Reading “5 Myths about Training Dogs with Treats,” Eric Goebelbecker’s excellent post at www.DogStarDaily.com, set me to pondering. What’s wrong with a friendly bribe between buddies?
I know. I know. Eric is exactly right. Treats are not bribes. In the hands of skilled trainers, treats are simply a means of positively reinforcing your dog’s behavior.
But, as I wrote in my comment to Eric’s post, as I see it, many ordinary dog owners, are, wellll, not-at-all-ready-for-primetime dog trainers. (I include myself among them; however, in my own defense, with concerted effort, I do think I’ve advanced to almost-but-not-quite-yet-ready-for-primetime.)
Consider most people’s understanding of dog behavior. For example, their dog is throwing stress signals one after the other. A yawn is followed by a head turn, then a tongue flick, then yet another yawn and tongue flick. And they say, “Clara? Oh, she’s fine. She’s just catching imaginary flies.”
Then there are the mixed messages. “’Sit’, Rover. Can you ‘sit’ for me? Okay, never mind. ‘Rollover’ instead. No? ‘Down’ then. ‘Down’ is good. What? No ‘down’? Then ‘sit’ already!” (I did not make that up.)
And, timing is way too s-l-o-w among well-meaning everyday dog folk. The people mess up, the dog is labeled stubborn, and training gets turned up a few notches.
Let’s take Glenda, for instance. She’s Missy’s person. Glenda tosses Missy a treat long after sit is old news to Missy and she’s on to a new behavior—barking at the dog next door. “Yum! Barkin’ at Sammy over there makes good things happen!”
Oh great. Missy is now barking more than she was before, and Glenda concludes that treats do not work! In fact, they make barking worse!
So Glenda, our ersatz dog trainer, ups the ante. And, again she’s late delivering consequences! (You can’t fault Glenda for inconsistency!) Glenda jolts Missy with a choke collar—after Missy has stopped barking and returned to sitting nicely at Glenda’s side! “Ouch! Sitting next to this woman gives me a pain in the neck! I’m outta here!” Missy pulls Glenda out of her chair dragging her across the floor trying to get away from her.
Here’s my point. Given that so many people find dog training so challenging, why should they frustrate themselves by attempting it in the first place? Forget about even trying to deliver well-timed consequences. And, lose the choke chain! Wouldn’t it be easier, less stressful for people like Glenda to just go ahead and bribe Missy to get the behavior she wants?
Really? What’s so bad about a bribe between chums? We humans do this all the time and don’t blink an ethical eye. It’s the ol’ I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine.
“See this really yummy chicken, Missy? It’s yours if you sit next to me.”
Quid pro quo. That’s all. I’m just saying.
Perhaps the most amusing insult I’ve suffered as a positive reinforcement dog girl is that Lilly is just “like a politician, taking bribes.”
It really is all about the timing.
I think it was a vision specialist I interviewed for a dog agility article a couple years ago who told me there may be hope for future generations. Apparently, they are MUCH better at the timing thing than we are. It’s all because of video games. They are learn to process visual cues faster and respond.
Where that theory may fall down is in the patience required in dog training. I’m pretty sure video games don’t teach *that*.
Sure … you can cue a behavior (or ask for it), but you need to wait the dog out to see if she’ll respond or not. If not, I use a shrug that means “you heard me” or I ask her to “try again” … rather than repeating the cue.
I’m not perfect with all this, but I do try to pay attention to my cues, her cues, the criteria/distractions around us. It’s harder than it looks.
Oh, and we should also mention it takes a fair bit of acting skill too.