The many problems of treat training and positive reinforcement – Part 3

In part 1 of this series we looked at many positive reinforcement trainers that were killed by their own animals (wild animals and domestic dogs).  A domesticated animal should not kill the people it lives with but when folks purposely choose to believe there is just one way to work with animals this sort of thing can happen.

In part 2 we brought up the heart of the issue and took a look at 3 different dogs with 3 different reactions motivationally-speaking in regards to food and treats.  We went over how every dog on the planet reacts to food/treats differently – some are very excited about food, others have a so-so attitude about food, and other dogs, when in the presence of their triggering stimuli totally ignore high-value food and blow off positive reinforcement because their adrenals have informed their bodily senses to turn Down smelling and tasting and to turn Down the drive to eat in order to turn Up vision and hearing to prepare to fight or flight!  

(If you haven’t read Part 2 please read it then come back to this part).

So what about the plethora of dogs that ignore high-value treats and positive reinforcement in the presence of their triggering stimuli???  What about all the dogs that are just too fearful or too anxious or too aggressive to take food from the owner or trainer? The truth is, and we have thousands of clients and past clients that will verify this fact, sometimes positive reinforcement and the stuffing of treats down a dog’s throat simply will NOT work on the more serious psychologically-damaged cases.  This then instantly eliminates dog trainers and behaviorists that limit themselves and only teach the positive approach!  Those trainers have ZERO answers for their clients!  Due to their rigid and close-minded approach to canine behavior they are taking themselves and their one method out of the game!  Their positive-only method that has now failed to truly help change the more serious of dog behaviors is now rendered useless when the dog ignores them!  And the dogs do ignore them.  After careful consideration of the above fact (that many dogs ignore allegedly high-value treats when in a stressful situation) it should lead the curious mind to more questions…if soft praise and constant high-value food was NOT working or barely working…How should we handle these dogs?  Isn’t there a better way?  What genuinely helps these damaged dogs that are practicing fight/flight on a daily basis?  What helps these dogs adjust socially and behave normally when soft human affection, human talking/praise, and trying to feed them with “high-value” treats isn’t working?

Answer:  Knowing real dog language and speaking/signalling it back to the dog because this paves the way for a proper relationship.  A proper relationship between dog and human, despite what you may have heard from the propaganda machine we all know as the dog training industry, is not one filled with gobs of overboard affection and food from the owner to the dog.  A healthy relationship is one that must be based on respect and trust the way all dogs build them naturally with other dogs.  It must be based on clear communication and should not rely on weak external motivation.  You do NOT have to be Tony Robbins for your dog because the emphasis should be natural relationship and calm, healthy energy and NOT more motivation for tricks and obedience!!!  Remember…most obedience has little or nothing to do with canine social dynamics and dog language!  Most obedience and “training” has little or nothing to do with what is important to our dogs!  Most obedience training has little or nothing to do with adjusting misbehavior because obedience adds tricks and is not the best way to modify behavior.

 

These days were are seeing more and more ABUSE from dog owners by way of continually vomiting anthropomorphic beliefs upon the dog!  There is a massive trend among dog owners that espouse “positive only” training techniques where they not only call their dog their “baby” but they actually mistreat their dog by treating them like a literal human baby.  We are also seeing more obese dogs – another form of modern-day abuse.  We also see more bratty pups – when an owner gives zero boundaries it means they don’t actually care about the pup they claim to adore.  We also see loads and loads of fearful and anxious dogs and some owners even that think that it is okay for their dog to live like that – it’s just “who the dog is” according to the owner.  What an excuse.  That’s completely wrong!  Fear blocks the real personality of the dog and fear and anxiety can and should be addressed in a thoughtful, efficient, calm, and natural way.  (We didn’t have all the problems we have currently in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s…that was before people believed dogs were babies and just respected them as dogs)

We get many reports from clients who tried the positive approach (before finding us) and those reports all seem to mention how many treats were used (insane amounts) and how their pup quickly lost interest due to the outrageous amount of food used!  People tell us how their puppy was literally vomiting the treats up and became physically sick due to the amount of “positive only” training that occurred during the one hour session!  And yet many professional dog trainers and behaviorists keep lying about how this method is “scientific” and “modern” and they claim that anything else is abusive.  What a sinister and manipulative message they send out, and, as discussed, they have billions of dollars in treat sales to continue to send the manipulative message with!

