Im posting this because, fresh off my exciting and educational experiences doing the PPG force free training photo contest, Im thinking about all the peeps who say, I tried training my dog (or, I took my dog to a trainer) and it didnt work. When I hear something like that, my first instinct is to want to help. That may not be a great idea. Although the following isnt something I learned from the contest, but from Rise Van Fleets book, The Human Half of Dog Training, its a good time to mention it: the first step in trying to help someone with his/her dog is to listen with empathy. Let the person talk, and listen with the goal of understanding, not of replying. Thats my good intention for today, and since a local friend DID write on my page overnight that training didnt work for her dog, Ill be able to practice it. I wonder if many of my friends agree with me that training a dog is often the easier half of the equation--thats it trickier for the person training the dog to train him-or-herSELF. What do you think? Heres a good blog about it: awesomedogs.wordpress/2014/01/25/treat-training-trinity-why-positive-reinforcement-did-not-work-for-my-dog/ P.S. If a person has taken his/her dog to a trainer who uses dominance-theory, Cesar Millan-type training methods, or to someone who calls himself/herself a balanced trainer (that means that the person, not being familiar with scientific learning theory or not caring about it, is using a mixed bag of techniques, some of which contradict some of the others, resulting often in a very confused dog), then its no surprise that training seems not to work. Its more puzzling when you hear of force free training not working. Once you dissect it, though, you find (as laid out in this blog) that it wasnt the training which wasnt working. I hope thats very good news for some of my friends who are struggling with their dogs. I find it very reassuring that, properly done, the kind of training this author ended up with ALWAYS works. It always works. I like the sound of that. :)
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 12:47:38 +0000
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