Training Matters

12/07/2024

Really nice video that goes to the heart of what positive reinforcement-based trainers do, how we work, and why we do work the way we do.

In this video, I react to a popular dog training approach claiming you can achieve loose leash walking in just minutes. While quick-fix methods may sound app...

12/05/2024

When it comes to talking about behavior, there is a lot of value in using the phrases "appears to be" or "seems to be" or "looks like." An animal may appear to be happy. Or may seem to be worried. Or the animal looks like they are concerned.

We don't really know what is happening inside of an animal or exactly how they feel. We infer emotions based on body language, but we may or may not know what their body language indicates. Sometimes we miss details in that behavior, which often is changing fast, that may be important. Regardless, we can't know exactly what is going on inside of another individual. We seem to be pretty confused about what is going on inside of ourselves.

What we observe is behavior and we work with the behavior we observe. So, let's not label animals as being in a particular state. Let's work with the behavior we observe.

12/02/2024

All of our animals are learners. All trainers and guardians are learners. This is a picture of my OG learner—my own dog, adopted 8 years ago—who would not/could not jump in the back of a hatchback. He had legs for days but no jump into vehicles behavior. Because I understood how to teach new behaviors, jumping in the car was quickly taught and soon I had to teach my dog to “wait” before jumping in lest he catch me unawares in his enthusiasm. Getting in our truck is great because doing so leads to fun excursions.

I’ve taught a surprising number of dogs to get in cars themselves as well. We take for granted that dogs will do this. But they often don’t learn even relatively simple behaviors like this on their own. Sometimes dogs have scary or uncomfortable experiences in cars that make dogs who previously got into cars easily no longer do so. They need help. Learning the processes and procedures for teaching dogs and other animals desirable behaviors can make it easy to so regardless of the need you come up against. At Training Matters we make it part of our mission to teach our human clients about the training processes and procedures that will help them at times other than when with the trainer.

11/29/2024

Ignore the headline. The meat of this piece talks about how positive reinforcement-based training changes the environment for learners so that their lives may be enriched and their neural pathways expand in healthy ways. Doesn't matter if the behaviors taught are "natural" or not. They need to be enjoyable to the learner. The rat driving little vehicles work indicates that positive-reinforcement-based teaching based in principles developed and replicated by Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner have profound positive effects for learners' brain health.

Relatedly, study after study in multiple species indicates that well enriched environments promote brain, behavioral and physical health, apparently by increasing behavioral diversity: individuals living in enriched environments engage in more varied behaviors. Research with fish and mice come immediately to mind, in addition to this work with rats. (I haven't read the rat driving studies, just this first-person piece.) The research indicates that the more enriched an animal's environment, the better their brain and behavior functioning and, therefore, their welfare. It is the doing of things--the behavior--that drives the change.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20241128-i-taught-rats-to-drive-a-car-and-it-may-help-us-lead-happier-lives?fbclid=IwY2xjawG2tmhleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHWYPgy-0VGa6p_Hj2FoMcr-zPgvqfPP1XDO-rl4mo9lmTjLzNkAsHvnjtw_aem_qgqzSfKLGo4a0BApyo336g

Teaching rats to drive a tiny car around a laboratory taught scientists a lot about the benefits of anticipating the joy brought by the things we love.

11/26/2024

Handsome Watson is afraid of men and cars passing when being walked. He growled even at his male person, had barked and growled at other men entering his home and passing him in walking. He tries to run away from passing vehicles. We are working on establishing routines in which he feels comfortable, building positive associations to men and cars, and teaching better behaviors around the things he worries about. Lovely, sweet boy.

11/25/2024

I am happy to announce that I now participate in a scholarship fund to help lower income folks afford high quality private training for their dogs. The scholarship fund is through School for the Dogs in New York City.

The fund was created in 2018 to help guardians without the financial means to afford dog training with dogs that could benefit from high-quality, non-aversive positive reinforcement training. Through the fund, SFTD matches trainers (like me!) with clients to help with cases like leash reactivity, separation anxiety and more, cases that without support might lead to frustrated owners and relinquishment of dogs.

If you know someone who might benefit from the scholarship program, please share the site below with them! SFTD reviews applications regularly and can try to match guardians with a participating trainer as soon as possible.

Of course, the fund is only possible with regular donations. The fund is fiscally sponsored so every donation is tax-deductible. Please consider donating to help keep the fund going and share this donation opportunity with your friends as well!

School For The Dogs is a dog training facility located in New York City's East Village, and offers programs addressing the needs of urban-dwelling dogs. It is the HQ School For The Dogs Collective, a mission-based trainer cooperative of positive-reinforcement based trainers.

