Tug: 2.0

So….. If you’ve read the blog at all, you know I’m a fan of tug.

Particularly, in the Balabanov tradition, with Ellis making a close second. They’ve always said that it develops:

1. Engagement

2. Relationship

3. Language of training (terminal bridge, intermediate bridge, & no reward mark)

4. Impulse control

5. A high value “reward event” that isn’t food based

But….. If those weren’t enough reason to do it, I now have a few more!!!! And, they’re BIG.

1. This one is practical: It begins to “shape” the Conditioned Relaxation exercise Kayce Cover calls the “Toggle”. The way I teach the “out” is by using a “Dead Toy” out. It’s a form of Negative Punishment. Basically….. You make the toy become less fun. They “restart” the game, by letting go. I always knew that it shaped the idea that a sudden shift in body language could stop play. But once I learned the Toggle from Kayce (shifting from “Alert” to “Easy”), I realized that teaching tug first helps them understand the concept of “shifting gears”. Toggling just takes it much further.

(This little guy picked up the “toggle” much faster after teaching tug. A little bit of shaping, and a little bit of stress relief. Bringing me to #2)

2. This one is theoretical: Biologically appropriate activity. That’s huge for a couple of reasons. First, it is a big stress reliever. And I don’t just mean in the way that exercise dissipates stress.  That’s totally true. Any exercise alleviates stress. But biologically appropriate activities are more than just an energy drain. Temple Grandin describes the “Freedom to express normal behaviors” as one of the four freedoms that define a healthy lifestyle. The others being freedom from hunger, pain, and fear! Well, for a dog, ripping and tearing with their mouth is as biologically fulfilling as it gets! Hell, developing COOPERATION over a thing we’re both gripping is natural!. Watch a pig hunt…. dogs hunting a pig…. not a pig hunting, that would just be weird. But, of all the activities you can do with your dog it is probably the MOST biologically fulfilling activity you can engage in with them.

Yeah, those are more “realizations” of what the hidden benefits are, than actual technique discoveries. But still….. Way more reasons to do it, if you don’t already.

Not sure HOW to do this?

Let me show you!

 

Jay Jack Pit Bull 101 Workshop!

I have been asked to come to Monaca, PA and give a workshop on my approach to the Bully Breeds!

August 30th, 9am.

Lecture Portion: We will cover the history of the breed, how it truly affects temperament, and my approach to helping the troubled ones. Also, which of the old school methods may still have a place in a modern Pit Bulls life.

Working Portion: My approach to foundation training that I use to work with these high drive game dogs we’ve all come to love. These are techniques that have been developed from my history with game dogs, and the most innovative, effective trainers in the country!

For more info, or to reserve a spot, please contact Paul @ http://www.abcaninetraining.com/

Look forward to seeing you there.

Those “Graduation” Moments

This is Firkin. She used to be super reactive. If anyone listens to the Podcast…. She’s the one that snapped the long line and went Zombie style on the door I narrowly exited.

But that was then…….

THIS. Is now.

This was outside a Starbucks in a strip mall. There’s a grocery store, a pet store, and a children’s bus stop there. No small feat!

Notice, the leash. Definitely prepared in case there’s a mistake…. But, loose from Firkin’s perspective. Not adding any negative energy. Her owner is learning to trust her ability to make good decisions.

New life for Firkin!

Good job.

Another Second Chance Dog

Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones….. But Words Make Me Want To Stab You.

RANT WARNING:

Yeah.

I’m in a mood.

Semantics in dog training is one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever encountered. It’s like trying to debate religion. It’s nearly impossible.

Here’s a couple of gems from this week that have gotten me on a rant.

“Getting dogs out of adrenaline” 

“Reinforcing fear”

& the one that put me past the edge……..

“Conflict Aggression”

Conflict Aggression.

I’m seriously about to display some conflict aggression.

Don’t even get me started on the use of positive and negative. Or any other word involved in learning theory.

Look….. Words are useful. I like them. I’m using them now.

And like we’ve discussed on the podcast many times it is on the speaker to try to best describe their idea. And not to assume the listener will be so committed to learning that they can get through your lack of clarity.

You have to TRY to help them understand.

And I really do. I really try to get people to see what I’m saying.

But I get the feeling that people are sitting cross legged like a little kid with their fingers in their ears screaming “no…. I can’t hear you…. lalalalalalal”.

It makes me want to punt them across the room.

And just to be clear that’s a metaphor…… It would take much more antagonizing than that for me to kick a baby across a room. I do follow L.I.M.A after all.

