behaviour (extinction = when a behaviour stops entirely). I believe this reluctance to reward a lot is rooted in our way of perceiving learning and how to go about it (think: school).
The thing is we do is to fade out treats once the behaviour is learnt and only occasionally treat. We put the behaviour on an so called "intermittent schedual" (unpredictable and random) as it is called in more scientific terms. An intermittenet schedual is the best way to encourage a behaviour to be strong and long-lasting (think: casinos, they reinforce on an intermittant schedual).
Things (off the top of my head) that aren't regularly rewarded anymore: calm behaviour indoors, drying paws, putting on his lead (this has become self-rewarding), pooing outdoors, peeing outdoors, ignoring "normal" calm people walking by on our walks, following me after the command "come along now" (after he has been allowed to sniff an interesting patch of grass), sitting before allowed to play offlead (self-rewarding nowadays).
Back to the "won't he expect it all the time" part of treating often. I actually think this is an excellent and important part of clicker training. You are effectively shaping attention and becoming very exciting for your dog. You are pairing commands/praise from you with food. This eventually results in your dog excitedly waiting for opportunities to impress you so that you will praise-and-treat. Which is excellent! Why would I want things to be different? Every time I say "Yes!" or "good boy!" I am rewarded with a snap-turn of Noch's head as he focuses on me and the treat that is on its way.
This is excellent because:
a)I know he knows that he did something right
b) I can gauge how "difficult" and distracing he finds the environment. I do the "Noch" check. His normal behaviour when I call his name is to give eye contact and then come to me. So to do the little Noch "test" I call out his name and if he doesn't hear me, he is over-threshold, and I know then to avoid other triggers too and not to train anything at that point (he won't hear me anyway).
In the end your job is to find what motivates your dog. You find it, and you use it. Some people are lucky that their dogs will happily work for pats or toys. But for many dogs (the majority) pats and toys aren't really worth much, especially in the beginning when you are still building your relationship with your dog.
Play with toys sometimes has to be taught to be enjoyed (as is the case with my dog Noch). Noch and I have only recently come to the stage where I can reward ball fetching with a toss of a new ball. It used to be that this would result in the break down and finally the extinction of the fetching behaviour. For him, and many other canines, food is number one on the motivation scale.
There are of course some things that can top food: chasing cats, chasing squirrels etc. but these things are hard to systematically reward with. If I could, I would, for it is even better than food when it comes to motivation!
Another aspect of the food-worry is that the dog gets spoilt. Which is indeed a unnecessary worry as the food, even though given very frequently, is never given "for free". It is always given with the thought "reward good behaviour". (Anyway, define "spoilt" if you have a well behaved dog it surely isn't spoilt in a bad sense! Read Pat Miller's article that I posted just before this post, she does talk about how clicker dogs behave differently to coercion trained dogs and how this can be seen as misbehaviour to a coercion trainer).
In my case I wish I didn't have to use it as much as a lure. But in some cases here in the city I have to as it is the only thing that sometimes can break him out of his "trance". But even this is something that I do less and less as he gets better and better.
And that brings us to the last aspect of this. Which is that our dogs are the ones to decide when they are ready to be "weaned" off food rewards. Personally I prefer to always be challenging Noch mentally so I will always train using many treats or anything else he find motivating. The biggest difference is that I will be using less treats on our walks (happily, this is already happening). Also, as Leslie McDevitt points out in her book "Control Unleashed" there are plenty of life-rewards and other rewards that are not food that can be used once the behaviour is learnt.
I understand this worry as it is one of the hardest things to grasp when one starts to clicker train. When I first started out trying to clicker train I treated too little and with too long intervals (a very common problem apparently). I also trained for too long periods of time. This resulted in slow learning and frustration and extinction of behaviour (extinction = when a behaviour stops entirely). I believe this reluctance to reward a lot is rooted in our way of perceiving learning and how to go about it (think: school).
The thing is we do is to fade out treats once the behaviour is learnt and only occasionally treat. We put the behaviour on an so called "intermittent schedual" (unpredictable and random) as it is called in more scientific terms. An intermittenet schedual is the best way to encourage a behaviour to be strong and long-lasting (think: casinos, they reinforce on an intermittant schedual).
