This is not news to anyone who knows me: I am not a Big Fan of telling dogs what they are (supposedly) doing wrong as a method of training.
This is because — in my experience, observations, etc. — telling a dog (or a human) — she is wrong when we have not explained clearly what is right in a way that they really understand is just kind of mean.
An example — not of meanness! — but just an illustration of what I am saying (or trying to say).
Photo by Suzanne of Sparkle and Daisy, Sundance behind them (to support his dream of a harem ;) and Skylar practicing social distancing.
Somebody had the audacity to ride a horse on the road we use to walk dogs — and apparently forgot the giant garbage bag needed to scoop the poop.
Daisy headed over to restock the probiotics in her gut, which is a nice way to say she was going to eat said horse manure; I instructed her to leave it.
And so she did — because Daisy knows what leave it means.
What if Daisy had eaten it anyway?
I would have acknowledged that my leave it training needed work, and just walked over and interrupted her snack (while gagging).
Not a big deal. Just information.
On the way back, I was distracted and turned to see Sparkle gleefully ROLLING in the giant pile of green road apples.
Since she has not been trained to avoid doing this — and I had not given her any information contrary to her desires — any kind of punishment or error message would have been unfair to Sparkle.
Dogs are not mind readers, after all.
I called Sparkle and she came, pretty darn proud of her new scent.
Suzanne, always able to see the bright side, noted that at least Sparkle wasn’t green. True — and funny.
She still got a bath (Sparkle — not Suzanne).
Ignoring Sparkle’s blissful application of eau de Horse Dung doesn’t make me a good dog trainer — it just means I try to be fair.
Fairness matters to me. A lot.
Error messages in dog training tend to be unfair — but I also believe it is unfair and unkind (and frustrating) to make dog training into a guessing game because we lack the skills and the will to actually train to clear expectations.
If you have gotten this far with me — thank you!
Here is the pandemic part — I think there are a lot of error messages happening these days. We are inundated with “don’t do this and “don’t do that” and “OMG I cannot believe you rolled in that.”
Those messages might be important and may save lives — but they are also a bit of a bummer and not the only (or best) way to convey important information.
I think we might need to change the channel.
Don’t just leaves a vacuum or a void — we some do’s to fill it.
In dog training and in pandemics.
I am good at training dogs in ways that avoid all the “don’ts” — now I am pondering how to apply those skills to this unwanted and scary New Normal we are living.
Life With Dogs — who knew it would offer useful tools for a pandemic?!