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KIBA K9s

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02/24/2024

Air J̶o̶r̶d̶a̶n̶ Jegna

09/16/2023

TOP 10 DOG BOOKS 🤓📚

I get asked about dog books I would recommend quite often so I thought I’d share it on my page for everyone

Are any of your favorites on my list? If not, tell me what’s missing!

Fiction

1. Where the Red Fern Grows | Wilson Rawls
2. Shiloh | Phyllis Reynolds
3. The Call of the Wild | Jack London

Non-fiction

4. Meet Your Dog | Kim Brophey
5. Inside of a Dog | Dr. Alexandra Horowitz
6. How Dogs Learn | Dr. Mary Burch & Dr. Jon Bailey
7. The Genius of Dogs | Dr. Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods

Academic Textbooks

8. The Domestic Dog | Dr. James Serpell
9. Canine Cognition & Evolution | Dr. Clive Wynne
10. Principles of Canine Behavior | Dr. Patricia McConnell

ft. Biggie in the 😮‍💨

09/14/2023

Dog parks … I like em 🤯🫢

The truth is, I LIKE DOG PARKS

There is such a thing as a healthy dog park, and it’s an AMAZING option for owners that live in dense, urban areas like where we are (NYC)

The key to understand is that a healthy dog park is defined by its activity (how the dogs and humans are acting), not by its amenities (pool, bridges, built-in jumps and tunnels, etc)

It’s YOUR responsibility to observe the environment before deciding to enter

Are the dogs displaying healthy behaviors? Boundaries, communication, social attitude …

Are the humans present and aware? Off their phone, attentive, relaxed …

If so, that dog park at THAT TIME is an excellent option. But of course, different time, different crowd, different results. Pay attention!

06/24/2023

Kids can be so hard to impress 😂

12/11/2022

Using drive CORRECTLY in training

First, what is “drive” …

It is an internal source of energy (biologically innate) that is activated by some external catalyst (e.g. food, play, s*x, danger, etc.)

(s/o to Nino, I adapted my definition from his; he describes drive as “energy produced from an external source”)

Now when it comes to drive, a good trainer must always consider two things:

(1) Do I want to train in high drive or low drive?

and …

(2) On stimulus control, do I want the dog performing in high drive or low drive?

These two things are related, but not the same. The first addresses the optimal approach to achieve a training objective. The second considers what will make the dog most successful in the final picture.

_________

In this video (temporarily unavailable), I’m training Marcel, a Lagotto out of Barbieri’s kennel, to help improve on his role as a therapeutic service animal for a premier NYC dental office. (His initial training was done by Jackie)

When I was luring Marcel to climb up and settle into position on top of the patient chair, I was working him in high drive (this guy has a fantastic food drive)

Why?

Well, the patient’s chair is relatively high, the plastic covering makes it slippery, and he has to navigate a person’s legs and still settle down despite all of those challenging factors. To effectively and efficiently overcome all of that, I want the dog high on dopamine.

So … I make it a game.

Marcel jumps up, then jumps down? Great. No down required. He leaks a little? Cool. He chases the lure too fast and slips off? Boom, reward. And as for the rewards, I make them fast and unpredictable, sometimes giving a few kibble, sometimes a whole handful. I cheer him on through the process as I feed him and my whole body is very active and upbeat.

This, of course, made him HIGH. He wanted to jump off and restart the game. His downs were fidgety. He was panting heavily and wagging his tail in long sweeping motions, filled with excitement. But he was not afraid nor intimidated by any of the truly challenging factors involved with his service task.

But very quickly … within the same session … I started to change the tune a bit. I didn’t wait long after he was LOVING this game to change gears and start working in low drive.

My rewards became extremely communistic. One kibble at a time, each time. My tone and body language chilled out. I started to make it boring. I would then start applying a low level ecollar stim (level 1 on a Martin System Chameleon) before every repetition.

Why?

Because for Marcel to be successful in the final picture — in position while multiple dentists are working on a nervous patient with loud noises, scary tools, bright lights and overall shifting conditions — he needs to be extremely STABLE and CHILL.

