I was talking to my sister on the phone and among the topics covered we were exchanging stories of our dog’s latest mischievous activities. As I was describing Rioja’s I heard myself telling my sis that Rioja is more “flexible” in her learning than Deuce. Later on I was thinking about what I meant by “being more flexible." I wondered about this for the next couple of days.
So this is what I mean by “flexibility” be it for learning or as a temperament trait if you will. I will give you an example involving Deuce and Rioja: As I have written in a past blog post: Deuce It’s Soccer, We are Playing Soccer, it took me literally months to teach Deuce how to retrieve and bring the ball back to me. I won’t repeat here what it all entailed, but I will just mentioned that one of the major stumbling blocks I had with Deuce was that if the ball was not kicked in a certain direction, in relation to where Deuce was laying he would not go after the ball. If Laika was nearby, or Rioja now for that matter, Deuce refuses to engage with the ball. The conditions for his retrieving of the ball had to be just "right."
Figuring out what “just right” meant for Deuce required flexibility on my part. Similarly to the example above, Deuce’s willingness to eat out of food dispensing toys is contingent upon “certain Deuce rules”… He will only eat out of them if he has spectators- be it Rioja or myself. I think he has made a game out of "terrorizing” Rioja with a game of “I got a food/toy and you don’t” kind of a thing. And since she is the opposite, and will engage with the food dispensing toy with gusto finishing her meal in a flash.
Here goes another example: Deuce will only jump on the bed to say “hello” to us in the morning when he wants to regardless of how much calling and inviting we do. Once he is on the bed, he will only stay on the bed for a few minutes regardless of how much coaxing we do. He has trained me (John is still a “work in progress”) not to ask him to come to bed to visit with me. Instead I reinforce him for doing so.
Of course, it is so easy to think that Deuce is just begin “stubborn." This is one of the reasons I hear frequently as to why our dogs refuse to do what we ask them to. However, I beg to differ. Not so much in defense of Deuce, but I differ based on what science tells us about animal learning and the role of motivators for an animal to engage in behaviors or in learning.
Any living animal (including humans) must be motivated to partake in a given behavior. Period. The motivation, of course, varies depending on the environment and the needs of the individual at a given moment.
Are motivators internal processes or external? You might ask. And the answer is that they are both. We are always in relation to our environment, learning and living do not take place in a vacuum, but at the same time because motivators are valuable to the individual then they are also internally driven. Now back to dogs and flexibility – (or lack of thereof) Rioja in my experience is more flexible when it comes to training. I notice this by her ability to respond with less effort to changes in contingencies. It amazes John and me alike how quickly she learns and adapts!
When it comes to our training sessions, regardless of what the content or my goals for the sessions are, I must plan my training with Deuce very carefully. Even so, Deuce very often surprises me with his responses. I also plan ahead of time my sessions with Rioja as I think that everyone training their dogs should for the sake of clear communication. It is true that sometimes Rioja also surprises me with an unexpected response but so far I find her responses to my requests more “predictable.”
Here is another example of a recent session. As I am working with Rioja, Deuce is auto-feeding from a food dispensing machine in the same room behind a baby gate. Just about the time Deuce’s meal is over, it is time for me to switch the dogs. Rioja will eat kibble from the machine behind the baby gate and Deuce and I will train (with higher-value “stuff” otherwise he will not work- Rioja is good to working with the same kibble she just gobbled at the machine). Normally both dogs would rather be training than eating out of the machine but they have also learned that their turn will come. Now this particular morning, Deuce decides that he wants nothing to do with me no matter how yummy the treats or how “fun” and engaging the training session. He decides instead to stare at Rioja and whine expressing frustration over not working with the feeding machine.
What gives Deuce? You just spent a few minutes eating boring kibble from it! So I put him on leash and walk him to our training spot. He is still unmotivated to train. I change gears- testing my own flexibility and I engage him next to where Rioja is eating in a furious game of tug- now he is working! My goal here is to have him engage in a super rewarding behavior (tugging is way up on his list) when Rioja is with the machine/toy thus creating a positive association for Deuce of Rioja and the toy - something he struggles with most of the time but not all the time (ai-yay-yay).
Being flexible or not has nothing to do with how “smart” a dog is. I think that in part what is at play is the dog’s breed. Is the dog a “full”- breed or a “mix”? Of course the particular make-up of the individual is also relevant.
Now, if we look at breed-specific behaviors we can clearly identify what are called Fixed-Action-Patterns (FAPs). In essence FAPs refers to how a dog’s brain is “wired.” FAPs are stereotypical behavior sequences that require no learning and which are ‘triggered’ or displayed when a releaser (a given stimulus) is presented. Some FAPs are breed specific, but not all. When it comes to breed specific FAPS … retrievers will point at prey, herding breeds gather (or herd) stock, terriers will hunt prey by going underground, etc. In the case of Deuce, a full Border Collie, his lack of “flexibility” I think, is a result of a “spilling-over” of typical herding-dog behaviors into other kinds of training or even everyday activities. This is just a “hunch” more thinking/research on this theory is needed…
My “job” however, is to notice the dogs different learning be it my own or a client’s so that the learning experience is efficient and with the least “wear and tear” for the dog.
Nicely so, their different learning modalities keeps my own flexibility in check! I have a policy when training, which if a dog I am working with makes three mistakes in a row- mistakes from my point of view or my goals-not the dog’s I must acknowledge this and change something. This is what I mean by “wear and tear.” Of course all learning involves some level of frustration but if the dog (or horse, human etc.) finds the learning experience too frustrating or stressful no learning will take place.
Training dogs never ceases to surprise me! Through the process of interacting with dogs and our working and learning together I can better “witness” my own process (am I being flexible etc.?) Once I have been made aware of my own approach during the training session (or when not formally training but just interacting with the dogs) I need to find creative ways to reach my goals while honoring the individual dog I am training- and that for me makes getting up in the morning really worth the shot.
