Here’s my proudest moment in life (so far): It’s 1967, when the idea of women wearing pants was still a tad radical. But “pants suits” had just came out–dressy outfits that put trousers on your legs instead of a skirt, even for eveningwear. I worked as a salesgirl in a boutique in Scottsdale, AZ, and bought myself the yummiest orange, corduroy pants suit that you could imagine before it even hit the rack. The jacket was lined in orange silk. It was gorgeous.
I decided to wear it to the San Diego Naval Officer’s Club, having been invited to a special dinner there by my boyfriend and his best friend who was in the Navy. I got as gussied up as I could, tossed my long, dyed-blond hair over my shoulders and walked with Doug and Don into the lobby of the San Diego Officer’s Club. An older woman behind the reception counter stopped us immediately. She said, her mouth looking as if she’d just sucked on a lemon, “Women are not allowed in this building if they are wearing pants! This is a respectable establishment!” Nothing we could do or say could change her mind.
The boys and I walked back out to the parking lot and stood by the car, disappointed and frustrated. I didn’t live in San Diego, and had driven eight hours just to come to this event. I didn’t have a skirt in my suitcase and it looked like we were going to miss an expensive dinner, already paid for. As we were about to get into the car, I had an idea. Pants were not allowed? Okay, fine. So I took them off.
My jacket came down, well… just far enough. Barely. We three walked back into the Officer’s Club and strode past the stunned-face woman, now so shocked that she was literally speechless. Doug walked behind me while I walked up a long staircase. We discovered the dinner was a buffet, so the boys brought me my food. I can’t say that I had a good time at the event, but the look on the woman’s face was worth it.
And what might this have to do with relationships between people and animals, you might ask? The answer to that is in an article I just read in Natural History magazine, about Who Invented Trousers by Adrienne Mayor. It turns out that trousers were worn by both men and woman who spent much of their time on horseback, while the Greek men wore robes (with no underpants). The Greeks “derided the barbarian’s trousers as “…effeminate, a sign of weakness, mocking them as ridiculous..” Thus, skirts were manly and pants were effeminate. Ah, how times change.
And so they also do in training animals. In 360 BCE, the Athenian cavalryman Xenophon wrote On the Art of Horsemanship. Here is a translated quote: “The one best precept — the golden rule — in dealing with a horse is never to approach him angrily. Anger is so devoid of forethought that it will often drive a man to do things which in a calmer mood he will regret. Thus, when a horse is shy of any object and refuses to approach it, you must teach him that there is nothing to be alarmed at, particularly if he be a plucky animal; or, failing that, touch the formidable object yourself, and then gently lead the horse up to it. The opposite plan of forcing the frightened creature by blows only intensifies its fear, the horse mentally associating the pain he suffers at such a moment with the object of suspicion, which he naturally regards as its cause.”
My point here is the importance of remembering what a fickle species we can be, and how cultural mores and acceptable techniques are fluid. That relates as much to dog training as anything else. The militaristic style of dog training had its origin in the military in the early part of the 1900’s, and spilled over onto the family dog, such that the first “obedience” classes I went to were run by an ex-marine. He told us that we had to be the alpha. To “wear the pants in the family,” as it were. In the first class he gave a Basenji on a choke chain a hard snap for not sitting the instant it was told. When the dog growled in response, the trainer hung it in the air–the dog choking and snarling–while the rest of us watched in horror. (I was there with Cosby, my Saint Bernard. We left, literally shaking. Both of us.)
Oh how times have changed. At least, in some places, in some ways. Old habits die hard, but if someone suggests to you that using kindness and primarily positive reinforcement is a “new” or “liberal” technique, remind them that in many ways, punishment is the newbie on the block. Good trainers have been respectful and compassionate for centuries. You’re just keeping up the tradition. Good to remember, yes? I’d love to hear about your first experience with dog training (or any other species) and how it reflects, or contrasts, your perspective now.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm. So good to be home! APDT was excellent and it was great to be there, but still so good to be home. And lucky me, the weather this weekend was gorgeous. Flat out perfect, really–ideal weather for working outside, with bright sunlight on the Halloween colors of yellow and orange trees in the woods. It’s been a perfect combination for me of time with the dogs, time in the kitchen and garden, and time with friends. Tootsie and I did Pet Pals on Saturday. She and a disabled young man broke my heart in the best of ways, he smooching his lips as best he could to her, she cuddled on his lap for the longest time. Maggie and Willie have worked sheep both days, Sunday at a good friend’s that allows both dogs to get used to working different sheep in a different environment. Willie finished his work yesterday by allowing my sheep to graze the front lawn before they got their hay Sunday afternoon. The grass up the hill is long gone, but the grass on the front lawn is luscious. It’s not fenced though, and if I didn’t trust Willie the sheep could not have had their snack. I suspect they aren’t aware that they need to be thanking Willie though…
Jim made chicken noodle soup, and I made cabbage soup, all with yummy meat and veggies both local and organic. Much of it is now stored in the freezer for the dark nights to come. Saturday night we got to see Colin Mochrie from Who’s Line Is It Anyway?, one of my favorite television shows. I love to laugh, and we laughed so hard we got tears in our eyes. I hope you’ve had some good laughs too lately. Remember that laughter is good medicine, and one of the few things we can’t share with our dogs. (Although, I swear there’s a photo in The Other End of the Leash of Cool Hand Luke laughing at my hair…)
Here’s Willie moving the flock this afternoon. Some of the sheep are new; meet Chili on the right, Pink is the white face staring out at you from the middle, and two new lambs in the front. I don’t know how long they will stay, I brought them in to have new sheep for Maggie to work, but I ended up naming them within 24 hours. Chili, by the way, became instant flock leader the second she jumped off the truck. Very interesting; no aggression, not even a head butt, but she literally leads the flock and has first access to anything good. The new lambs, on the other hand, came in a few days before the new ewes, and were treated brutally by some of the resident ewes. Spot (not in the photo) was so aggressive that I sent her to her room without dinner. (I locked her into a pen for the night, she was backing up 30 feet and slamming into the lambs so hard she sent them flying.) My my.
Joyce Huseland says
About a year ago I adopted a rescue shiba inu that had not been socialized as a puppy and was very fearful of everything and everyone. I took her to the ocean because I love the ocean and thought she would enjoy it. She was afraid of the logs, the rocks and the water. I finally sat on one of the logs. Once she realized they were nothing to be afraid of, she came and sat beside me. We ended the afternoon with her planting her feet and letting me know she was not ready to leave.
