THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH

I mentioned earlier that Willie has re-injured his shoulder. He’s going in for a consult with my “sport medicine vet” on Wednesday, but meanwhile I am playing the not-always-so-fun game of keeping him quiet and not stressing his shoulder. Our two most challenging times are when he is waiting for his dinner and when he is greeting someone he loves. Otherwise it’s not too difficult. Leash walks outside? Trivial. Around the house? Harder, but very doable, (though not so good for my getting things done, but I sure have caught up on a lot of television lately!) I lie down on the living floor and rub Willie’s belly for several hours every evening (when we would normally be playing with toys in the house, after our walk or sheep work outside.) Otherwise he’s chomping on food out of a hollow toy or bored silly in his crate. Not fun, but not too difficult. But meal times and greetings are more of a challenge. Here’s one of the things we are doing now to keep him from straining his shoulder (and me from going bonkers).

At dinner time, Willie normally copes with his excited anticipation by grabbing a toy, shaking it with enough vigor to put life INTO something initially inanimate (I’m thinking Toy Story 4 here), and then tossing it up into the air before leaping up to catch it. I think of it as Willie’s “I can play fetch by myself” game, and it normally works well for both of  us. He plays in the living room while I fix his meal in the kitchen. But of course, now he needs to stay quiet and not stress his shoulder, so it’s either put him in the crate, where he is spending way too much time already, give him a stuffed toy (which he is getting lots of already) or take a handful of kibble and sling it across the kitchen floor. Ha ha! I call it Trisha’s little helper. .. who cares if the floor is clean after he licks up the food? It works perfectly: he spends 5 minutes finding and each eating piece, while I finish the rest of his dinner. His dinner is usually a mix of high quality kibble (normally not very much) and the rest canned and home cooked, but I’m happy to increase the percentage of kibble now when I need it.

This is also a great method for dogs when they are outside if you need to slow them down, get their attention, or take their attention off something else. I first learned to use it from Trish King, who uses it to distract problematic dogs who run up to you and bother your own dog, and have found it super useful in a variety of situations. Of course, it won’t work if the other stimulus is more powerful than the food, but you gotta love how long it takes a puppy to find small pieces of food scattered in the grass.

I’ve always been amused at trainers who label a relatively simplistic (and oft used) method as their own, but perhaps it’s time for me to join the bandwagon? Maybe we should call this the “McConnell Method?” Should get it trademarked? Throwing food on the floor?  Kidding aside, I’d love to hear if you’ve used this yourself, and if so, in what context. I suspect it might help quite a few of our readers who have their own challenges. By the way, I’m going to try this too when Willie is saying hello to me or Jim. He doesn’t jump up (Willie, not Jim), but is ecstatic and spins in tight circles, throws himself on the ground for belly rubs, and basically moves his body in every possible way except up to your face. Picture a four-month old Golden Retriever in a tuxedo. We bend down to him and he washes our faces, then he dashes off and gets a toy, which he tosses and shakes… you get the idea. I’m not sure it will be as successful in this context, I’m working on other alternatives now. I’ll keep you posted. FYI, his leg is indeed getting better (no visible limp when walking once he’s taken a few strides), but this is most likely an old injury that keeps coming back.  (Partial tear of biceptal or supraspinatus tendon?) If he does have surgery I’m going to have to find ways to keep him really, really quiet. But then, maybe we’ll decide surgery is not the best option? Paws crossed.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: I need to get out to the barn and start cleaning it up, in preparation for lambing. The first lamb is due in 3 1/2 short weeks (first due date is actually March 25th, from Rosebud). This Saturday we are welcoming students from the Small Ruminant Club of the UW Vet School to learn how to do ultrasound pregnancy checks from Repro Specialist Dr. Harry Momont. The shearer will also be coming, so the ewes will first be sheared and hoof trimmed, and then be vaccinated to jump start the lamb’s immune system. We’ll move them to another pen where they’ll get a quick ultrasound. They are far enough along that we’ll probably know just by looking at them once they’re sheared if they are bred, but the ultrasound will be great practice for the vet students. Then we all retire to the farmhouse for chili and home made pie. I’ll be baking most of Friday night, but what could be more fun? I love meeting the vet students… so smart and inquisitive and dedicated to helping animals.

