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January 15, 2011
Animals Learning Concepts —Comments http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/AnimalsLearningConcepts/
Re: [AnimalsLearningConcepts] Observation, from a dog's POV; How effective is it, as a training method?
My interest in this would be in the introduction stage of learning a complicated chain. For example if a dog, brand new to agility work were to just sit with his/her handler and observe the routine of experienced dogs, how much easier/quicker would he/she pick up the desired tasks. And how much correlation would exist between time spent observing and time spent learning?
I'm trying to reason that, in a shelter situation, if I took ten dogs out in the yard and posted them at separate observation pads, then took turns working each one separately, how much benefit would they all gain from observing each other?
In essence, one volunteer could exercise and train ten dogs at the same time. And the relativity of learning the specific tasks themselves wouldn't be near as important as the art of learning how to learn, all while being preoccupied by disciplined observation. What do you think? I can’t wait to try this out this spring.
Dale Davis – author, trainer, volunteer
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January 15, 2011, 10:48 AM Shelter Trainers Group Comments
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/sheltertrainers/message/17435
Will that "somebody who understands" and "is not afraid of the dog" walk into the shelter any time soon? The "adult only, knowledgeable in behavior modification, wants a project dog" person visits a shelter few and far between.
I know we all wish we could fix all the problem dogs and send them off to their forever homes with no problems.
Depending on the age of the dog (is it a puppy?), the mouthing sounds like a fear response.
Was the dog evaluated prior to being adopted out the first time? What did the evaluation show? The dog was returned twice?
We have had many lovely dogs brought into our shelter that were wonderful until we invaded their comfort zone during their evaluation.Liability, liability, liability.
Vickie P.
I know we all wish we could fix all the problem dogs and send them off to their forever homes with no problems.
Depending on the age of the dog (is it a puppy?), the mouthing sounds like a fear response.
Was the dog evaluated prior to being adopted out the first time? What did the evaluation show? The dog was returned twice?
We have had many lovely dogs brought into our shelter that were wonderful until we invaded their comfort zone during their evaluation.Liability, liability, liability.
Vickie P.
"Invading their comfort zone."
Food example: It's both instinct and learned behavior for a dog to guard and possess their food. It's normal and natural behavior until one learns to submit, peacefully. I find it hard to believe that temperament testing results (food possession/aggression) will condemn a dog to death for just protecting their food bowl, without at least first giving some proper training, for proper etiquette.
"Liability, liability, liability."
Simple basic understanding of canine behavior should be an absolute minimum standard requirement to adopt a dog in the first place. I have seen so many people who are fearful of their own dogs because they don't understand them. They have no communication skills at all, other than verbal language, and they are fearful of what they don’t understand, and that marks the beginning of distrust and fear of their own dog. And the dogs know this, they can smell indecision, fear, distrust, and self-doubt, and so, they then take charge and develop all kinds of bad behavior habits. (think food bowl)
We need to stop blaming the dogs for the short comings of the owners. We need to train the people to train their own dogs and that will eliminate all liability, reduce returns, and make for many, many more happy ‘forever homes’.
Dale Davis – author, trainer, volunteer
