Being Observant

Watching some very bad human behavior out on the road a few days ago, my mind wandered with thoughts of "positive punishment" and other deployments of Skinner's 4 quadrants of Operant Conditioning. A driver passed dozens of motorists waiting their turn to get around an accident, and as usual, people let the offender in at the head of the line. No consequences, but a nice reward for very bad social behavior. 10 other drivers followed suit. No need for a scientific explanation, is there?

Dogs have lived AND worked for people for thousands of years. All this to the benefit of both groups. And all of that without the benefit of modern science. How did we ever get by? I believe our successful history is a direct result of our practical natures. Have an idea, try it out, see what happens. If things work out we repeat. If not, well, dogs and humans generally try something different. It's an innate part of learning for each of us.

Dog training doesn't need to be as complicated as it has become. I believe that's a direct result of our growing fascination with technology and science. I'm not trying to dismiss science. However, science began dabbling in dog training during the 1940's. Keller Breland, a graduate student of Skinner, tried training dogs using operant conditioning. He failed. More than 70 years later science has yet to provide any new dog training methodology that has been effective. And during this process, many dog trainers have muddied the waters by clinging to failed trials and theories. Ones science never validated.

When it comes to dogs, answers are often right in front of our eyes. We simply need to be observant. Observation means making ongoing, practical assessments of how our dogs are responding to any feedback we offer. Observational skills don't need special scientific training. People have had them for ages. We often call this assessment process common sense.

At many visits I will try a variety of options, THEN see how they work for the dog AND owner. In my humble experience, if something is helpful and effective, you will SEE improvement almost immediately. It's all about figuring out what works for any given dog, not making the dog fit into some theoretical teaching paradigm.

So for today, my suggestions is this - go out and be observant!