11/20/2024

As it turns out, the best methods for training your dog are also the best methods for training your horse, cat, bird, guinea pig, whatever. Worth attending, no matter your critter. And it’s free!

What are the best methods for training your dog? 🐶 Join us on Thursday, November 21st at 6pm ET, as we welcome certified dog trainer and owner of School For The Dogs NYC Annie Grossman to discuss her new book, "How to Train Your Dog with Love + Science."

🐾 In this critically acclaimed book, Annie presents a modern and science-based approach to changing behavior, and argues for abandoning folk wisdom about canine learning and training techniques rooted in coercion and force.

Register now for this Zoom event: https://app.glueup.com/event/how-to-train-your-dog-with-love-science-123269/

11/12/2024

Sometimes my clients come to me very skeptical that their dogs will change. They've taken the time and spent the money to come to training, but they just don't believe that the behavior can improve. Prompting people along and being their cheerleader takes a lot of patience on the trainer's part. We celebrate every little accomplishment. And, to be sure, making progress is harder for some than for others when misinformation about training has been part of the human's history and long periods of practicing the problematic behavior is part of the dog's history as well.

Recently I had a client who said at the beginning of the last of three sessions to address her dog's leash reactivity toward other dogs that she just didn't think "it will happen for us." This in spite of having told me in their second session of success in getting the dog's attention in circumstances where they hadn't previously been able to.

So it's a huge win when I receive an email like this:

"I wanted to let you know that things are going well.. and maybe I see a little bit of progress?

This morning we saw another dog on our walk. She did an initial bark/growl... but then she looked up at me and I was able to give her a lot of treats and reinforcements as we walked past. I was so happy that it didn't turn into a huge, reactive scene!

I will keep practicing - hopefully we will continue to progress."

I believe that they will.



Picture of my gray-muzzled dog looking at me because I forgot to take a picture of the dog referenced in this post. 🙃

11/04/2024

Repetition and reinforcement of successive approximations of the goal behavior are how teaching is done. Great things can be accomplished using this simple but not easy procedure.

10/31/2024

As spooky season is here in more ways than one, I was thinking of incidents in which my behavior was changed for long periods of time because of a single frightening event. Here's one example: when I adopted the below pictured cutie pie, he wasn't very cute sometimes. In our first days together, he would become what might be called "over-aroused," and grab my clothes or even my arms. My arms were very bruised. He was anxious and scared of many things, particularly men getting too close, and he was a large, strong adolescent dog.

One day in the backyard, he grabbed the hood of my sweatshirt and wouldn't let go. As it wasn't a zip-up, I couldn't just slip it off. While he is big, I am small, and I was truly scared. I did the only thing I could think of to get him to let go of me: use a tug toy with a ball on the end of it to thwack him hard. It worked and I quickly removed the sweatshirt. Yes, I felt badly about hitting him, but not that bad. The behavior needed to end safely.

This morning, for one of the few times since that incident, I put on another sweatshirt that doesn't zip up. I haven't been worried about Winnie's behavior for a very long time. He's no longer afraid of people or anxious enough to engage in scary behavior, although he does have a big bark. He seems pretty sure everyone is here to pet him. Still, and in relation to all other dogs or life in general, I have not worn pullover sweat shirts. I feel the fear again when I see them. I envision the struggle that morning in my back yard. Wearing pullovers seems risky. Why not just wear a zip up?

This is classic avoidant behavior. Our dogs do it, too, and more, in relation to scary events.

My other dog, Stella, enjoyed jumping on the closed feed bin where I keep food for goats, sheep and horses. One day she jumped on it when it was open and fell in. She did not jump on that feed bin again for at least six months. Single, scary events can have profound behavioral consequences. And, first impressions count. Make the most of yours with any scared animal in your care.

10/30/2024

When walking these hooligans around the field behind my house off leash, it pays to reinforce a lot of different behaviors, carry some high value food in my pouch, and walk them before their meal when they are most hungry.

In trainer speak, if I have identified a lot of behaviors to reinforce, I am working with many ‘degrees of freedom’ around a central behavioral goal: not crossing the property boundaries. Reinforcing only a single behavior (say, walk next to me) would likely lead to too low a rate of reinforcement to keep them with me instead of persuing something more interesting. In this case, I reinforced look at me, walk next to me, return to me, sniff the boundary and come back, respond to a cue for attention, come when called, and possibly more that involved not crossing the property boundary. Regarding the treating strategies, I am making the most of ‘motivating operations’ by using high value food to reinforce those behaviors and making sure the dogs aren’t already satiated with food so that what I am offering is valuable to them.

No dogs were lost or crossed property boundaries in this group walk.

10/25/2024