Some of the things that get under a lot of Positive/Force Free Trainers skins is the buzz words that Balanced/Energy/Dominance-Alpha based trainers use as euphemisms. At this point, I wouldn't mind if they came right out and said what they were really using to control a dogs behaviour; in fact, I would welcome it. Why? Because people would begin to understand what these methods really do to their dogs, and the possible side effects they could create. Since they aren't about to tell the general public what they really mean, I will be happy to educate the public for them.
Various methods are used; I'll talk about the science behind them later (where there is a case for science, and not misunderstanding of science or out right fabrication and spreading of myths), first though, there needs to be some explanation of the words. Balance. Most of the time, when I read this, then read the descriptions that follow, there is usually some method of force, intimidation or pain involved (usually for "correction"). It might be wrapped up in words like leash corrections, stern or loud voice, or pinning the dog to the ground (alpha rolling). I haven't come across any site or explanation that describes the techniques as not using some sort of physical or mental force; if there is, AND they don't use prong, choke or eCollars, I'd like to see it and find out what they do and dissect the method happily in an intelligent debate. Energy, is usually used to mean that the person has some mystical connection with the dogs mental/emotional state; usually this is in conjunction with the three collar types mentioned above. You cannot use Energy to train a dog; you can use psychology, but not mystical mumbo jumbo; I can't even make an argument for this because it's so vague and unprovable it defies logic. Dominance/Alpha. This is used based on a complete misinterpretation of the science involving wolves; the original author of the papers now wishes he hadn't used the terms, as what he meant, was Alpha = Parent; Beta = older pups (usually around 2yrs); Omega = youngest cubs. So just as a Parent human is dominant over their child (they hold all the resources) so is an Alpha. It's a family structure, not some anthropological mockup of dog societies. Again, with this false theory, there is a lot of force, intimidation and fear inducement in the training. Not only is it assigning human values to dogs, but forcing dogs into situations that would be considered potentially lethal situations in the real world (the only time a wolf in a fight alpha rolls another wolf is with intent to kill!)
So if all the above is smoke and mirrors, what are they using? Some of it was mentioned. If we look at leash pops, prong ("pinch") collars, eCollars, choke and slip collars (nylon chokes) they all have a basis in either discomfort (at best) or pain (at worst) (ie. Positive Punishment in Operant Conditioning terms) or after sustained use and then discontinuing use after the dog does the "right" behaviour - relief (Negative Reinforcement). They say that you need excellent timing for these devices to work and that they shouldn't be used by those not proficient in them; yet if you have excellent timing, you don't need them in the first place! (to paraphrase Ian Dunbar). That is the scientific methodology they use, whether they describe it as such or not. Alpha rolls and other dominating maneuvers are merely some form of the above as well. Will the dog learn the correct behaviour that is being targeted? Possibly, yes, I will admit they might (it's the nature of learning theory) but they may also develop a negative emotional connection with the technique, the person using the technique, or perhaps with people in general. Why? The thing that those that use Balance don't either understand, or ignore, is that Classical Conditioning (Pavlov's research performed over a 100 years ago and well established) is always at work.
They neglect it because they are only focused solely on the behaviour, not the emotion. If you change the emotion, you will change the behaviour. The behaviour is there for a reason, it works to accomplish the goal the dog wants. Eliminating the behaviour may work, but the emotional state will stay the same; so the chance of recurrence is ever present, not diminished or extinguished. Change the emotion and the need for the behaviour will no longer be valid; the dog may perform the behaviour out of habit and work it's emotions back up, but that is a management issue that doesn't require the use of force, just compassion and empathy. You don't need to correct a behaviour that is fueled by negative emotions; you need to fix the emotions first. Blaming a hungry thief for stealing bread and locking them up doesn't make the hunger go away.
This for me is still a messaging and communication issue leading the public with false advertising. No one can guarantee the behaviour of another organism. You can adjust the odds in your favour, but you can't make it a sure thing. The public has the right to know that there are people out there that claim one thing, but do something completely different. Reality TV has done nothing to help in this regard. Dog Training is fighting against outdated and erroneous messages coming off TV, the internet and filtered through friends and family who suddenly know what's best for your dog. The public needs, no, DESERVES Consumer Rights protection. They acquire a pet that will be with them for up to 15 years or more and ask someone to come and train the dog (an animal with a not so distant past of being a predator with sharp teeth) without telling them how they plan on motivating the dog or what methods they are really using. Trainers be honest in the way you train dogs; don't flower it up with language that doesn't mean anything or is false. Owners be as harsh in your questions to your trainers as you need to be until you get an answer you understand; if they continue to make you ill at ease or if it is something you would not do to a child, you have the right to walk away.
