Don's Behavioral Dog Training

19/06/2023

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29/12/2021

Puppy Socialization is Critical, not Optional.

Many people are familiar with the maternal and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys conducted by the American psychologist Harry Harlow. These experiments showed the importance of caregiving and companionship to social and cognitive development. Infants raised in isolation were intensely disturbed, socially deficient, reclusive, and showed fear and aggression. They could not socialize with conspecifics, and normal rhesus monkeys would not interact with them.

Similar studies have been done on puppies raised in isolation with the same devastating results. In Dr. Ian Dunbar's course-"Treatment and Prevention of Dog Aggression: Biting and Fighting," he mentions three types of problems: behavior problems, training problems, and temperament problems. With training and behavioral issues, you can address or modify them at any time in a dog's life. With temperament problems, you need to prevent them in puppyhood. This must occur during a puppy's neonatal and socialization stages.

Whether the tests were conducted on primates, rats, or dogs, it has been demonstrated that early socialization changes the anatomical and chemical makeup of the brain. It has been shown that dendrites begin to grow immediately with exposure to another animal or human. More brain cells develop with early socialization, and stress hormones are reduced. The exact opposite occurs when a puppy is not socialized by 12 weeks of age-fewer dendrites, fewer brain cells, the cortex shrinks, and stress hormones increase. This causes the puppy to be less adaptable because it lacks the brain cells and pathways needed to adapt to stressful stimuli. These effects are often irreversible.

Early socialization of puppies is critical because the puppies' future personalities and temperament are developed during this time and will last for the duration of their lives. Puppies learn calming signals, which allows them to interact with other dogs and communicate in a usual fashion.

During the 20 day-12 week socialization period, it is recommended that a puppy be introduced to 100 different people, 100 different dogs, in 100 different environments.

Socialization should be positive at all times. Reward the puppy every time it does not react to stressful stimuli. Never overreact when your puppy shows fear. It's not a coincidence that reactive dogs are often owned by people who themselves overreact to low-level stimuli. If you remain calm and show no fear, the puppy will learn to emulate you, and it will know that there is nothing to fear. People under fifty are often unfamiliar with a common training method known as Model-Rival Training. In this scenario, we would find an older, calm adult dog such as a Labrador that we would bring along for our anxious young puppy to learn from. With minimal effort, the puppy will learn from the older, wiser dog what not to fear. Continue to expose your puppy to new things using low stimuli and gradually increase to more stimulating objects, animals, people, etc.

There are two "fear periods" in a dog's life-one at 8-11 weeks and the other during the juvenile stage. It is essential to be aware of this, but never force anything on your puppy regardless of your dog's age.

Poor training, corporal punishment, stress, fear, lack of human and canine socialization, lack of environmental exposure, poor treatment can cause anxiety, shyness, lack of confidence, aggression, and many other behavioral issues.

Don Dahlberg

19/11/2021

What every owner of a member of the Herding Group should know.

The Pastoral Group, also known as the Herding Group by the AKC, are dogs initially bred to work sheep, cattle, reindeer, and livestock on farms for herding or guarding. Some of the more popular dogs within this group include:

Border Collie
Anatolian Shepherd Dog
Australian Cattle Dog
Australian Shepherd
Bearded Collie
Belgian Shepherd Dog
Komondor
Old English Sheepdog
Pyrenean Mountain Dog
Samoyed
Shetland Sheepdog
Welsh Corgi
Collie
German Shepherd Dog

These dogs respond well to training, are hard-working, brave, energetic, and loyal. Most are friendly and affectionate towards their owners and make good family pets with a few caveats, which I will discuss later in this article.

The popularity of herding dogs as pets is growing, while the work for them is diminishing. They are at their best when they have a job to do. These are working dogs that are extremely intelligent, so they need to be physically and mentally active. If they don't receive sufficient exercise or mental stimulation, behavioral problems are likely to develop. These behaviors often include chewing, climbing, chasing, digging, obsessiveness, "herding" children, etc. Owners need to look for activities that will keep these dogs engaged, such as agility training, flyball, frisbee, obedience training, trick training, etc.

Two of the most intelligent dog breeds fall within this group- the Border Collie and the German Shepherd. Most dog trainers and researchers believe the list for the most intelligent breeds falls in this order:

1) Border Collie
2) Poodle
3) German Shepherd
After this top three opinions vary widely.

When I get a call from a Border Collie owner that tells me that their dog is untrainable and is "bouncing off the walls" (which is quite often), I tell them that the problem is not the dog. I tell them that I don't work with people with dog problems; I work with dogs that have people problems.

