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24 May, 2006Culture Clash
Lately I have been really concentrating my efforts on training Kyla and paying attention to meeting all her dogly needs. In fact my house is just one big training camp, for both me and the canine. But anyway. Dog behavior has become truly fascinating to me since I picked up this book: Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson.
It is primarily about operant conditioning in dogs. The amount of information it contains is somewhat overwhelming, which is why I’m reading straight through, trying to comprehend as much as possible, and then I’m going to re-skim it and make notes or mark sections that I want to review or actively use.
It talks about everything from how to stimulate your dog’s brain, feed their predation instincts, teach a non-fetching dog to fetch (holy crap it WORKS, Kyla now fetches when before she stared at me like I was an idiot when I’d throw a ball), how to properly play tug of war games and of course basic training moves (sit, down, stay).
It’s not a step by step dog training manual; it’s more of an essay on what dog training is and how it works. It teaches the science and common sense behind how dogs learn, the steps of teaching an operant (sit, stay, fetch), how to reinforce behavior and how to feed the dog information and create consequences for behaviors, rather than concentrating on saying the right word or using the right tone of voice.
The book covers using food as a primary motivator, and dispels the myth that a dog should obey “to please the owner.” Dogs are innocently selfish. They want to please no one but themselves. That doesn’t make them bad dogs or immoral creatures, it just is how they are. Dogs want to obey because it causes good things to happen for dogs. She encourages you to stop agonizing over your dog’s lack of worship for you and just love them exactly how they are.
It dispels the myth that most problems in dogs are caused by dominance (*cough* no thanks to you, Dog Whisperer *cough*) and encourages you to stop agonizing over WHY WHY WHY does a dog do this or that behavior, and get to reinforcing the behavior you WANT instead. Dogs don’t have big moral agendas. They pee on the carpet because it’s a porous surface and they need to go. They chew the couch because it’s there, HELLO. They bark at strangers and other dogs because, well, they’re dogs. This book makes so much sense (see the chapter “It’s all chew toys to them”) and I wish Jean Donaldson had a show instead of the Dog Whisperer. After reading this (and talking to several dog trainers/behaviorists) I realize how many of the techniques he uses are simply dog abuse. It sucks. (Sorry Kyla for trying some of them on you, I didn’t know what I was doing.)
It also talks about how to be a GOOD dog trainer, and a study that showed the difference between a good trainer and an ineffective one really struck me. The good trainers were speedy, reinforced often and gave immediate feedback clues to the tune of 10 per minute. The lousy trainers were slow, which often reinforced the wrong behavior (the dog would sit, but then stand up and sneeze and by the time the trainer reinforced the sit, the dog was sneezing: sneezing was reinforced), they didn’t give enough feedback (2 per minute average), etc. Dogs who had won obedience titles were included in the study and even they started pulling on leash, ignoring the trainers, etc. when the feedback clues were reduced.
The book also talks extensively about using aversives (punishment) on dogs, and how devastating it can be. If you don’t know what you’re doing, aversives will not stop behaviors, they will merely stop behaviors IN YOUR PRESENCE. Dogs don’t know right and wrong, they know safe and dangerous. That’s why a dog may never chew the furniture when you’re looking, but as soon as you leave, the couch gets munched. It’s safe to do it when you’re not around to yell/shake/grab at the dog.
There’s a wealth of information that I can’t even skim the surface of, but I highly recommend picking up this book if you are at all interested in dog behavior. I am learning so much.
In other news, they are cutting a hole in the back wall of our office. The aim is to turn a former storage room (where old office furniture went to die) into an archive room where we’ll have freezers full of plates, slides, etc. As a result there is this awful glue/varnish smell permeating every molecule of air on the 3rd floor. It is truly heinous. Being a pansy, drugfree lightweight that hasn’t ever so much as smoked a joint in my young life, my brain is mush right now. I have the most awful headache I can ever remember having. I can’t wait to get outside at lunch.
In other OTHER news, the Couch to 5K program is intimidating me for the rest of this week. Check out the workout regimen:
Tuesday: jog 5 minutes, walk 3, jog 5, walk 3, jog 5 (DONE!)
Thursday: jog 8, walk 5, jog 8 (okay the 8s are new but I can probably do this)
Saturday: jog 20 (??!??!?!)