Here’s Mr. Will gobbling up kibble from the kitchen floor. Of course, I had to throw more out when I made his dinner (instead of taking a photo)… He thought that was just fine.

Yup, I finally did it. I’d love to hear from you on my Facebook page; it all feels very new and strange. Does it sound like I’ve been in a cave for five years? Ah well, I’m catching up slowly.  I’m still feeling my way through this, so bear with me. Sigh. So far, it’s sort of fun.

I’m keeping this short today, it’s been a busy, busy week, with, among lots else, new lectures to prepare on animal cognition for the UW class, work on the “rescue” booklet, a speech at the Middleton Library and lots of planning for seminars to come.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Still cold and snow/ice covered, Willie still lame on his left front. We’ll be at the vet specialist next week for sure, and I’m beginning to brace myself for the very real possibility of surgery. I’ll keep you posted.

Here’s Hans Solo from this morning, Snicker’s singleton lamb. He’s growing up beautifully, wish he was a ewe lamb so I could keep him!

Thanks to all who have commented so far in answer to the questions “Are you a 100 % positive trainer?” and “Would you sign a pledge to only use positive reinforcement and never use punishment?” I appreciate the thoughtful discussion that the questions have generated. I’ll jump in now, with the caveat that this topic deserves an all day seminar (at least) and I can’t begin to say all I’d like to in one post. I’ll start however, by summarizing some of my thoughts on the issue.

Let me start by saying that I consider myself to be an overwhelmingly “positive” trainer.  I would imagine that those who have seen me work would agree that I am a kind and gentle trainer, and primarily use positive reinforcement when working with dogs. That said, I’d never sign a pledge saying I’ll only “use positive reinforcement” in all my dealings with dogs. I wouldn’t consider it for a moment. Here’s why:

1. As most of us are well aware, the word “punishment” itself refers to two completely different concepts, depending on whether you are talking to the public or to professionals in animal training or psychology. I virtually never use the word when talking to the general public or a client, unless I define it first in operant conditioning terms. That’s because the public and generic dog owner usually defines “punishment” as something inherently aversive, and often as something involving pain or fear. But in operant terms, punishment simply means anything that decreases the frequency of a behavior, and that should be well understood by any professional group involved in dog training. If someone in the dog training field asked me to sign a pledge that I’d never use “punishment,” I’d assume they were aware of its precise meaning, and decline, being unable to say “I’d never do anything to decrease the frequency of a behavior.”

2. I love “Negative Punishment.” What? Trisha loves “negative” and “punishment?” Oh my, say it isn’t so. But remember: in learning theory terms, “negative” means to take something away and “punishment” means to decrease the frequency of a behavior. Period, that’s all. Nothing about aversive, or even “good” or “bad” for that matter.

Here’s an example: Say I’ve been working with a young dog for six months on sitting when asked. We’ve proofed the behavior in a million contexts, and Fido has gotten 10 gazillion pieces of chicken and 5 gazillion other times he’s got to run and play with another dog when he did as asked. Now we’re at home, there’s little going on, but Fido didn’t sit when I gave the cue. I’m as sure as one can be without speaking ‘dog” that there’s nothing physically bothering him, he just seems more interested in ignoring me and going somewhere else to sniff. I’ll take a piece of said chicken, let him sniff it and then withdraw it, saying, melodramatically, “Too bad…. ” and possibly, depending on the state of the chicken and my stomach, “Mmmm, this sure is good! Too bad you don’t get any.”

That’s “negative punishment:” I took something away (food) to decrease a behavior (ignoring my cue). I didn’t learn this technique until I’d been in the business for quite awhile, but I use it, in the right context, and have found it to be really and truly effective. (Leslie Nelson, for her great Reliable Recalls, uses a similar technique in which one dog ends up watching other dogs get treats when he didn’t come when called.) In the example above, once I’d withdrawn the food, I ask for a sit again, and then I’d back up so that my feet don’t get squished by the dog’s hindquarters hitting the ground. That’s how effective it is. I only use this once a dog has received positive reinforcement literally over and over and over again, and when I feel confident that he understands the exercise and is capable of performing it (not feeling poorly that day, not overwhelmed by a new environment, for example). But let’s be clear: it’s punishment, if you are going to use the term correctly.

