After the canine life-skills class
I'm helping to teach, Monica and I--with some occasional input from
Robin--had some good doggie discussions. Some of them are probably
of interest to others, so I'll share them here.
First, we've had a running debate about the best way to teach
"leave it." Mostly, the question is around whether the command
means "Don't touch that until I say you can," or perhaps "You are
never to touch that; I'll give you something else instead."
When I'm teaching doggie zen, I often just close my fist around the
treat until the dog gives up, and then offer it to them.
Apparently, I'm in the minority on this one. Greg, Robin, and
Monica all agree that the meaning of "leave it" should meet the
latter definition, and not the former.
While my method works reasonably well for me on a day to day basis,
it certainly translates into the dogs only leaving things alone
while they're being fixed by my gimlet gaze. The minute I stop
watching them, they feel free to snag the bit of whatever-it-is if
I haven't already scooped it up and claimed it for myself. So, the
next time I work on "leave it," I think I'll follow the group
consensus, and see how that plays out.
Monica and I also discussed reactivity in dogs. We both have dogs
that are a little more reactive than we'd like: Glindy is a bit too
excitable around other dogs, and her fur-baby is a bit too
territorial with strange men. We're making some plans to work
together one-on-one (or two-on-two if you count the dogs), so see
if we can't make a little headway on our similar problems.
On the same vein, I'm going to begin work with yet another area
trainer tomorrow on Glindy's excessive canine radar tomorrow. We're
planning to go spend the morning at a local park, and work on
reinforcing auto-watches and good quiets whenever other dogs wander
past. Working on the issue in a moderate-distraction environment
like a park sounds pretty good in theory; I hope the practice of it
measures up.
Lastly, I mentioned that I'd purchased
"You
Don't Say" from the Karen Pryor web site. It's a game for dog
trainers and enthusiasts that teaches principles of operant
conditioning and positive reinforcement by requiring the
participants to teach each other tasks non-verbally. The others all
seemed interested; we'll just have to see if we can squeeze an
evening of educational fun into our busy schedules.