That seems to ramp up awfully fast, and jogging 20 minutes straight sounds like hell personified. I know the POINT of this program is to run for a long time. Yes I know that, I just didn’t know it would be this week. People who run know that 20 minutes is a long time when you’re starting out on a training program. For those of you who think it’s easy, YOU try it. I know superfit people who can do cardio stuff for hours but that can’t run. I’m encouraged and impressed with myself that in spite of being “obese”, I can already run 15 minutes out of 25, and will run 20 straight by the end of the week. In fact I think I’ll do a spontaneous soul train in my honor.
Also, I have changed the date of my first 5K race. Turns out the one I signed up for is at the exact same time as Gracie’s high school graduation, so I’m not running that one. The new race is the Allen Stone Memorial 5K on July 22. There’s also a run-swim-run event, which should be fun to watch, apparently lots of hot military guys participate in this one. I’ll be the slow person on the boardwalk at the back of the 5K. Come check it out.
Oh, and if you’re clicking over from the Apartment Therapy: Chicago site, thanks for looking at my closet. Feel free to peruse any categories on the right that might interest you. I recommend Daily Click and My House for designery things.
Comments
I'm also in the midst of the Couch to 5K right now, and last night was my 90 seconds running, 90 seconds not, 3 minutes running, 3 minutes not night. My boyfriend goes with me, and he actually can run, so our sessions always end with me shouting at him, 'god how much is left!?!" I find 3 minutes hard; 20? Ha. But I also added in an extra month just in case-- my 5K is mid-August.
I liked your closet but are these seriously ALL the clothes and shoes you own?
And what about dirt from the shoes getting on the clothes?
Just curious!
PS: my closets are a big mess!
Carly, good luck with your race!
Peacelamp, yes those are all my clothes and shoes (and actually that pic is from the winter, I have purged about 1/3 of what is there!). I've never been a big clothes hound because I hate most of what is offered in plus size clothing. And since I've gone down two (coming up on three) sizes in the past few months, and plan on reducing further, I haven't replenished anything. But I'll be forced to soon, as the smallest items I own are too big on me now. It looks funny.
Plus size clothes are so expensive, and to have to buy a new size every month or two, prohibitively so. What can I say, I wear black pants to work like every day.
i love the culture clash book. i got it before i brought home my first dog (my lab lily)... and truly believe i had so much success with her because of it :) i'm not perfect at it, and it shows with her... but i know they are my mistakes, and i can see where my faults in her training lie. i wish i could make every dog owner read that book! :)
I'm so glad you mentioned this book! I have it and haven't started reading it yet. I'm glad you find it so useful!
OK so I checked out the other reviews on Amazon, and they are REALLY MIXED. People either love it or hate it... kinda a weird combo.
Yeah, I know.
I guess it depends who you believe regarding dog behavior, the camp of people who believe in using positive rewards/reinforcement to condition desired responses, or the people who use aversives to "stop" bad behavior.
The thing with Cesar Millan is, his "calm submission" that he wants dogs to achieve is nothing less than the dog being de-behaviorized. The leash corrections and collar jerks aren't FOR any one specific bad behavior, so the dog has no idea why it's being punished. The way he uses them is like delivering a random electric shock to an animal at random intervals (like when he jerks on the leash every time the dog turns its head while on a walk - it's a DOG, they wanna look around). The dog doesn't know why, so it stops doing as many behaviors as possible to avoid punishment.
It's sad that's what some people want, a "toning down" of their dog. But I bought the calm submission thing at first too, I just didn't realize THAT was what was happening.
You should read the book though and decide for yourself. It's logical and grounded in science, plus it makes a much happier dog, so it works for me.
no it totally looks good after reading through a sea of comments. It looks like peoples main concern was that it didn't have an index and that it spends too much time actually talking about leash jerking. (from what i read, i got the impression that it taught both, but that doesn't make sense... i probably just need a refresher dose of caffiene!)
Barnes & Noble opened yesterday for the first time since Katrina, so I've been anxious to get over there for coffee and books. I bought Culture Clash, on your recommendation, & the book Adverbs. I can't wait to start reading Culture Clash. I really think it's going to help with my Lab. She's already been to training with a police officer, but I believe the more I know and understand her, the more that I will enjoy her and the more OTHER people will enjoy her.
Thanks for the book plug. I just bought it over the B&N and looking forward to receiving it. :-) I want to teach Nell how to fetch... she too looks at me like, "you're kidding right? you go fetch it yourself..." I hope it works on Nell.