As a father of four human children and as an owner of two dogs I care for them all as best I can and one part of that loving care is discipline.  Discipline is one of the keys to any successful life.  Think of Larry Bird.  Think of thousands of hours of discipline he spent putting the ball through the hoop.  Proper discipline is just one of many parts of an excellent life.  Applying calming discipline with clear communication is just good parenting and should be part of good, normal dog ownership.  Example: If one of my kids is blatantly rude to their mother or myself there will be discipline (they get sent to a time out, or to their room and then we talk later about how that is unacceptable).  If one of my dogs is blatantly rude to any member of the household they also get proper discipline (I apply the Four Pillars and we spatially address the situation like a dog would.  Does this mean I roll the dog on it’s back – NO!  Does this mean I hit the dog?  NO!  Do I yell – NO!  I don’t do most of the things that people would assume I do.  Instead I bring the proper amount of firmness in my energy and I grow larger spatially (in my body) and I let the dog know it was wrong at that moment but can always trust me – the dog is not allowed to run off or dance away from this calming discipline, the dog is not allowed to flop down and show it’s belly, feigning submission, the dog is not allowed to touch the one providing the beneficial discipline, the dog is not allowed to bark back in the face of the one disciplining, the dog is not allowed to come forward with a touch on the person disciplining –  the dog must be respectful of the few rules we have.  End of story.  Then I walk away (we must always walk away first signaling to the dog that the spatial pressure is over and we are trusting them again) and life is very freeing for all parties involved.  No massive emotional reactions.  No anger in proper discipline.  No fear on the part of the child or the dog.  And certainly no modern delusions coming from the dog owner or trainer pretending that the dog is a helpless human baby.

If anyone wants to quickly disabuse him or herself of the foolish notion that dogs are “babies”…if anyone reading this actually desires to know the truth in this world filled with online lies, they need only contact me and come volunteer to work for a day at our Dog Language Center.  At our 4000 square foot kennel you will see quite clearly and experience – dogs attempting to put a bite on people, dogs in the kennels actively chewing up wood, plastic, and even metal with their incredibly strong mouths, dogs attempting to threaten other dogs with violence, dogs attempting to control everything around them, dogs attempting to bark non-stop, dogs crapping themselves due to insane separation anxiety which the owner allowed to develop, and a host of other animal nastiness that occurs and would continue to occur unless we calmly intervene and help stop those behaviors!

(The great news is that we do in fact stop them at our Dog Language Center and in our training sessions and it isn’t through harsh handling or shocking them or abusing them!  We are able to stop these horrific yet common dog behaviors and it isn’t through babying them and constantly giving them an overwhelming amount of attention – attention that their own dog birth mother wouldn’t even give them btw – and it isn’t through stuffing their faces with food.  We do it by utilizing the Four Pillars and the dogs all love it because this method is not our way, or your way, or the positive or negative way, or whatever other stupid human label you want to give things…the Four Pillars is the heart of dog language as it applies to human and canine interaction!)

I am currently working on a book now detailing the Four Pillars of dog language and the Five Senses that will illuminate genuine dog language for the readers and aid in the behavioral rehab ranging from the most difficult and dangerous of dogs on down to the sweet new puppy.  It should be a doozy.  -G

(In the meantime be sure and read my other two books as they each give the reader more and more critical info about dog language and healthy relationship – things that make behavior issues a thing of the past!)

 

 

 

To correct or not to correct, that is the question?

In today’s world filled with every conceivable type of information speeding to us from any and every source imaginable it is often hard to decipher which methods of dog training are beneficial to our dogs and their behavior.  We have all been inundated with info.  We have fat heads.  Our brains are overweight and in desperate need of an information diet.

Help!!! Information Overload………………………….

 

We need clean, wholesome, healthy information.  That means we must beware overeating any foolish bit of dog training info that is out there.  Remember, if a common dog training method is largely accepted and you are tempted to gulp it down please consider the many people stuffing their faces with fast food because it’s convenient, cheap, abundant, and also largely accepted!

