While rereading some of the works of one of my favorite authors, Lewis Carroll, several quotes came together that might help illustrate human/dog communication.

               "`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves 
               Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: 
               All mimsy were the borogoves, 
               And the mome raths outgrabe."

This is a verse from Lewis Carroll’s poem Jabberwocky. For me, this quote exemplifies the way dogs might perceive human language. In the context of the poem, it is possible to understand the ideas represented without actually knowing the meaning of the words. Separated from the contextual housing of poem, the words above appear to make little to no sense. Dogs often learn in the context of their environment and who or what might be present. Outside of those contexts, our cues often make little sense to them. Dogs are not being stubborn or defiant when they fail to respond to cues in locations (or with people or distractions) they have never experienced. They just do not understand that the word or hand signal means the same thing out of context. It is very important to thoroughly practice behaviors in every context you might need your dog to respond. 

“It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.”

Our dogs must be very confused when we expect them to know the English language without going to the bother of teaching them. We expect human children to go through a lengthy learning process while obtaining their language skills. During the language learning process, most parents diligently and patiently repeat the associations between words and their meaning. At early stages of language development, young children often call everything with four legs a doggie or a kitty until they have learned to discriminate between multiple things with four legs. For some reason, we often omit this type of training with our dogs. Instead, humans seem to repeat in a louder and louder tone the same word with some expectation that the dog “understands” the English language without any training whatsoever. Positive reinforcement training can help us teach our dogs word associations with objects and behaviors. We can name objects and behaviors, and even ask for discrimination between two or more objects. However, this can only be done once we take the time to go through the process of teaching them what each word means. 

     "I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it."

When words are repeated over and over and the learning process has been omitted, this is exactly what dogs learn – that these often repeated words have no meaning. Cues, particularly verbal cues, must be taught in a systematic way so that the dog truly learns that each word means something specific in every location, every time. When teaching words to dogs, the cue must predict the behavior or item and be repeated over and over until the dog truly understands what you want – just repeating a word over and over is not teaching. It only serves to convince the dog that the word has no value to them.

            "I said it in Hebrew—I said it in Dutch— 
            I said it in German and Greek; 
            But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much) 
            That English is what you speak!"

Dogs are particularly adept at reading human body language, but are not born understanding English. Teaching dogs hand and body cues for behavior is far easier than teaching them words. Dog are capable of learning individual words, but this needs to be taught by systematically pairing a specific word with a behavior or item. It is important to remember that dogs do not do well when we apply more than one meaning to each word. If you need the dog to learn two different things, a new word and/or hand signal should be taught for each behavior. Using the word “down” to mean ‘lie down’ and ‘get off sofa’ is just not reasonable.

               "Curiouser and curiouser."

One might ask why we should take so much time and trouble to teach our dogs something that is so difficult for them to learn (and, seemingly, for us to teach). The answer has to do with relationship development and having a well behaved dog who can respond on cue. It is so much easier for humans and dogs if we systematically explain what to do instead of what not to do. I personally saw huge changes in the relationships with my dogs once I started teaching them what I wanted instead of only telling them what was wrong. Just imagine starting a new job and only being reprimanded when you guessed wrong. It is so much easier to be told “this is what you do and how you do it”. We are the ones with the big brains. Shouldn’t we take the time and trouble to teach dogs (the ones with the smaller brains) what we expect from them. I swear I actually saw Charlie’s eyes light up when we worked on retrieves using positive methods. His body language clearly said “really, you do not want my mouth around the ball (or your hand) when you reach for it? Okay!” The amount of communication that can occur once we take the time and trouble to teach our dogs what we want is truly astounding.
Add Comment
 
 
A friend suggested I write an article about dogs and the holidays. I started to disregard the idea. With so many others covering this topic, my thought was “what on earth could I possibly say that was not already out there”. So many people write about how to keep your dog safe, a humorous article on what the dog wants, or information about newest gadget or toy for your dog. This is not one of those articles. Here is what I truly believe most dogs would like from us for Christmas.

Dear Santa Paws,

I have been a very good dog this year. I have sniffed everything in the neighborhood and know exactly who has been in the area, chased the bunnies and squirrels out of the yard, marked my territory, kept my house safe from intruders, and been a loving companion to my human. Here is my list of what I would like this year if you find me worthy.

Please bring me a year of quiet celebration with no screaming, running kids or loud toys that scare me. I know the humans get excited about new things as do I. Just once, would it be possible for them to play quietly with their toys as is expected of me?

Please help my humans communicate with me so that I can learn what I need to know that I might meet their expectations. Hopefully, they will then let me participate in family activities. I will be more than happy to learn good manners or tricks so I do not have spend the holidays alone.

Please bring me some nice hollow toys stuffed with frozen goodies for me to lick, some “find it” games, or a nice bone to chew for those times when my humans leave to attend their holiday festivities.

Most of all, I would very much like to receive some extra time with my humans to play my favorite game, take a walk or run, or just get some extra cuddles.

I would be eternally grateful if you could bring me any one of these things this year.

Thank you Santa Paws!

