Dog Behavior Training and Advice

Benefits of a dog training plan

From training our dogs we can learn that it’s often beneficial to have a plan. Planning is one of the steps that helps us progress toward our goals A training plan allows us to perform the appropriate behavior when an opportunity presents itself. Sometimes a training plan may be just having the right tools available at the right time. When working with their dogs, owners often don’t have food rewards available when rewards are most needed. When and where are the places that food is most often needed? I have found the main areas to be doorways and the main living areas. In my house I always have food by the front door, back door, and my desk.

If I have food reward available when they’re needed then what’s most likely to happen? When food rewards are available it’s more likely the dog will be rewarded for the desired behavior.

By having food handy I have made plans to use it.

“Making plans and calculating their outcome distinguishes rules of progression as a separate definable part of history.”
Andrew Ledford © 2000 –2009

Planning involves more than just training the dog, usually before I visit a new clients house I will look on Google Maps to evaluate the neighborhood. I want to see if the geography may contribute to any of the dog’s behavior.

Once I meet the dog and talk with the owners I will form a lesson plan for that day and beyond. During the first lesson I develop an idea of how I would like the training to progress, but I also try to remain flexible.

I do have a method or system. However, the order and how the training exercises are taught does vary.

This is a two part post the second part is on my self-improvement website.

Wishing you the very best in dog training and I life,
Andrew Ledford

Dog training with orthodox behavior and unorthodox behavior

Dog training teaches us that thinking outside the box must be done at the appropriate time to be most effective. In dog training, our personal lives, and in business we must understand what is orthodox behavior and unorthodox behavior. Then we need to know which behavior is appropriate for the situation and the right time to utilize each of them.

In my last post I talked about how in any activity, including dog training, thinking inside the box involves taking an orthodox approach. However, in dog training or any social interaction thinking inside the box if used as a point of reference for spatial positioning can also be thinking outside the box. While it’s common to use the box as a reference point in many physical arts, it’s not so common in dog training. Therefore when we’re training a dog, thinking inside the box can also be thinking outside the box. Here we are taking what to some may seem like an orthodox approach to spatial positioning and using it in a novel way. Therefore the orthodox becomes the unorthodox.

I enjoy reading classic Chinese and Japanese texts. Using an orthodox and unorthodox approach to difficult situations is something that’s often talked about or at least hinted at in many classic Chinese and Japanese books.

Recently I attended a social media marketing presentation with a group of social media marketing friends. One of the subjects covered was innovations in marketing. While these ideas where presented for social media they can be applied to all fields of endeavor. You may be asking, so what’s the big idea. One big idea is the innovation secrets that led to the renaissance and then to our modern era. The idea that pulled Europe out of the Dark Ages involved thinking outside the box. Thinking outside the box in this case involved crosspollination. The innovative ideas that brought Europe to the forefront of world power were based on sharing information.  Sharing ideas across disciplines allowed unique solutions to cross the boundaries of guilds and clans. One of the lessons of the renaissance as well as the social media marketing presentation is that we need to look outside our own areas of expertise to innovate.

Most of my best ideas about dog training came from outside the dog training industry. When I was young those ideas came for people who were doing behavior therapy with people. Incorporating reinforcement theory and interesting application from a clinical human setting to dog training was, at that time unorthodox. Now the majority of dog trainers consider training with the principals of operant conditioning and positive reinforcement standard practice. So what used to be an unorthodox style of training has over time become the orthodox training style.

Once operant conditioning and positive reinforcement styles of dog training started to become popular I was working on new dog training techniques. The area I borrow from this time was the physical arts. While I had been using and in turn perfecting many of these techniques almost since the beginning of my dog training career, I did not start teaching them until positive reinforcement styles of dog training started to catch on. For many years I thought using the points of reference found in physical arts as my own dog training secrets. You know what, they still differentiate my training style from others. I can teach people in a step by step and repeatable fashion what many dog trainers have a difficult time teaching. When I saw that most good dog trainers were using positive reinforcement techniques I codified the physical and spatial relationship principals into easy to follow points of reference.