Oh….. Wait….. No I don’t. I have been informed that even though I AM committed to using the least invasive, most minimally aversive thing that I can and still help the dog….. I am not supposed to say that word, because it’s a club, and I don’t follow the cartoon diagram that defines their secret method. And….. I didn’t do the handshake right, so they wouldn’t let me in the treehouse.

I honestly am teetering on the brink of one of two actions.

1- Not talking to any dog trainers ever.

2- Making a dog training dictionary so we can all agree on terms and clear up all the nonsense.

Yeah….

I don’t give up easy. So

I’ll start.

1. LIMA: is a concept. Not a protocol Or a club. . It means that said trainer commits to using the least invasive most minimally aversive option possible out of all the possible effective options.

2. Conflict Aggression: I don’t even know how to start. I can’t tell if it’s a ridiculous term. Or if I’m just irritated past my ability to reason. So I will field suggestions on this one! (see…… I AM reasonable!!!!)

3. Positive: Lets try this…. Positive with the capital we will assume to be the scientific term. As in the addition of stimulus. If its written without capitalization it means the aaawww feel good version. If it verbal we shall say that if we air quote when we say it…. it means we are not using the scientific term. First amendment: We shall assume that when talking to a client that they have never read this dictionary and so we will assume they are ALWAYS using the air quote version, until they have been allowed in the cult…. errr… I mean learned enough that we can use “real” dog trainer speak with them.

4. Negative: Follow the same rules as Positive.

5. Reinforcing: Straight up science definition here. Means that it makes the thing more likely to occur in frequency, duration, or intensity. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOUR INTENT WAS!!!!!!! This defines the result. NOT the intention. If the dog bites the leash and you try to yank away yelling. You meant for that to stop the behavior. On dog A that worked…. Therefore it was a not reinforcing. But dog B thinks it’s the best game of tug ever. So it IS reinforcing. These terms don’t describe anything other than the result. can be R+, and R-.

6. Rewarding: Ok…. “Technically” this means the exact same thing as reinforcing… But we’re gonna make another slang term out of this. It means GIVING something GOOD AFTER they do something you want! This is R+ for you geeks. This is “client” language.

7. Punishment: Science definition. Opposite of Reinforcing. Can be P+, or P-.

8. Correction: Slang definition. Opposite of reward. only P+.

9. Interruption: “client” language. Technically this would be punishment, OR a correction….. But implies a less invasive style. Like a noise…. A movment that steals attention, or a light touch to distract. The defining characteristic is the misdirection is what  breaks the dogs attention. Not the aversive quality. This gets grey. I’m up for help on this one.

And finally

10. Adrenaline: This shall be used to define a dog that is in a frantic OVER adrenalized state. This is not intended to describe any presence of adrenaline, such as naturally ocurring elevation of adrenaline at the sunrise. Or while doing enthusiastic obedience. This implies a lack of ability to control decisions on the part of the dog. OVER adrenaline. Also….. This is not meant to imply that adrenaline is the ONLY stress hormone released during this state. Yes cortisol and many others are present. This is a nod towards common vernacular. People say adrenaline rush, or dump. No one says “wow that roller coaster sure did elevate my cortisol and norepineopherine levels.”

Good.

Can we all agree?

Or at least agree to try to communicate.

Please.

Because sticks and stones can break your bones, but words…… Words can make me lose my carefully contained shit and beat your face into a small dish of pudding.

Just sayin.

Rant over.

 

 

 

 

 

Podcast: Episode 3

Here’s the latest Dog Training Conversations with Chad Mackin and myself.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/chadmackindogtraining/Dog_Traing_Conversation_Ep._2.mp3

Under Pressure Pt:1

I’m not talking about the Queen song.

I’m talking about the pressure we put on dogs to train them.

And…. We all do it. Not just the guy with the alpha rolls and prong collars.

Yes. You do it too. With your haltis and front clip harnesses.

Oh, you don’t use those. You only use clickers and cookies. Guess what sweet pea…… You use pressure.

All training is done through pressure. It is impossible to effect another beings decisions without it.

Here are the pressures in training:

1: Physical Pressure

2: Spatial Pressure

3: Social Pressure

4: Resource Pressure

Let’s investigate…..

Physical pressure: Now, this is the easiest for people to grasp. There’s the physical force. The old Alpha Roll/Pin. Of course that makes you feel like way more of an asshole than just picking your dog up to move them to a different part of the couch. But, they are both you imposing your will physically in a moment where you are unable to affect them in any other way. They are both high levels of physical pressure.

Then, we get into the more subtle levels of  physical pressure, that aren’t meant to make something happen, but are an attempt to effect their choices. If you use the old rolled up newspaper to stop barking. If you use a Prong collar to stop pulling. An Invisible Fence. All these are obviously all physical pressures. But….   They also all have a icky vibe.