With communistic rewards, I start conditioning the emotional state I want him in during performance, which is that of very low drive. Just like in tracking … I don’t want a high ju**ie that is flying around. I want calm focus.

As we progress in training and begin fading food, the ecollar will be a clear must-key that overrules any competing reinforcers. It will serve as both a negative reinforcer to start the behavior as well as a correction for when he breaks. In this way, we maintain strong reliability in the task WITHOUT demotivating the dog.

Ultimately, you must always have an idea of what you want your final picture to look like when creating a training plan. And you must also observe the dog and the situation to know when to implement adjustments to your plan.

12/01/2022

Gold School Reflection

Had a young homie hit my DMs asking me this question. Not so long ago, I asked Bart & Michael this very question.

Their answer was simple:

Observation … Orientation … Determination

———

(1) First, watch your dog.

Be patient and observe. Explore everything and get to truly know your dog inside and out. Take your time and learn your puppy at least until they reach adolescence (~14 mo.)

(2) Next, give some direction.

Just like the northern star, start orienting your dog towards its right path. Remember that this is not an exact destination. Don't be rigid. You never actually reach the Northern Star, it simply guides your journey

(3) Lastly, decide the destination.

This is when you really need a clear training plan. Choose a sport or purpose for your dog and execute that plan. And if you follow steps one and two, making a plan at this stage will come very naturally

11/26/2022

A lot of people simply don’t understand the versatility of the ecollar. Even educated folks.

& historically … SCIENCE PLAYS CATCH UP

If you agree, like & share. If you disagree, comment and let’s discuss

********************

So I see a video on Instagram by Kerri Norman (PhD, Canine Behavior & Cognition) that basically says “an ecollar stim is ALWAYS aversive to the dog no matter what” …

Definition of aversive: “causing strong dislike or disinclination.” Cool.

Here are my thoughts…

*******************

Disclaimer: long post, but worth it 🧠💡

TLDR: I go into the applied science of WHY AN ECOLLAR IS NOT NECESSARILY AN AVERSIVE

Theory is great. But it’s 🚫 enough

If you skip the read, your loss

Also, watch the video first for context (or don’t)

********************

My response:

The ecollar / stim is NOT necessarily an aversive stimulus. You CAN make the stim a positive reinforcer through classical conditioning if you so wish (we in fact do this for dogs that are deaf). And not only that, you can also use it as a negative reinforcer or positive punisher!

A lot of people — from top trainers and scientists to average owners — carry a default assumption that any electrical stimulus is "unpleasant" and "will always be unpleasant." But this is wrong.

Yes, it is true that classical conditioning requires a “neutral" stimulus ... but the ANIMAL decides what is neutral/positive/ negative, not you. & the "intent" behind the ecollars creation is pointless lol. The application is what matters

That said, an electrical stimulus can 100% be used at a low enough level to be physically perceived by the animal but not induce *any* negative emotional response. It would instead TRULY be a neutral sensation to the animal

To be clear, the level at which an animal can perceives the stim is *not* when YOU see that they perceive it. If you're looking for some visual cue from your dog that they have felt the stim (ear twitch, change in gaze, etc), you’re already far higher level than the lowest stim level they can feel

If you want, DM me and I can break down the way to actually find the dog’s neutral level 😉

Also, note that pressure compounds and *that same low level* delivered repeatedly can certainly become aversive *if not* paired with a STRONG positive reinforcer from the start. But if it is paired properly (via CC), the stim will 100% become a conditioned (secondary) reinforcer

So NO.

An ecollar stim is not necessarily an aversive

Some argue that an animal is naturally at homeostasis, and ANY PRESSURE in-of-itself is "aversive” or causing discomfort. But this is an exaggeration.

Of course, ANYTHING can cause discomfort.

Food (if you eat too much or are sick). Play/toys (if you are hurt or overly tired). Even a clicker can cause discomfort (extreme noise sensitivity)

And to my earlier point, not only the intensity of pressure matters; duration also matters.