3. What’s Positive for the Trainer may not be Positive for the Dog: As the opposite of “Punishment,” “Reinforcement,”is something that increases a behavior, period. If it’s “positive” (I’ll use +R here for Positive Reinforcement) then you have added something to the system, if it’s negative (-R), you’ve taken something away. In either case, you are looking for a behavior to increase. So how would you evaluate these  scenarios:

Scenario One is, regrettably, astoundingly common: A shy dog is greeted by a person, whether it’s a vet tech or a neighbor, with shrieks of joy and looming hugs and/or kisses to the nose. The person is being “positive” in their eyes, but the dog is being punished for its very existence, terrified as it is by the rude and overwhelming approach by the stranger. A perfect of example of +P to the dog  and +R to the human.

In Scenario Two, a trainer is waiting for a dog to raise it’s paw so that she can use +R and give it a treat, on her way to shaping a “high five.” The dog, having no clue what the trainer wants, tries sitting, circling, and lying down. The trainer stays still and quiet, an atypical posture for her, and turns her head away very slightly. She has just used +P to communicate to the dog, adding in an unnatural posture and an obvious turn of the head (obvious to the dog anyway) to decrease the frequency of the dog’s response in that context.

4. Positive Punishment (in which something is added to decrease the frequency of a behavior) isn’t always aversive. For example, after watching herding dogs influence the behavior of sheep without touching them, I took a page from their lesson plan and began using what I called “Body Blocks.”  For example, while teaching Stay, I’ll give a dog infinite quantities of treats for staying still when asked, but also move forward to block her movement if she starts to get up. “Taking the space” I’ve called it, and I’ve found it to be incredibly useful in helping dogs understand what you want. (This is similar to the Psych study one commenter noted, in which students were “trained” to perform a new behavior by either 1) only being told “Yes” when they did right, 2) only being told “No” when they did wrong or, 3) being told both “Yes” and “No.” The students who were told both what was right and what was wrong learned fastest.)

I realize that some people consider Body Blocks to be highly aversive to dogs, and don’t use them. One commenter noted that she never used Body Blocks, feeling that they were too aversive to use on her dogs. Two things come to mind here: one is that I’ve done Body Blocks on one or two dogs now (or maybe 5,000), and can tell you that they respond in a myriad of ways. Some field-bred Labradors seem to think it’s the best game in town, and try their best to beat you, eyes shining, until they figure out soon enough that something even better happens if they just stay still for a moment. They behave as though, if they could, they’d say “That was fun! Got any more cool games up your sleeve?” However, super soft dogs, let’s imagine a melty little Shetland Sheepdog, need a quiet little forward lean to be influenced, and if someone moved too fast and too abruptly they could indeed scare them. This is a perfect example of how important it is for a trainer to be able to ‘read’ a dog,  no matter what method they are using I would argue, and adjust their behavior based on the personality of the dog him or herself.

5. However, this does raise the question, the elephant in the room really, of using “aversives.” Are “Aversives” always bad? Ah, here’s where the rubber hits the road, isn’t it? We can all debate about what is +P and -P and +R and -R to our heart’s content, but isn’t the issue really “Is it ever acceptable to purposefully respond to a dog’s behavior with something that they perceive as aversive?” My own answer is another reason why I’d never sign a pledge to never use punishment, even as defined by the public. Life is just too complicated to be summed up in simple categories of black and white.

Do I think that we have a responsibility to be kind and gentle to our dogs? Yes.

Do I think that Positive Reinforcement is overwhelmingly the most effective method of training? Yes.

Do I use it 99.99% of the time? Yes.

Have I ever done something to a dog that I knew he would think was aversive to get him to stop doing something? Yes. Would I again? Yes.

Here’s an example:

When Willie first started working sheep, he had a bad habit of dashing into the flock and scattering them as if he was playing pool. Alisdair McRae, a brilliant trainer and teacher, explained that I simply had to prevent it from happening during the early stages of training, because there was nothing I could do that was more reinforcing to Willie. Not only did he get to watch the sheep bolt away (look what I can do!) and then chase them (wow is this fun!), he got to disperse the tension inside of his own body (and boy do I feel better!). So I set up practice after practice in which I was between him and the sheep, and just my presence was enough for him to stay back where he should when working. But once I had to move back away from the flock to begin short outruns, he began doing it again. We went back to working in closer, but every time I backed away far enough he’d eventually dash in, scatter the sheep and turn around, body relaxed, eyes shining, mouth open, having gotten the best reinforcement he could possibly get.

