Post-Op

Big S is back today and back to life, after a hellacious evening. Her vet, Dr. Morse Davis of Kingsbrook Animal Hospital removed her tumor and left about a 12" incision. Poor girl will be resting for quite some time.

My Gentle Giant

The big girl goes in for surgery today - the doc will be removing one mast cell tumor and another bump on her leg. Poor girl has been through so much in her life - she's such a fighter that she makes me proud. Cross your fingers for a speedy recovery...I know she'll fight me the whole way! Even though she's a pretty lazy dog, when S wants something, she gets it. If you tell her she can't go upstairs to lie down in her parents' bed, she will sneak away like a ninja. My big, stinky-eared ninja.

Quote of the Day

Alright, yes, you caught me. I'm blog-bombing. You'll have to forgive me. And when you're done forgiving, enjoy a little quote from my Dog Fancy calendar:

"I used to look at [my dog] Smokey and think, "If you were a little smarter, you could tell me what you were thinking,' and he'd look at me like he was saying, 'If you were a little smarter, I wouldn't have to.'" -- Fred Junglaus

Aw, how true.

Dogs aren't stupid...humans are for thinking they are.

I don't know Karate...

but I know Kah-razy!!

That's it folks - B's crazy-eye (more formally known amongst veterinarian professionals as cherry eye)is gone!! Thanks to Germantown Vet Clinic, her little red bump that we've grown to love is gone. Now I can see her big beautiful liquid eyes. **sigh** She's still bat-sh*t nuts, though. Baby steps.

Dogster - What breed of dog are you?

Clicker Con 2009!!

ClickerExpo was this past weekend. Imagine a Star Trek convention sans costumes and theme music. Instead of light sabers, we were armed with clickers. It's so embarrasingly wonderful to be a geek!

But seriously.

While going to a conference full of people who share your same beliefs, ideals and interests is amazing enough, ClickerExpo 2009 blew my mind and positive training continues to wow me daily. So, I will continue to discuss positive vs. negative because it's a worthy battle. I was once blind but now I see and it's only appropriate for me to help others see as well.

Positive vs. negative
The scariest thing about punishment-based training is that it works. However, its successes are its very downfall. To be good at punishing (just typing that makes my skin crawl) you have to have impeccable timing and enough force to correct the behavior the first time but not so much that you traumatize the animal. Go ahead – read that line again, you know you have to. It’s like a complicated math equation – it makes you think too much (that’s assuming you’re like me and horrible at math)! So here, I’ll say it again:

"To be good at punishing … you have to have impeccable timing and enough force to correct the behavior the first time but not so much that you traumatize the animal."

Well, great, now that we’ve been warned and we understand the rules, let the punishing commence...right!? Uh, no, it’s not that simple. I’m going to explain this using my own spin on an example from L (smartdoguniversity.com):

Imagine you want a diet Pepsi from the vending machine. This is the same machine you get a diet Pepsi from every single day and you’ve been doing this for the last year. Every single day, you insert a dollar and out comes your diet Pepsi. One day, for no known reason, one of those boxing gloves pops out of the front and punches you right in the face when you reach to grab your soda. What the @*#@!!??

“wow. That was weird…” you say, and you duck this time before reaching for the soda again.

BAM! Another glove pops out and punches you in the face. This is when good ol' animal instinct steps in. You will perform several actions in the next few minutes. You will:

a) Try to get faster and predict when the glove comes out – but you’re still willing to try again because diet Pepsi is soooooo good!

b) Give up entirely – that Pepsi isn’t worth another punch to the face. In fact, NO Pepsi is worth getting punched in the face. Is this going to happen every time!?!? Should I choose another soda!? Did I not put in enough money?? Should I try another machine?? Is it the Pepsi or the machine that caused that??

c) Punch the machine right back - that stupid thing can't and won't stop you!

Let's use the same scenario: you are getting a soda from the vending machine just as you do every day. Except today, unlike every other day, no soda comes out. Perplexed and mildly irritated, you press the button a million times (just to make sure the machine understood) and *sigh* insert another dollar. This time, you’re hoping you get that soda you want so much. Alas, no soda comes out again. The third time around, you will:

a) Put in yet another dollar, hoping 3rd time’s a charm. You might even make that corny joke aloud, “welp, let’s hope third time’s a charm, right Bill? *chuckle, chuckle*”

OR

b) Give up entirely.

What you won’t do is stand there all day, putting your hard-earned dollar bills into the machine and still expect a soda. At some point, you are done with this game. You learned (hopefully quickly) that this behavior isn’t paying off. In fact, it’s costing you big time! That doesn’t mean you will forever give up on vending machines. You might even try again tomorrow. If tomorrow, you get the same results (the machine is providing consistency, in other words) you will begin to give up on that particular machine. You’re a little perturbed you lost so much cash, but no one had to shock you, yell at you or hit you to convince you that this isn’t going to work.

That, my friends, is one of the differences between training with positive reinforcement vs. negative reinforcement. Both may eventually yield the same results but one comes with much more baggage than the other, not to mention how deadly accurate (tee hee...a pun) you have to be with negative reinforcement.

