[nagdu] GDB time-out

Daryl Marie crazymusician at shaw.ca
Tue May 6 13:42:13 UTC 2014


I use this method with Jenny when she's pulling or getting too excited in an unfamiliar area.  Occasionally I will have to repeat the process more than once, or extend the time to 30-60 seconds if she's not just sitting calmly.  it's improving her pulling exponentially, and I'm noticing slight improvements in other things as well.

Daryl
----- Original Message -----
From: Raven Tolliver <ravend729 at gmail.com>
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tue, 06 May 2014 07:38:33 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: [nagdu] GDB time-out

Tracy,
In the dog training field, this time-out is called negative
punishment. Negative punishment is simply removing a stimulus to
change the behavior. Another example of this is ceasing petting a dog
when he jumps up, or walking or turning away from a dog who begins
barking for attention. As soon as the dog performs an undesirable
behavior, the thing that the dog desires is removed from the
environment. That desirable thing can be a toy, attention, movement
forward on a walk, and so on; it depends on the situation. The goal is
to get the dog to understand that undesirable behaviors yield no
reward, and in this way, these behaviors are minimized or extinct. The
object is not ignoring a dog, but not rewarding the dog for
undesirable behavior.
This negative punishment doesn't necessarily need to bum the dog out
or make them sad, it just needs to convey that there is no reward for
undesirable behavior. The goal hear is not negative feelings of any
kind, but a change in behavior. A dog doesn't need to feel
disappointed in order to understand that a certain behavior is
undesirable.
I use negative punishment with every dog I train. The time-out concept
can be used with those dogs who are very high-strung, jumping onto
things or people, pulling on a leash, and in other circumstances. This
method works with all kinds of dogs.
For a time-out, just heel your dog to your side, hold the leash slack,
have him sit, and remain still , quiet, and relaxed for 10 to 15
seconds. This is not tense, angry, or frustrating. We're just calming
down and taking a breather.


On 5/6/14, Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net> wrote:
> I've been reading Sherry's GDB training journal with great interest.  She
> mentions something I never heard of before that they call a time-out.  If
> I understand correctly, when the dog, for instance, is not heeling
> properly, the person stops, holds the leash near the collar to keep the
> dog out of mischief, and stonily ignores the dog for 10 seconds.  This
> bums the dog out, and he resolves to do better.  Have I got it right?  Is
> it used in other places, besides heeling?  Have people found that it
> works?
> I'm thinking I might give it a try, when Ben is feeling sniffy.  He likes
> to keep boogying down the road; stopping and doing nothing might be an
> effective correction. Ben couldn't care less if I ignore him, but I could
> see how it might affect a softer dog.
> Tracy
>
>
>
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-- 
Raven

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