The Dog
Add Comment
 
 
The Problem with Punishment 

Like many of the American population, I was raised in a home where inappropriate behavior was consistently punished. While there was verbal praise and some life rewards for doing well, appropriate behavior was the status quo and rarely rewarded. The overriding philosophy was to react to negative behavior with some form of punishment. While being punished did stop some of my behavior, I learned a whole host of things I am certain my parents did not intend. Here are just a few of the lessons I learned.
  • Lesson One: keep secrets. If you never share what you have been doing, you cannot be punished for it. Of course, this also means that you never share the good things either – just in case they are perceived as bad. With our dogs, this often equates to “do not move until told to do something”. If moving is fairly consistently punished, why move? There is also no reason for them to want to interact with you.
  • Lesson Two: everything has a value. Some behaviors are enjoyable enough that punishment is NOT a deterrent. Example: if you go to a party you were told you could not attend (and get caught), you might be grounded for a week – AFTER you had a good time. Not always a bad deal. Barking, jumping on people, and nipping are often used by dogs in an effort to gain attention. If positive behavior is ignored, and bad behavior gets them attention, they will resort to the bad behavior. Often, negative attention is better than no attention. If the dog is really lucky, the bad behavior is even rewarded with a rousing game of chase with their human. 
  • Lesson Three: people do not always tell the truth. The ideal report card consisted of straight “As”. However, one “C” was received which resulted in a loss of privileges. You worked harder, and got a “B” in that class. However, no privileges (even just partial) were reinstated because your parents were still waiting on that “A”. Working harder didn’t pay off and now you think your parents did not live up to their end of the bargain, why even try? Dogs learn the same lessons when punished repeatedly. If there are few rewards and a lot of punishment, there is little motivation to keep trying. In addition, unless punishment is exquisitely timed, the dog truly does not even understand which behavior was incorrect. This alone erodes trust; let alone the fact that the dog is being hurt by their owner on a regular basis.
Understanding Positive Reinforcement 

Positive reinforcement is based on rewarding as many good behaviors and ignoring as many bad behaviors as possible. This takes a completely new mindset. Instead of waiting for something to go wrong, you actively seek out and reward appropriate behavior. Recognizing even baby steps towards correct behavior provides encouragement. What would have happened if instead of the above:
  • You were rewarded for openly sharing your thoughts and endeavors? Say you did something you were pretty sure you should not have done, shared it with a parent, and they responded by saying “I do not like what you have just told me or what you did. However, I am happy that you had enough trust in me to let me know what happened instead of finding out from somebody else. Let’s go have some ice cream and discuss how and why you decided to do what you did.” Wouldn’t you be more likely to share and discuss more things with this parent in the future? Positive training teaches dogs to experiment and try new things while interacting with you. It also creates a joy in learning and interacting with you.
  • You are rewarded for doing the right thing? This tends to change one’s mindset, and now doing the wrong thing is really not as tempting. If you are allowed to do something just as appealing, such as attending a movie or a concert with one or two of your best friends (paid for by your parents), going to the party might not seem as important or appealing. When you reward a dog for behaving well (sitting or lying quietly next to the dinner table, playing with their toys, chewing a bone, etc.), there is no need for them to resort to attention seeking activities. 
  • That “B” had been rewarded with even a small portion of the privileges being returned? That might have made the extra effort to get the “A” worthwhile. You would have learned that you could trust your parents to keep their word, and you would be certain that all of your privileges would be restored if you tried even harder. Rewarding appropriate behavior in dogs for small steps creates dogs who LOVE to train. They learn that you can be trusted to provide them with good things for doing well, and will work hard to earn more. They also learn to trust your judgment and leadership.
The Transformation Process 

If you have never been fully exposed to positive reinforcement concepts, the process of really understanding what it can do takes some time. One has to remember that it is all about getting the good stuff! All individuals (human and animal) really want to do or get are things that make them happy. Training your mind to consistently look for positive behavior can be relatively difficult. Bad behavior is so glaring that it instantly stands out. It is often very annoying as well. An easy way to learn to look for positive behavior with your dog is to put 20 (or more) treats in your pocket in the morning. When you see your dog doing something you like (i.e. lying on his bed, chewing on his bone, sitting quietly next to the table instead of begging, playing nicely with a child, etc.), walk over and pop a treat in his mouth with a quiet note of praise. This makes the dog want to do more of whatever got them the treat. The more you practice, the easier it gets because YOU are now being rewarded with the dog’s improving behavior. For me, the hardest part has not been learning this with my dog, but with people. I can assure you that the more you practice, the easier it gets.  


The Results 

I am a firm believer that using positive training is not only effective at teaching skills and behaviors in all individuals (human and animal), but that it builds relationships based on trust and respect. It is truly amazing to watch as an individual is allowed to learn with excitement and enthusiasm, with no fear of punishment, and with joyful abandon. People seem so amazed when they see dogs doing freestyle dance with their humans. In the best examples, the human and dog work together as a team and are truly in sync. What’s more, they are obviously having a wonderful time. This can only be achieved with teamwork, love, kindness, and positive reinforcement!


Note: The information presented above is based on current scientific research in humans and in animals. References can be provided upon request.
1 Comment
 
© 2010 Pawsitive K9 Training LLC