Most members of this group make good pets, but due to their natural herding instinct, some tend to nip at the ankles, which can be problematic with smaller children. They need to be taught to extinguish that tendency.

Obedience is critical for this group so you can control these unwanted behaviors. Dogs often figure out human behavior before humans figure out dog behavior. I can't tell you how often I have seen 8-week old puppies outsmart their owners, essentially training them.

Exercise requirements are critical as well. Two 45-1 hour walks a day are necessary, with at least 30 minutes of HIIT. My dogs do not belong to this group, but I always begin their walk with 15 minutes of fetch or frisbee playing, then we walk for an hour and then finish with another 15 minutes of fetch when we return home. We must remember that walking beside a human can barely be considered exercise for most medium to large breeds. It is equivalent to a human walking a tortoise. It would take 30 minutes to travel 30 feet-not much exercise for a human. When dogs are off-leash, they do not walk; they trot or canter. So walking beside a human, even for a mile, is like a human going from the couch to the refrigerator and back. Wolves travel 50 miles per day just to mark their territory. Large breed dogs such as the Malamute, German Shepherd, Huskies, etc., could do the same if they were in shape. Few pet dogs are in condition.

In addition to exercise, mental stimulation is also required for this group due to their high level of intelligence. It would be best if you spent time every day teaching your dog new commands or tricks. There are also toys designed to stimulate the dogs' mental processes.

I believe the best environment for many members of the herding group is a rural setting, preferably on a farm. However, these breeds are highly adaptable and can fit into most homes if the owners are willing to provide the exercise, mental stimulation, and obedience training that these dogs need. I know owners of Border Collies that live in apartments in the city, and these dogs do just fine. The fact that they are marathon runners and bring their dogs with them every day when they run has something to do with it. The problem arises when the owner lives in a city apartment and is sedentary. If the dog is never allowed to go for a walk, is there any wonder why the dog is "bouncing off the walls"? I would ask these owners if they researched the breed before they purchased them. I will often get a shoulder shrug as if this is a foreign thought to them. I tell them that their dog is very trainable, but they need to know more about their dog so all aspects of training can be covered. I will ask them to do a simple google search focusing on exercise requirements to help them understand why their dog is behaving the way it is.

Don Dahlberg

07/11/2021

On vacation until March 2022. Happy Holidays!

30/09/2021

Recently AVSAB, American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, put out a Position Statement on Humane Dog Training - calling for the banning of dog training...

29/09/2021

Leerburg.com » Article Categories » Obedience & Marker Training Articles » The Problem with All-Positive Dog Training

Written by
Ed Frawley
Most Popular
01/ How To Housebreak A Puppy or Older Dog
02/ The Problem with All-Positive Training
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04/ How to Fit a Prong Collar
05/ Introducing a New Dog into a Home with Other Dogs
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Audio Version of The Problem with All-Positive Dog Training The Problem with All-Positive Dog Training
14:33
The Problem with All-Positive Dog Training

I own Leerburg video and kennel.

I will talk about the controversial topic of “the need for corrections in dog training.” I will tell you a little about my experience in dog training and why I feel the need to talk about this subject.

There are three types of all-positive trainers:

Those who emulate Pet-Smart, which runs 100% all-positive training courses and won’t mention corrections in training. These kinds of people know better but chose to cash in on the image of all-positive training.

There are all-positive trainers who love animals and push the all-positive concept but simply lack the experience to know better.

There are all positive trainers who compete and win in various dog sports. These competitors do an excellent job of desensitizing their competition dogs to ignore the distractions their dogs will face in their respective dog sport.
I have issues with the people in the first two categories and I will explain why in a minute.

I respect and admire most of those trainers in the third category because they know that 99.999% of every pet dog out there will require a "distraction/correction phase" at the end of a training program.

I know all positive sports trainers making headway with their appropriate puppy that they’ve raised in a strict system and they're managing every aspect of their dog’s life. This doesn't mean the dogs listen for crap outside the 'sports work' though. And these same trainers don’t do pet training because they can’t be as successful. They just avoid it.

The only people from this third category I don’t respect are those trainers who tell others they can train any pet dog using their all-positive methods and never have to correct the dog.

The bottom line is adopting a dog at 4 years old with a history of chasing critters, ignoring commands, pulling on leashes, barking at external stimuli, is going to be hard to impossible to reprogram with food rewards alone.

For the past 20 years, I have used the following auto text when I respond to new trainers who have been influenced by "old wives tales – like all-100% positive training." It goes like this:

You are always going to get other people’s opinions on how to train your dog. You only need to ask your neighbor, your friends, or even your vet (Vets are not dog trainers they are health care providers).