Suggested reading:
http://eileenanddogs.com/2013/08/12/calm-submissive/
http://muttabouttown.com/2013/08/13/making-force-free-training-the-norm/
Showing posts with label Training Basics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Training Basics. Show all posts
Thursday, 22 August 2013
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Build a House, have a plan; Go to war, have a plan; train a dog? wing it....???
The welfare of numerous animals is at stake.
A lot of people set out plans for their life. They set out plans for a home before they build it (or leave it to the architect and the contractor). Governments (usually) set out grand objectives for the military, which sets out realistic, day to day plans and strategies for a war. We plan a LOT. We practice a LOT. I don't know of any one nuclear scientist ever found in a reactor that doesn't know the difference between a proton and a neutron (ok, save your jibes, Homer Simpson doesn't count!). Lawyers make plans and contracts for clients. Carpenters follow plans to build houses. Sports teams have plans; nearly everyone who works as a professional has some sort of plan. We have plans either before we get into a career (education) or after we get into a career (mostly more education). To make a car, a company needs a plan. To make a cake, you need a plan! (a recipe). Yes, you can make a cake or other food after you've had some practice (ah... there we go practice!). So, why do we assume that we can train a dog, without a plan?
A lot of people do, and they get by. But (in Canada) at least 40 000 animals a year would disagree that those plans work; mostly because they've paid the ultimate price. Not always right away, but perhaps after some time. What do our future companions deserve? Are they disposable, or potentially disposable? I don't think so, and a lot of other people wouldn't think so either. They cost more than an iPhone if they come from a reputable breeder (sometimes even if they don't come from one!). We can replace a mechanical or electronic device if we screw it up or drop it on the floor and cause it to cease functioning in the way we like. What happens when we the same happens to an animal? They get returned or some worse sentence.
What can we do? We can plan. I would suggest planning everything well in advance. What will the dog/cat/gerbil/hamster/pig/sloth/boyfriend need? Physical requirements; mental requirements; medical requirements etc. Where will the animal get these requirements? Who will provide them, and when? Who will pay for them, and how? What behaviours do the dog/cat/etc come with that we might want to enhance; and what do they come with that we will not find appealing? All these things should be thought out before hand. Once you know what you need, you can work on, you guessed it, the plan!
The plan should be easy for you to follow. Break it down into steps. When we learn algebra in school, we are not provided an equation the first day of kindergarten and told to solve it! We need to learn the basics, and we need to learn them well. If we can't add simple numbers together, we won't be able to add variables together either. Throw in Trigonometry and you have a whole new kettle of fish. Other than acronyms, can you remember what Sin, Cosine and Tangent mean? We can't go from 1+1 to solve the rate of speed of an object falling from a building of height X given a rate of acceleration of 9.8m/s/s over night. Break it into small steps, make it easy.
Small steps mean that you and the dog (I'll use dog from now on) can accomplish goals and landmarks. If the goal is to hard, you break it into smaller chunks so that it's manageable and you progress to the point you want to get to. Ah, the goal! The end behaviour. With small steps, you achieve small goals toward the end - the goal. Broken up into tiny pieces, things become easier for everyone to understand; learning happens faster (and probably bonding). Both you and the dog get a flood of happy feelings. As you get more skilled, you try more difficult things; perhaps your goal changes, what then?
If an athlete says they want to compete in a marathon, they run every day, maybe twice a day. They run long distances, they partake in a half marathon when they're ready, maybe two or three. Once they're ready, they tackle the end goal. Mission accomplished... now however, they want to beat their own best time. So they train harder, get help, perhaps a coach. They manage their goal. Now they want to be in the top 10! Even more training, a diet regime, more coaches etc. But each time they don't just wing it; they set out a goal. Some maybe set the goal in their head, but the fastest most productive people will put the goal down on paper and try to figure out what steps they need to accomplish it.