I did attempt a puppy class, but found she was very fearful of any room without windows. The class was held in a warehouse. We went to two classes and had to quit. It was not worth the fear it was causing. When we go to the vet they always put me in an exam room with windows. Although she is doing better, I have learned to pick my battles. I have had her a little over a year and she is doing better, but it is slow progress. I have learned to lower my expectation and not push her very far over her comfort level.
I enjoy your articles and books and have found much that has helped me in dealing with her. Thank you so much.
Nic1 says
Trisha, thak you for making me laugh out loud. Your pants story is a classic…..
Incidentally, the word ‘pants’ is a bit of a slang term for something being utterly rubbish in some parts of England. Indeed, women not being allowed to wear pants inside the San Diego Naval Officer’s Club building was utterly pants! Good for you for stripping off in protest. You should have handed them to the receptionist on your way back in, ‘Would you mind holding onto these please? Obviously they are surplus to requirement this evening so I’ll collect them on my way out. Thank you so much.’
Such a great example of how we hang on to memes and customs in order to fit in and so we can be socially acceptable. ‘Women don’t wear trousers! What would people say if we let you into our establishment wearing PANTS!’ It seems really strange for me to imagine that there was a time not so long ago at all where women didn’t routinely wear trousers or pants!
I love your explanation about punishment in animal training being relatively new. Innately, it has never felt right to me to be punitive and coercive in getting behaviours from humans or animals. It took me a lot of time to sort through a lot of bad information with regard to learning and behaviour, for my dog. I did try some aversive training – collar jerks when lead walking – for a day and gave up as it was utterly useless and ineffective. Plus when she started goose honking I realised that this is an insanely barbaric technique. And so horribly unenjoyable! There can be such joy in our relationships and learning should be fun for all species involved in the process.
Marjorie says
My first exposure to training was with our family dog. My father (not a dog trainer) potty trained our Beagle/Lab cross using cheesies. I’m fortunate that both my parents always taught us to be kind to animals. They believed that they were smart, sensitive and the more you put into kind and thoughtful relations with them they more you would reciprocate in kind.
Then in my teens when I got my horse I was blessed to work with an old time vet who taught me that through patience and kindness you “don’t break a horse, you make a horse.” I raised my horse from a foal and when it came time to back her for the first time, it was pretty much a non-event, even though she was quite a spirited thoroughbred cross. She accepted everything calmly and she was very devoted to keeping me in the saddle. There were times when I might have gone off, but if I started to, she would actually scoot under me to keep me on board.
When I got my fearful little Cavalier and she would turn into Cujo Cavalier (don’t laugh…she could be quite a handful) whenever someone entered my home. I called Bark Busters to see if they could help me with her behaviour. They wanted me to throw bags of chains on the floor to startle her and to growl at her if she followed me from room to room. I was not a dog trainer, but I knew in my gut that this is not how you treat a frightened animal, or any animal for that matter. So I got my money back and found a positive trainer who was kind yet very knowledgeable.
I have seen a lot of horrible things in the name of training over the years, but I’m so very thankful I had good role models and always listened to my gut.
Sarah says
That is a hilarious — and amazing — story about your pantsuit. My mom, working in that same era as a lab tech for a hospital, was required to wear a skirt to work until the mid-70s.
Alyssa says
My first experience with dog training was two years ago at a beginning family dog class at Dog’s Best Friend with my newly adopted 6 year old mutt. A couple of weeks into that, I picked up The Other End of the Leash and For the Love of a Dog. I didn’t realize you were from the area – what a surprise to see some familiar names and faces! So I was pretty lucky from the start, especially since my dog was already well-behaved, if shy.
Over the past two years I have been taking classes (favorite so far has been nosework – really brought out some confidence in my dog and she has a blast!) and have volunteered with a rescue (having only had “easy” dogs, it’s been an eye-opener). I never would have thought dog training would be so fun, interesting, and controversial.
Thanks for your fantastic books & blog!
diane says
I learned a lot with my current dog. He is a beautiful gentle sole, but fearful. He is also extremely responsive in a positive way (meaning not bite aggressive and always wanting to please). My husband grew up in a military family and he had dogs as a child. I did not. I thought he knew how to handle dogs and have to admit, the handling was sometimes too rough. When my current dog was a pup, my husband employed the ‘raise the news paper’ to punish an accident. My husband told me “you should have seen the look on his face. I put the paper down” Wow!
I then took my dog to obedience training, and the choke collar was used as a training technique. Thankfully, my dog is so sweet, I really did not use it. I discovered you, and other professionals, and I felt you made much more sense. I have to admit, I still use the choke collar, but only for control like when I walk him near high traffic street. I don’t want him to slip a normal collar if he gets spooked. But I don’t use it harshly to punish. I still admit that I cannot employ all your techniques when caught by surprise. I still may use a harsher voice or pull back on the collar… but I think this may be okay. (Hopefully, a better alternative to avoid a dangerous situation)
I’m trying, and I’m thankful for your help and all the “positive” dog people’s influence
Michelle says
I ride dressage, so Xenophon is our “First Father.” I find if my horse is not working as desired, invariably the fault lies in my communication.
Rachael says
My first dog training job was at a company that trained personal protection dogs, mostly Shepherds and Malinois’. I was the only woman, and I wore a bite sleeve, bite suit, used electric collars and did everything the boys did. We had 30-40 dogs who lived in concrete kennels 24/7, barking like mad, running circles in their feces, and only coming out to train for 20-30 minutes at a time. I lasted 4 weeks until another handler zapped the living daylights out of a neurotic & sensitive Shepherd who recalled to the wrong person and shut down in the middle of the room, crying. It broke my heart. I eventually went to work for 4 years at a doggie daycare/training facility that focused on positive methods 🙂
Thank you for your wonderful stories about your life and the farm; they make me feel like I know you personally! And I wish I did! I appreciate your humor, your commitment to science, and your soft heart for relationships and animals. You rock!
Laceyh says
It’s my understanding that dogs DO laugh, though they don’t usually share human tastes in humor.
Your Chili sounds like the good dog leaders I’ve known, including my present dog Misty. If I were still up to fostering, she’d be helping; as it is, she’s given a local pup some useful basic lessons.
Norbert says
This is a wonderful, well written and very entertaining article. Thank you.
Our first trainer experience with our now 3 year old Boozier des Flandres girl went like this: Kajsa our dog was about 12 or 14 weeks old and we decided to take a look a puppy course at a local dog school here in Tuebingen, which lies in the Southwest of Germany. We had read The Other End of The Leash already.