 

Just because the majority believes in something doesn’t mean it is true or the best way.  Always seek the natural answer when dealing with an animal.

One hot button topic many would even consider taboo is whether or not we should “correct” our dogs or pups.  In this article I will give you a few good reasons to correct your dogs or pups.  Reasons that line up 100% with what the dogs teach us.  Reasons that line up with what any astute person can readily observe within a dog park, dog daycare, or group of three or more dogs.  Reasons that come straight from the dogs!  I will show you that corrections, if performed correctly, are extremely BENEFICIAL to your dog or pup!

First let’s cut through some of the crazy extremeness that exists in the dog training and behavioral community at large.  When one is in search of dog training companies or behaviorists or even vets please beware any extreme dogmatism where training is concerned!  Make sure the methods are based very specifically on domesticated dogs (not other random wild animals) and based on mother nature’s calming methods. And, above all, make sure the trainer or behaviorist gets tremendous results!

There should be no crazed high-pitched excitable human talk, constant giving of treats, or other foolish bribery in the dog or puppy training methods.  If you (or your trainer) act that way  – ask yourself, Isn’t that how a puppy acts?  And if a pup acts all hyper and high-pitched and over-excited then, Who is going to take the role of leader in your relationship?

I hate to break it to you but…Dogs correct other dogs constantly.  Mother and Father dog correct their young constantly.  If more people just looked at the dogs honestly they’d see correcting isn’t this horrible, debilitating and negative ordeal but is instead a great tool the older, social canine uses to instruct the younger ones, teach healthy boundaries, and help calm them.  This calming corrective beneficial behavior I’m mentioning can be observed anywhere!

In correcting there should be no expensive shock collars you need to purchase.  There should be no unnatural things you have to throw at your dog.  There should be no spraying them with anything, no tethering them to anything, no hitting them with anything, no yelling.  It’s time we get away from all that human foolishness. Calmness mixed with firmness and proper spatial technique is plenty.

Dogs are NOT wild animals and should not be treated like a bear learning a trick on a movie set, or like a dolphin doing a flip to earn a fish from a tourist in Hawaii.  Beware of trainers who only teach bribery and excitement or who fixate on one rigid method only (external motivation) as that is the opposite of how the mother and father dog would raise their young.  Mother Nature always teaches energy control and the older socially normal canines always keep a relaxed watch over their pups.  The mother and father dog (and any balanced, older canine for that matter) are not equipped with treat bags on their hips and do not use high pitched, lavish praise, when instructing their pups.  They are usually monitoring the energy (like a referee) in order to keep the peace and the lead dogs always attempt to use as little energy of their own as possible.

Dogs are not Dolphins and should not be treated as such. The bond is much, much deeper between man’s best friend and mankind than some slippery, flippery wild animal could ever dream

Corrections, if done correctly, are very beneficial to puppies and dogs just as they can be beneficial to growing children.  If you want to raise a healthy, well adjusted dog (or child) please don’t be an extremist that only trains with excitement and bribery and treats and don’t, on the opposite end of the spectrum, just dominate with harshness and constant physical “corrections.” Corrections should be calming to the individual being corrected!  Seek out a balance. It’s OK to reward but never to bribe.  It’s OK to correct but never to hurt.  

Here’s a wild concept: Why don’t we look to the dogs for methods on how we should deal with our dogs?  If we honestly observe them we start to see that a correction isn’t so bad when it is performed the way a balanced, older dog would perform it.  In fact, it’s fantastic!  I’ve discovered there is a whole art to it!  It is an art form based in movement, body language, space, and energy control.  A proper dog correction is the art of calmness!  It is the art of proper body movement between you and your dog.  And, shockingly, most times it doesn’t even involve a physical touch but is more outmaneuvering the wayward dog or puppy and then readjusting their body language until the animal is presenting a calm body position (NOT belly up) which then helps them calm their own energy and will always benefit the bond between owner and dog.