However, there are a lot of them that feel less shitty to us. But are essentially the same method. Things like Haltis, and No Pull harnesses. They are the same concept as a Prong. They are causing a physical sensation the dog doesn’t enjoy, and behavior changes due to the input. That’s physical pressure.

You can get even more subtle than that. If you gently push your dogs butt down to get “Sit”. If you use a leash to AT ALL influence directional choices. These are also physical pressures.

Spatial Pressure: Spatial pressure is a lot more subtle. But… It is the the implication of impending physical pressure. In the continuum of dog language, Spatial pressure is only one stage before “touching” begins. Now, spatial pressure is often associated with harder more physical trainers, and is poo pooed on by the the “purely positive” folk. But, again…. I argue that we all use it. Just at various levels of intent, and degree. A lot of people have the, “I’ll beat your ass” vibe when they move towards their dog to correct. Some are doing it intentionally, and some have no idea they are doing it. But whether they intended to or not….. That’s how the dog understood it. And it’s pressure. Sometimes, a LOT of pressure. Honestly… I think spatial pressure can be much more stressful than physical pressure! Man, if you told me I could either get punched in the face or wait a week to find out what punishment I may or may not get for something… I’d way rather take the hit. Expectation of a bad thing is a ton more stressful than actually experiencing the thing. So spatial pressure is inducing the expectation of impending physical pressure. It’s a psych game.

Now, I’m not saying it’s bad. I use it. Hell everyone does. And before you say you’re above such Neanderthal tactics, I’ll ask you this: Have you ever given your dog a stern look? Yep….. Spatial pressure. It can be that subtle. I tell people when I’m coaching them, to “Imagine you have a spotlight in your chest and another in your eyes.” Then I can yell at them “Too much pressure…. Turn it off” and they will know what I mean. If you look at a lot of the “calming signals” out there, they are subtle ways of adjusting these spotlights. Oblique approaches (chest light). Avoiding eye contact (eye light). Look aways (eye light). Displacement sniffing/scratching (both). Calming signals, are just ways of manufacturing enough releases of spatial pressures that the second party doesn’t get the wrong idea. That’s how powerful spatial pressure can be.

Here’s what the famous dogman Dick Russell had to say about the power of spatial pressure.

So…. You can’t control something you aren’t aware of. Now you understand it. So maybe you can use it more skillfully. And by that I mean less of it.

We all use physical and spatial pressure. No question. Where we vary is in the intent, and degree of pressure, and the ability to use them skillfully and subtly enough to be able to use them a sparingly as possible…….

Now, of the above 4 pressures, these are the two thought of as actual “pressure”.

People don’t think of praise and food, as pressure. But, don’t worry. I’ll explain how they are.

Up next…..

Social and Resource pressures.

 

7 Mistakes You’re Making In Behavior Modification

I found a really cool article on Sacramento Dog Behavior on the 7 common mistakes people make in their Behavior Modification work. It’s really interesting. Check it out:

YOU’RE TOO CLOSE

Are you afraid of spiders? Me too. But I’m not running around and screaming because of the freakishly large spiders in South America. Why? Because they’re too far away to present a threat to me.

Distance affects reactivity. The closer you get to something you fear, the greater your level of stress. Once the stress reaches a certain level, the brain tells us to react in some way that increases our chance of survival, which can include avoidance…or aggression. The other thing the brain tells us is to stop wasting energy on non-essential functions in that moment. Like eating. Or thinking.

If your dog is exhibiting any type of avoidance or aggression in the presence of a dog, person, or other trigger, you are too close (early warning sign – your normally polite dog starts painfully ripping the treats from your hand). Anything you attempt at this level is only going to amount to temporary suppression of behavior, which is not the same as changing the underlying emotion behind the behavior.

Behavior modification happens at a distance the dog is aware of the trigger but not showing any negative reaction, often referred to as under-threshold. If your dog reacts, MOVE. Get her out of the situation and to a distance that she can give you a behavior you can reward.

YOU’RE TOO LATE

So, you don’t like clickers because they seem gimmicky, and you don’t want to say “Yes!” because it sounds silly. Frankly, I don’t care what sound you use, but if you’re going to be effective, you MUST have great timing. You will never have great timing with just the treat in your pocket.

The point of a clicker (or “yes!” or a click of your tongue, or whatever) is that you have a unique sound that marks the moment of your dog’s brilliance. That sound has been consistently paired with rewards so that the moment your dog hears it, the reward centers of the brain start churning out dopamine, which feels good. So, even if you are caught digging around in the pocket of your jeans for the treat, you’ve still captured the behavior the instant it happened, increasing the chance that your dog will do it again next time.