99.99% of these people are well-intended but lack the experience that is needed to offer sound training advice. The fact is they are more likely to offer "OLD WIVES TALES" on dog training rather than sound training advice.

In many circles today, correcting a dog during training has become politically incorrect. Frankly, those are circles I don’t care to be part of.

Companies like Pet Smart are known to fire instructors from their "ALL POSITIVE trainer classes" if that person talks about corrections during a course. That's info from one of their trainers, not me. That trainer told me that "Pet Smart is only interested in selling training courses and not in providing accurate training information."

The problem with all-positive training is that there will come a time with every dog (and usually when the dog is off-leash) when the distractions that dog faces are more interesting to the dog than the high-value reward the handler is offering for compliance to a known command. At that point in time, that dog needs to learn that there are consequences for not following directions from the handler.

Controversial subjects like this attract flies so before I get into the meat of why corrections are needed I talk a little about my experience with dogs.

I am 66 years old. I have owned and trained dogs my entire life. Back in the 1960s, I got the bug to really learn how to train. I read every book I could find and trained on a daily basis. I trained our family dogs and our neighbor’s dogs.

I wanted to become a Vet so during college I studied pre-veterinary medicine (which is how I ended up with a minor in chemistry). I worked in a vet clinic in La Crosse WI. That clinic was also the dog shelter for the city of La Crosse. On Saturdays, the Vet killed shelter dogs. I couldn’t handle that and it didn’t take me long to realized I would rather train dogs than provide health care for dogs.

I went to my first serious dog training seminar in 1974 and from that point, I never looked back. I can’t count the number of seminars, the number of trips I made filming dog training videos, or filming dog competitions over the last 40 years.

I produced my first dog training video in 1982. My website went on the internet in 1994. We currently have the largest dog training website on the internet with over 800 streaming videos and 18,000 pages of training content. To my knowledge, there isn’t another website that is even 20% the size of leerburg.com

My only point in mentioning these things is to establish the fact that I have been deeply involved in dog training my entire life. Unlike a lot of all-positive dog trainers, this is not my first rodeo.

Becoming a professional dog trainer is a never-ending evolution. Over the past 50 years, I have evolved into a “balanced reward-based dog trainer.”

A well-balanced trainer uses high-value rewards in the learning phase of training to teach behaviors. In my case, I always start with marker training and high-value food rewards. I have written extensively on training with markers and will not go into that here. You can read about it in my article THE POWER OF TRAINING DOGS WITH MARKERS.

The "Balance" part of a reward-based system simply means that we will introduce a dog to corrections once it generalizes a command.

The purpose of a correction in dog training is not to punish a dog for inappropriate or bad behavior but rather the purpose of a correction is to change a dog’s behavior.

That is a subtle but very important distinction.

Many inexperienced and/or new trainers fail to understand that different temperament dogs require different kinds and levels of corrections.

Using remote collars and prong collars on dogs that may only need a verbal warning to get a behavior change is abusive. On the other hand, that same dog may require a remote collar or prong collar correction to get a behavior change when faced with a strong distraction.

Understanding varying temperaments in dogs: how to motivate and build drive in dogs: how to manage levels of distractions: along with knowing what types and levels of correction specific dogs require are what is needed to become a “balanced reward-based dog trainer.”

Dog’s, like people, are individuals. A correction that results in a behavior change for one dog will have no effect on another dog. Simply withholding a food reward or toy reward for many dogs may produce behavior changes, while an off-leash high drive dog facing strong distractions may require stiff remote collar corrections to get behavior changes.

Not only do dogs of different temperaments require different kinds of corrections, what kind of distraction a dog faces often dictates what kind and level of correction a dog needs to get a behavior change.

The Problem with All-Positive Dog Training
For me, the real ART OF DOG TRAINING means being able to control my dog in a highly distracting environment. To accomplish that the trainer needs to be able to produce a dog that understands and respects the consequences of not following a known command. The trainer who can do that and yet still have a really nice bond with his dog is a great trainer.

With all this said, there are two ends of the correction spectrum. At one end are trainers who consistently give ineffective corrections that don’t change behavior. They nag their dog with non-behavior-changing corrections that have little to no effect on the dog. Ineffective corrections desensitize a dog to corrections. They simply teach a dog that they don’t need to pay attention to the handler.

At the other end of the correction, spectrum is those trainers who feel the need to punish a dog with a correction. These handlers can train a dog but they never develop what I consider is a deep bond with their dog.

Trainers who give a prong collar correction to a dog that would have offered a behavior change with a verbal warning are abusing their dog. Trainers who nag their dog with repeated ineffective corrections desensitize their dog to corrections.

