Why is it that whenever our dogs fail to follow our requests we immediately assume that the dog has a hearing problem?
I have noticed that when I am sheepherding with Deuce I elevate my voice if he does not take the lay down ASAP. When sheepherding one of the desired behaviors and challenges is for the dog to take the down immediately when requested. The sport (or in real life) sheepherding requires lots of precision work just in the perfect spot in order to keep the sheep, goats, etc. from dispersing.
Now, tired of hearing myself raising my voice, I decided to try a different approach. On Monday I worked with Deuce and the goats while using whispers all hour long. And wow! The first time I tried this, Deuce was at a distance and guess what??? He was able to perfectly hear my verbal cue and proceed to stop as requested.
I continued using my whisper/hoarse voice (with no effort on my part) for the remainder of the lesson. It almost appeared that Deuce was more able to “think” because my constant chatter and elevated voice was not distracting him.
What's more, not only did we have a more harmonious session but at the end of it I did not feel bad for raising my voice at Deuce. That leaves me feeling bad. Yeah okay, “mission accomplished” but how was it accomplished? By yelling? By proving that I can intimidate? So much of what we do is goal oriented. And dog training is no exception. The truth is that the job of a dog trainer (among other things) is to solve problems for people. No one calls when things are going smoothly and only a few folks have the insight of calling before problems with their furry pal develop. So I am not surprised that we tend to lose ourselves somewhat in the process because we are so keen in reaching our goal.
Clearly, before we can whisper to our dog a new cue, the dog must be trained and have learned the meaning of that cue because, if not, a whisper will not do much.
Another lesson is that I MUST find a way to teach dogs what I need them to do and it is my (super fun) job to make that process as seamless and fun for them as possible. After all, I am the one with the bigger brain and the goal, no?
One of the things that I love most about my job and working with my own dogs is exactly that: having to figure out the best way to teach what I want. One of the criteria that helps me in moving forward with my training plan when teaching something new is to try something different (and appropriate for the dog and task at hand) if the dog makes three mistakes in a row. That is such an easy thing to observe! When I follow my own rule of 3 mistakes & try something else I began to see results. And those results are reinforcing for me. It is very rare a time where I end one of the training
sessions with my dogs that I don’t feel a great sense of accomplishment - even elated!
Not necessarily because I reached “my goal” (AKA: the final behavior in animal-training parlance) but because I kept my cool, considered my dogs well-being and kept working together fun!
Seeing my dogs partake happily and willingly in the training is one of the best rewards for me. So these days, I am saving my louder voice when singing in the shower and not when I am working with dogs!
I have noticed that when I am sheepherding with Deuce I elevate my voice if he does not take the lay down ASAP. When sheepherding one of the desired behaviors and challenges is for the dog to take the down immediately when requested. The sport (or in real life) sheepherding requires lots of precision work just in the perfect spot in order to keep the sheep, goats, etc. from dispersing.
Now, tired of hearing myself raising my voice, I decided to try a different approach. On Monday I worked with Deuce and the goats while using whispers all hour long. And wow! The first time I tried this, Deuce was at a distance and guess what??? He was able to perfectly hear my verbal cue and proceed to stop as requested.
I continued using my whisper/hoarse voice (with no effort on my part) for the remainder of the lesson. It almost appeared that Deuce was more able to “think” because my constant chatter and elevated voice was not distracting him.
What's more, not only did we have a more harmonious session but at the end of it I did not feel bad for raising my voice at Deuce. That leaves me feeling bad. Yeah okay, “mission accomplished” but how was it accomplished? By yelling? By proving that I can intimidate? So much of what we do is goal oriented. And dog training is no exception. The truth is that the job of a dog trainer (among other things) is to solve problems for people. No one calls when things are going smoothly and only a few folks have the insight of calling before problems with their furry pal develop. So I am not surprised that we tend to lose ourselves somewhat in the process because we are so keen in reaching our goal.
Clearly, before we can whisper to our dog a new cue, the dog must be trained and have learned the meaning of that cue because, if not, a whisper will not do much.
Another lesson is that I MUST find a way to teach dogs what I need them to do and it is my (super fun) job to make that process as seamless and fun for them as possible. After all, I am the one with the bigger brain and the goal, no?
One of the things that I love most about my job and working with my own dogs is exactly that: having to figure out the best way to teach what I want. One of the criteria that helps me in moving forward with my training plan when teaching something new is to try something different (and appropriate for the dog and task at hand) if the dog makes three mistakes in a row. That is such an easy thing to observe! When I follow my own rule of 3 mistakes & try something else I began to see results. And those results are reinforcing for me. It is very rare a time where I end one of the training
sessions with my dogs that I don’t feel a great sense of accomplishment - even elated!
Not necessarily because I reached “my goal” (AKA: the final behavior in animal-training parlance) but because I kept my cool, considered my dogs well-being and kept working together fun!
Seeing my dogs partake happily and willingly in the training is one of the best rewards for me. So these days, I am saving my louder voice when singing in the shower and not when I am working with dogs!
No comments:
Post a Comment