There’s always a choice…
We all have choices. No one can say in a particular situation, “I had no choice.” We simply decide to behave in a certain way because of the consequences. Perhaps we know what’s going to happen. Perhaps we don’t know the consequences of an alternative action. But it’s consequences that guide our decisions.
No matter what method a person chooses when training a dog, the dog has choices too. He can sit, or not sit. Retrieve, or not retrieve. Come, or not come. Knowing the consequences, he can still choose what to do.
That’s assuming of course that he understands what it is you’re asking. And that’s a whole other ball game. For right now, we’ll assume we’re talking about known behaviors.
Here’s the thing: If my dog chooses not to sit, what does he do? Not sitting leaves a universe of possibilities open – he might lie down, stand still, run, jump on me, play keep away, bark, … you get the picture. All of those things are not sitting. If I choose to manipulate the consequences so he sits to avoid what happens if he doesn’t sit, I’ll be correcting him forever, anytime a new situation comes up. Eventually he will generalize that “sit” means the consequence of every other action is to be avoided. “Every other action” is a vague criterion, and since dogs don’t generalize easily, and it can take time to get there.
Instead, I want to manipulate his consequences so he wants to sit when I say sit -- not to avoid a consequence but toward a consequence. Yes, we still have to go through a process of generalization. Sit means sit, not sit means avoid every other action other than sit. Much simpler.
By respecting my dog’s right to choose, we become allies working together, rather than adversaries. The onus is not on me to prevent the “not”s, but on him to do the “do”s. There are a million ways not to sit. And one way to sit.
Dogs have choices too. And for me the choice is clear.
Hi, lovely blog! I have never owned a dog, but dog and animal training has become my newfound obsession after my mother expressed the possibility of us adopting a puppy in the near future. I've probably devoured every book and video on the subject.
ReplyDeleteHowever, even I, with no prior knowledge of animal training, was shocked by some so-called training videos. I was especially appalled at one video tutorial teaching a dog the 'leave it' command. They pretty much yanked the choke chain every time the dog tried to get the food in front of him. The poor dog had no choice in the matter. It was extremely cruel to punish him at all, let alone set him up in a way that he would be bound to be punished. This brings to mind something John Fisher wrote in 'Think Dog' about 2 ways of training a dog to go to a corner: either hit the dog repeatedly until he realises the corner is the only safe place. Or reward him only when he goes to the corner.
I totally agree. I do believe that the dog has a choice. They have to choose to sit because they want to, not because they fear not to. (This is the difference between a dictatorship and a democracy?) I've since had great interest in positive reinforcement and clicker training. It's amazing to see the what the animals and humans can achieve simply enjoying the game together.