All-Positive Dog Trainers Just Don't Get It
Now back to these all-positive trainers. They have blinders on and they just don’t get it. They don’t understand that dog sport competitor who trains with all positive methods need a very specific type of dog – they need dog’s that are compliant and have a very strong food or toy drive.

These same trainers could be given 10,000 pet dogs and they would be lucky to be able to train and compete at a high level with one of those dogs using all-positive methods in their respective dog sports much less be able to train that dog to be consistently compliant in off-leash obedience.

Not one all-positive trainer could ever have trained and certified one of the police service dogs that I handled in the 10 years I was a K9 officer.

In fact, it’s safe to say that these all-positive trainers could never train and certify one single patrol dog anywhere. They simply couldn’t do it, but they will surely lead anyone who will listen to believe they could. The people who claim these things are the trainers who lack the experience to know what they are talking about.

All-positive trainers will always point to the sea world and the dolphins and killer whales as proof of their system. They pontificate about how impossible it would be to give a killer whale a correction.

Well anyone with half a brain can see that these dolphins and killer whales are forced to live in very small pools that have zero distractions. Taking human interaction and withholding food rewards from an animal that lives in social isolation is in and of itself a pretty strong correction.

I stand with those folks who think what Sea World does to their animals is cruel and unusual punishment. How they force these animals to live is disgusting. Their claim to be using pure operant conditioning is a scam on the American public.

So let’s make this very clear, I have a lot of respect for reward-based competitors who go out there and win in their respective dog sports. My friends don’t try and tell pet owners that they should train their pet dogs or working dogs without ever having to correct that dog for bad behavior.

These trainers know when they control the environment, the reinforcement history, present, and future, and then play in a sport where things can be very predictable – with the right dog they don’t need corrections. But the rest of the world isn’t sterile and 'Oh-sh*t free.'

Something else to consider is a lot of this debate gets down to defining terms. What a human thinks is a correction, or pressure, may not be perceived so by a dog. My dogs simply thrill over the prospect of having their pinch collars go on because it means we’re going for a stroll. And the pinch collar ensures my 85-pound dog doesn’t pull me down the street. He walks like a dream because the pressure was taught correctly during “leash-pressure training” (which we are about to release a new training DVD and online course in).

And finally, if you are one of those people from the second group –those people how love dogs but don’t have the experience to realize all positive training systems don't work – I would ask you to rethink your position.

Be honest with yourself. Know what distraction levels really affect your dog. You can manage your dog by keeping it on a leash and away from these distractions, but ask yourself what you would do if your dog accidentally got off-leash in the face of these distractions – especially if this happened in an environment that could be dangerous for your dog.

Personally, I want my dogs to learn to mind me all the time – not some of the time. Education is what is needed – not propaganda about all-positive training.

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13/09/2021

Many people teach their puppies/dogs to fear animals etc. without realizing it. If you take your puppy for a walk and pick it up whenever you see another dog approaching you are teaching the puppy/dog that there must be a reason to fear an approaching dog. You should allow your dog to socialize with other dogs without being overly protective. Just let things flow naturally. Obviously, you need to control the interaction with other dogs but 99.9% of the time you do not have to intervene. You need to build up a puppy's confidence by exposing it to as many things, people, and other animals as possible. Start gradually with low stimuli and gradually increase the level of stimulus. Use positive reinforcement when the puppy shows no fear of a new object, person, or animal. Do not force your puppy to approach an object it is showing fear of. For example, if your puppy is fearful of a vacuum cleaner when it is turned on leave the vacuum cleaner off in the same room with the puppy. You can just leave it there until the puppy loses interest in it and it just becomes another piece of furniture. You can leave treats near it and around it and allow the puppy to fetch the treats getting closer and closer. Once the puppy shows no fear of the cleaner when it is off (at this point the puppy should be eating the treats that are placed directly on the vacuum cleaner) you can turn the vacuum cleaner on and repeat the process.
Reward the puppy every time it does not react to the stimuli. Never overreact when your puppy shows fear. If you remain calm and show no fear the puppy will learn to follow your lead and it will learn that there is nothing to fear.
Continue to expose your puppy to new things using low stimuli and gradually increasing to more stimulating objects, animals, people, etc.

23/01/2021

Operant conditioning and its applications in dog training

Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment are all components of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning was a term coined, in 1937, by the American Psychologist B. F. Skinner. It is a type of simple learning based on the consequences of acts; the strength of a behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment.