So this is what I mean by “flexibility” be it for learning or as a temperament trait if you will. I will give you an example involving Deuce and Rioja: As I have written in a past blog post: Deuce It’s Soccer, We are Playing Soccer, it took me literally months to teach Deuce how to retrieve and bring the ball back to me. I won’t repeat here what it all entailed, but I will just mentioned that one of the major stumbling blocks I had with Deuce was that if the ball was not kicked in a certain direction, in relation to where Deuce was laying he would not go after the ball. If Laika was nearby, or Rioja now for that matter, Deuce refuses to engage with the ball. The conditions for his retrieving of the ball had to be just "right."
Figuring out what “just right” meant for Deuce required flexibility on my part. Similarly to the example above, Deuce’s willingness to eat out of food dispensing toys is contingent upon “certain Deuce rules”… He will only eat out of them if he has spectators- be it Rioja or myself. I think he has made a game out of "terrorizing” Rioja with a game of “I got a food/toy and you don’t” kind of a thing. And since she is the opposite, and will engage with the food dispensing toy with gusto finishing her meal in a flash.
Here goes another example: Deuce will only jump on the bed to say “hello” to us in the morning when he wants to regardless of how much calling and inviting we do. Once he is on the bed, he will only stay on the bed for a few minutes regardless of how much coaxing we do. He has trained me (John is still a “work in progress”) not to ask him to come to bed to visit with me. Instead I reinforce him for doing so.
Of course, it is so easy to think that Deuce is just begin “stubborn." This is one of the reasons I hear frequently as to why our dogs refuse to do what we ask them to. However, I beg to differ. Not so much in defense of Deuce, but I differ based on what science tells us about animal learning and the role of motivators for an animal to engage in behaviors or in learning.
Any living animal (including humans) must be motivated to partake in a given behavior. Period. The motivation, of course, varies depending on the environment and the needs of the individual at a given moment.
Are motivators internal processes or external? You might ask. And the answer is that they are both. We are always in relation to our environment, learning and living do not take place in a vacuum, but at the same time because motivators are valuable to the individual then they are also internally driven. Now back to dogs and flexibility – (or lack of thereof) Rioja in my experience is more flexible when it comes to training. I notice this by her ability to respond with less effort to changes in contingencies. It amazes John and me alike how quickly she learns and adapts!
When it comes to our training sessions, regardless of what the content or my goals for the sessions are, I must plan my training with Deuce very carefully. Even so, Deuce very often surprises me with his responses. I also plan ahead of time my sessions with Rioja as I think that everyone training their dogs should for the sake of clear communication. It is true that sometimes Rioja also surprises me with an unexpected response but so far I find her responses to my requests more “predictable.”
Here is another example of a recent session. As I am working with Rioja, Deuce is auto-feeding from a food dispensing machine in the same room behind a baby gate. Just about the time Deuce’s meal is over, it is time for me to switch the dogs. Rioja will eat kibble from the machine behind the baby gate and Deuce and I will train (with higher-value “stuff” otherwise he will not work- Rioja is good to working with the same kibble she just gobbled at the machine). Normally both dogs would rather be training than eating out of the machine but they have also learned that their turn will come. Now this particular morning, Deuce decides that he wants nothing to do with me no matter how yummy the treats or how “fun” and engaging the training session. He decides instead to stare at Rioja and whine expressing frustration over not working with the feeding machine.
What gives Deuce? You just spent a few minutes eating boring kibble from it! So I put him on leash and walk him to our training spot. He is still unmotivated to train. I change gears- testing my own flexibility and I engage him next to where Rioja is eating in a furious game of tug- now he is working! My goal here is to have him engage in a super rewarding behavior (tugging is way up on his list) when Rioja is with the machine/toy thus creating a positive association for Deuce of Rioja and the toy - something he struggles with most of the time but not all the time (ai-yay-yay).
Being flexible or not has nothing to do with how “smart” a dog is. I think that in part what is at play is the dog’s breed. Is the dog a “full”- breed or a “mix”? Of course the particular make-up of the individual is also relevant.
Now, if we look at breed-specific behaviors we can clearly identify what are called Fixed-Action-Patterns (FAPs). In essence FAPs refers to how a dog’s brain is “wired.” FAPs are stereotypical behavior sequences that require no learning and which are ‘triggered’ or displayed when a releaser (a given stimulus) is presented. Some FAPs are breed specific, but not all. When it comes to breed specific FAPS … retrievers will point at prey, herding breeds gather (or herd) stock, terriers will hunt prey by going underground, etc. In the case of Deuce, a full Border Collie, his lack of “flexibility” I think, is a result of a “spilling-over” of typical herding-dog behaviors into other kinds of training or even everyday activities. This is just a “hunch” more thinking/research on this theory is needed…
My “job” however, is to notice the dogs different learning be it my own or a client’s so that the learning experience is efficient and with the least “wear and tear” for the dog.
Nicely so, their different learning modalities keeps my own flexibility in check! I have a policy when training, which if a dog I am working with makes three mistakes in a row- mistakes from my point of view or my goals-not the dog’s I must acknowledge this and change something. This is what I mean by “wear and tear.” Of course all learning involves some level of frustration but if the dog (or horse, human etc.) finds the learning experience too frustrating or stressful no learning will take place.
Training dogs never ceases to surprise me! Through the process of interacting with dogs and our working and learning together I can better “witness” my own process (am I being flexible etc.?) Once I have been made aware of my own approach during the training session (or when not formally training but just interacting with the dogs) I need to find creative ways to reach my goals while honoring the individual dog I am training- and that for me makes getting up in the morning really worth the shot.
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