Encourage everyone who wants an animal to understand what it entails to have an animal. What needs an animal has, and what things that the animal will require (food, training etc). The welfare (and possible survival) of the animal is at stake.
A lot of people set out plans for their life. They set out plans for a home before they build it (or leave it to the architect and the contractor). Governments (usually) set out grand objectives for the military, which sets out realistic, day to day plans and strategies for a war. We plan a LOT. We practice a LOT. I don't know of any one nuclear scientist ever found in a reactor that doesn't know the difference between a proton and a neutron (ok, save your jibes, Homer Simpson doesn't count!). Lawyers make plans and contracts for clients. Carpenters follow plans to build houses. Sports teams have plans; nearly everyone who works as a professional has some sort of plan. We have plans either before we get into a career (education) or after we get into a career (mostly more education). To make a car, a company needs a plan. To make a cake, you need a plan! (a recipe). Yes, you can make a cake or other food after you've had some practice (ah... there we go practice!). So, why do we assume that we can train a dog, without a plan?
A lot of people do, and they get by. But (in Canada) at least 40 000 animals a year would disagree that those plans work; mostly because they've paid the ultimate price. Not always right away, but perhaps after some time. What do our future companions deserve? Are they disposable, or potentially disposable? I don't think so, and a lot of other people wouldn't think so either. They cost more than an iPhone if they come from a reputable breeder (sometimes even if they don't come from one!). We can replace a mechanical or electronic device if we screw it up or drop it on the floor and cause it to cease functioning in the way we like. What happens when we the same happens to an animal? They get returned or some worse sentence.
What can we do? We can plan. I would suggest planning everything well in advance. What will the dog/cat/gerbil/hamster/pig/sloth/boyfriend need? Physical requirements; mental requirements; medical requirements etc. Where will the animal get these requirements? Who will provide them, and when? Who will pay for them, and how? What behaviours do the dog/cat/etc come with that we might want to enhance; and what do they come with that we will not find appealing? All these things should be thought out before hand. Once you know what you need, you can work on, you guessed it, the plan!
The plan should be easy for you to follow. Break it down into steps. When we learn algebra in school, we are not provided an equation the first day of kindergarten and told to solve it! We need to learn the basics, and we need to learn them well. If we can't add simple numbers together, we won't be able to add variables together either. Throw in Trigonometry and you have a whole new kettle of fish. Other than acronyms, can you remember what Sin, Cosine and Tangent mean? We can't go from 1+1 to solve the rate of speed of an object falling from a building of height X given a rate of acceleration of 9.8m/s/s over night. Break it into small steps, make it easy.
Small steps mean that you and the dog (I'll use dog from now on) can accomplish goals and landmarks. If the goal is to hard, you break it into smaller chunks so that it's manageable and you progress to the point you want to get to. Ah, the goal! The end behaviour. With small steps, you achieve small goals toward the end - the goal. Broken up into tiny pieces, things become easier for everyone to understand; learning happens faster (and probably bonding). Both you and the dog get a flood of happy feelings. As you get more skilled, you try more difficult things; perhaps your goal changes, what then?
If an athlete says they want to compete in a marathon, they run every day, maybe twice a day. They run long distances, they partake in a half marathon when they're ready, maybe two or three. Once they're ready, they tackle the end goal. Mission accomplished... now however, they want to beat their own best time. So they train harder, get help, perhaps a coach. They manage their goal. Now they want to be in the top 10! Even more training, a diet regime, more coaches etc. But each time they don't just wing it; they set out a goal. Some maybe set the goal in their head, but the fastest most productive people will put the goal down on paper and try to figure out what steps they need to accomplish it.
Encourage everyone who wants an animal to understand what it entails to have an animal. What needs an animal has, and what things that the animal will require (food, training etc). The welfare (and possible survival) of the animal is at stake.
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Something borrowed ... (not really; the history and science of dog training)
Most people know about Pavlov... ring a bell?Some people know about Skinner... need a box?
Keller Breland, Mirriam Breland Bailey, Bob Bailey?
How about Jean Donaldson, Ian Dunbar, Patricia McConnell, Karyn Pryor, Pat Miller?
