I was looking at my dog, Stella, this morning and wondering to myself, does she really want me to be her leader? It was obvious by the look on her face that she was definitely interested in my poached egg. She was sitting obediently across the room, wagging fiercely and staring adoringly. Egg? Absolutely. Leader? I don’t know.
A lot of trainers, even some respected reward-based trainers, are still big on the idea of establishing yourself as a pack leader and garnering your dog’s respect. You have to admit, that’s a pretty heavy burden for a lot of people.
The first time I really communicated with my dog was when she was 12 weeks old. We were learning “stay.” I was standing about 20 feet away. She was sitting facing me. Our eyes were locked. I sighed. Then she sighed. There was no doubt in my mind that she wasn’t going to move until I said so.
This wasn’t some psychic connection. Though, it was really cool. She’d learned pretty quickly that good stuff happened if she stayed put. I’d praise her; slip her a treat; smile. And when the exercise was over we’d play a little. It was all good stuff. The key was starting easy and building up. We’d do short stays at first. Little by little we’d add distance, duration or distractions (The 3 D’s). When she messed up (or I messed up), we’d start over and do it again.
My training method is very old-school Learning Theory. B.F. Skinner developed it in the early 20th century and it’s worked like a charm ever since. Most sea mammal trainers use Learning Theory. And a lot of human behavior therapy has its roots in Learning Theory. The idea is simple: behavior with a favorable consequence is increased. Behavior with a unfavorable consequence is decreased. In a short time the environment or a person can trigger a behavior even when the consequence is absent.
There are tons of examples in our human lives. But let’s stick with dogs. My dog used to get treats and lots of fan fare for staying. Now, all I have to do is say “stay” and she just does it. In her case “stay” is a conditioned behavior. And interestingly enough, the science of behavior conditioning works with all animals. When I was a kid I had tropical fish in an aquarium. Every time I opened the lid of the aquarium they all swam to the top. Day after day that behavior (swimming to the top) had a positive consequence (feeding). But very quickly the conditioned behavior got locked in. They swam to the top every time I opened the lid regardless of whether or not I had food.
Now, of course, all the rage on TV is communicating with your dog like a dog. I guess the idea is to influence your dog’s behavior by imitating the mother dog or the pack leader. Usually this boils down to inflicting some type of punishment on or around the dog’s neck. Some trainers grab the dog by the scruff of the neck and shake. But it’s more common that they put a collar on the dog that temporarily chokes him. There are also lots of rules about passing through doorways, sleeping locations and who eats what and when. Everything will be okay they say if you dog perceive you as leader.
But, there’s a problem. Most domestic dogs don’t learn how to live with human beings from other dogs. They learn it from… well… human beings. And, they’re very good at it. It’s no wonder really, dogs have co-evolved with us for thousands of years. A recent Harvard study drives the point home. Researchers wanted to know which animal could best read human behavior cues: a chimpanzee, a tame wolf or a dog. Genetically speaking, chimpanzees are our closest animal cousin and actually share some of our non-verbal behavior traits. Wolves have brains significantly bigger than a dog’s. But it was the domestic dog (canis lupus familiaris) would could read our behavior cues the best (Hare, 2003). Of course! They know us the best.
So, what about being the pack leader? I tend not to worry about that too much. There is actually a great deal of evidence that suggests dogs don’t form packs in quite the same way wolves and other canids do. Most domestic breeds, for example, won’t hunt and kill for food (much less in an organized pack). Dogs, many of whom come into heat more than once a year, will breed indiscriminately (unlike wolves who maintain a breeding pair). And even biologists who specialize in wolves have a hard time discerning a true pack leader in a group of domestic dogs. Researchers tracked a group of strays in Brazil for more than a year. They observed them scavenging for food (never hunting); they saw them wandering and breeding freely; but they never identified an alpha male or female (Coppinger and Coppinger, 2001)
It is true that some dogs are more timid than others. And some will appear to be stronger and more assertive than others. And, yes, dogs do bite the scruffs of each other’s necks. They also growl and hump and posture. They even communicate with facial expressions. But don’t forget what the Harvard dogs taught us. They understand us perhaps even better than we understand them. They learn our cues, both verbal and nonverbal, even better than chimps. And it doesn’t take them long.
My dog was only 12 weeks old when I first saw that. We were locked in a stay. Both of us were relaxed. And the message was clear. “We’re communicating.” I was learning how to train her. She was learning how to read my cues. And, sure enough, it was working.
Juno late in life still holding a perfect “stay”
That was the beginning. Over the past 11 years my dog has traveled the U.S. learning and helping others learn. She’s worked as a therapy dog in nursing homes and a demonstration dog at training events. She’s even starred in a play. She’s not a puppy anymore. Her body is a little stiffer and her face has gone white with age. But I’ll never forget that day we first connected. I wish she could stay forever.