Why not just use “good dog/boy/girl?” Well, because it’s slower but, more importantly, you probably don’t give your dog a food reward after saying it, so it doesn’t have the association needed to have that feel good effect. Worse, if you say “Good boy” before patting your dog on the head, which he hates, you could be using a marker that has a bad association.

Things can happen quickly with a reactive dog and if you don’t instantly capture that brilliant moment your dog looks at you the moment he spots a new dog, you’re going to end up rewarding the wrong thing.

Read More….

Chad Mackin: “Amplifiers”

Meditation For Dogs?

Impulse control is one of the most common problems with “problematic dogs”.  They see the squirrel/postman/dog/bike, and they are gone. You do not exist to them anymore.

And, the typical training responses are:

A- Correct them big enough so they will listen

B-  If you get a high enough value treat, they would listen.

C- If they “respected” you, they would listen.

I’m sure there are more, but, you get the point.

Here are the problems with those.

They work. In the short term, they totally work.But they cost you in different ways.

A- You can correct the shit out of a dog and get it off of something. But….. Unless you have the hardest of the hard dogs, it going to damage the relationship. Never mind that it can damage the dog. But, you see this with old school trainers. Their dogs are obedient as hell, and totally under control. But, their squinting like they’re looking into a spotlight. Flattened dog. Not my idea of a good relationship.

B- You can put a handful of treats in the dogs face and “magnetically” draw them away from whatever got them nuts. Totally works. But you have to have higher value treats than the “distraction”. And you have to have them all the time. And your dog is excited by the food, and so you end up with this hyper, fat, stressed out dog. Not to mention the stressed out parents! There is a very familiar look on their face as the get to the bottom of the life saving bag of cheese.

C- If you live with the dog skillfully in your home. They wait for their food. They yield you space. They listen to you INSIDE. But….. OUTSIDE…… They’re a monster. I don’t think the problem is “respect”. If they didn’t respect you IN the house….. Maybe that argument would have legs. But, I see TONS of people who have angels in the house, and a devil on the streets. Those dogs (generally) don’t lack “respect” they lack impulse control. So, the “respect” camp will say “Rules, Boundaries, and “Limitations”. Obedience to correct behavior. And it sorta works. If they’re “downing” they aren’t chasing. But the problem comes with how you keep them doing these things when they get REALLY excited. And now we’re back to the bigger “Carrots and Sticks” issue of the above A, and B.

Look, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use food, or corrections. I use both. But you should use them to TEACH….. Not to “manage”. And that’s a HUGE difference.

Nice. Sounds good. So what.

Now that everyone is mad at me……

I’ll tell you what I do.

I teach my dogs to meditate.

Ok, that sounds like hippy shit….. But it’s kind of true.

The “Place” command is meditation for dogs.

The place command, is asking your dog to lay in a bed (or whatever) and stay there until you release them. But, it really goes much deeper than that. For them to be ABLE to stay in their spot, they have to have some self control. They have to be able to stay calm, even through temptations. Now, that is good for your ability to manage them. But, honestly, it’s really just good for them to have that kind of emotional control. Dogs are cute wound up, and playing…. But…. For their own sanity, and health, they really should be ABLE to bring it down for a bit. A long “stay” is a great way to develop those skills. They end up working the same kind of skills as people when we meditate. They learn to relax into this spot, and stop fighting the urge to get up. They learn to have a thought enter their head and try to steal their attention, and let it go without having it break them. They learn to center themselves, and allow distractions to come and then go. No shit, it is meditation for dogs.

Now, I chose “Place” and not a “Down” because I’m way more concerned with geographic location, and emotional state than a particular position. The “Place” command allows them to stand up. Stretch. Circle around. Whatever. Just stay on the bed, and stay cool. Now, they don’t have to stay there forever. But, should be able to stay there for at least 30 min. Then when they can manage that, you go to novel places or add other distractions!

Yes, you food and corrections to shape this skill, but the point is to get to as little food and corrections as possible. Ideally, I want the relationship (Social +R and -P if you want to get fancy) to be the motivator.

The whole point of this isn’t to have the “Place” as a management tool. That’s just a cool side effect.

The point is to help the dog literally increase their ability to SELF REGULATE. It is just like meditation for people.

And, just like meditation for people the benefits will show in areas off the Place/Meditation mats….

That improved impulse control can solve a ton of issues. From separation anxiety, to different types of reactivity.

It allows the dog to be able to display their respect for you, and listen to you ask them to ignore the squirrel/postman/dog/bike.

So,  teach your pup, the long “place”. Understand what it’s for.

Teach your dog to meditate.

Hell, you could learn how and do it with them.

Probably wouldn’t kill you to learn to relax a little yourself!