Things (off the top of my head) that aren't regularly rewarded anymore: calm behaviour indoors, drying paws, putting on his lead (this has become self-rewarding), pooing outdoors, peeing outdoors, ignoring "normal" calm people walking by on our walks, following me after the command "come along now" (after he has been allowed to sniff an interesting patch of grass), sitting before allowed to play offlead (self-rewarding nowadays).
Back to the "won't he expect it all the time" part of treating often. I actually think this is an excellent and important part of clicker training. You are effectively shaping attention and becoming very exciting for your dog. You are pairing commands/praise from you with food. This eventually results in your dog excitedly waiting for opportunities to impress you so that you will praise-and-treat. Which is excellent! Why would I want things to be different? Every time I say "Yes!" or "good boy!" I am rewarded with a snap-turn of Noch's head as he focuses on me and the treat that is on its way.
This is excellent because:
a)I know he knows that he did something right
b) I can gauge how "difficult" and distracing he finds the environment. I do the "Noch" check. His normal behaviour when I call his name is to give eye contact and then come to me. So to do the little Noch "test" I call out his name and if he doesn't hear me, he is over-threshold, and I know then to avoid other triggers too and not to train anything at that point (he won't hear me anyway).
In the end your job is to find what motivates your dog. You find it, and you use it. Some people are lucky that their dogs will happily work for pats or toys. But for many dogs (the majority) pats and toys aren't really worth much, especially in the beginning when you are still building your relationship with your dog.
Play with toys sometimes has to be taught to be enjoyed (as is the case with my dog Noch). Noch and I have only recently come to the stage where I can reward ball fetching with a toss of a new ball. It used to be that this would result in the break down and finally the extinction of the fetching behaviour. For him, and many other canines, food is number one on the motivation scale.
There are of course some things that can top food: chasing cats, chasing squirrels etc. but these things are hard to systematically reward with. If I could, I would, for it is even better than food when it comes to motivation!
Another aspect of the food-worry is that the dog gets spoilt. Which is indeed a unnecessary worry as the food, even though given very frequently, is never given "for free". It is always given with the thought "reward good behaviour". (Anyway, define "spoilt" if you have a well behaved dog it surely isn't spoilt in a bad sense! Read Pat Miller's article that I posted just before this post, she does talk about how clicker dogs behave differently to coercion trained dogs and how this can be seen as misbehaviour to a coercion trainer).
In my case I wish I didn't have to use it as much as a lure. But in some cases here in the city I have to as it is the only thing that sometimes can break him out of his "trance". But even this is something that I do less and less as he gets better and better.
And that brings us to the last aspect of this. Which is that our dogs are the ones to decide when they are ready to be "weaned" off food rewards. Personally I prefer to always be challenging Noch mentally so I will always train using many treats or anything else he find motivating. The biggest difference is that I will be using less treats on our walks (happily, this is already happening). Also, as Leslie McDevitt points out in her book "Control Unleashed" there are plenty of life-rewards and other rewards that are not food that can be used once the behaviour is learnt.
'Why" Positive Training? - article by Pat Miller
Brilliant article by Pat Miller:
Source:
http://ptfordogs.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-positive-training.html
'Why" Positive Training?
© 2007, Pat Miller/Peaceable Paws LLC
All Rights Reserved
WE’RE POSITIVE
How we know that training with lots of positive reinforcement – and without force or physical punishment – is best.
We’ve come so far since those dark days just over a decade ago when virtually all dog training was accomplished through the use of force and compulsion. I know those days well; I was quite skilled at giving collar corrections with choke chains and attained several high-scoring obedience titles with my dogs using those methods. And as a shelter worker responsible for the euthanasia of unwanted dogs for whom we couldn’t find homes, I was convinced that a little pain in the name of training was acceptable and necessary to create well-behaved dogs who would have lifelong loving homes.
In fact, when I enrolled my Australian Kelpie pup in the now-renowned Dr. Ian Dunbar’s first-ever puppy-training classes at our shelter in Marin County, California, I was so sure that using physical corrections in training was the only way to go, that I dropped out of the class after just two sessions; I was convinced he was ruining my dog with training treats!