I began walking him away in response: you bolt in, session over. This helped a great deal, but not enough. Eventually, after several months of work, Willie charged in, for what I believed to be the simple joy of it. I responded a gruff voice (“Cut it out!”) and a fast and direct march toward him. I stopped a long way away but looked directly at him and said again, in no uncertain terms “You cut that out!” Willie, an extremely biddable dog, backed up and looked absolutely shocked . . . and didn’t do it again. He now has the most gorgeous outrun you can imagine, and he works right on balance 99.99% of the time.  Every once in a while, when he’s very tense, he’ll begin to dash in and I’ll say his name low and quiet, and he’ll curve back out again. Do I feel badly about raising my voice in that context years ago? No, not at all. Does that mean I use aversives often in training? Not at all. I quite literally never use them in any trick or “obedience” training, and primarily use +P and “Premack principle” methods to solve behavioral problems. (For example, Willie learned to lie down while working sheep because lying down on cue became the window to getting to work more.)

I’ll talk more next week about what’s critical to do or not do IF one is going to use punishment, but right now it’s time to go let Willie out to pee. No doubt relieving his bladder will be +R for him!

MEANWHLE, back on the farm: We’re pretty much at storm central here, being pummeled by ice and sleet at the same time that the politics of the area are swirling around in a social and legislative blizzard of epic proportions. (I’m right outside of Madison WI, and teach at the University, which is pretty much the eye of the storm here. FYI, for those of you out of the country, there is a huge political debate going on here, involving almost 70,000 protesters at our state capitol over the weekend. Enough said about that, except that everyone I’ve talked to agrees that the energy of the entire area is palpable, and not so much in a good way. I wonder if the dogs can sense it?)

Poor Willie injured his left foreleg again on Friday, darn. He’s been on leash restriction since then and he’s improving nicely, but not enough to let him off leash yet. If it’s not better in a day or so I’ll take him in to my sports medicine specialist vet. So Willie is bored and Sushi is disgusted–last week the warmer weather had her happily outside for hours at a time, now she’s sitting at the window slashing her tail. After I slide my way to the barn and feed the sheep we’ll do a bunch of trick training tonight a perfect time to exercise their brains instead of their bodies!

Here are some lovely clouds from a few mornings ago:

Recently there have been some debates and discussions about whether it is possible to be a “100% positive” trainer. This has become an issue because some seminar hosts have policies that they will not hire anyone for a seminar unless they only use positive reinforcement and “never use punishment or aversives.” Some people are being asked to sign pledges that they will never use punishment as a trainer.

I’m curious what you think. Are you a “100% positive trainer?” Do you ever use “punishment?”  Do you use what some people call “aversives”? Ever? If so, what kind and when? I’ll weigh in on this debate next week, (as you can guess I have a few opinions about the matter) but I’d love to hear what YOU think.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: The snow is melting! It’s been well over freezing during the day all week, and as a result 1) we can actually see bare ground in some places, 2) the snow that’s left re-freezes every night so walking most places involves either teetering on a mouse-size mountain range of ice peaks and valleys, sinking into ankle deep mud, or having your boot fall through a foot of snow with a thin cover of ice on it. Let’s just say the footing is highly variable. There’s enough open ground that it’s muddy paw time here now, and I am reminded of how valuable it is to cue your dog when you are about to lift his feet. I’ve been saying “Ready” before I pick up each of Willie’s paws (I also do them in the same order) and he now lifts up 3 of his 4 paws for me when I say the word. It’s always the same one that he doesn’t pick up himself, and I suspect that it is because it is harder for him to do so. We are always working on some problems he has in his left shoulder and right hip, so I go especially slowly picking up his right hind paw, and wipe it off as fast as I can. Willie’s behavior is a great reminder to us all to be observant and thoughtful about our dog’s responses.

