[nagdu] how dogs learn

[Shanna Stichler]

That's really phenomenal, Tami! I need to give my dog more credit and 
see what she does. Diamond is one who tends to learn by doing, I think, 
but she at least only needs one or two repetitions to get a task down. 
My last dog appreciated sniffing breaks on routes, but this one is 
pretty much always on a mission, even out of harness. lol

Shanna and Diamond
On 8/29/2013 10:14 AM, Tami Jarvis wrote:
> Julie,
>
> Interesting observations. I think you're right. Mitzi is definitely a 
> visual learner and much prefers planning routes to just going where I 
> tell her to go when it's time to make a turn. She's kinda extreme, in 
> that she can look out a 2nd story window and figure out where things 
> are on the grounds below and how to get there. She's done it a couple 
> of times, or looked off a stair landing and known where a landmark 
> like "the desk" is for a find. I do not believe dogs can do that, but 
> when I experiment with it, she's really consistent.
>
> So with sniffing. Life is easier if I give her sniff time, which I've 
> heard can be the case with poodles. Sniff breaks are also a good 
> working break, like a coffee and cigarette break for humans. She picks 
> up a lot with passing sniffs, too. When we go on a route for a sniff 
> 'n stroll after having worked it, she seems to have a list of places 
> for thorough sniffing and is quite busy going from one to the other. 
> Cracks me up.
>
> I've never figured out exactly how she conducts a "find human X" in a 
> large store. It seems to be a combination of sight and smell and maybe 
> sound... When DD is wandering about shopping and taking his time, it 
> can be interesting to go get ourselves lost, then put her on find and 
> see what happens and try to figure out how she is doing it.
>
> She will also "wrangle a human," which means find a store clerk. I 
> don't know how that works, either. She can pick out clerks from 
> customers apparently. She uses the same technique I've always used 
> once one is found but is busy with another customer. Strange. And how 
> does she know? I once absent-mindedly ask her where the computers 
> were, and she took me to them in a huge sprawling store the first time 
> we were there. Then she wrangled a human and we trailed at a polite 
> distance until he was free.
>
> So fitting in her sniffing and staring needs can be a PITA on hectic 
> days, but she picks up a heck of a lot of info apparently. Some days I 
> need to put in more effort than I like dealing with unapproved random 
> sniffing as a result. She's funny, though. She only goes nuts that way 
> when there's nothing for me to run into or trip over... It's still 
> annoying, but then when we get to a tricky spot she's all business. 
> She is a very strange critter.
>
> Jetta does sound like a smart one! Boy, are you in trouble. /lol/
>
> Tami
>
> On 08/29/2013 07:03 AM, Julie J. wrote:
>> I was talking to Kiddo the other day and the topic of how dogs learn 
>> came up.  It is well established that people have a preferred 
>> learning method, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, maybe there’s more, 
>> but those are the modes that come to mind.  Anyway we were talking 
>> about Jetta and how she was most definitely a visual learner.  When 
>> she sees something she’s not sure about, she likes to plop her behind 
>> into a sit and look at the new thing until it makes sense to her.  
>> Monty learns visually, but I think he’s more a kinesthetic learner. 
>> He’s a moving and doing sort of dog, so it makes sense.   I also 
>> think dogs learn a lot by scent.  Generally though sniffing things is 
>> discouraged by guide dogs.  So I got to thinking...do you think 
>> discouraging sniffing, especially among puppies during the early 
>> socialization time, inhibits their ability to learn about the world 
>> around them?     Do you think disallowing all sniffing all the time 
>> can cause frustration or other problems in an adu
> lt guide dog?  Or do you think dogs even have preferred modes of 
> learning like people do?  Could scent be one of these?
>>
>> Curiously,
>> Julie
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