It was several more years before I crossed over to the positive side of dog training, thanks in large part to my wonderful dog Josie, who gently showed me the error of my ways one day by hiding under the back deck when I brought out her training equipment. Her quiet eloquence made me realize, finally, the damage I was doing to our relationship with tools and techniques that relied on the application of pain and intimidation to force her to comply. I threw away the choke chains and began my journey toward a more positive perspective on training.
What’s the difference?
Today, in many areas of the country a dog is at least as likely to be enrolled in a class with a trainer who uses positive methods as one who still employs old-fashioned choke chain or prong-collar coercion. As more dog owners and dog trainers see the light, clickers, treat bags, and positive reinforcement replace metal collars, shocks, and dominance theory. Many trainers who still fall back on compulsion tools will at least start with dog-friendlier methods, resorting to force and intimidation only when positive training seems not to work for them. Dogs and humans alike are delighted to discover a kinder, gentler method that still gets results.
Trainers, behaviorists, and dog owners are realizing that this is more than just a philosophical difference, or a conflict between an ethic that says we should be nice to animals versus a more utilitarian approach to training. While both methods can produce well-trained dogs, the end result is also significantly different. With positive training, the goal is to develop a dog who thinks and works cooperatively with his human as part of a team, rather than a dog who simply obeys commands.
Positive trainers report that dogs trained effectively with coercion are almost universally reluctant to offer behaviors and are less good at problem-solving. Fearing the “corrections” that result when they make mistakes, they seem to learn that the safest course is to do nothing unless and until they’re told to do something.
In sharp contrast, dogs who have been effectively trained with positive methods tend to be masters at offering behaviors. Give them a new training challenge and they almost immediately set about trying to solve the puzzle. In fact, one of the criticisms often voiced by trainers who don’t understand – or accept – the positive training paradigm is that our dogs are too busy – always “throwing” behaviors instead of lying quietly at our feet like “good” dogs. This conflict in perspectives is illustrated graphically by a T-shirt belonging to one of my trainer friends, Katy Malcolm, CPDT, of Canine Character, LLC, in Arlington, Virginia.
“Behave!” proclaims the front of the shirt in bold letters. To the average disciplinarian, “Behave!” means “Sit still; don’t move!” But the back of Katy’s shirt says, “Do lots of stuff!” Positive trainers see the word “Behave!” as an action verb and encourage their dogs to offer lots of behaviors.
Another criticism of positive training is that the dogs are spoiled and out of control because, while the dogs are highly reinforced for doing good stuff, no one ever tells them what not to do. “Dogs,” the critics say, “must know there are consequences for inappropriate behaviors.”
We don’t disagree with this statement. Positive does not mean permissive. We just have different ideas about the necessary nature of the negative consequence. When one is needed, positive trainers are most likely to use “negative punishment” (taking away a good thing), rather than “positive punishment” (the application of a bad thing). As an adjunct to that, we counsel the generous use of management to prevent the dog from practicing (and getting rewarded for) undesirable behaviors.
The result? Since all living things repeat behaviors that are rewarding, and those behaviors that aren’t rewarded extinguish (go away), the combination of negative punishment and management creates a well-trained dog at least as easily as harsh or painful corrections – and without the very real potential for relationship damage that is created by the use of physical punishment.
One of the most significant reasons for not using physical punishment or force with dogs is the potential for eliciting or exacerbating aggressive behaviors from them.
This was illustrated by an English Bulldog in a recent episode of the National Geographic Channel’s show, “The Dog Whisperer.” Cesar Millan, the star of the show, spent several hours intimidating the Bulldog on a hot Texas day, in an effort to get the dog to “submit,” until the dog finally inflicted a significant bite to Millan’s hand in a futile attempt at self-defense. Millan brushed the incident aside as insignificant, apparently blissfully unaware that he had provided the dog with the opportunity to successfully practice the undesirable behavior (aggression).
