Smart, savvy, and effective dog training for happier lives and happier dogs.
(7)
Car owner one: Hey is your car in good condition
Car owner two: Yup!
[They crash their cars into each other.]
That's how people socialize their dogs.
(Repost from last year. Sadly will probably always be true. But we can be a part of the solution.)
Imagine you found out a certain brand of dog food was making dogs seriously ill and in some cases permanently injured on a regular basis. What would be your course of action?
Now imagine that the brand of dog food is called "the dog park".
Get it?
Work smart.
Next year in Jerusalem. And surrounding areas.
Hi Aquidneck dog parents! From now till July 15th, I'm offering fifty percent off all my training programs to anyone located on the island. This is subject to availability and does not include cost of training equipment.
To book a free phone consult and schedule training, simply text me at 707 714 1323. Happy training!
Nate Liebermann
Owner / Employee Of The Week @ Dog Nerd Dog Training
Decluttering The Nomenclature Of Dog Training
There is so much confusion out there about dog training, and the majority of it has to do with human beings projecting and inserting their failings into the lives of dogs. In the case of the words "positive" "negative" "reinforcement" and "punishment", here are the connotations many have associated with those terms.
Positive = Good, moral, desirable.
Negative = Bad, wrong, conflicting, combating, undesirable .
Reinforcement = Supportive, caring, encouraging, going in the direction of fostering progress.
Punishment = Distressful, traumatic, painful. Suppression. Betrayal of trust.
The truth is that operant conditioning (positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment) simply categorizes the different ways our behavior can influence the behavior of others, dogs included.
Here are some examples of how I can use operant conditioning to affect people's behavior on social media. We all likely have done one or more of these things at one point or another, if we are at all active on social media.
If I post something you like and it makes you read more of my posts, congrats, you were trained using positive reinforcement.
If I post something you don't like and it makes you read less of my posts, congrats, you were trained using positive punishment.
If I deleted something you didn't want me to post and it makes you read more of my posts, congrats, you were trained using negative reinforcement.
If I deleted something that you did want me to post and it makes you read less of my posts, congrats, you were trained using negative punishment.
The point is that none of these actions are inherently moral or amoral. I could be posting about giving to a charity or I could be posting about inciting violence, and even those causes themselves could be viewed in different ways by different people. Operant conditioning is just language.
Sometimes we have difficult conversations with people to achieve what we view as a good result. Does the discomfort in the conversation make it abusive? Traumatic? It definitely could be, depending on what we say, how we say it, who we say it to, and our relationship with that person, but the fact that it's uncomfortable doesn't make it wrong.
The analogy I like to use is if you and I are going on a vacation, and we are about to board our flight, and I take my hand and nudge you in the direction of the right gate, I have just used negative reinforcement (I removed - negative - the pressure of my hand and it reinforced your walking to the right gate) to get us to Tahiti.
Pressure doesn't have moral meaning. In fact, if we ended up missing our flight because I didn't pressure you in the direction of our gate, you would probably not be comforted by the fact that I only use positive reinforcement in my interactions with you.
Even if I had used language to pressure you in the direction of the right gate, and it required me to raise my voice and say "wrong gate!" it might very well be briefly jarring and startling for you. This would be an example of positive punishment (positive = I added my loud voice, punishment = you stopped going to the wrong gate). Again, it is doubtful had we missed our flight that you would be comforted to know that there was no punishment used in our walking through the airport.
You might even respond to that situation by offering me some positive punishment of your own. And I wouldn't blame you.
Same thing with dogs. If I'm walking my dog to the beach, and I don't nudge him in the right direction using some leash pressure, and instead we just walk in a random path not requiring any amount of leash pressure and return home, my dogs will literally s**t on my chest in the middle of the night if I told him that he missed out on going to the beach because I wanted him to have a totally pressure free experience. Right on my chest.
I want you to be able to go to Tahiti, and I want to be able to sleep through the night without fear of becoming a human potty bag, and so I use pressure and correction in my relationships in concert with rewards to be the best travel buddy and dog dad I can be.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
We are all just THRILLED to have arrived in beautiful Rhode Island. A lovely place to call home and train dogs.
"Father, father, father, father, father. You're glib, father."
DON'T CARRY YOUR DOG AROUND LIKE A BABY YOUR IS NOT A BABY.
"Break a few rules." - Arnold Schwarzenegger
Horse In Pasture, Cordele, Georgia. July 2020.
Profiles In Chicken. @ Cordele, Georgia
The gang's all here.
He's a real Good Time Charlie.
"What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine." @ Cordele, Georgia
COMMENCE WEIRDO MODE
Felt bad making him go all that way but it's on him - he left it there to get his sister's ball when I threw it for her.
DON'T DRIVE ANGRY
💥Flash Sale💥
Two things I don't do in my business: offer discounts, send my prices to people online.
But Arnold Schwarzenegger says to break a few rules, and what am I going to do, argue with Arnold Schwarzenegger? Come on, be real here.
So TONIGHT I am opening up two spots for my Home Improvement training program at a STEEP discount. This program is geared to solve pesky issues and put a solid training foundation on any dog, and is one hundred percent virtual, to keep everyone safe.
I am never offering this deal again, so get it while it's hot.
Only two spots open for this deal, PM me now to secure yours.
Get active get happy!
Now this is a kid with dog video I DO like.
My calorie cutting program.
The two bitiest members of our pack.
Chicken on my six.
I'VE SEEN YOUR FILE MY FRIEND
❤️❤️
Man And Chicken, Circa 2019.
"How is this OK?"
We out here.
Los Angeles, CA
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dog Nerd Dog Training posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Work smart.
Get active get happy!
Now this is a kid with dog video I DO like.
I'VE SEEN YOUR FILE MY FRIEND #martymcflight
SQUAD
❤️
Teaching Starbuck to walk backwards behind my back around a tree and back into heel position. In case of an emergency situation.
Teaching Starbuck to walk backwards behind my back around a tree and back to heel position.
Independent contracter. Works hard for his money. . . . . . #rikerthehusky #dognerddaily #dog #dogs #dogsofinstagram #dogoftheday #doglovers #dogstagram #instadog #animal #animals #animallovers #pet #pets #petstagram #dogtraining #dogtrainer #huskies
