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 Read More
Archives for 2011
Counter Classical or Counter Operant?
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 Read More
New Info about Treatment for SA? Yes and No.
A study came out recently in Applied Animal Behavior Science that suggests that Counter Conditioning (CC) is not an effective way to treat Separation Anxiety. Since I've been advising the use of this method for many years, my ears pricked up in hopes I'd learn something important about how better to treat this serious behavioral problem. The study, by Butler, Sargisson & Eliffe, concluded that Desensitizing (DS) was the successful element in the treatment of SA in the 8 dogs in the study, while CC and "behavioral advice" was not. We got the article, and I read through it carefully. And then I read it again. And yup, one more time. And then I emailed some of my colleagues and asked "Am I crazy?" I thought I might be losing my mind because try as I might, I could not match the Read More
New Books: Becoming Animal
I'm reading a book titled Becoming Animal by a "cultural ecologist and environmental philosopher" David Abram. My amazing sister (Wendy Barker, a break-your-heart brilliant poet and writer herself) sent it to me for Christmas and it has had a profound effect on me all week long. This is not a book for many people. As a matter of fact, when I started it I was a bit put off. The Introduction seemed a bit wordy and ponderous, and I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it. But by the time I became lost in the first chapter I was enrolled. Abram is asking us to get back into contact with our physicality, our relation to the earth and all that is around us. He does so slowly, gently, asking of the reader what he asks of us as inhabitants of the earth--to slow down and notice that shadows are Read More
The Model-Rival Method
I mentioned "The Model-Rival Method" earlier when talking about training dogs to associate words with objects, and I thought it'd be fun to illustrate what I was talking about. The video at the bottom of the post is an example of this method, famously used by Dr. Irene Pepperberg to train Alex the African Grey Parrot to label a large number of objects, materials, colors, etc. It was originated by the European scientist Todt, in contrast to the "Skinner Box" kind of training in which a parrot got a food treat from a mechanized box for vocalizing something similar to the sounds being played by loud speaker. Using that method, American behaviorists had concluded that parrots "can't be taught language," but Todt noted that it had little relationship to how our own children learn language. He Read More