So we went there, my wife, our little son, our daughter, me and the dog. The trainer, a woman around 30, looked at us when we got there and said two things. First she asked if Kansan was already housebroken. We said almost. The trainer said that this was way too late. Next thing this woman asked was which breed our dog was. We said a Bouvier des Flandres. She said: “Oh, a French dog, forget it, she won’t learn a thing.” Our kids where shocked and almost cried, my wife and I were very upset and we turned on our heels and left.
Later we found a really good trainer in a village nearby. The Bouvier whose origins are Belgium is a wonderful family dog! Here you can see her overseeing our garden from her favorite position: http://bit.ly/ZWVJRI
Robin Jackson says
Love the pantsuit story!
Thought you’d enjoy the following Smithsonian Magazine story on the evolution of gender clothing styles in the 20th century. Up until around 1900, baby and toddler clothes in the US were gender neutral dresses, often white cotton. Bleachable, practical, easy to hand down for generations. When colour was first introduced, it was the boys who wore pink and the girls who wore blue. Many examples in the article.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink-1370097/
em says
That is a FANTASTIC story about the pants suit. I am eager to hear what others have to say about the (it seems) eternal conflict between harshness and gentleness in animal training.
I myself try very hard never to be unkind when I interact with any animal, and I think it’s the one absolute that I live by as I try to remain flexible about my general approach. Sometimes I reflect on the (uniformly beautifully behaved) dogs that my family kept and trained when I was a child, long before any of us had heard of positive-only training or had as much as a flicker of doubt about who was ‘in charge’ in our relationships with our dogs.
And yet, I am forced to reflect on what you said about your new ewe, just quietly and smoothly taking charge when I also reflect that in my whole life, I’ve never seen a member of my family hit a dog, or yank on a collar or choke chain. Even a raised voice is unusual. From tiny childhood, we were taught that ‘teasing the dog’ was a cardinal offense- after all, abusing the power we have over others is the most contemptible of behavior.
Yet I never had a shadow of a doubt that if one of the dogs had snapped at me in temper, child or adult, the consequences for the dog would have been swift and severe (it never happened, this was something that I just KNEW, even as a child.) Never out of dozens of animals (some from very ‘serious’ breeds like dobermans and german shepherds as well as the usual assortment of gun dogs and mutts common to country folk) was there a dog who couldn’t be trusted to behave at a house party, who would steal food off the counter or from the hand of a child, who hid or cowered from strangers, who barked at guests once through the door, failed to come when called, jumped up or knocked people down. To a dog, they were paragons of good canine behavior and emotional health, fully in line with the wishes of their humans. So how, I wonder as I recollect all of these past relationships with all of these animals, did my softspoken, gentle family establish themselves so firmly in leadership positions over this motley crew?
I don’t know for certain. Part of it is probably luck, more of it is good choices when selecting dogs that are a good match for the life they will lead, yet more is the family’s lifestyle itself- social yet quiet, dogs included in almost everything, plenty of exercise, plenty of space, plenty of experiences, clear rules for both dogs and humans and the unquestioned expectation that of COURSE the humans are in charge.
Whenever these discussions arise, I am reminded of the philosophy of Hannah Arendt which I read some years ago and which continues to resonate with me. She posits that force is actually the opposite of power. A person who must resort to violence does not demonstrate their strength, but their weakness, since the only reason to use force is because you LACK the power to get what you want otherwise. The only reason to obey someone who relies on force is fear or physical restraint, so the minute that force cannot be brought to bear, control is lost. Power is the ability to exert influence without force, and true power, motivated by love, respect, and rapport, cannot easily be broken.
On some level, I think animals know this- there is no clearer signal to a dog or horse that you are NOT in control of the situation than lashing out in anger, and nothing more counterproductive than fighting with an animal, as that horrible trainer hanging the dog by his neck in class demonstrated so viscerally. Even if you win, you lose.
Gordon says
Although I thoroughly enjoyed your piece, I don’t have much to contribute. I, too, was wearing pants in 1967, but I hardly think anyone noticed.
I can also confirm that there is, indeed, a photo of Luke laughing at your hair. But it is in “For The Love Of A Dog”. 🙂
Liz T says
Oh, I remember the anti-pants movement. I wore ’em anyway. 🙂
I adopted Annie, a White GSD/lab mix, right about five years ago. She was maybe a year and a half then, a stray rescued in SW Missouri, found in an abandoned house. She was pregnant with 10 pups, heartworm positive, tick-ridden, and 41 pounds. When I met her (in Minneapolis of all places), she was diffident and very stand-offish, having had the puppies a month after rescue (only one died!) and not feeling well after the first heartworm treatment. She clearly was housetrained, but I kept her leashed to my bed at night just in case, and I put up a dog gate in the laundry room for the first few months, kenneling her when I wasn’t there. It was clear, though, that she was very well trained and somewhat eager to please (as long as her nose was nowhere near the ground). Her biggest issue was, and is, bristling protectively when other dogs are near. I used your WATCH command and, while she isn’t always reliable, she is much better than she used to be.
Actually, I’m probably the one who isn’t always reliable. 🙂
widogmom says
Your pantsuit story reminds me of a time when my husband was invited (at the last minute) to a golf outing with “the executives.” He dashed home to grab shoes, clubs, change clothes…and picked out a golf shirt that he’d bought at an outlet. Very nice, brand new, signature-type shirt, but with no collar. He was turned away at the country club for not having a collar on his shirt. We only live five minutes away, but he was so embarrassed that he came home and didn’t go back. I’m glad you showed them what was what! Of course, the Navy couldn’t fire you or downgrade you on your next review. 😉
Jane says
My first forays into dog training were with our family’s Welsh terrier, when I was 15. At the time (early 80’s) the Englishwoman Barbara Woodhouse was the celebrity dog trainer, even in the States, and we assumed if we just sang out, in her trademark lilt, “Let’s go WALKIES!”, then our status as leader would be sealed and all else would fall into place. Things disintegrated quickly when, a) we realized that Welsh terriers were not exactly pliable, and we had a hard time getting her to do anything with consistency, and b) when my father read in the Woodhouse book that one should “instruct the dog to do what it is already doing.” That makes sense to me now, in a way–name the behavior when the dog is in the process of performing it–but to us it just seemed like a license for anarchy, code for “aw, just let the dog do anything she wants, but issue a command while she’s doing it so it looks like that’s what we wanted, too.” Now, I mostly laugh at our attempts. I should go back and see whether that book really did have gems of truth.