Michael Baugh teaches dog training in Houston, TX. His beloved dog, Juno, died in October 2009 at age 11 1/2.
We teach our dogs to jump on us. I hope that comes as no surprise. Watch how we interact with dogs, especially puppies. They run to new people with boundless excitement and jump up to greet them. We love it, right? Puppies are small and adorable. We bend down to pet them, chat them up with a little baby talk and sometimes even pick them up so they can kiss our faces. Puppies learn from almost day-one that the best way to get the ultimate human interactive experience is to, you guessed it, jump on them.
Apollo at 11 weeks (sitting politely)
It hardly seems fair that about 5 months into the process we decide to change the rules on them. But of course that’s exactly what we do. Adolescent puppies can be big and awkward. We may not have learned to trim their nails yet, so those are sharp enough to hurt us. Our puppy still runs with that boundless energy but he’s faster and stronger. Now that cute puppy just seems rude to us. But watch what people do even with older puppies. The dog jumps. We still pet. I’ve seen it hundreds of times. Even if we don’t like the dog’s jumping we still seem compelled to reward it with petting.
Stop. If we’re going to change the rules on our adolescent dog let’s at least be clear about it. No more petting for jumping. Let’s decide from now on the dog now gets nothing at all if there’s an accidental jumping episode: no touching, no talking, no nothin’. And be careful. There’s a trap here. Even punishment counts as interaction. Yelling at your dog for jumping or grabbing his paws or kneeing his chest are all reactions to his jumping (the latter can cause serious injury). Your dog is jumping to seek attention and sure enough you’re giving it to him. Stop.
Read on because this is only one part of the plan. And it’s the hardest part. Cutting off reinforcement for bad behavior (above) is not the same as ignoring bad behavior. Please remember that. We’re actually paying very close attention to solving this problem. Admittedly, it is very hard to let a dog figure out on his own that jumping doesn’t work. As a trainer I have no problem putting on my jeans and an old t-shirt and letting a 6-month old Golden Retriever jump on my until she figures out I’m not responding to that behavior (it usually takes less than 5 minutes). But I also know you may not have the patience for it. Turning your back on the dog helps. Leaving the room helps. Patiently waiting with your arms folded and your gaze averted to the ceiling helps. You’ve heard all these solutions but they are only part of the plan.
We’ve taught our dogs how to greet us the wrong way. Certainly we can teach them the right way. I love few things more than the sight of an energetic dog running towards a person full speed and then sliding into a sit. I guarantee you every basic obedience class in town teaches this (it’s called a recall – but most of us call it “coming when called”). The preferred method of teaching recall with a sit involves treating the behavior. That’s because behavior followed by positive reinforcement gets stronger (remember how much petting made your dog jump more?). So, treat and praise to your heart’s content. You dog will get really good at coming when called and sitting.
We’ve left a bit of room for error here and I want to tidy that up. A lot of dogs will sit for us, get a treat or a pet and then jump on us. I guess jumping must feel really good. Or maybe they can’t contain themselves. No matter, there is the simple solution of behavior management here. Let your dog drag his leash around the house (I prefer a simple 6 foot leash). Make sure you only do this when you can supervise him. Definitely do it when guests are coming over. Now imagine that cute 6 month old Golden Retriever bolting up for you and sitting nicely. While you praise, pet or treat her, deftly step on that leash at the same time. If you hit the leash somewhere in the middle she won’t have much room to jump up on you even if she tries. The leash will stop her a few inches into that jump. It’s even easier to do with a visitor since you’ll have the leash in hand to start. Letting your guest greet the dog while you step on the leash gives your dog a chance to learn how to do it right. Of course dogs who are shuttled away to a crate or taken on a walk when guests come over do not suffer. But they also don’t learn how to greet properly either.
Okay, let’s review this stuff.
1. Stop reinforcing jumping: no petting, talking or even reacting in a punishing way. Turning your back or passively waiting for the jumping behavior to extinguish can work but it takes heroic patience. (See step 3).
2. Teach the right way for your dog to greet: always come when called and sit for pets, praise and treats (there are tons of reward-based trainers in town who teach this).
3. Finally, management: block jumping behavior by stepping on the leash. This helps prevent your dog from successfully practicing jumping on people.
I can already hear some keyboards clicking away with a response to this blog. Yes, I know you or you neighbor or your Uncle Ralph slapped a choke collar on and solved the jumping problem faster than lightning by whipping the dog into shape. Cool. I don’t teach that method for a number of reasons. But debating force-based training versus reward-based is not really what this blog is about.
That said, I invite you all to share your experiences. Better yet, post a picture of you and your dog. Few things in life are as nice as a picture of a person and a dog in happy times. They’re not with us that long. So, live it up.