All of the above have contributed enormously to the work of properly educated and scientifically fluent based dog trainers around the world. Notice I didn't mention any names of two North American training personalities (one in the US and one in Canada).
There is science behind training; whether people know it or not. For many many years, the Training community relied on lore passed down from trainer to trainer. Most of this lore still used came from training of war dogs. During the wars dogs had to be resilient; the methods used weeded out dogs that were not resilient were washed out. The harshness of the training was passed on after the wars; if your dog didn't live up to those standards, it usually meant an uncomfortable end ("He's defying me", "He's not trainable" etc). There was little scientific knowledge with this training; even though they were using what Pavlov and Skinner had already figured out in the Laboratory.
The people that brought science out of the lab into the world were the Brelands and Bob Bailey; students of Skinner. Using their techniques, they realized quickly that science worked quite well in the real world to train animals of all sizes and stripes.
Karyn Pryor and Ian Dunbar took these ideas and ran farther with them; turning them into usable and practical methods for every day people. Questioning the need for force at all. If, as some said, dogs were willing to please, why did you need force? Why could you use methods not involving force on some animals and need them on dogs? There was no logic in that and they proved there was little need to bully or coerce a dog. Making the dog do something was incompatible with them wanting to do it or wanting to be with you; reward the correct behaviour and you don't have to worry about all the other nasty.
The discussion continues though. Those claiming that dogs need to be put in their place will still use the old excuses. It should be an issue of Consumer Rights. Many of us will be happy if those that use force, coercion, pain, discomfort and/or bullying/intimidation come out and tell people outright what they plan on doing to motivate without the euphemisms of "alpha", "dominance", "pack leader" or "energy" speak. The public will decide, just like the public decided on the abuse of children and spouses -- the change in law followed. There is an ethical responsibility of ALL trainers to be straight forward with effects their methods will have; not to hide them. Science tells us what effects different types of training uses; if someone doesn't understand the science, they cannot understand what their methods will do. If they don't know, how is the public suppose to know?
(thanks to Ian Dunbar, Jean Donaldson, Kayrn Pryor and the others mentioned here for all the work they have done to get us to this point)
Saturday, 25 August 2012
My Puppy is a Freak! (and other myths about puppy hood)
Why does my puppy nips and bite?
Why does my puppy jump up all over me?
Do you have a Puppy? This answers the questions above rather succinctly. Something people don't realize about puppies is that they're little attention hounds. If they get attention for something, they do it more. Any interaction with a puppy is a chance for a training exercise. Puppy runs up with a toy, most people don't bat an eye; same puppy goes and grabs a sock or shoe and all heck breaks loose. So what does that puppy learn? Playing with your toys, gets me attention, so, I'll do that! After all, now your chasing me around the house and talking to me, so that's good and fun!
We need to stop trying to think about what we don't want the puppy to do (of course there will be management needs you will have to deal with, but this isn't teaching the puppy not to do things, it's not giving them access while they learn the right things to do). Teach the puppy what is good (chewing on Kongs and other toys; food enrichment games - Buster cubes and other things that dispense treats; interactive training that turns behaviours into a habit, not just a trick - Oh, you have food!? I'll work then!). So what about our puppy myths?
Nipping - All puppies need to nip; I ask a lot of questions when someone tells me their puppy doesn't nip. Puppies need to learn self control and that teeth on human skin is a bad thing (humans are wimpy fleshy creatures, they can't handle the teeth!). In order to do that, they have to actually be allowed to make some contact with human flesh. A good breeder will have taught puppies that human skin is frail and all their fun ends if they make contact with skin (if you've never been nipped by a puppy, it's like little needles). If the breeder didn't do it, then I want to know what they people have done to keep the puppy from nipping - the last thing I want to hear is something like "we give them a smack on the nose." If you want to create a dog that is a dangerous biter, never let it make contact with human skin; if you want a dog that may put it's mouth on humans, but never bare down any weight, teach it to nip properly.
Jumping Up - Puppies jump not because they want to dominate you and take over the world; they want attention. Just ignore the puppy (Mom did this with the puppy as well a LOT more than she had to reprimand them). Mom easily jumped out of the area if she found the puppies to annoying. Problem solved: Puppies wanted to play, Mom didn't. So, puppy jumps, ignore puppy until they do something nicer (sitting, play bow, down etc) and reward THAT. Better yet, just teach the puppy something that gets lots of attention instead of Jumping (automatic sit when they come to a person, for example).