Krista says
My first experience with dog training was as a young adult with my first dog. I thought I might want to compete in obedience trials, so I bought every training book I could find and enrolled in local classes. This was in the early 80’s and it was all dominance and alpha-rolls. Well, I didn’t last very long. I could see that my sweet dog hated our obedience sessions. And I will never, ever forget (or forgive myself) for the time I tried an alpha-roll. It was clear to me that it was abusive and counter productive. I was so confused, though, I was doing everything ‘right,’ but why did it feel so wrong? We stopped ‘training’ and I ended up with a happy, well-behaved dog anyway. Years and years later when I came across positive training books, I actually cried. (Loved your pantsuit story!)
Cathy says
First, I LOVE this blog post! So funny and insightful!
I now have two twelve-year-old sister shelties and an 8-year-old male BC. While I had grown up with a family dog, we had never taken him to a training class, and when as an adult I found my husky, I was afraid to take him to a class–afraid of being embarrassed by not being able to control his pulling, etc. So when the shelties came along, I was determined to do some training with them. The only class I could find nearby was taught by a guy with military/police training in his past, and it was held outside along a road. That scared me to death to begin with. Pretty much all we did was walk in circles over and over. Very boring for the dogs and for me, but truly I had no other class experience with which to compare it. For all I knew, this was the norm. My shelties barked whenever a car went by, and one day the instructor stood there and laughed, saying to the class, “Look at the shelties!” I said, “Well, show me what to do to help them.” No response. We never went back.
Not long after, a friend of mine told me about a class she had attended with a positive, patient instructor. It was a bit of a drive on a work day night, but my, was it ever worth it! She and her assistants showed me what could be done with patience, fun, and rewards. My one sheltie went through four 8-week classes in a row to help her overcome widespread fearfulness that she had had since coming home with me. It transformed her life and mine.
I started to take a freestyle class with the same instructor, and a few years later became her training assistant in obedience classes. My BC was luckier than the girls in some ways because by the time he came along, I knew so much more about the right kind of training for my dogs. However, he developed dog reactivity at less than a year old, so my journey of learning became a long, long trip with many divergent paths. No one in my immediate circle really knew exactly what to do with him. My trainer friend made suggestions that had worked for other dogs, including one of her own, and they helped but did not address all that he needed. We were in a competition obedience class, and everyone there had suggestions, especially that he had to be corrected immediately and strongly each time he reacted negatively to another dog. I tried that and almost everything else suggested because I was desperate to “fix” him. But as the years went on, and I read everything I could get my hands on, watched DVD after DVD, attended seminars, I learned to become his advocate and stand up for him when someone suggested things I knew in my gut were not right for him, like correcting him for being afraid.
The thing that has changed most for me over the years is that I am strong enough to say to an instructor or anyone else , “I appreciate the suggestion, but that is not right for my dog.” It has taken a long time to get there, and sometimes people are offended, but above all, my dog needs to know that I have his back.
Leonore says
Thirty years ago I trained field labs. High drive, hard headed, and what I knew to do worked. Fourteen years ago we got a young dog and everything I knew to do backfired, and badly. He went from shy and neurotic to fearful and borderline dangerous.
Crossing over to clicker training has been a godsend for that dog, and every creature since. Dogs, horses, cats, fish, chickens, and people (TAG Level 2 Certified). Good for my dogs, my clients – and good for me.
I think we are all frustrated and I sometimes feel rather helpless when watching “instructors” with rooms full of dogs on management equipment getting P+ for normal dog behavior and no feedback – or help – in getting it right. There is a better way, and in some circles it feels very mainstream, but get out there to the JQP classes, and it isn’t.
Yet.
We gotta keep at it.
Christina says
When I got my first puppy of my own in 1992 when I was in my 20s, I took him to puppy class at the MSPCA. The only things I remember about the class are using leash jerks to teach heeling, and that using food was taboo. For the final class we were supposed to teach our dog a trick, and I was practicing at home getting him to stand on his hind legs on command when I decided to try using a dog biscuit as a lure. Of course, he stood right up and reached for it, and then immediately did it again. I was surprised and delighted by how easy it was, and then immediately felt guilty, because I had been taught that it was bad to use food. Looking back now I have to laugh at how naughty I felt for trying it! I immediately put the cookies away and went back to practicing with – I don’t know what … nothing, I guess. Luckily for me (and for Max), he was very biddable, gentle and calm, and turned into a very well-behaved dog with a long, good life. He never was very good about walking on leash, but eventually was so reliable off-leash that I could walk him through the streets of Beacon Hill and leave him to wait outside the corner store. Twenty years later I do still regret the times I used punishment and the lost chance to make our relationship even better and to enrich his life if I had known then what I know now.
Susan Beals says
I did not come from a dog fancy family so the only things I knew about dog shows came from Big Red and the Terhune books. I did however come from a working dog family with many generations of farmers on my mother’s side using dogs for herding and hunting. When I was in college (same era as your pants story) I decided I wanted to get into obedience competition with my GSD. I had a friend at the time who did know about dog shows and she told me I needed to take some classes to get me ring ready (we had trained all the exercises on our own and looking back now we were pretty damn good for self-taught newbies!). So I signed us up for class. Again, my experience was pretty much like yours. I left that first class in tears and never went back. It was more than 20 years later when one of my children joined the local 4H dog club, that I looked into formal training again. The first instructor the kids had was pretty much still pop and jerk, but I started doing some research (your books being a large part of that) and I ended up taking over the 4H club with another mom on a similar journey. And now my current dogs and I have a few obedience titles under our belts.
Chris Vereide says
I think my first intro to training came by way of Barbara Woodhouse on the Donohue show (?). I thought she was amazing. After that, I watched some of her old UK shows on public TV. If I were to watch the same things again, knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn’t think the same way. Everything seemed like such a quick fix. I thought, “If only I had that same way with dogs, I could train a dog just as quickly as her.” Thinking that dog training had more to do with the trainer’s “way with animals” than anything else.
Mungobrick says
We got our first dog back in the days when choke collar training and the jerk on the leash were the norm. We were told we couldn’t start training her until she was 6 months old, so that’s when we started. I can’t imagine this now, and our dog was a Komondor – an independent, intelligent breed…Fortunately she was good-natured and a fast learner, so the jerks on the leash were few. Of course, outside of class, she wanted three reasons in writing WHY she should sit! Our next two dogs were trained in classes using a combination of choke collars and treats, and our last two have never seen a choke collar (although our Bullmastiff’s breeder told us we needed one when we got her as a puppy last year, sigh). I’ve never seen anything like the brutality you and some of the others here have described, I simply cannot imagine how someone could feel that was the right thing to do. It would have destroyed our shy older girl, who even developed a fear of the clicker when her noise phobia struck at age 2.
