Greatest American Dog in USA Today

I was reading a USA Today while getting new tires for my Honda the other day. I browsed to a section that had a write-up of the Greatest American Dog program I discussed earlier. In that post I was discussing how the contestants didn't really seem to have well trained dogs, despite any tricks they may know.

The article in USA Today read more like a press release or advertisement actually. The writer interviewed one of the trainers who decided on who the contestants would be, and what scenarios would be used on the show. The trainer interviewed went to great length to make a point that none of the scenarios would be stressful to the dog, and in fact, they were all designed to be fun for the dogs.

Well, as mentioned during the last post, the small bit I saw with dogs doing a musical chair routine had many of them confused because of lack of training. So I wouldn't be patting myself on the back too hard about the dogs having a good time.

What really caught my eye, however, was the last paragraph. The writer, presumably from what she had learned in the interview, was commenting on how dogs yawn when under stress. The next sentence went on to say something about how people could watch the program and learn that placing dogs into positions (sit, down, etc.) is not the "preferred way" to train a dog. Whoah....... here we go.

Now to the general public, that comment probably flew several miles under the radar. But to myself and other balanced trainers, that was a flag saying "positive reinforcement" spoken here. I have a multitude of issues with this approach to training dogs, and you can find numerous posts about the subject by doing a search for "positive" on this blog.

To keep this post more succinct, I will offer the following. Yes, dogs do yawn as a stress reliever. But contrary to the implication that stress during training is bad - some managed stress is necessary for dogs to learn, grow, and become more confident and relaxed. So it's not at all a bad thing when done properly.

Also, not putting a dog into a position when you're teaching a new command is pure positive reinforcement rhetoric. This group prefers to use terms like "I want the dog to offer me the behavior" and "never use the word "no" in training". Good for marketing, but bad for dogs. This approach results in an unnecessarily long learning stage, and dogs that typically "don't listen" after they understand a command.

I realize "the Greatest American Dog" isn't a training show, but it's being run and judged by trainers with a huge slant toward positive reinforcement IMO. As I get inquiries from clients regarding my thoughts on this program in the coming weeks, my response will be brief...

The only dog show I watch on a regular basis is Caesar Milan. He get's it, and you can actually gain useful information from the program.