Why does my puppy jump up all over me?
Do you have a Puppy? This answers the questions above rather succinctly. Something people don't realize about puppies is that they're little attention hounds. If they get attention for something, they do it more. Any interaction with a puppy is a chance for a training exercise. Puppy runs up with a toy, most people don't bat an eye; same puppy goes and grabs a sock or shoe and all heck breaks loose. So what does that puppy learn? Playing with your toys, gets me attention, so, I'll do that! After all, now your chasing me around the house and talking to me, so that's good and fun!
We need to stop trying to think about what we don't want the puppy to do (of course there will be management needs you will have to deal with, but this isn't teaching the puppy not to do things, it's not giving them access while they learn the right things to do). Teach the puppy what is good (chewing on Kongs and other toys; food enrichment games - Buster cubes and other things that dispense treats; interactive training that turns behaviours into a habit, not just a trick - Oh, you have food!? I'll work then!). So what about our puppy myths?
Nipping - All puppies need to nip; I ask a lot of questions when someone tells me their puppy doesn't nip. Puppies need to learn self control and that teeth on human skin is a bad thing (humans are wimpy fleshy creatures, they can't handle the teeth!). In order to do that, they have to actually be allowed to make some contact with human flesh. A good breeder will have taught puppies that human skin is frail and all their fun ends if they make contact with skin (if you've never been nipped by a puppy, it's like little needles). If the breeder didn't do it, then I want to know what they people have done to keep the puppy from nipping - the last thing I want to hear is something like "we give them a smack on the nose." If you want to create a dog that is a dangerous biter, never let it make contact with human skin; if you want a dog that may put it's mouth on humans, but never bare down any weight, teach it to nip properly.
Jumping Up - Puppies jump not because they want to dominate you and take over the world; they want attention. Just ignore the puppy (Mom did this with the puppy as well a LOT more than she had to reprimand them). Mom easily jumped out of the area if she found the puppies to annoying. Problem solved: Puppies wanted to play, Mom didn't. So, puppy jumps, ignore puppy until they do something nicer (sitting, play bow, down etc) and reward THAT. Better yet, just teach the puppy something that gets lots of attention instead of Jumping (automatic sit when they come to a person, for example).
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Positive What and Negative Who???
One way to think about training is to figure out for yourself what kind of person you want to be to others; human, canine, porpoise or lion. The principles of learning theory generally hold across species, it's the reaction that might be different.
Lets say we want to bully a human around (likely Positive Punishment). The reaction might be to leave, cry in a bundle on the ground, or to call the Principle/boss or get a divorce. A dog, depending on it's temperament might fight back, or it might cower in submission trying to end the unpleasantness. A porpoise will simply swim away. A lion might just eat you.
Nagging can work with a person (Negative Reinforcement), but it rarely works with any other species. You can't nag a dog into sitting "Sit... Sit... Sit... SIT... SIT!! SIT!!!!" If you've gotten to that point, go back to basics and teach the dog to sit (see the second post :) )
Removing something a person wants can be useful, if they understand what it's being removed for (Negative Punishment). Stopping and telling someone that did something wrong 3 years ago and now you don't want to be with them anymore is somewhat pointless... even more so is not telling them why at all. One example that might work on a child is they do something wrong (screaming and yelling at you) then immediately taking the XBox/PS3 etc and putting it out of reach; assuming the child cared about it at that moment. A jumping up puppy can often be taught not to jump by simply turning and ignoring it; a dog that has been reinforced for jumping up though, may continue to do this for a long time with this technique before it figures out what's going on.
If I gave you a cookie (or piece of chocolate) every time you read over one of these posts (and you liked cookies or chocolate, or wine) then you would likely come back and read more... or maybe even the same post over and over (Positive reinforcement). Reward a dog for sitting ever time it comes running up, and it is more likely to happen. Give a porpoise a piece of fish ever time it jumps through a hoop, more likely to happen. This is again, contingent on if it's something the animal actually likes at the moment!. A porpoise coming up to you might just want a stroke, and so might that dog.