Dieta says
Things have definitely changed. My first ever dog training class was with Storm, a cross between a Huskie and a Timber Wolf. She was over reactive to other dogs, so I decided to join an outdoor class. We started in the car park and took six weeks before Storm was calm enough to actually join the class. The trainer disapproved of treats, praise was fine and if a dog didn’t understand what was required, he told us to shape the behaviour, push the dog’s bum down to get a ‘sit’ and then the shoulders to get a ‘down’. Once a dog was in the right position there was a lot of praise and on to the next thing. Problem was though that Storm was a big dog. Pushing her bum down was difficult, pushing her shoulders down was impossible, as she was not willing to cooperate. The solution, according to the trainer, was to take the front leg that was furthest away from me, lift it and push the dog over. Once she was on the ground praise and repeat. I didn’t like it, but without he knowledge I have now I had no better solution, so I went along with it. After about a month the trainer got impatient and staked over to me. “this is how you do it” he grumped, turned to Storm and firmly said “Down”. At which point Storm showed him precisely what she had learned, lifted her front leg and offered him her paw so he could push her over. Now, having taken clicker classes and reward based training, I would be able to do better. The Xenophon quote reminded me of a book I read years ago by a man called Paul Owen, who advised that the dog owner should start every training session with a bit of meditation and breathing exercises.
Mary Brandstetter says
What a great post and a needed reminder for us to remember how things change. Personally I am not an official dog trainer but have trained all of mine (all three are CGC and one also a TDI registered therapy dog), plus a lot of foster dogs over the years.
I foster for a husky rescue and find myself with many of their hard cases (aggressive and fearful dogs) because I’ve been successful with them in the past. So I do a bit of unofficial training.
I’ve learned much over the years both by doing and by reading those who do it well. I learn from everyone. The training that I do happens every moment I’m awake and with the dogs in my house.
Training that is based on the dog fearing the trainer due to rough handling works sometimes but only short term and those dogs cannot be trusted to hold to their training when in a new home, so I’ve always been a fan of leading the dog to make their own decision, with gentle guidance, and praise when it’s a sound decision. The decision they make is not always necessarily the exact decision I wanted but sometimes it’s even better. It’s best approached as a partnership with both parties having input that is valued!
Huskies are notorious independent thinkers. I get their attention by being a strong leader and insisting on certain rules. Sometimes I get them to think that what I want them to do is their idea. We have structure in our daily routine; they get good food and plenty of structured exercise; they get exposure to their problems and praise when they make good decisions. It takes time and trust. With four dogs in my household, one of which is always new, I don’t have a spare hand for clickers or treats or e-collar remotes. I have to rely on my strength, patience and building a good relationship.
I believe that dog training is as individual as we are. What works for me won’t necessarily work for others, especially if the breed of dog differs. My smart, problem solving, independent thinking huskies are very different from my friend’s dogs that tend to be more eager to please.
But I have learned to trust my dogs to do the right thing and they rarely if ever disappoint. My therapy dog, during our Hospice visits, has made violent people calm, clinically depressed people laugh themselves silly and has reached more dementia patients than I ever could. He has broken up dog fights on his own without laying a tooth or claw on any one and has comforted fearful dogs so they can release their fear and play with him. I would trust him with my life and he trusts me with his. That’s what it all comes down to, isn’t it? Trust and mutual respect.
MJ says
Ah … the ’60s. I went to a women’s college in NJ and we were not allowed to leave campus in pants/slacks/jeans. Roommate and I went round and round with ourselves when planning to bus into the East Village for a Saturday. We wanted to wear jeans and did not want to carry them and change on the bus and then have to haul the skirts all over town. We thought … we could just go to the bus pantless, wearing long coats. THAT would be legal. And seemed so insane we just left campus in jeans. Got reported. Got campused for weeks because of is. *sigh*
First dog training was 1962 … I was 12. Springer spaniel was 6 months. Choke chain, quick corrections and not a treat in sight. I recall a wire haired terrier which would do a joyous back flip with each quick correction. It was hysterical and the trainer had no idea what to do about it except to tell the owner not to let him do that. As if there was “letting” involved.
Now, on the flipside, I have created a ‘show me the cookie’ dog who is all in when food is involved, but not so much otherwise. *another sigh*
Kristen says
Great article!! I will add that in the late 1990’s (!!!!) I worked at a law firm in D.C. and Casual Fridays meant that women were allowed to wear pantsuits. That dress code has changed considerably – mostly because of computers – fewer clients in the office, less emphasis on appearance. The Judges and the Partners are still pretty conservative.
Regarding my personal evolution of dog training – first exposure was at a PetSmart puppy class – benign, treat oriented and got me a fat dog who could do a few tricks but not a good recall and not effective communication. We bonded on our walks more than in the training. I started to acquire books on dogs – The Monks of New Skete was on one end, The Other End of the Leash was, well, on the other end ;-). I still have an impressive library. After that the only formal training was a 1 hour visit from a gifted trainer who volunteered at a local rescue. I was about to introduce my new dog (a 1 year old mutt who had already had 6 other owners – then me – a neophyte – for about 3 months) to my 1 year old niece who had huge labs at home and thought all dogs were wonderful. This trainer taught me about very small treats and time out and reading dog language. It was wonderful. I ended up not “controlling” my dog, but actually negotiating a relationship that was terrific for both of us. At one point I realized that I used the same language and had the same expectations of my toddlers and the dog. I would never dominate the kids and wouldn’t dominate the dog. Just find a way to put both in a successful environment and reinforce the behavior I want. That attitude has seen me through many other rescues now.
Anne says
Unfortunately for my first dog, I didn’t really know better and took him thru ‘pop and jerk’ negative reinforcement ‘training’ classes. It wasn’t until he started to demonstrate fear reactivity that I began to research alternate methods and realize that there were other, better ways to communicate.
I apologize to him daily for the mistakes I made and swear with my new puppy that those mistakes will NOT be repeated. Others will be made, sure, but new pup will grow in an positive, nurturing environment.
We owe it to our dogs to constantly put ourselves in THEIR places- how would I feel if I were being introduced to a new situation and ‘corrected’ for it? Observe, shape and help but my hands will never be raised to correct my dog.