Besides the discovery of lots of dog poop (a universal sign of spring in snow country), I discovered something far more interesting today. I found a dead hawk below the pines lining the driveway, clearly one who had died recently. I believe it is an immature Red Tail, (Buteo jamaicensis) the most common hawk in the area.  There’s a pair that nests less than 100 yards from the farm house every year, and I wonder if it was one of their young from last year. Egg laying begins in late winter, in March or April, but I often have seen courtship begin in late February. I don’t know why the hawk died, it has no superficial injuries. The best guess (and it is only a guess) is that it starved to death. As I explained to my UW students recently, deep snow favors small rodents who can move through tunnels under the snow while staying out of sight of predators, and disfavors aerial predators like Red Tails. I wonder if the snow is melting just a few days or weeks too late for this one. I’m sorry that it died, but grateful to have a chance to appreciate its beautiful feathers.

With virtually no objectivity what so ever, I’m excited to announce that registration is open for a completely new seminar, to be held in Madison, WI on October 29th & 30th. I’ll be working much of the summer on creating an up-to-the-minute summary of what we know about canine behavior and cognition for Saturday, and Ken Ramirez, simply the best animal trainer I know, will knock your socks off with his presentation on Sunday about how to solve training problems and use reinforcements in a way you’ve probably never thought of before. Last summer I left his seminar motivated to train anything that breathed before I could get home to Willie. (I can report that it does not work on TV remote controls in hotel rooms, and okay, granted, remote controls can’t breathe, but I was unable to stop myself from trying.)

I know, I’m not an objective source (I’m doing the presenting on Saturday), but I’m already looking forward to both days. After being frustrated for almost twenty years about how little research was being done on dogs, FINALLY dogs are hot in science and there’s some great new information out there about training, behavior and cognition. I’m not the only one who is excited. We’ve already gotten registrations from as far away as Arizona and it’s only been announced for two days. I truly hope you can join us. If you do, promise to come up and say hello and introduce yourself as a blog reader.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Willie, Jim, Brittany, Dorothy and Barbie and I actually left the farm today to do a herding demonstration for my University class. The ewes Brittany, Dorothy and Barbie did not exactly volunteer for this assignment, but they’ve all done it before and weren’t particularly stressed about it. Dorothy and Barbie ran right up the ramp, bless their hearts, but hefty Brittany (she somehow manages to eat twice as much as every other ewe at the farm) had absolutely no intention of getting into the truck. I don’t like letting dogs bite my sheep, so even though Willie was in back sending out “Let me at her!” thought bubbles, Jim kindly pushed and prodded Brittany’s huge frame up the ramp and into the truck.

Brittany, by the way, came to the farm with her sister, Paris (yes, you’re getting the connection here). I named them when they were quite young, before I could have predicted that Brittany would be, uh, with child as a teenager, and Paris never got pregnant after 3 years. Needing my ewes to produce as I do, Paris has moved on to other pastures, while Brittany pumps out lambs like a factory. Maybe if I taught her some dance moves she’d lose some weight.

Willie was a super boy at the demo, I was very proud of him. It’s his third time there (he’s 4 now), and it’s fun to watch him each year as he matures. The first year he was very nervous, and I didn’t let him do much, relying on a dear friend to do most of the demo’s with another dog. Last year he performed well, but was clearly still more nervous than at home,but this year he worked pretty much like Willie at the farm. This was especially nice  because we were doing well with our 2011 commitment to work Willie off the farm until the snows came, but for the last six weeks we’ve been shut down by deep snow. It was fun to finally be able to work him on sheep, even if it was in a small arena. At the end some folks from Animal Sciences brought in a horse and did a great natural horsemanship demo. Was just lovely (thanks Liv and Fawn!).

We didn’t get any photos today, but here are some from the same place from last year.

I’ve given several speeches lately about why we love our dogs so much, an issue that I think deserves more attention than it gets. Given that Valentine’s Day is coming up, it seems appropriate to combine my speculations about our bond with our dogs with a valentine to one of my favorite guys.

Here’s to you Willie boy, an unapologetically mushy but thoughtful ode to why I love you so much:

I love you because the feel and smell of your fur this morning somehow went right to the center of my being and made me feel centered and full and happy.

