" As dire as things are in the dog training world , we can change things very quickly . I think reward-training is at a critical ( do or die ) juncture . I so desperately want to ensure that the APDT , the CCPDT , and the Foundation , ( all my ‘ children ’) remain at the head of the pack to decide the future of the dog training profession worldwide ."
" As dire as things are in the dog training world , we can change things very quickly . I think reward-training is at a critical ( do or die ) juncture . I so desperately want to ensure that the APDT , the CCPDT , and the Foundation , ( all my ‘ children ’) remain at the head of the pack to decide the future of the dog training profession worldwide ."
6 . We must Replace / Rewrite the Century-Old Learning Theory ( devised from laboratory computers training caged rats using food pellets and shock ) with an understandable , applied methodology that works for people teaching / training all animals off-leash , humans included . The theory we are teaching ( and certifying ) doesn ’ t work that well , primarily because it lacks effectiveness , is barely relevant for people training dogs off-leash , and next to impossible for people to administer feedback with the same consistency and timing of a computer , which although being beneficial for praise , life rewards , and the occasional food reward , is an absolute disaster when using any aversive stimulus . People need speedy and effective training techniques that are easily mastered , champion inconsistency , and don ’ t fail with ill-timing , i . e ., lure / reward training with verbal feedback . Can you imagine the gift this would be for dogs , dog owners , parents , teachers , bosses , etc .?
7 . Reevaluate LIMA , Yet Again — with an emphasis on quantifying the effectiveness of different reward training techniques , as well as ensuring techniques are off-leash ( handsoff ). Praise , life rewards , and occasional food rewards for desirable behavior , offering verbal guidance for misbehavior , and persistent , verbal insistence for non-compliance . No aversive technique could possibly approximate the high response-reliability percentages of lure / reward training , because they max . out at 97-98 % following a single instruction .
Why Minimally Aversive ? Why not NON-Aversive like it was back in the 80s and 90s . I talked about Non-Aversive ‘ Punishment ’ for years in my seminars ( all archived in DunbarAcademy . com , especially in the ‘ Science-Based Training with Feeling ’ seminar ) but then realized the various concepts were not written down — hence , my latest book .
When shaping ( with clickers ) was first introduced to the dog world — Kathleen Chin hosting Karen Pryor ( speaking ) and Gary Wilkes ( training ), initially , luring was discouraged * by ‘ pureshapers . By failing to focus on initially teaching verbally-cued behaviors , shapers were at a total loss for what to do to quickly and effectively deal with non-compliance and misbehavior and so thought , a ‘ little aversive ’ might be necessary on occasions .
However , when dogs are lure / reward trained and so , learn ESL , trainers have an arsenal of words at their disposal for verbal ( instructive ) guidance .
* I think the notion was that if an animal leaned ‘ by itself ’ and was not lured , it learned ‘ better ’, which of course is nonsense . Once a dog has learned something , it knows it , period . There is no evidence that response-reliability percentages differ whether an animal has been lured or shaped to proficiency . Proficiency is proficiency . The big difference , lure / reward training is a much quicker route to verbally cuing proficiency .
Least Intrusive ? I don ’ t think that being ‘ intrusive ’ is necessarily bad . There are times when we must intervene for our dog ’ s safety and quickly and utterly change their behavior . But even during day-to-day training ( living with a dog ), I want to totally intrude into the dog ’ s brain to better understand its feelings , emotions , and motives , just as much as I hope the dog will intrude in mine — kinda like a doggy Vulcan mind-meld . Moreover , I almost entirely train off-leash as an ongoing check that the dog is perfectly happy to train together . I have always thought that TINA should be the new LIMA . Totally Intrusive , Non-Aversive .
8 . Bring Our Voice Back to Dog Training ! — Resuscitate Lure / Reward Training to teach ESL and at the same time , routinely test comprehension of the words we use for : 1 . Verbal instructions prior to task , 2 . Ongoing verbal guidance and persistent insistence when dogs err , and PRAISE ( as a mega-secondary reinforcer ) for a good job well done . The FIRST stage of lure / reward training comprises phasing out food lures during the very first session !!! Many trainers have forgotten this . Moreover , the progressive , decreased emphasis on teaching and testing comprehension ( by monitoring response-reliability of the words we
The APDT Chronicle of the Dog | Spring 2024 17