Take a totally normal dog for example ... one or two or a few clicks will likely be neutral because they don't really affect the dog in any way beyond that momentary noise. “They don't mean anything” to the dog.

But if you repeatedly clicked over & over & over near the dog, it could easily become aversive and cause the animal to move away from you as a result of auditory stress ... annoyance.

Similarly, an electrical stimulus can be low enough to be practically nothing to the dog ... nothing of any significance and a sensation that is so light it causes *zero stress* ... hence it being — PRACTICALLY — a neutral stimulus ”

Understanding this, you must learn how to responsibly use the tool. Because it is literally THE MOST versatile tool available in dog training. It takes no skill to hammer a dog with the ecollar. Learn how to motivate and encourage with it, how to use it for R+ or R- or P+ … then you can really start training at a high level with it

“With great power comes great responsibility” no?

P.S. IF we accept the flawed logic that ecollars cannot be positively conditioned “because by nature of it applying pressure, it is not a neutral stimulus,” counter conditioning should be impossible. And that's just silly.

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Videos

Understanding pressure & feeling 🤌🏾 This is one of the areas where science fails to aid us in comprehending what is actually going on in the field … In contrast, the language/system I describe in this video is much more nuanced way to understand pressure & feeling. And it is still simple enough for the average owner to comprehend and practically observe Much of the terms I use with clients (e.g. correction) is “jargon” when it comes to scientific literature. But on the field, it allows us to train and speak with much more clarity, opening up a whole world of possibilities beyond what scientific literature can currently explain The truth is, science is always playing catch up Learn more by subscribing to our Exclusive Content ——— Deeper background for those interested: In cognitive behavioral science, the intensity of stimuli is divided into three categories: (1) neutral, or indifferent (2) appetizing, or positive (3) aversive, or negative Their relative thresholds are broken down into: (1) sub-threshold: stimulus is not consciously recognizable by the subject (2) threshold: subject is aware of stimulus (3) supra-threshold: stimulus causes emotional or behavioral response It’s important to understand that science generally views the simplest explanation as best While this is great for creating good paradigms for complex topics, it doesn’t cut it for an applied field like dog training. Distinguishing between the various types of pressure and emotional/behavioral responses in the dog is crucial for modern dog trainers and owners As a dog trainer, I effectively utilize each of these “levels of pressure” for different purposes … As a human teacher, I need my students to understand when to use what kind of pressure and how to accurately interpret the response of the dog To be perfectly clear, I am not advocating to do away with science. I am saying there is much more to it ✨ #DogTraining #Science #Communication #NYC

The lion who has the gazelle by the neck does not waste energy fighting nor does he get frantic … He is determined in his objective, confident in his bite, and calmly annihilates his prey with focused aggression To compete at the highest levels of IGP (shutzhund), Jegna must master the art of focused aggression Deep, full, grips. Untroubled by chaos. Even as the enemy escalates, trust your grip & just bite harder I want Jegna to put all of his energy into sinking each tooth deeper into the grip. No fighting. Just winning #IGP #Sport #Bitework #Protection #Malinois #Focus

Dog parks … I like em 🤯🫢 The truth is, I LIKE DOG PARKS There is such a thing as a healthy dog park, and it’s an AMAZING option for owners that live in dense, urban areas like where we are (NYC) The key to understand is that a healthy dog park is defined by its activity (how the dogs and humans are acting), not by its amenities (pool, bridges, built-in jumps and tunnels, etc) It’s YOUR responsibility to observe the environment before deciding to enter Are the dogs displaying healthy behaviors? Boundaries, communication, social attitude … Are the humans present and aware? Off their phone, attentive, relaxed … If so, that dog park at THAT TIME is an excellent option. But of course, different time, different crowd, different results. Pay attention!

This is the FIRST TIME my #puppy is presented a nail to hold. Zero pressure … 100% commitment. Build good foundations, and nothing will phase your dog. #kibak9s #nepopo #moderndogtraining #hold