Learning to correct can be simple and is incredibly effective in fixing any and all aggression, fear, dominance, hyperactivity, and many other behavioral dilemmas.  The reason that proper corrections should be learned and adopted by more trainers and behaviorists is because it lines up with exactly what dogs do to each other as standard, regular daily behavior.  When an older dog is surrounded by other dogs they are communicating often through pattern interrupts/corrections in order to keep the peace for the benefit of the group and in order to instruct their young.  It is nature’s way and it is actual phenomenal energy conservation.  Another huge reason correcting (when done properly – which I’ve discovered unfortunately it seldom is) is fantastic due to the fact that it actually works and saves times and energy.  The mother dog uses ignoring or extreme focused attention and then right back to ignoring when correcting her young.  She is a remarkable energy saver.

Notice how the mom is walking away and all the pups are following and watching her…NOT the other way round! She walks away first. She ignores and they follow. She leads the way.

The ideal correction is a beautiful thing to behold because it keeps the peace, calms the energy, and seconds later, lets the game or activity continue on almost as if nothing ever happened.  It is never overboard or emotional and yet there is an intense focus to it when applied the right way.  It is always followed by calmness.  I sometimes equate it to getting a foul in basketball.  If you are a b-ball player and you receive a foul you don’t take it and let it get you down, you don’t play the rest of the game on pins and needles out of fear.  Hopefully, you learn from it and quickly move on and get your head back in the game.  You don’t totally ignore the foul either because you are aware that if you get 5 fouls you are out of the game and of no use to your team/pack.  So when a foul is called – You stop playing the ball game for a second, think it over, and then resume play.  It is exactly the same with a good, calming correction that is perfectly timed.

Do you see what I’m getting at?  Giving a dog or pup a “correction” isn’t done to intimidate the dog or belittle it or prove you are a macho “Alpha,”  it is done to help guide the pup into a healthier relationship with you and/or its surroundings.  A correction is not abusive – it is good parenting.  (BTW never hang the dog, or roll it, or beat it, etc.  Most folks apply their corrections dead wrong!)  A proper correction should always be done to improve the animal’s spirit.  It makes for a better dog.  Like a sculptor chipping away at unnecessary pieces of marble you can chip away at mis-behaviors and unsocial habits in your dog or pup to reveal the true spirit and energy of a socially brilliant and beautiful animal. 

Use spatial pressure and tension so that you can then release it and give the dog access to a self soothing calming signal.  If you aren’t correcting the right way your relationship is imbalanced in the respect or trust category and behavioral issues will be the result.  The guitar needs the right tension on the guitar strings to keep it in tune…too much tension is horrible, it pops the strings.  Not enough tension and you can’t make any music!  Learn to correct and you’ll have real resonance with your dog.

Our dogs desperately need the right corrections filled with just enough tension and pressure and then the right timing to release the tension so it will resonate and -just like a guitar- make wondrous music!

Remember a correction should never create fear or aggression. We don’t want a pathetic, super-submissive dog.  Does this mean we stop controlling an out of control dog?  No – we must seize control as a calm, wonderful leader always does in an out of control situation but our goal should always be better relationship and calmness because we also don’t want a dominant, hyper brat for a dog.  The correction should get the dog’s attention.  I seldom need to correct a dog with a leash.  I often correct a dog by getting in his/her way spatially and backing them up a bit.  When correcting you are attempting to cut off any misbehavior at the earliest identifiable outset.  This makes it much gentler and easier on everyone.  And if you can match their energy level you can communicate what you want or what you don’t want much clearer and more effectively.  If you do not match the dog’s energy initially their energy will keep escalating into higher and higher unsocial levels.  Learning the art of calming/correcting/claiming takes time.  Mastering it takes proper observation of nature, dogs, people and years of experience.  But rest assured, Dear Reader, it will come with practice, persistence, and patience.

If I  could sit you down and teach you the language of Dog (like French or Italian) the word for correct would be the same exact word for calm and the same exact word for claim.  Correct = Calm.  Correct = Claim.  Claim = Calm.

Your dog will always tell you honestly what it needs.  Let’s build a relationship with our dogs based on respect and trust instead of bribes or brutality.  Let’s seek out maturity instead of just motivation.  Let’s make music!

Need help?

Give me a call but do so only after reading my book on dog and human behavior, Dog Myths: What you Believe about dogs can come back to BITE You!  (available wherever books are sold! Check out the stellar reviews on Amazon!)

-G