Even if the dog’s reaction falls short of a flesh-shredding defense, the relationship between dog and owner can be significantly damaged as the dog learns to fear or resent the angry, unpredictable responses of his human, and the human comes to fear the beloved dog who now bites him. Given our odd primate body language and behaviors, we are undoubtedly confusing enough to our canine companions, without adding what to them must seem like completely unprovoked, incomprehensible explosions of violence.
Crossing over
Increasingly, trainers are entering the profession who learned their craft without an early foundation of coercion training. This is a good thing! However, there are enough old-fashioned trainers around that positive trainers still find themselves working with a fair number of “crossover dogs” – those who are convinced that they must not dare offer a behavior for fear of punishment.
It can be frustrating to owners and trainers alike to work through the dog’s conditioned shutdown response to the training environment. Shaping exercises, especially “free-shaping” that reinforces virtually any behavior to start with, are ideal for encouraging a crossover dog to think outside the box. This serves the same purpose for crossover owners and trainers as well!
It takes time to rebuild the trust of a dog who has learned to stay safe by waiting for explicit instructions before proceeding. It’s well worth the effort. The most rewarding and exciting part of training for me is watching the dawning awareness on a dog’s face that he controls the consequences of his behavior, and that he can elicit good stuff from his trainer by offering certain behaviors. We never, ever, experienced that in the “old days.” I used to take “sit” for granted, because if the dog didn’t sit when I asked, I made him do it.
Today, I never get over the thrill of that moment when the dog understands, for the first time, that he can make the clicker “Click!” (and receive a treat) simply by choosing to sit. It keeps training eternally fresh and exciting.
Not quite convinced?
So why, given all the available scientific and anecdotal evidence about the success of positive training, do some dog trainers and owners cling stubbornly to the old ways? Because it works for them much of the time? Resistance to change? Fear of the unknown?
It pains me that so many in the U.S. are still so far away from the positive end of the dog-training continuum. The celebrity status of Cesar Millan is evidence that dog owners and trainers are more than willing to buy into the coercion-and-intimidation approach to training, and that the use of force is an ingrained part of our culture.
Old-fashioned methods can work. Decades of well-behaved dogs and the owners who loved them can attest to that. So why should they bother to cross over to the positive side? The short answer is that positive training works, it’s fun, and it does not have the potential to cause stress and physical injury to our dogs through the application of force, pain, and intimidation. It takes the blame away from the dog and puts the responsibility for success where it belongs – on human shoulders.
In the old days, if a dog didn’t respond well to coercion we claimed there was something wrong with the dog, and continued to increase the level of force until he finally submitted. If he didn’t submit he was often labeled defective and discarded for a more compliant model. With the positive paradigm, it’s our role as the supposedly more intelligent species to understand our dogs and find a way that works for them rather than forcing them into a one-size-fits-all mold.
The longer answer is that it encourages an entire cultural mindset to move away from aggression and force as a way to achieve goals. The majority of dog owners and trainers who have fun (and success) using positive methods with their dogs come to realize that it works with all creatures, including the human species. They feel better about training and find themselves less likely to get angry with their dogs, understanding that behavior is simply behavior, not some maliciously deliberate attempt on the dog’s part to challenge their authority.
People who use positive methods to affect relationships get nicer. It feels nice to be nice. Children learn to respect and understand other living beings instead of learning to be violent with them.
When training programs founder, positive trainers are more apt to seek new solutions rather than falling back on force and pain, or worse, blaming – and possibly discarding – the dog for not adapting to our rigid concept of training. Indeed, in the last two decades, during which time positive training has gained a huge following, we’ve made even more advances in our training creativity and our understanding of behavior, canine and otherwise, and have even more positive options, tools, and techniques.
So, why positive? It’s simply the best way to train.
Source:
http://ptfordogs.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-positive-training.html
'Why" Positive Training?
© 2007, Pat Miller/Peaceable Paws LLC
All Rights Reserved
WE’RE POSITIVE
How we know that training with lots of positive reinforcement – and without force or physical punishment – is best.