Thanks for this blog and for all you do for owners and trainers. Lots of food for thought!
Barbara Yeamans says
Just as I learned being a teacher,for over 36 years, with children it doesn’t work to discipline with force and anger, it is the same for any and all animal species.
Kat says
Growing up I was exposed to a training style that can probably best be summarized as “if the dog deliberately ignores your command hit him but you’d better be darn sure it was deliberate and not you failing to communicate clearly.” In practice this meant the dogs were almost never hit. Looking back I think that was my parent’s way of rationalizing their personal preferences and the cultural norms around them. It certainly made my personal training philosophy easy to adopt. I won’t call myself a completely positive trainer because I do use some mild aversives–I’m sure Finna doesn’t like it when I abandon her when she doesn’t come when called–but my methods are overwhelmingly positive and I always try to understand why the dog ignored a given cue or refused to perform a behavior.
Hiking a local trail series one day Ranger refused a cue to take the right fork and when I turned right and expected him to come with me he planted his feet and refused to budge. As I was standing there trying to persuade Ranger to my preferred route an out of control, badly over threshold, lab mix came around the bend and as soon as he saw us was lunging, snarling, barking, growling, and generally screaming he was going to kill us as soon as he got close enough while the big man on the other end of his leash did his best to restrain the dog. Ranger and I boogied up the left fork and I learned that if Ranger insists he probably has a good reason.
Wendy Green says
had never owned a dog until I retired. Read “The Other End of the Leash” before I got a dog. She was a sweet, smart JRT running loose. Not spayed, not chipped, not reported missing. She was so easy to train I think she actually trained me. The standards were mostly already there, but I taught her about 10 tricks, to hand signals, in about 2 weeks. She still will do BANG and Silent Bark for a treat. I taught her to growl on command. I thought it was funny- the mother of the toddler we met in the park didn’t agree. I’ve had her for 10 years now, and tho she is slowing down, I got her to use a new screen door easily with treats in about 10 minutes yesterday. She had never used a doggie door before. Now she lets herself out and in by herself, and I think she enjoys surprising the chipmunks who don’t hear the door anymore.
As for the pants story, I’m proud of you for coming up with such a creative solution!!
Monika & Sam says
I continue to be beyond astounded that some trainers still use shock collars to train dogs. It breaks my heart to see anything less than positive reinforcement. Thank goodness I learned you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. 🙂
Joy Cowles says
I hardly remember not working with animals: cats, dogs, horses and later as an ATR whatever came into the practice(s) where I worked. Always the animals were able to teach me more than I could find out from ‘those in the know’ or from books or classes.
Most of the work I did for the first 30 years of my life was one on one. One person, one animal or I was the teacher coaching a team or classes.
In the last two decades I have seen more changes in how people say they train or teach and what disciplines they chose…but I chose a somewhat different route… I moved to multiples…one handler many teammates. Working with the pack mentality created some interesting conundrums for me. First I had to work each animal individually and note their idiosyncrasies as well as their position within the pack I was working with. Then when putting them together to work I had to find those personalities that in combination made more of the lesser individual thus creating a team dynamic. I was fortunate enough to find (sometimes by accident) dogs that had those particular abilities that I truly needed to make my team work. Once I had a base team I could add or subtract almost any other dog to the group dynamic by pairing it up with a trained teammate.
I never ever anticipated what happened; I had such a strong background in regular AKC dog sports, but time, place and the breed I chose took me on one of the most satisfying wild life rides of my life. The friends made and the dogs trained were/are awesome. My team is gone now…they taught me what I needed their lives are shorter than ours…but their legacy will live on much longer than just today or tomorrow for they changed the lives of so many others in their teaching of me.
Patricia Jay says
My dog training methods have been hit and miss to say the least, and I feel the same way about them as I do my parenting…I wish I knew as much then as I do now! My big eye opening experience was coming across the streaming of this years SPARCS conference in Rhode Island, I was absolutely fascinated and my thinking did a complete 360. The learning will continue…Thank you 🙂
HFR says
I often wonder about my early “training” techniques. Even tho I have had dogs all my life, I didn’t go to a class until I was on my 8th or 9th dog and quite an adult myself. I certainly didn’t know anything about positive reinforcement methods, but I also don’t remember ever raising a hand to any of my dogs. I do remember when “tapping” them on the nose to get them away from something they shouldn’t be near was the thing to do and it did work, but it was hardly hitting (even tho I wouldn’t recommend it now).
The only thing I remember doing that makes me feel terrible is the housebreaking method of sticking a dog’s nose in its mess while saying, “No! bad dog!” over and over again. It’s a wonder we housebroke any dogs at all. I do remember when I was young hearing that it was not a good idea to hit a dog with a rolled up newspaper because then the dog would just be afraid of newspaper. I think that was the first time I was asked to think about the dog’s view of things. I guess that was progress of some sort. I think I, like probably many other people on this board, just always instinctively felt it was wrong to cause pain to another living thing, especially one you cared about so much.
Here’s a loaded question: Does anyone else feel that men, much more than woman, tend to abide by the more aversive methods? That has been my experience and putting aside the obvious reasons of perceived machismo, I think there must be something else to it. Maybe it’s along the same lines of why a lot of men don’t like to neuter their dogs…I don’t know. I certainly know men who are not this way, but for the most part, it seems to be a pattern. I really felt this when I went to a hunting clinic once a few years ago. It was advertised as a “non-aversive” training method, which is why I thought I’d try it with my hunting dog, even tho I don’t hunt. I thought he would enjoy it, since he has a lot of drive in that direction. You would not believe some of the horrific techniques they used, all while giving lip service to positive training. Again, it was almost all men who were the instructors. Of course, hunting is probably a predominantly male sport, but still.
Anyway, I love the pants story. But I’m much more impressed that you were being escorted by TWO men to an event. They must have loved your solution to the problem! 😉
Donna in VA says
To HFR, one of my first thoughts on reading Trisha’s post was that men tend to solve problems using strength and force because they have it. Women being (in general terms) less strong tend to solve problems using other methods. I expect to take longer to accomplish any heavy, physical task (moving wood, digging dirt) because I know I am going to be working at a slower pace, using less strength/energy. So the same applies to dog training. Does that make sense?