It is important to note that trainers, such as Konrad Most, a German police/military dog trainer who published "Training Dogs: A Manual" in 1910, were using operant conditioning principles 30 years before Skinner began his research. Some circus trainers were using the same techniques 100 years before that. It is equally important to realize that a great many researchers (W.C. Azrin and N. H. Holz among many others. See references) have subsequently expanded our understanding of reinforcement and challenged some of Skinner's conclusions and some studies have shown that positive reinforcement and punishment are equally effective in modifying behavior. Research on the effects of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment continues to this day. As much as some people may believe, dog training is not an exact science. It is fundamentally based on human psychology, which is far from an exact science. Who can adequately explain a Jeffrey Dahmer? Who can explain the 8-year-old child who can write a complete symphony without ever having learned to play a single musical instrument? The "science of dog training" is constantly in flux.

So what is positive reinforcement? Reinforcement makes a behavior stronger. When it is positive, such as using food, praise, etc., it encourages behavior. The dog becomes more motivated to perform the desired command because of the potential of receiving the treat. The treat represents something being "added" and is known as a reinforcer.

There are two categories of reinforcers: Primary and secondary. Primary reinforcers are reinforcers that are related to biology-food, drink, sexual contact, etc. Secondary reinforcers are reinforcers that can be related to social conditions. Dogs, being social animals, respond well to praise, smiles, toys, attention, pats, etc. Secondary reinforcers have to be paired with primary reinforcers to become reinforcing (Classical conditioning). For example, the sound of a clicker followed by a treat. Eventually, the clicker sound becomes a conditioned (learned) reinforcer.

Reward scheduling is also an important concept when applying positive reinforcement. There is a myriad of reinforcement schedules. The following is a list of some of them:

Ratio schedule
Continuous reinforcement
Fixed ratio
Variable ratio schedule
Fixed interval
Variable interval
Fixed time
Variable time
Compound schedules
Superimposed schedules
Concurrent schedules

New schedules are being researched to this day. The schedule that appears to be most beneficial to dog training (producing the slowest rate of extinction) is variable-ratio reinforcement. This is behavior that is reinforced after an unpredictable number of times. This unpredictability keeps the dog engaged, motivated, and keeps his expectations high.

It should also be noted that during a training session, such as obedience training, the reward should be given immediately after the behavior has been performed and the marker (clicker sound or vocal "yes") is given.

Negative reinforcement occurs when a behavior is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus. This causes the behavior to increase. An example of this would be pinching a growling dog's ear until he stops growling. When the growling stops so does the pinching. The pinching, being taken away, is negative reinforcement. The terms positive and negative, in regards to operant conditioning, do not have "good" or "bad" connotations. They are more of a mathematical expression. When positive is implied it means something has been "added" to modify behavior. When negative is implied something has been subtracted, or removed, or avoided to modify behavior. Both positive and negative reinforcement increase behavior.

What do we mean by punishment? By B. F. Skinner's definition of punishment, punishment is the reduction of behavior by the application of an unpleasant stimulus-i.e. "positive punishment" or the removal of a pleasant stimulus-i.e. "negative punishment". An example of positive punishment would be grabbing and shaking a dog by the scruff of his neck for barking. An example of negative punishment would be removing a dog's favorite toy because he is becoming possessive over it. Skinners' definition of punishment is restrictive in the sense that if the negative behavior of the subject does not decrease, it is not considered punishment.

The difference between reinforcement and punishment is that reinforcement increases a response whereas punishment is designed to weaken or cause the extinction of behavior. There is a very fine line between some of these concepts.

Negative punishment has its use in dog training. This type of training teaches a dog that there are consequences for his acts. Above I used the example of removing a favorite toy. Another example would be teaching a puppy not to nip when playing. The moment he bites too hard playtime should immediately stop. This is the removal of a pleasant stimulus. Puppies love to play and he will soon come to realize that biting causes playtime to end and eventually he will learn that biting is not in his best interest and the behavior will be eliminated. A mother dog teaches her pups not to bite in a much more straight forward and quick manner. She uses positive punishment. When the puppy nips too hard she immediately nips the puppy in return. It's like touching a hot stove. The puppy doesn't forget the lesson his mother just gave him. In the real world of animal behavior, animals use positive punishment all the time. As human trainers, we should avoid using positive punishment because we lack the behavioral instincts to use it effectively. When humans use positive punishment many problems are likely to develop. Fear is one of the most common behaviors that develop when positive punishment is used. A fearful dog is very likely to turn into an aggressive dog (fear-based aggression). Punishment (as humans apply it) does not teach the dog what you want him to do, it only teaches him what not to do. So it is useless as a teaching aid.

In addition, while the behavior that you are punishing will cease during, and for a time after the punishment is given, in the long term, the behavior is very likely to return.

15/01/2021