Deuce is taking a break from herding sheep. As he drinks some water and rests panting in the shade, Rio and I get engaged in a game of tug and chase and… Rio playing "keep away" when she is suppose to release the toy so that we can continue playing…
This has been Rio’s latest MO: Keeping the tug away from me and holding on hard to it as if her life depended on it. Also, she sometimes refuses to lie down when I ask her to. I am tempted, of course, to hold on to the toy as if my life depended on it, but I decide not to. I ask her to lie down (so that we can go back to the fun game) but she does not. I ignore her cute/not so cute behavior of holding on to the toy and refusal to lay down and instead I counter-command: A counter-command - or cue as I like to call it since command sounds to me to militaristic and not very collaborative - does exactly that: It requests the dog to do another behavior that has been reinforced heavily and that the dog is happy/able to perform.
I counter-command Rio to sit. She sits on a dime. I then ask her to lie down and she does so surrendering her toy too. Nice! And we begin the fun all over again. As I think about this incident I can’t but feel really happy for myself! I used my big human brain instead of repeating myself a bunch of times and in the process frustrating the dog.
The fact is that when we stop labeling our dog as rebellious, dominant, stubborn etc. when they don’t comply with our request, we can "unglue” ourselves from their behavior and reinforce them instead for another behavior - in this case a sit first, then a down.
Yes, indeed, I can also spend oodles of time wondering what the motivation is behind Rio’s no compliance when asked to surrender the toy or lay down. But the reality is that in this particular instance it doesn’t really matter! What I want to do is to continue playing with her because I need to exercises her and I also want to have fun with her. The counter-command invites the dog to try something else so that she/he can be reinforced. And it allows us to move on with the training/playing session.
Another advantage of not getting into a battle of the wills with the dog is that the dog will not get frustrated. Frustration is to be expected when learning. However, the goal is also to teach the dog with the least wear & tear.
[Some] frustration is appropriate and at times and depending on the dog, the confidence and experience the particular dog has in learning if frustration can act as an "activator" in making a behavior more prone. Now, too much frustration and you have a dog that begins to lose confidence… and this my friend, is a slippery slope.
Of course, sometimes it is really important to try and understand what might be motivating a dog’s behavior. Knowing when this is relevant requires experience on our part and it must be judged on a per case basis.
For the most part, I think it is best to counter-condition so that we can continue to reinforce behavior(s) because remember: whatever behavior we reinforce we will see more of.
This has been Rio’s latest MO: Keeping the tug away from me and holding on hard to it as if her life depended on it. Also, she sometimes refuses to lie down when I ask her to. I am tempted, of course, to hold on to the toy as if my life depended on it, but I decide not to. I ask her to lie down (so that we can go back to the fun game) but she does not. I ignore her cute/not so cute behavior of holding on to the toy and refusal to lay down and instead I counter-command: A counter-command - or cue as I like to call it since command sounds to me to militaristic and not very collaborative - does exactly that: It requests the dog to do another behavior that has been reinforced heavily and that the dog is happy/able to perform.
I counter-command Rio to sit. She sits on a dime. I then ask her to lie down and she does so surrendering her toy too. Nice! And we begin the fun all over again. As I think about this incident I can’t but feel really happy for myself! I used my big human brain instead of repeating myself a bunch of times and in the process frustrating the dog.
The fact is that when we stop labeling our dog as rebellious, dominant, stubborn etc. when they don’t comply with our request, we can "unglue” ourselves from their behavior and reinforce them instead for another behavior - in this case a sit first, then a down.
Yes, indeed, I can also spend oodles of time wondering what the motivation is behind Rio’s no compliance when asked to surrender the toy or lay down. But the reality is that in this particular instance it doesn’t really matter! What I want to do is to continue playing with her because I need to exercises her and I also want to have fun with her. The counter-command invites the dog to try something else so that she/he can be reinforced. And it allows us to move on with the training/playing session.
Another advantage of not getting into a battle of the wills with the dog is that the dog will not get frustrated. Frustration is to be expected when learning. However, the goal is also to teach the dog with the least wear & tear.
[Some] frustration is appropriate and at times and depending on the dog, the confidence and experience the particular dog has in learning if frustration can act as an "activator" in making a behavior more prone. Now, too much frustration and you have a dog that begins to lose confidence… and this my friend, is a slippery slope.
Of course, sometimes it is really important to try and understand what might be motivating a dog’s behavior. Knowing when this is relevant requires experience on our part and it must be judged on a per case basis.
For the most part, I think it is best to counter-condition so that we can continue to reinforce behavior(s) because remember: whatever behavior we reinforce we will see more of.
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