We’ve come so far since those dark days just over a decade ago when virtually all dog training was accomplished through the use of force and compulsion. I know those days well; I was quite skilled at giving collar corrections with choke chains and attained several high-scoring obedience titles with my dogs using those methods. And as a shelter worker responsible for the euthanasia of unwanted dogs for whom we couldn’t find homes, I was convinced that a little pain in the name of training was acceptable and necessary to create well-behaved dogs who would have lifelong loving homes.
In fact, when I enrolled my Australian Kelpie pup in the now-renowned Dr. Ian Dunbar’s first-ever puppy-training classes at our shelter in Marin County, California, I was so sure that using physical corrections in training was the only way to go, that I dropped out of the class after just two sessions; I was convinced he was ruining my dog with training treats!
It was several more years before I crossed over to the positive side of dog training, thanks in large part to my wonderful dog Josie, who gently showed me the error of my ways one day by hiding under the back deck when I brought out her training equipment. Her quiet eloquence made me realize, finally, the damage I was doing to our relationship with tools and techniques that relied on the application of pain and intimidation to force her to comply. I threw away the choke chains and began my journey toward a more positive perspective on training.
What’s the difference?
Today, in many areas of the country a dog is at least as likely to be enrolled in a class with a trainer who uses positive methods as one who still employs old-fashioned choke chain or prong-collar coercion. As more dog owners and dog trainers see the light, clickers, treat bags, and positive reinforcement replace metal collars, shocks, and dominance theory. Many trainers who still fall back on compulsion tools will at least start with dog-friendlier methods, resorting to force and intimidation only when positive training seems not to work for them. Dogs and humans alike are delighted to discover a kinder, gentler method that still gets results.
Trainers, behaviorists, and dog owners are realizing that this is more than just a philosophical difference, or a conflict between an ethic that says we should be nice to animals versus a more utilitarian approach to training. While both methods can produce well-trained dogs, the end result is also significantly different. With positive training, the goal is to develop a dog who thinks and works cooperatively with his human as part of a team, rather than a dog who simply obeys commands.
Positive trainers report that dogs trained effectively with coercion are almost universally reluctant to offer behaviors and are less good at problem-solving. Fearing the “corrections” that result when they make mistakes, they seem to learn that the safest course is to do nothing unless and until they’re told to do something.
In sharp contrast, dogs who have been effectively trained with positive methods tend to be masters at offering behaviors. Give them a new training challenge and they almost immediately set about trying to solve the puzzle. In fact, one of the criticisms often voiced by trainers who don’t understand – or accept – the positive training paradigm is that our dogs are too busy – always “throwing” behaviors instead of lying quietly at our feet like “good” dogs. This conflict in perspectives is illustrated graphically by a T-shirt belonging to one of my trainer friends, Katy Malcolm, CPDT, of Canine Character, LLC, in Arlington, Virginia.
“Behave!” proclaims the front of the shirt in bold letters. To the average disciplinarian, “Behave!” means “Sit still; don’t move!” But the back of Katy’s shirt says, “Do lots of stuff!” Positive trainers see the word “Behave!” as an action verb and encourage their dogs to offer lots of behaviors.
Another criticism of positive training is that the dogs are spoiled and out of control because, while the dogs are highly reinforced for doing good stuff, no one ever tells them what not to do. “Dogs,” the critics say, “must know there are consequences for inappropriate behaviors.”
We don’t disagree with this statement. Positive does not mean permissive. We just have different ideas about the necessary nature of the negative consequence. When one is needed, positive trainers are most likely to use “negative punishment” (taking away a good thing), rather than “positive punishment” (the application of a bad thing). As an adjunct to that, we counsel the generous use of management to prevent the dog from practicing (and getting rewarded for) undesirable behaviors.
The result? Since all living things repeat behaviors that are rewarding, and those behaviors that aren’t rewarded extinguish (go away), the combination of negative punishment and management creates a well-trained dog at least as easily as harsh or painful corrections – and without the very real potential for relationship damage that is created by the use of physical punishment.
One of the most significant reasons for not using physical punishment or force with dogs is the potential for eliciting or exacerbating aggressive behaviors from them.