I love you because even though I groused about putting on multiple layers of clothing, once you got me outside it was beautiful, even if it was 4 below. We stood still for a moment, and breathed in the clear air, exchanging breaths with the dark, silent columns of trees standing sentinel behind us.

I love you because you remind me that my “reality” is just that, mine, and is only one of the many realities in existence. (But I love that you and I are both beginning to label the floppy, brown thing as “Pony.” Thanks for humoring me.)

I love you because it makes me happy to look at you, even if I do call you “Spaniel Face” because your ears didn’t read the chapter on appropriate Border Collie ear structure.

I love you because you can’t talk, and that makes our connection simpler and more primal than my connections with my own species.

I love you because you need me, even if that isn’t the best of motivations.

I love you because you share my work ethic, and so clearly try so hard to do your best.

I love you because although you came as a puppy who saw the world as a frightening and dangerous place, you are still overjoyed that yes, yes, yes indeed, there are an endless number of people in it who would be happy to throw your toy or rub your belly.

I love you because your expressions of emotion are so similar to those of my own, and that makes it so much easier to feel like we are experiencing the world together.

I love you because last week when we came home from Austin, you ran between Jim and I, eyes shining, leaping and twirling, licking our faces and rubbing against us, unable to contain your happiness that we were all together again. I am sorry I can’t leap and twirl as well as you can, but then, I am much older than you. And really, it’s not that much fun to for us to use our tongues to lick your fur. Sorry.

And last, but of course never least, I love you because for some reason, undeserved I’m sure, you appear to adore me. Of course, you love Jim as much or even more, but then, that’s just an example of knowing a truly good person when you see one.

I’d love to hear a valentine you might want to write to your dog . . . I’ll begin my day by savoring them. How sweet that will be.

Here’s my Willie boy, a photo I’ve always loved when there was color still on the ground.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: It was 15 below Fahrenheit Thursday morning, only 4 below this morning. But it’s supposed to warm up, and I’m so glad. Not just because it’ll be nice to be able to walk outside without 20 pounds of clothing on (I had to sleep with TWO pairs of socks on last night for heaven’s sake), but because the deep snow will melt and we’ll finally be able to work sheep again. I did well with my 2011 commitment to work Willie off the farm and/or with people watching in early January, but that’s been shut down of late because of the snow. We’re going to visit some friends in Iowa tomorrow who have sheep and we’re hoping the snow there will be low enough to be able to work a little bit anyway.

Willie is doing great on learning his toys by name by the way! I’ll write more about this next week (and post another video), but he can pick Pony and Scorch out of a group of 8 to 10 objects reliably. I wouldn’t say 100%, but close. I’m still not sure though exactly how he has them categorized in his mind. His biggest confusion is between the two of them — if I put them side by side and ask for one, he looks more confused than if I have them in a group of toys. I’ll write more soon, but we’re making progress and having a great time doing it.

It’s a busy busy time, I’m working hard with Karen London on the booklet for adopting older dogs, lots of speeches, my UW course, I’m about to (okay, finally!) get a Facebook page and we’re finalizing arrangements for our killer seminar in Madison this October. Stay tuned, enjoy the weekend, and kiss your dog(s) for me. Just try to keep the hair out of your mouth . . .

Travel hell, Spa heaven. That pretty much wraps it up. I’m writing this on our last day at Lake Austin Spa Resort. You need to know that I have absolutely no objectivity at all about this place: They gave Jim and me 3 days lodging, food and great spa services in exchange for my giving three talks during their special program for dog lovers. That said, it’s really not possible to do much but rave about the place. It’s gorgeous, the food is great, the staff couldn’t be nicer AND they allow dogs even when it’s  not a special week for dog lovers. Yes, there’s a down side: The price. This is one of those “If you have to ask . . . ” places, but what would we expect of the spa rated the # 1 spa in the country by Conde Nast?

