First off, when I say “trainer”, I mean ANY person teaching
and working with a dog, not just professional trainers. The most influential “trainer” in a dog’s
life is usually the owner(s).
So, what makes a trainer a “positive’ one? Well, obviously, simply proclaiming you are one
thing or the other does NOT make you either.
If that were the case, I would be smart, sassy, funny and, oh yeah,
skinny. Claims are not necessarily based
in any kind of reality. In dog training
and in life, actions speak louder than words.
You can “talk the talk” all you want but you need to “walk the walk”.
A client of mine recently took his puppy to a PK group class
at the local big box store. I had mixed
feelings about this but since I was not currently running a PK class, I had
nothing else to offer him in the way of a group – my bad. I advised him to make sure that it was a
positive, rewards-based program that focused on proper socialization and basic
manners. My client told me that the
big-box trainer assured him the program was rewards-based and all
positive. Ok, great! The following week I was so very happy to
hear that my client’s pup was the “star of the show” (his words), doing
everything so wonderfully in class and garnering many accolades from the
trainer and fellow students. Yay! I didn’t need to hear that to be validated,
but it was really nice for my client to get validation from a third party. He was happy, so that made me happy. Not to mention that it didn’t hurt me in the
area of client buy-in. Oops, guess I
mentioned it :)
Then my client told me how his puppy was terrified when the
puppies were let off-leash to play and all the other puppies seemed to target
her… uh oh. Understandably concerned for
his puppy’s mental state, my client scooped up his puppy to spare her the
trauma and was informed by the trainer “that was the worst thing you could have
done”… clunk, the first shoe falls. The
trainer carried a squirt bottle with water (at least I hope it was only water)
and asked the puppy owners if he could squirt their pups for barking… BOOM,
that was the second shoe falling and a cement one at that!
Is this trainer the positive, rewards-based trainer as he
CLAIMED to be? Not by my definition. He may use rewards in teaching but his first
response to a NORMAL and PREDICTABLE puppy behavior (barking) was to punish
it! His method for dog-to-dog
socialization was to allow multiple exuberant, playful puppies to descend upon
a frightened one. Telling my client that picking up his puppy was the wrong
thing to do implies that the trainer believes that a frightened puppy must
learn how to deal by toughing it out.
Really? Since when does anyone
learn under stress, fear and duress? If
a child felt bullied at school, would this trainer tell the parents to let the
child tough it out? But, I’m making a short story rather long so,
more on what I would have done another time and moving on…
So, again, what is a positive trainer? There are many phrases bandied about – dog
friendly, force-free, rewards-based, science-based – the list is
extensive. They all sound good and,
indeed, in theory they are. But it’s the
practice that counts.
IMO, a dog-friendly, force-free, rewards-based trainer follows
the “Humane Hierarchy” with heavy emphasis on the first four steps in that
order. A trainer should look at every
situation or problem and attempt to solve by going through the steps of the
Humane Hierarchy. That’s it, pure and simple.
What is the “Humane Hierarchy”?
Oh, I am SOO glad you asked!
Let’s take a look at the first four steps and leave the rest to another
day…
1 - Physical well-being of the dog. Physical needs and well-being must be
considered and addressed first and foremost.
You do not train a dog in physical discomfort or pain.
Seems obvious, right?
Or is it? Let’s look at that
terrified puppy in group class. Yes,
that was an emotional state but what happens to a body under stress? Elevated blood pressure and heart rate and increased
adrenaline, to name a few things. Was
that puppy’s physical needs being considered when the trainer said my client
should have left his puppy on the floor to fend for herself? That is a
resounding NO. I am glad my client
followed his heart and his gut and sought to lessen his puppy’s anxiety by
removing her from the situation in which she felt threatened. How would I have handled that event in a
group class? lol – that’s a post for
another day J
2 – Controlling Antecedents aka managing the dog’s
environment to eliminate stimuli/triggers that can lead to undesirable
behaviors.
If one can AVOID a problem behavior by removing the “cause”,
why not? That is the least stressful and
least invasive way to shape desirable behaviors. My favorite example is the shoe-chewing
puppy. Remove the shoes – problem
solved! Why bother trying to teach
something else or, heaven forbid, punish a normal puppy behavior? Take away the antecedent and the problem is
gone. AND, guess what? That which your puppy does not get to do when
s/he is a pup, is that which s/he is NOT likely to do as an adult. My pups never saw a shoe other than the ones
on my feet when they were young. Now,
shoes strewn about the floor have no meaning or interest for them. Problem solved BEFORE it started.
3 - Positive Reinforcement
Use PR to teach your dog as many desirable behaviors as
possible. Teach your dog that the
behaviors you prefer are fabulous because they are very rewarding. If you fill your dog’s brain and life with
the behaviors you like, there is little or no room in his/her brain and life for
the behaviors you don’t like!
4 - Differential Reinforcement of Alternate Behaviors. That’s a mouthful. Basically what this means is to make a
different behavior more rewarding than another behavior.
So, you have a “problem” behavior that is not solved by
addressing a physical need and the antecedent (trigger) cannot be removed. Many
people go straight to punishment with a problem behavior. In general, we humans tend to be very
punitive – something with which I struggle daily both in myself and those
around me. The truly positive trainer
seeks to redirect the dog to a different behavior in the presence of the trigger. It takes more time and effort but, in the
end, produces better results. IMO,
punishment often fails and, when it succeeds, it is very stressful on the
dog. Why, you ask? Hmmm… yet another post for another day.
In short (although I suspect the dog has long since dashed
that door), a positive trainer is one
that chooses to be PROactive, rather than REactive, choosing first and foremost
to avoid problems, teach desired behaviors and redirect unwanted behaviors. In other words…
Directions, not corrections!
HAPPY TAILS!
