 Barked: Sat Nov 3, '07 9:07am PST |
 | |  | | Hey Ash,
I think we approach it differently though the practices and exercises may be very similar. I don't think of it as positive or negative, reinforcement or punishments. The way I've been training using drive comes from a basic premise - all dogs feel emotions/desires and those emotions/desires are manifested through their drive. I believe that dogs don't choose to be happy or excited or relaxed on their own, as in, there's no conscious choice to feel that way. They don't say, oh there's a super excited dog over there, I have to lie down or sniff to calm that dog down. They just do it instinctively without choosing to cognitively.
So by that premise, I train using drive so that I can get the dog at that moment who is feeling all those emotions/desires, harness that energy and turn it into obedience behaviors or whatever. I don't give her the time to "choose" because to me, she isn't capable of making a conscious choice. I get her to do certain things in very specific circumstances when she's feeling a particular way, so that when she feels that same desire in a different circumstance, she'll react instinctively in the way I taught her to.
So in a sense I DO use leash pops WHEN SHE IS HIGH DRIVE to redirect her drive and get her to focus on me instead of outwards. I don't like using hard pops, just light quick ones that stimulate her and get her attention, and that way, her energy is redirected back towards me and not towards the outside stimulus. I don't consider it punishment in the least because the pops don't kill her drive and don't make her feel subdued UNLESS we're training for instant downs. And whenever we drop drive with a Down command, it's always immediately heightened again with the release. This way, I can harness her drive and control will be better because her drive is more malleable and elastic. It's the only way I've found to be able to get her to stop running after something and recall to me. I hope this is all okay to say here. Like I said, we use toys/games/food a lot too, but not as a reward in the sense that she chose to do something good so she gets a reward. We use those things as a way of maintaining or building drive so the dog gets to feel all that good energy and emotions flowing through doing activities with me. It is rewarding to her of course, but she doesn't know that it's a reward for good behavior. She only knows that the food/toys/games get her energy up and flowing freely, and then when we practice obedience using it, she gets used to feeling that energy and drive in the specific activities of obedience behavior.
It's how working dogs are trained - so work is always that outlet for which they can release all their energy and feel all those emotions and desires flow freely. I think we all basically do the same thing, just the reasoning behind what we do is different. ANd in that sense, while people may regard leash pops as punishment, I don't. I see it as a way of redirecting drive. I'm not talking crazy choke your dog till he turns blue. THAT'S punishment. But light quick energizing pops. Kind of like when dogs play bitey face.
The best book that turned the way I had been thinking of dogs on its head and gave me a new perspective is Kevin Behan's Natural Dog Training. He does advocate leash pops to kill drive but he always advocates the moment you kill a drive that's being directed to something undesirable, you always build it back up immediately by redirecting it to something that IS desirable. So the dog is never left feeling unfulfilled. To me, that's the most positive thing about the book. That's why I love it. I can talk about it for hours, BOL, but I'll shut up now...  Thanks for letting me spout off, Ash...  |  |  | |  |
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The Dog Show: Who's Your Mama?
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