But for those who could manage it, try to come next November when they’ll have another special week for dogs.  Special it is, and special is just what the doctor ordered after what can only be described as an absurd example of just how bad it can be trying to deal with a company who has outsourced their customer service. I won’t bore you with all the details, but the summary is: Our flights from O’Hare to Austin were canceled for both Thursday and Friday. Thursday’s cancellations are understandable after a monster storm on Tuesday night, but what followed was not.  I spent a total of over two and a half hours on Thursday afternoon (in three sessions) talking to 7 United reps, all of whom were barely intelligible because they simply didn’t speak English. Neither did they seem to know much about how to rebook a flight. We got here only because we found flights through Delta by ourselves, and drove 5 hours to Minneapolis to fly from there (we could have flown but by the time United finally figured out how to get the seats, about an hour later, the seats were taken). I have to admit that by the time I was talking to the 7th person, somewhere around minute 140, I was so steamed that when asked to spell my name (finally to book the ticket to Austin the next day) I said:

“M, as in Mad. Really Mad.”

” C, as in Can’t believe I’m STILL trying to get this settled.”

Etc.

The staff at Lake Austin Spa were graciously grateful that Jim and I worked so hard to get here, and by the time we got here it would have been churlish to stay grumpy because we had trouble traveling. After all,  this storm caused so many people so many serious problems, and a little travel trouble faded away pretty fast once we settled in.

Here are some of the lucky dogs and lucky owners who got to participate in the Spa’s special dog days. Ivy, Sophia, Libby, Bichon, Romeo and Jasmine seemed to be having a great time, but maybe not as much fun as I had with them.

It’s gorgeous here, even though they had ice and snow the day before we came (yup, that’s snow on the far bank.)

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: This is what’s waiting for us at home. And as wonderful as it is here, it’ll be great to get home. Here’s hoping it goes a bit more smoothly . . .

My last post started a good discussion about the use of the term “counter conditioning,” (and its use in treating Separation Anxiety) and one of the comments in particular reminded me that the term is often used differently by different people. For years I’ve always specified “counter classical conditioning” when talking about treatment for SA, for example, when one links something that elicits a positive emotion (like food) with something that elicits a negative one (like fear). But I noticed I’ve started being lazy and using the term “counter conditioning” when I mean counter classical conditioning. I suspect that’s because I don’t tend to use the term “counter operant conditioning.” Rather, I talk about “training an incompatible behavior” which is basically the same thing.

So, to be clear, Classical Conditioning has nothing to do with training a particular behavior. It is a way of linking and emotion with a stimulus (bell = feel good like you do when you smell food, or “Her getting her keys makes me happy cuz when she does I’ll get LIVER!). Operant Conditioning is about reinforcing a behavior (“If I sit and stay I’ll get LIVER!).

Regretably, none of this fixes the messy methods in the study I talked about in the last post, in which dogs were given  (among other things) food when the owner was about to leave and food when they returned. That’s just about the opposite of anything I’d suggest–the whole idea is to make “leaving good” and “coming home boring.” But still, it’s important to know what we’re all talking about when we’re talking, hey?

MEANWHILE, back on the farm, there’s a lot of conditioning, both operant and classical going on. 18 inches of snow + 40 mile an hour winds + 10 degrees below zero Fahrenheit elicit a range of emotions, from awe to fear to the peace that comes when there’s just not a darn thing you can do but settle in, stop worrying about whether you’ll make it out (you won’t), and accept that you’re but a tiny little speck in the universe. But the sheep need feeding, and Willie and I shouldered our way to the barn (well, he “shouldered,”  I “kneed”). Until Jim shoveled a path for them to their hay feeders this morning, I fed them inside the barn because the drifts were so high they couldn’t get out.

Here’s Spot and Truffles looking over one of the drifts after the snow stopped (and yes, it really was that high).

And, with fears you are absolutely sick to death of “Willie and Flying Disc and Snow,” here’s another one. It gives you a good idea of the snow depth in an area in which there was no drifting.

We’re supposed to fly out tonight for Austin, so cross your paws. We have to fly through O’Hare, not the smoothest of airports in the best of times (understatement alert). It’s been closed for 2 days so it’s going to be crazy anyway, AND this is prime time for Green Bay Packer fans to fly from the Midwest to Texas. I’m sure we’ll make it for my first speech at Lake Austin Spa tomorrow night, but it’d be nice if we could manage some “spa-ness” beforehand. Meanwhile, I know many in the U.S. are struggling with ice (much, much worse than snow) and a lack of power. Stay warm and safe, I hope things improve soon.