My training class experience was in 2005 in a community sponsored group program. We were taught using a combination of treats, choke collars not allowed, and adversives (leash pops, can of pennies). I think she was using techniques that probably worked well enough on the majority of dogs, but anything remotely threatening caused my Sheltie to escalate. When the instructor used a spray bottle on him, he snapped at her, and she took me aside to tell me he had done so. She finally put on her thinking cap and told me to down him (by command or down pressure on the leash if necessary) when he went for another dog – the main problem he was having. Essentially he got a time out and no treat for any misbehavior, and over time in combination of treats for any acceptable behavior he changed his attitude towards other dogs.
I still see people using leash pops all the time and hate it. In the movie “Buck”, Buck Brannaman gives the perfect demonstration of why this is counter-productive. Using a human volunteer, he demonstrates the difference of putting x pounds of steadily increasing pressure on a lead rope versus suddenly jerking on the rope with the same x pounds of pressure. Having been jerked once, the volunteer unconsciously braces in self-defense against the next jerk. Not the way to establish a calm working relationship.
Robin Jackson says
@HFR,
In general, in the US now (I’m not sure about Canada), it seems like more women than men are acting as now working as professional dog trainers.
However, I see just as many women using punitive methods. Indeed, Dr. Ian Dunbar was one of the first “celebrity” dog trainers to avoid most aversives, and there are many more men who do so. In the same era, it was a woman, Barbara Woodhouse, who popularized the “yank and stomp” method of collar corrections.
I don’t see it as a gender issue. There are some communities, such as police and military trainers, who do have a traditional history of using force methods, but you’ll find the women in those units generally using the same methods as the men. And the R+ trainers from those groups, such as Steve White with police dogs, don’t seem to show a gender bias.
Ken Ramirez is yet another example, and he often works with zoo handlers who also have a long tradition of aversive methods, regardless of whether the trainers are themselves male or female.
As for women who feel comfortable with the use of aversives in dog training, there are many, including a fair number of the readers of this blog.
So I don’t think there’s a general male/female divide on this topic. But there are certainly subcultures which tend more towards punitive training methods.
Diana says
My first experience with dog training was in the early ’70’s when I was about 12. I really wanted a horse, but instead my dad got me a St. Bernard puppy (substitute horse) for Christmas. When he was around a year old, he was enrolled in a basic obedience class through the local parks and recreation dept. The first night of class, the “beast”—who weighed more than I did–dragged me on my belly across the training grounds. Immediately, I was told he needed a prong collar and that would give me the power to control him. Back in those days, the concept of positive reinforcement was practically unheard of. The training consisted of applying a correction—either a collar correction or a slap—when the dog didn’t do as he was told; when the dog was correct he got a verbal “good boy” or a pat on the head. His response to training was less than enthusiastic.
While I would never train a dog like this now, I am glad I had the experience as a point of reference. Although it’s difficult to compare the high drive Australian shepherds that I have now with the St. Bernard, I can still see what a difference positive reinforcement and play can make in a dog’s attitude and ability to learn.
Margaret McLaughlin says
My first experience in animal training was with my horse, who was 7 & very green. I was 13; this was 1969, & a small Indiana town. I had had 1 summer of riding lessons 3 years before (which was where I met the horse) & never had a cat or dog.
I got a lot of “show her who’s boss” advice–very practical for a 13yo trying to handle a 1000 lb untrained animal. Not that I thought they were wrong, I just knew I couldn’t do it. She was unwilling to allow her feet to be handled, & had to be twitched to be shod. I set out to teach her, & used what I now recognize to be a primitive version of flooding; taking hold of a foot & holding on until she finally stopped kicking & relaxed, when I would let go & give her a treat. (The same people who told me to be the boss were horrified at the treats & said it would make her bite.) It took several months, but eventually I could hold out my hand & she would put her foot in it, & would also cooperate with the blacksmith, who congratulated me. If I’d known then what I know now I probably could have done it in a week.
When I got my 1st dog in1995 food training was just coming in in this area. My first class was j/p, but when I completed that & joined the trainer’s competition class we did a lot less j & used food, tho’ since we were not using a marker a lot of the enthusiasm disappeared when the food did, & we did a lot of lumping. I started clicker training with my 2nd competition dog in 2001, using Morgan Specter’s book, & mostly luring–still the problem of maintaining a high quality behavior without the food. My real conversion came when I read Karen Pryor’s Reaching the Animal Mind in 2010. Eventually, working with a KPA instructor, I learned the principle of using a behavior to reinforce the previous one, which gives reinforcement thruout the chain without needing to have food or tennis balls for each step.
HFR, I have made the same observation, tho’ I’ve never been sure what’s nature & what’s nurture. Subject for a blog post?
Several years ago I was working my dog in the local hospital parking lot when the shuttle bus pulled up & stopped. I thought the driver was going to tell me to get my **** dog off hospital property, but it turned out he had trained dogs in the military, & wanted to ask me about clicker training because my dog looked so happy.
I LOVE the pants story. Such moxie.
Trisha says
I’m loving the stories you’ve sent in, thank you so much for adding your voices. I few things stand out to me: One is that I don’t think anyone has written “I started out using primarily positive reinforcement but it didn’t work so I switched to punishment…” Of course, that may be because the readers of this blog are not representative of the general population. There may indeed be people who tried to use the least aversive methods possible and found it didn’t work for them and went back to leash pops or other forms of punishment. But I’d bet the farm they are few and far between. To be fair, I have heard from some people who said they tried Pos Reinf and gave up on it because it didn’t work, but whenever I got details it seemed that they weren’t using it correctly (giving the dog something the dog didn’t want, for example). I am the first to say that I do not/can not use Pos Reinf 100% of the time; I just said “No” to Maggie last night when she began to chew on the toy basket (but then immediately gave her an appropriate toy and played tug with her.) But what a joy it has been to discover how fun training can be when our primary focus is TEACHING, always trying to take the perspective of the dog, and ask what it needs to be the polite family member that we all want.
HFR says
@Robin Jackson. You certainly make a good argument. When I think about it, it is definitely true that many male trainers are the spokesmen for the positive training philosophy and women can be just as aversive. If I really think about it, I’m probably referencing more anecdotal/personal experience. And like @Donna says, it may have something to do with physical abilities too.
Anyway, I certainly didn’t mean to hijack the post! To return to the subject, that is true that I haven’t known many people who say positive doesn’t work and return to aversive. The ones that do, in my experience, are ones that have little patience. One thing about aversive training is that if you get results at all, they are definitely faster to get, for what it’s worth.
Trish K says
About six weeks ago I took my 18 month old Bella to her first obedience class. I’ve been training my dogs as well as I could at this point and I was hoping to get professional advice on ways to get a really Great stay and come and to basically just tighten up all training Ive taught them. I found a place nearby and although it didn’t say positive reinforcement training, it did say reward based training.