Most people I talk to say that they don’t really like using harsh punishment/corrections anyway. If you’re one of those people, liberate yourself and your dog. With negative training, the worst that can happen is actually pretty bad! You can end up with an aggressive, emotionally-damaged dog! I'd say that's pretty serious! With positive training, however, the worst that can happen is your dog is happy from receiving positive reinforcement and interacting with you. It may require that you get a little creative with training, but your dog still respects you at the end of the day. That's not so horrible, now is it?

-E

If you want the perfect dog...

...keep trying. I know. Such a misleading title. I'm sure you were heavy with anticipation, "LOOK! HOW TO HAVE THE PERFECT DOG!" Well, sorry. Perfect is sometimes farther away than you think...and I'm guessing along the way, you begin to change what you think perfection is.

My dog, B, as many of you know, is dog-reactive. She and I have been attacking (no pun intended) this problem head-on since December. As many trainers will agree, there are good days and there are bad days. Today was yet another bad day.

We successfully passed three dogs without so much as a bark in their direction when I decided to head to the tennis courts for some safe, off-leash fun. B got to play a fun game of chase with the stick. J and I did tag-team recall drills - sounds less fun than it really is. B loves it! She gets to run back and forth between us as fast as her little legs will carry her to the piece of chicken each of us is holding. That's when I saw our next challenge: the neighborhood pug. I know this pug - she's not really a threat at all. She kind of bumbles, if that's really a verb. So it was little surprise that I was able to redirect B's attention after a couple huffs towards the pug. Success!

That's when I noticed how successful we really were up until that moment. Just on the other side of the tennis courts, there are kids playing tackle with their parents (B doesn't like kids running around...probably because they resemble little dogs), there are three other kids flying a HUGE orange kite (B loves to chase birds, especially pterodactyls!!) and everyone is screaming during all this afternoon play. To put myself in B's...uh...shoes, I often close my eyes and take in all the sounds. Then I try to imagine that multiplied by a factor that I honestly just made up because I can't begin to imagine how well dogs must hear. It's amazing how many senses they employ at once and almost all of them are beyond our capacity. So this helps me empathize and understand her small successes. I realize she's truly taking in much more than I give her credit for. Good job B.

Enter: the proud Scottish terrier.-complete with a fresh haircut and snazzy red coat. This Scotty was all B needed to end her successful streak. The chicken no longer means anything to her. The Scott needs to be put in his place and Big B has volunteered for the job. I can't get her attention, I can't redirect her, she's practically choking herself in her wild and ambiguous display behaviors...I'm spilling chicken everywhere, the leash is getting tangled around my legs, my nose is dripping from the freezing weather...it's too much at one time and I lose it. Thankfully, not on B. Nope, I manage to escort her across the tennis courts to let her (and me!) deflate. I can feel the rage building inside me, making my veins hot and my eyes sting. WHY CAN'T I HAVE A NORMAL FLIPPING DOG!?! WHY DID I GET STUCK WITH THIS ONE!!!??? IT'S NOT FAIR! EVERYONE ELSE GETS TO ENJOY PEACEFUL WALKS WITH THEIR DOGS AND I HAVE TO ENDURE THE EMBARRASSMENT AND CONFUSION FOR THE BOTH OF US!! I leave the courts and fall to the grass and cry...B still tethered around my wrist. Boy. What a leader I am. I'm sobbing uncontrollably (quite a site, I'm sure) when B's gorgeous brown eyes look at me and she shoves her face in to my chest. It comforts me to think she does that to console me. I'm snotting all over myself as I beg the question aloud "WHY??? We try so hard...when will there be something to show for this??" That's when J reminds me the importance of B's position in this family.

If B was the perfect dog, I would never have called the trainer/behaviorist I now study under, L, at Smart Dog University. I might not have discovered my passion and potential for dog training. It's B's high needs that drove me to "fix" her. I wanted to understand her but more importantly, I wanted her problem behavior to go away. The main thing I'm learning on this journey is: it might not ever go away. This might be who my B really is. Talk about unconditional love. Isn't that why many people are dog lovers in the first place? Because they feel dogs offer unconditional love? So how ironic is it that instead of finding it flowing freely from my dog, I'm learning that it's me who loves my dog unconditionally. B might never be "fixed"...some days, this is too much for me to bear. On good days, though, it keeps me creative. I have to think of ways for us to enjoy each other's company that doesn't involve frustrating situations. She's taught me patience and compassion - although I'm far from being the Dali Lama. She's helped me realize my dream and every day encourages me to be that much better. All she asks for in return is food and somewhere soft to sleep at night. Okay, and the occasional free petting.

So, before giving up on yourself and your troubled pet, evaluate how deep your love and respect goes for that animal. If you want the perfect dog, you're going to have to work [hard] for it.

"To err is human:To forgive, canine." -- Anonymous


**this blog is in no way a substitute for a professional trainer or behaviorist. If your dog has signs of aggression, it is suggested that you seek the advice of a professional**