Flying Poodles

Thinking About Training

In the days since Elly trapped herself between the deck and the house, I’ve noticed that she won’t go anywhere near the spot, and that’s got me thinking about dogs and dog training. What Elly did to herself is called “positive punishment” by dog trainers. That means she was actively punished–caused pain in one way or another–in direct response to a behavior. A human example would be stubbing your toe: it hurts, next time you’re more careful where your feet go.

Well, Elly didn’t just learn not to put her head in a small space, she also learned not to go under the deck in that area. I’ve noticed that she’ll track the rabbit–who clearly has come back into the yard since the incident, thereby proving that bunny brains are smaller than dog brains–but stops dead when she comes to that area. She also is much more cautious about putting her head between two things, checking it slowly before moving between spaces.

This corresponds to a friend’s comment that, if you’re going to use an electric collar on a dog, shocking them hard once is kinder than shocking them lightly multiple times. She rescues Jack Russell terriers, teaches them basic manners, and finds homes for them. Among other things, she uses an electric collar to teach them not to go through doors without permission. She finds one shock does the trick and saves her yelling at them over and over. (Incidentally, she’s tested the collar on herself at the setting she uses.)

But.

Punishment seems to work best, for dogs and maybe for people, when avoidance is the appropriate behavior. The occasions for complete avoidance in most dog training are few and far between. Safety issues are about it. (“Don’t go near the road!”)

Now, I don’t like punishment and I try to avoid it. I trained the dogs to wait at the front door and to wait to get out of the car by the method of closing the door. Tell the dog to sit. Tell her to wait. Open the door a crack and close it if she moves. Repeat, over and over and over… And making one exception can mean weeks of retraining.

The three best books on dog training are Jean Donaldson’s Culture Clash, Karen Pryor’s Don’t Shoot the Dog, and Bobbie Anderson’s Building Blocks for Performance. Anderson’s book is about teaching puppies how to learn.