There were about 8 or 9 people in the class (all women) with dogs of various sizes and breeds, about half over fifty pounds and the other half between 5 and 25 pounds. A few of the dogs growled and lunged including Bell in the beginning and the trainer offered us these air cans and told us to blow the air on their necks if they did that again. I knew I couldn’t do that to Bella, She’s too sensitive . It happened again and the trainer asked afterward if I used the air. I said no and she kinda gave me a look. Although I really don’t know what to do when my dog lunges at dogs ( that are lunging and barking at her) I knew enough that my dog wasn’t getting a startling air blast by my hand. One of the first things we were taught was loose leash walking. She (the trainer) explained how we were going to use Leash Pops. She proceeded to walk around the class with a leash wrapped around her wrist and asked us to practice the POP on her so she could show us the correct pop instead of pulling. Oh Geez. When she got around to me I leaned in to tell her that I couldn’t Pop the leash on my Bella because she was too sensitive. The trainer told me that I could use a softer pop but I never did. We just watched and listened.
We all spaced ourselves to make room to practice loose lease walking using her technique and she would come around to help and offer advice. When she got to me I apologized and told her that I respect the fact that she has been training service dogs for 15 yrs. but I was really trying to use only positive reinforcement and I just could do the leash pop. She kind of sighed and said ok. She took Bella’s leash and showed me how to get her to walk using only treats and many quick starts and stops and sits. Very loose leash the whole time. Bella was wonderful with her. Actually I thought the trainer was wonderful with bell too. She was very kind and seemed knowledgable enough, she definitely has “a way” with dogs. The last thing she told me was that with this positive reinforcement method I was trying to use, I had a much longer and harder road ahead of me. So be it. Actually I don’t know enough to be completely positive yet. But I do know that I’m not going to startle Bella, Simon maybe ;-). He could take it better. I read my first article about canine communication and body language a little over a year ago…it does take time to Learn what the perspective of the dog is, but it’s fascinating and wonderful.
LisaW says
I understand that saying “no” to a dog and redirecting isn’t technically 100% positive reinforcement. But, it brings up a question I’ve had for a while now. Isn’t the idea of living with and working with dogs building a relationship based on trust, love, and negotiated agreements and contextual responses? To me, that includes the occasional “no” or “eh, eh” or some other form of correction and hopefully redirection. It’s a conversation that is ongoing and depends on the make up of the dog I’m talking to. My two dogs converse with me in completely different styles, one might say entirely different languages. Subtly is lost on one and paramount to the other. I think there is room for a correction or two or three within all these conversations. There’s very little that I’m 100% positive about 🙂
Robin Jackson says
@LisaW,
There are two different questions here, the scientific about what’s the most effective, and the personal, which is a matter of philosophy and temperament and varies for every household.
As far as context goes, I grew up with positive reinforcement, I had many different kinds of animals around, and later I became a teacher and a foster mom. It’s not instinctive to me to use an aversive, whether that’s a stern “No,” or any kind of physical correction. So I don’t use them. If I saw a dog chewing on something they shouldn’t have, my first reaction (without thinking) is usually to say, “Hey, kiddo, what’ve you got?” in a mild cheerful voice, and then redirect.
I’m in my sixties now, and so far, it’s worked for me. 🙂 But that’s not to say other things don’t work for other people. Dogs are extremely forgiving, much moreso than most other species (including humans), and they’ll forge tight and loving bonds even in fairly aversive households, let alone the more common mild mix.
As far as the academic goes, the data is quite clear: No Reward Markers almost always reduce the efficiency of learning. Learners don’t like them. (Kathy Sdao tells a great story of a dolphin who, 3 days after they introduced NRMs using an underwater speaker, was working on a behavior, got the NRM buzzer, and went over and knocked the speaker off the wall!)
You can play the Hot/Cold game with humans and test this for yourself–if you only use Warmer cues, the person will almost always find the target faster than if you also use Colder cues. Colder makes the person stop and think, while only saying Warmer keeps them searching. In this situation silence presents just as much information as “Colder,” but it keeps the person “In the Game” more effectively.
So absolutely, context matters, and a well loved dog in a largely benign household will understand and value their handler’s affection, and shake off most mild aversives.
But NRMs and aversives certainly aren’t necessary to create an effective learning environment.
Of course it’s not easy to change our own first reaction. Tone it up or down, sure. But saying No or using an NRM tends to make the teacher feel more in charge, and that’s rewarding to them. So it’s hard to turn it off. Sometimes it’s best to work with what you have. And again, everyone’s personal style is different.
Dogs make us all look like much better trainers than we are. And that’s a good thing all around. 😉
LisaW says
Robin, you always have such good comments. I love the dolphin story, it reminds me of my own pitiful attempts at learning to juggle. A reward marker sure would have helped, although it may not have helped overcome my poor sense of rhythm.
It is the understanding and balance between the science and the context that I strive for. I envy your instinctual responses. Not having been introduced to canine behavior and the theories of learning until later in life and having grown up in a definitely punishment-based household, it is not as instinctual for me, but I’m constantly learning. I might not agree that it makes me feel more in charge, the occasional verbal correction usually makes me feel less adequate.
My dogs not only make me look like a better trainer than I am but a better person.
Stacie says
The first time I did any formal training was with my Aussie, Tucker, 17 years ago. In our second session of classes, the first night of class, I was so pleased when the instructor took him to use as a demo dog. Then she popped him unceasingly the whole way around the figure eight, saying it was for motivation. I was appalled. I gravitated to Agility, which is usually taught positively. Things have changed in my area although not as much as I’d like. There’s lots more positive training here but a lot still cling to the other.
chloe says
I have to be the supervisor but how much of one really depends on the dog. I walk dogs and petsit. I am very lucky most of my dogs are very sweet and gentle. The most bossy interactions have to do with reactivity towards dogs we meet in the street, and I simply cross to the other side.
With my dogs I have tried to be as respectful as I understand it to be reasonable. So of course biting or scratching from dog or cat totally not acceptable but really I can’t remember ever having that threat with one of my animals, well maybe over brushing a cat got me a scratch but she definitely told me she had enough. And I guess that’s my policy: unless it is a medical emergency I will try to take my animal’s comfort as a guide.
I allowed my last dog to eat her bone in peace and I don’t generally challenge the food bowl. Except when they are young for training. I know, though that I could say leave the room now, and grab what ever. But you know I try to be respectful, and I ask it in return.