So, completely confusing? Negative == removing something; Positive == adding something. Reinforcement == makes the behaviour increase in likelihood; Punishment == decreases the likelihood of the behaviour. Still likely clear as mud.
Positive Reinforcement. Probably the easiest one to figure out. Get a reward for doing something, you want to do something more often (getting paid at the end of the week is deferred, so it doesn't work the same way though, sometimes even makes the thing happen less!). Get a hug for taking out the trash (assuming you like hugs!), you might feel better about taking the garbage out. Ask a dog to sit and he gets something he likes in return - increases his likelihood of sitting.
Negative Punishment. Somewhat easy to think about; when you were a child, and you acted up and something you were playing with got taken away, you realize it's a bad thing to act up; your fun stops. Similar to a puppy jumping up, or nipping to get attention. If the attention immediately evaporates, then the game is over, fun ends. If I bark my head off while meals are being prepared, my person leaves, and I don't get food... hmmm Slightly tricker to figure out, but the pup gets the pattern quickly if you're timing is spot on.
Negative Reinforcement. Trickier to explain. Say the pup doesn't like pressure on its rear end. You put pressure on it's rear, and it moves it's butt to the ground to get away from the pressure, and the pressure stops! Voila, the puppy sits, but who did all the work? You. If you did all the work, how fast is the puppy really going to learn? Slowly. Negative reinforcement isn't always just applying something annoying unfortunately; a lot of people use things that hurt or are at best uncomfortable to manipulate animals. If it's something you wouldn't use on you, your child or other loved one, don't use it on a dog or other animal.
Positive Punishment. Adding something to prevent the things you don't want. The classic example of this in old dog training was yanking a chain until the dog sat. Everything it did wrong it got a yank, until it eventually sat. Not a lot of fun, and the dog has to figure out what not to do! Not the ideal learning condition; think about learning the alphabet this way.
Why did praise (sometimes Positive Reinforcement) work so well in the old days? Because it was one small piece of a larger puzzle. Mostly methods that espouse "praise based" training rely on Positive Punishment/Negative Reinforcement, followed by praise. So dogs likely assumed that if they did what they got praise for, then the bad stuff wouldn't happen. Unfortunately, this can still be seen on TV, even though the techniques are 50 years out of date and probably only came into favour after the World Wars.
Refer to Ian Dunbar for his history on rediscovering lost books from the 1800's that described the basic concepts of Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment together in animals before the scientists coined the terms with Pavlov et al.
Lets say we want to bully a human around (likely Positive Punishment). The reaction might be to leave, cry in a bundle on the ground, or to call the Principle/boss or get a divorce. A dog, depending on it's temperament might fight back, or it might cower in submission trying to end the unpleasantness. A porpoise will simply swim away. A lion might just eat you.
Nagging can work with a person (Negative Reinforcement), but it rarely works with any other species. You can't nag a dog into sitting "Sit... Sit... Sit... SIT... SIT!! SIT!!!!" If you've gotten to that point, go back to basics and teach the dog to sit (see the second post :) )
Removing something a person wants can be useful, if they understand what it's being removed for (Negative Punishment). Stopping and telling someone that did something wrong 3 years ago and now you don't want to be with them anymore is somewhat pointless... even more so is not telling them why at all. One example that might work on a child is they do something wrong (screaming and yelling at you) then immediately taking the XBox/PS3 etc and putting it out of reach; assuming the child cared about it at that moment. A jumping up puppy can often be taught not to jump by simply turning and ignoring it; a dog that has been reinforced for jumping up though, may continue to do this for a long time with this technique before it figures out what's going on.
If I gave you a cookie (or piece of chocolate) every time you read over one of these posts (and you liked cookies or chocolate, or wine) then you would likely come back and read more... or maybe even the same post over and over (Positive reinforcement). Reward a dog for sitting ever time it comes running up, and it is more likely to happen. Give a porpoise a piece of fish ever time it jumps through a hoop, more likely to happen. This is again, contingent on if it's something the animal actually likes at the moment!. A porpoise coming up to you might just want a stroke, and so might that dog.
So, completely confusing? Negative == removing something; Positive == adding something. Reinforcement == makes the behaviour increase in likelihood; Punishment == decreases the likelihood of the behaviour. Still likely clear as mud.
