Читать книгу Forever Home... - Mike Deathe CPDT-KA - Страница 6

OK, so you are thinking to yourself, all those behaviors exist not only in the dogs at the shelter but even a few of them might apply to your dog at home. But, there is no way that you as the volunteer, let alone as the dog’s owner, could be the cause of these issues, is there? Well, I hate to break it to you; but yes, you are the cause of these problems. If there is anything I know for sure, you have to accept that there is a problem before you can get down to fixing it. So before I say anything about fixing these problem behaviors, I am going to break down just how human behavior and our choices shape the behavior Fido chooses in the end. Remember, DOGS ONLY DO WHAT IS REWARDING!!!! I know it sounds simple, but I promise by the end of this chapter it will not only make sense, but it will have you excited to read the rest of the book, just so you can figure out how to train differently. Some of you might even figure out how to use these techniques on coworkers, bosses and spouses!!!

Dogs are all about associations. If we react the wrong way to a bad behavior, we may unintentionally give the dog what he wants, leading him to associate a reward with bad behavior. If we do it right, the dog ends up learning that doing what we want, gets him what he wants and both of us are happy. Let’s break this idea down a little further…dogs learn in a binary manner (fancy word for two way learning). In other words, if the experience is rewarding or positive, it is an iron clad guarantee that Fido is going to repeat said behavior. If, on the other hand the experience is not rewarding (did not work) no dog, including yours, will waste his time trying the behavior again!

So what do we take from this rule of behavior?

 If you give the most common reward, your attention, to any behavior wanted or unwanted, you are not only teaching Fido that it is OK but that you love his behavior.

 In other words, whether it is giving a treat, saying good boy, yelling at the dog to stop, or even resorting to touching the dog via violence or kindness, you are at some level giving your attention, which will drastically increase the likelihood that this behavior will be repeated.

 That’s great if it is a behavior you like, but what in the world are you supposed to do if Fido is offering up behaviors you don’t like and certainly don’t want to continue?

Your only true weapon for eliminating unwanted behaviors is what you do with your attention. I know this sounds too simple to be true, but hopefully after reading the following examples of how we create certain behaviors (both bad and good) you will recognize that the choices you make have way more impact on Fido ’s behavior that you ever realized. We will also look at how this information can be used in the shelter environment to make homeless dogs more appealing to those prospective adopters coming in looking for a forever friend.

Let’s start with everyone’s favorite, barking. Dogs can bark for any number of reasons, but the one thing we can be sure of is that Fido’s barking is rewarding (at least to him) and you are making the barking fun! Now don’t get me wrong, you might not think or realize that your actions or reactions are telling Fido to bark, bark and bark some more, but let’s look at four different ways to deal with barking and you tell me if you have been reinforcing Fido’s barking! By the way, three of the following examples reinforce bad behaviors, and only one is the correct choice that will actually stop the barking.

Ok, so the first example is what I like to refer to as the fight fire with fire technique; the dog barks and you yell at the dog. Let’s get one thing straight “DOGS DON’T SPEAK ENGLISH!” They might be able to learn that the sound of the word “sit” means put my rump on the ground, but I could just as easily teach him that the word “pineapple sherbet” means the rump down behavior. In other words, when you yell at the dog, all the dog hears is you barking back at him and boy what a fun game this is! This one is also very common while working on the computer or talking on the phone. The dog is getting no attention so he barks; Mom or Dad yells shut up which the dog sees as getting attention; the dog learns that this barking thing really does work and the problem behavior is born. So, the next time you are about to yell at your dog, stop and think “Am I actually rewarding this behavior without realizing it?” Could there be a different way to deal with this situation?

Before we get to the right way to deal with this problem behavior, let’s look at another incorrect scenario on how to handle a barking dog. The “I’m going to have to put ‘em in their place” method or thinking that getting physical will fix the problem. The scene plays out like this; the dog barks, then barks again, the owner gets irritated and the dog keeps on barking. OK fast forward…owner blows up and smacks the dog or chases them out of the room to let the dog know that barking will not be tolerated. Stop and think about it, haven’t you heard of those kids who get no attention from those closest to them, who then act out so they will at least get some sort of attention. In their mind, bad attention (physical or not) is better than no attention at all. I know that owning a dog can be frustrating and that anger can get the best of anyone, but trust me, this reaction from you will fix nothing and will likely damage the relationship you have with your dog. Look at it this way – didn’t your dog just get you to stop what you were doing so that you would react to them? Even worse, you started a game of chase with your dog that might just become your dog’s favorite new game. Whenever Fido wants to play a game of get Dad to chase me, all he has to do is run into the room and start barking. Congratulations…you have just been trained by your dog!

One last incorrect scenario to observe, and this one is going to sting for some folks, is the “I’ve had a really bad day” situation. This one usually happens on those days where your boss is a jerk, your biggest client changes his mind, or your better-half calls to rip you up one side and down the other. You walk in the front door and your dog is so excited to see you that he starts barking like a crazy man. All you can think is that the only person in the world who loves you unconditionally is your dog, and the next thing you know, you are rolling on the ground hugging and loving your best friend. (OK this example might be a little overboard, but you get what I mean!) Unintentionally, you just guaranteed the fact that Fido will bark every time you open the door!

If you don’t believe me, think of it this way. Remember when there were payphones on every corner? (Yes, I am that old, just play along!) One day you were walking down the street and on a lark you checked the change slot on the phone and guess what, you found a quarter! Now what happens each and every time you walk by a pay phone, duh, you check the change slot. We, like dogs, don’t try things because we know we will get the payout, rather we try behaviors for the chance of winning! And yes it just takes one time getting a payout (reward) for a dog or human to learn to repeat a behavior in the hopes of getting your attention.

Another way to look at these attention seeking behaviors is to think of a small child, a 2-4 year old. Those of us experienced in the world of parenting know of (and have probably learned the hard way about) the skill in which children of this age can push our buttons to get our attention or to get what they want. Guess what, your dog is doing the same thing, you just never put two and two together and got four. Don’t shoot the messenger! Let’s just hurry up and get to the one scenario that actually can stop an unwanted behavior.

It all comes down to how you handle, give or take away your attention. Remember earlier when I told you that dogs will not do anything unless it is rewarding? Well, all of the previous examples about barking, rewarded or gave the dog attention in some way! The fourth and only correct way of dealing with the barking issue, to finally make it stop, is to IGNORE THE DOG AND THE BARKING. Now this will not work immediately, but once Fido understands that this barking behavior is getting him absolutely nothing, it will change the behavior. Over a period of time the barking behavior extinguishes (psycho babble for stops) until Fido finds a new behavior to try. So in the end, the behaviors you see from your dog every day are direct responses to the reactions you give them. If, on the other hand, you focus on ignoring bad behaviors and paying attention to good behaviors, then you probably would not have bought this book and might just have what it takes to be a dog trainer!

There is a lot more to cover about barking, and that will be covered in a chapter 9. This was just an opportunity to prove to you that regardless of the problem behavior, it is driven by the attention given to it. So, if you are rewarding a problem behavior, even inadvertently or unawares, you are making it worse. And I’m sure you wonder what if these behaviors are so ingrained that this simple technique of ignoring the behavior and the dog does not seem to work? Well turn the page and welcome to the world of REDIRECTION, the second part of ignoring the dog after the reward has been given.