The Smart Dog U Blog

Some Dogs Need This and Other Dogs Need That. Whatever.

I've been hearing from trainers who use punishment that not all dogs respond to things the same way. "What works for one dog doesn't necessarily work for another dog."

I've got news for ya. It all works the same way for every dog. 

Reinforcement increases a behavior. Punishment decreases a behavior. Extinction eliminates a behavior. Period. End of story. 

Now, what one dog considers reinforcement does change from dog to dog, just like it does from person to person. Here's a really good example from my own life. I've been struggling to find a way to increase the number of my physical workouts per week. I asked online for suggestions. I received a lot of "atta girls," "you look fine the way you are's," and "start slowly's." 

But one guy wrote "Quit talking about it and just get your ass moving! Sitting on the computer ain't the way to lose it."

BINGO! That did it for me! For me, that comment was reinforcing. It increased my behavior of working out. 

To some, however, it very well might have been a punisher -- it might have decreased the behavior of working out. So, what I find reinforcing and what someone else finds reinforcing might very well be two different things. 

But a reinforcer is a reinforcer is a reinforcer. If behavior increases, a reinforcer is involved. Period. Done. Finished. 

Quit talking about training and how every dog is different and just get out there and reinforce the behavior you like, for goodness sake. (Hey, it worked to increase my workouts, I'm trying to see if it works for other trainers, too.)

The Day After Vacation...it's the pits

We spent the last week on vacation at Lake Anna (Virginia). We vacation here every year. We like to vacation with our dogs (what fun is a vacation if you're not with the dogs, we say!)

This was one of our better vacations: the weather was fabulous (sometimes the middle of August can be blazing hot, go figure), the swimming was good, and the food was even better. 

Which makes Monday -- specifically the Monday immediately following vacation -- really tough. It's double-tough because the dogs give me the look. You know the look - it's the "when are we going swimming" look. It's killing me. 

So now, not only am I grumpy because I'm not at the lake, I'm grumpy because my dogs are sad that they aren't at the lake. It's double-grump day here. 

This picture of Tango, my yellow Labrador, is perfect. A wet dog, cradling his oh-so-precious bumper, laying on a wet dock. Does it get any better than this, from a dog's perspective? 

And below, he's taking a quick nap on the boat before we hit land again. Land = more swimming, more jumping, more retrieving! 

In a nutshell, we all wish we were back at the lake!

The Easy Solution or the Hard One?

My parents have a dog named Copper. She's a good girl, but she gets over-excited very quickly. When we want to take our four dogs down to the lake, it's mayhem. All four of ours are ready to rock out the door, and Copper is too, but she's not allowed down at the lake with my dogs. She chases Tango, bites him, and generally makes a nuisance of herself. 

My parents are old-school: yell at the dog, grab her by the collar and MAKE her stay. Yeah, that works. [Not.] And I'm just the daughter. I'm not a professional dog trainer -- to them. 

After about four days of enduring the same process (with the same, predictable results -- Copper continued to bark and thrash about -- it was escalating in fact. Surprised? Not me...but I digress), I decided to just step in and do things my way. 

I got a Kong, put a little peanut butter in it and gave it to Copper as we were walking out the door. If you'd not witnessed the chaos the way my parents were handling things, you'd never have believed it. Instead of anticipating our leaving with barks, whines, and jumps, Copper laid on the floor and worked that Kong like she'd been doing it her whole life. 

If we'd have stuck with the old way, it was very clear that Copper's behavior would escalate. All that collar-grabbing and excited state was going to lead to some unfortunate teeth-on-skin action, I can almost guarantee it. Then it would have been "Bad dog! Rotties are so aggressive! We need to heavy hand her even more now." Ugh, the thought of it just turns my stomach.

So. There's an easy answer (give the dog something else to do) and there's a hard answer (MAKE the dog obey you no matter what). I'll take the easy way any old day. 

By choosing the easy way, we're not just solving the problem. We're actually changing Copper's expectations. Instead of getting more ramped up, frustrated, and frantic, she's now calm -- but eagerly anticipating -- getting that little smear of PB out of the Kong. Voila. 

It's not rocket science. It's just good training. 

Puppy Picking

We met 10 fat little Labrador puppies this week. One of those little buggers will be coming to live with us in a couple of weeks. The pups are almost six weeks old and walk like little drunkards. They don't quite understand that their fronts are connected to their backs, nor do they know what to do with their fat little bellies that touch the ground. 

They have a nice little cycle going: play, run, jump! Wrestle. Pee. Poop. Run (ok, waddle) some more. Eat! Eat! Eat! Poop. Sleep. 

After a 15 minute nap, the whole thing starts all over again. It's like clockwork. 

Service Dogs of Virginia will take four of the ten pups to train as service dogs. There will be one fat yellow male, and the rest will be black, not sure of the sexes of the remaining three pups. 

When looking for pups, we were looking for the laid-back ones, the ones who rolled with the flow. It was a little difficult to tell at this young age, but it was a first glance. There will be at least three other puppy visits to keep checking tabs on the pups as they grow and mature over the next couple of weeks. 

I'll keep you posted on how the puppy picking progresses!

My Escape

It's no secret that Tango's my favorite. Over any other dog. (Talos runs a very close second.) I'd rather spend time with him, or travel with him, or work with him, or just hang with him. So when opportunity came callin', Tango and I went running straight for it!

An entire weekend away. Together. Alone. Without any other dogs. It's been a long, long time. I realize I might sound a bit odd: "escaping with my dog," "time together alone." I'm not maladjusted, I DO love my husband just as much as I love my dogs, I'm not a crazy-lady. 

However.

Tango and I have this special thing. We're cool just hanging out together. He enjoys hanging out with just me as much as I enjoy hanging out with just him. We're sympatico.

[How do I know this? That he loves it as much as I, you wonder? Easy. He's a different dog when we're together alone. He smiles more, I swear! He's got a pep in his step, he'll frolick like a pup again. Take my word for it, the dog is happy!]

Anyway, we had the chance to escape last weekend, just the two of us. And we ran like the wind. Actually, we sat in the car for 7 hours, two of those hours stopped dead in traffic, but who's really counting...

Off we went to Karen Pryor Academy's first ever reunion! [KPAs Dog Trainer Programs is the flagship course for people who want to become dog trainers or who want to take their business to the next level.] Tango and I were the first group to graduate way back in 2008. KPA was great for Tango and I: it was a terrific excuse to work with him every day - we had exams to pass together, for goodness sake!

I love traveling the road with Tango. He's a master traveler - sleeps the entire way, quietly passing the time, and is ready to roll whenever the car stops. He'll pee just about anywhere (believe me this is a useful trait - you never know what the road will bring] and is happy just hanging out whether we're going at-speed or if we're stuck in a traffic jam.

He's easy-peasy at meetings and conferences, even when there are other dogs around. He solicits attention by flipping onto his back, rolling around, and grunting. Works like a charm. I usually slide from my chair onto the floor with him, egging him on. I'm telling you, we have fun together!

It wasn't all seminars and meetings. No way. Saturday night we had a grand time -- dogs and people -- at our host's house in southern NY state. And Sunday morning held a two-hour (pretty strenuous) hike that rewarded us with spectacular scenery and ice cold streams for Tango to cool his belly. 

It was just the getaway we needed.