Positive Reinforcement. Probably the easiest one to figure out. Get a reward for doing something, you want to do something more often (getting paid at the end of the week is deferred, so it doesn't work the same way though, sometimes even makes the thing happen less!). Get a hug for taking out the trash (assuming you like hugs!), you might feel better about taking the garbage out. Ask a dog to sit and he gets something he likes in return - increases his likelihood of sitting.
Negative Punishment. Somewhat easy to think about; when you were a child, and you acted up and something you were playing with got taken away, you realize it's a bad thing to act up; your fun stops. Similar to a puppy jumping up, or nipping to get attention. If the attention immediately evaporates, then the game is over, fun ends. If I bark my head off while meals are being prepared, my person leaves, and I don't get food... hmmm Slightly tricker to figure out, but the pup gets the pattern quickly if you're timing is spot on.
Negative Reinforcement. Trickier to explain. Say the pup doesn't like pressure on its rear end. You put pressure on it's rear, and it moves it's butt to the ground to get away from the pressure, and the pressure stops! Voila, the puppy sits, but who did all the work? You. If you did all the work, how fast is the puppy really going to learn? Slowly. Negative reinforcement isn't always just applying something annoying unfortunately; a lot of people use things that hurt or are at best uncomfortable to manipulate animals. If it's something you wouldn't use on you, your child or other loved one, don't use it on a dog or other animal.
Positive Punishment. Adding something to prevent the things you don't want. The classic example of this in old dog training was yanking a chain until the dog sat. Everything it did wrong it got a yank, until it eventually sat. Not a lot of fun, and the dog has to figure out what not to do! Not the ideal learning condition; think about learning the alphabet this way.
Why did praise (sometimes Positive Reinforcement) work so well in the old days? Because it was one small piece of a larger puzzle. Mostly methods that espouse "praise based" training rely on Positive Punishment/Negative Reinforcement, followed by praise. So dogs likely assumed that if they did what they got praise for, then the bad stuff wouldn't happen. Unfortunately, this can still be seen on TV, even though the techniques are 50 years out of date and probably only came into favour after the World Wars.
Refer to Ian Dunbar for his history on rediscovering lost books from the 1800's that described the basic concepts of Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment together in animals before the scientists coined the terms with Pavlov et al.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
Training Basics and why your dog is NOT stubborn!
One of the most common things I hear whether I teach a class or over hear people in the park is (with exasperation) "They do it so well at home!" Well, that's partially because that's where they've been taught.
Dogs don't generalize well. What does that mean? If you teach them something in one place, doesn't mean they're going to understand it in a new place (with some dogs, this can mean from the Living room to the kitchen!). It also means that just because they know how to do it in one spot, if new distractions are added, they might get confused and be slow to respond. So what do you do?
Train them in lots of different places, with lots of differing distractions. The more you "proof" them like this, the more likely they are to start understand when you flap your arms around in a certain way or make a funny noise (like "Sit!") it means do that thing.
Numerous repetitions are required for a dog to understand what you want, and in different locations with different distractions. So if you teach your dog to come only in the house, expect when it runs out of the house and you yell "Come!!!!" in a frantic and possibly angry voice that you pooch will look back and go Wow... I'm not going back there until you calm down!. You want to practice a lot with the things you want your dog to be strong in. Think of it the same way a professional athlete does things. Dancing through tires and using blocking dummies is not the same as playing in a scrimmage of football. Always thing to yourself when the pooch is learning something "How can I make you successful?"
Why do you want to make them successful? So they'll learn. Learning theory is scientific. If anyone tells you that a dog needs to be bullied, dominated or otherwise manipulated with force to do something or to react in a certain way, walk away, and find a better way to teach them. Dogs learn quickly when they are shown what the RIGHT thing to do is, instead of constantly being punished for doing the wrong THINGS. Yes, one or two right things, and a potentially infinite number of wrong things.
If you want to reward your dog for doing the right thing, instead of rewarding him for NOT doing an endless list of bad things, then follow "positive principles". The same principles will work on people too -- The Big Bang Theory had an episode that featured this type of training.
So, basics: Repeat repeat repeat! Add distractions so the dog is continually successful, reward for success; increase the level of difficulty. If they aren't successful, ask yourself: What Can I Do, to Help you Be Successful?
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