This was illustrated by an English Bulldog in a recent episode of the National Geographic Channel’s show, “The Dog Whisperer.” Cesar Millan, the star of the show, spent several hours intimidating the Bulldog on a hot Texas day, in an effort to get the dog to “submit,” until the dog finally inflicted a significant bite to Millan’s hand in a futile attempt at self-defense. Millan brushed the incident aside as insignificant, apparently blissfully unaware that he had provided the dog with the opportunity to successfully practice the undesirable behavior (aggression).
Even if the dog’s reaction falls short of a flesh-shredding defense, the relationship between dog and owner can be significantly damaged as the dog learns to fear or resent the angry, unpredictable responses of his human, and the human comes to fear the beloved dog who now bites him. Given our odd primate body language and behaviors, we are undoubtedly confusing enough to our canine companions, without adding what to them must seem like completely unprovoked, incomprehensible explosions of violence.
Crossing over
Increasingly, trainers are entering the profession who learned their craft without an early foundation of coercion training. This is a good thing! However, there are enough old-fashioned trainers around that positive trainers still find themselves working with a fair number of “crossover dogs” – those who are convinced that they must not dare offer a behavior for fear of punishment.
It can be frustrating to owners and trainers alike to work through the dog’s conditioned shutdown response to the training environment. Shaping exercises, especially “free-shaping” that reinforces virtually any behavior to start with, are ideal for encouraging a crossover dog to think outside the box. This serves the same purpose for crossover owners and trainers as well!
It takes time to rebuild the trust of a dog who has learned to stay safe by waiting for explicit instructions before proceeding. It’s well worth the effort. The most rewarding and exciting part of training for me is watching the dawning awareness on a dog’s face that he controls the consequences of his behavior, and that he can elicit good stuff from his trainer by offering certain behaviors. We never, ever, experienced that in the “old days.” I used to take “sit” for granted, because if the dog didn’t sit when I asked, I made him do it.
Today, I never get over the thrill of that moment when the dog understands, for the first time, that he can make the clicker “Click!” (and receive a treat) simply by choosing to sit. It keeps training eternally fresh and exciting.
Not quite convinced?
So why, given all the available scientific and anecdotal evidence about the success of positive training, do some dog trainers and owners cling stubbornly to the old ways? Because it works for them much of the time? Resistance to change? Fear of the unknown?
It pains me that so many in the U.S. are still so far away from the positive end of the dog-training continuum. The celebrity status of Cesar Millan is evidence that dog owners and trainers are more than willing to buy into the coercion-and-intimidation approach to training, and that the use of force is an ingrained part of our culture.
Old-fashioned methods can work. Decades of well-behaved dogs and the owners who loved them can attest to that. So why should they bother to cross over to the positive side? The short answer is that positive training works, it’s fun, and it does not have the potential to cause stress and physical injury to our dogs through the application of force, pain, and intimidation. It takes the blame away from the dog and puts the responsibility for success where it belongs – on human shoulders.
In the old days, if a dog didn’t respond well to coercion we claimed there was something wrong with the dog, and continued to increase the level of force until he finally submitted. If he didn’t submit he was often labeled defective and discarded for a more compliant model. With the positive paradigm, it’s our role as the supposedly more intelligent species to understand our dogs and find a way that works for them rather than forcing them into a one-size-fits-all mold.
The longer answer is that it encourages an entire cultural mindset to move away from aggression and force as a way to achieve goals. The majority of dog owners and trainers who have fun (and success) using positive methods with their dogs come to realize that it works with all creatures, including the human species. They feel better about training and find themselves less likely to get angry with their dogs, understanding that behavior is simply behavior, not some maliciously deliberate attempt on the dog’s part to challenge their authority.
People who use positive methods to affect relationships get nicer. It feels nice to be nice. Children learn to respect and understand other living beings instead of learning to be violent with them.
When training programs founder, positive trainers are more apt to seek new solutions rather than falling back on force and pain, or worse, blaming – and possibly discarding – the dog for not adapting to our rigid concept of training. Indeed, in the last two decades, during which time positive training has gained a huge following, we’ve made even more advances in our training creativity and our understanding of behavior, canine and otherwise, and have even more positive options, tools, and techniques.
So, why positive? It’s simply the best way to train.
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