[nagdu] What's up with all the scavenging anyhow?

Buddy Brannan buddy at brannan.name
Wed Jul 1 16:20:38 UTC 2015


Hi Viviana and all,

Disclaimer: I'm still new to training, at least, training from the beginning, as Hilda is my first owner/trainer attempt, though I'm working my third program trained dog. What I say here has real possibilities of being totally, completely wrong. I'm no expert by any stretch of anyone's wildest imaginations. OK? Good.

I think the answer, like lots of answers, is somewhere in the middle. Like humans, all dogs are not the same. They're not motivated by the same things. They aren't wired for the same kinds of jobs, and they don't all learn the same either. There's a statement in a book I read that says that dogs can be taught to do anything. I agree, at least in part. While a dog can be taught to do some specific things, these things may not be things it enjoys doing or finds easy or fun. 

Treats can be a valuable training aid. So can praise. So can play. So can appropriate punishment or correction. Some dogs don't care about treats. Some care about them too much. Ditto leash corrections or some other punishment. I'd maintain that if your dog refuses to work if you don't have treats on you, one of two things is true. One of those things is *not* that training with the use of treats is inherently bad or necessarily causes problems. Anyway. Either you've done it wrong, i.e. your dog doesn't really understand the exercise, and you haven't systematically replaced the treats with something like praise (which you can't run out of), *or* you don't have a dog that is appropriate to the job. 

I confess, I don't subscribe to any one specific philosophy on this. I think training with a clicker (or, well, I hate clickers because they're too loud and another thing to forget to carry, so some kind of marker) is pretty darned useful for things. I've seen it work nicely for targeting. There are other things that, it seems to me, teaching this way is a lot more time consuming and more "traditional" methods may yield good results in less time. Having said that, it isn't fair to correct a dog for things he doesn't yet understand. For instance, in my case, I've found luring and marking to be really helpful for teaching sit, down, and come. It has been a lot harder to teach not pulling on the leash while walking, and for avoiding distractions such as, well, cats. There are also lots of things we're still working out, too. However, correction and redirection followed by praise for right action has been working pretty well for the pulling on leash. 

I believe there is good to be had everywhere. That means that I'll happily use lots of different techniques and different methods to accomplish my goals, depending on what my dog responds to and what works. 

And I could have probably said all of that better somehow.

--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: 814-860-3194 
Mobile: 814-431-0962
Email: buddy at brannan.name








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