It is during this period that I began incorporating mediation exercises into my dog training practice. I did not always call them meditation drills and I still don’t. I teach them as just another dog training technique. I began teaching some chi energy exercises to training clients at this time also. The physical orientation points of reference dog training phase was a necessary step to the next phase that I am still in.

My main interests now are in what lays beyond the codified principals of operant conditioning and the mechanical steps of dog training. What lays in the hard to codify realms of human (and I presume animal) emotions. The emotions I am most interested in are the ones that seem to defy the rules of operant conditioning. Although these emotions act as though they defy the principals of operant conditioning, I suspect they in fact conform to them. This is an area of interest that has always fascinated me. What lays at the heart of spirituality? What is the power of Myth?

Wishing you the very best in dog training and in life,
Andrew Ledford

Dog Training and thinking inside the box seems like a natural subject for me. If you’ve participated in my dog training programs or read my book you would justifiable think this blog idea resulted from some human/dog team interaction. While I often speak about training inside the box I was inspired to write this blog post from @dino_dogan’s Twitter post.

Thinking inside the box vs. thinking outside the box

Thinking inside the box
As usual I feel that dog training is a great metaphor for other areas of our lives. In dog training as in other areas of life we can consider thinking inside the box as the straight forward orthodox approach. You can learn more about box training by enrolling in my online dog training school

I believe that we’re always training within a box, the Awareness box. Training inside the box is the first spatial orientation exercise in my dog training program. First we must learn to train within a structured system before we can move to a more fluid form of expression. The box represents that structure. I believe in Chinese mythology the square represents Earth. Until we have a solid understanding we must remain firmly grounded. And even when we move beyond the orthodox we must remain balanced.

The Awareness Box is comprised of eight directions or positions. The eight positions consist of four sides and four corners. These eight positions makeup the angles of movement and the reference points for orientation. The complex version of the Awareness Box is best imagined as a three dimensional cube.

Thinking outside the box
In dog training as in other areas of life we can consider thinking outside the box as the roundabout or unorthodox approach. I hope to cover this in a separate post.

Adaptive Dog Training Logo

My dog training logo is an interesting example, although it’s completely backward from how I usually teach the Awareness Box concept. But it’s close enough that even though it is reversed, it still visually conveys the concept. After it’s understood we can explain the details. The Adaptive Dog Training logo visually encompasses both thinking inside the box and thinking outside the box, It is both conventional and unconventional at the same time. In a traditional context I think it is a type of unorthodox orthodoxy. This may be a difficult concept to understand in a Socratic sense but it makes more sense when contemplated in a Taoistic system. As China rises to greater world power we must strive to understand different systems of thought if we are to flourish. Dog training is flexible enough that it can be used as a vehicle for learning about many aspects of human nature.
If you are interested in learning more about what humans can learn from dogs go to http://RenChenZa.com

Wishing you the very best in dog training and in life,
Andrew Ledford

At a recent Southern California Dog Trainers forum we had an interesting meeting where many people discussed the various seminars they have attended. One person’s account of using non familiar training techniques struck me as particularly interesting.

Without the familiar training tools, teaching the dog a new behavior was a novel experience. The novelty seems to transcend human preference and includes the dog as well. From the trainers account it appears the dog was also conditioned to a certain familiar style of training. The dogs conditioning brings up some interesting points. The first is that it may be possible for dogs to learn a learning strategy adapted to the handler/trainers preferred style of training. I believe the idea that certain dogs are better adapted to particular training styles is seen in the field of protection dogs. I have talked with a successful competition protection dog trainer who has mentioned that in Europe, training clubs breed dogs with traits best suited to the clubs style of training. Again we see that evolution and environment follow a similar course. It may be that the practical application of the nature – nurture debate is not about either nature or nurture. It could be about adaptation.

When I hear these stories I always think about Captain Haggerty saying he was a dog trainer. Not a this kind of trainer or that kind of dog trainer, but a Dog Trainer. Now many dog trainers I know didn’t like Captain Haggerty or his style of training, but I liked the Captain. He wasn’t a clicker trainer or a leash and collar trainer but he was an extremely knowledgeable Dog Trainer.

Even though the Captain is no longer with us he can still teach us many good lessons about dog training. One of those lessons is to move past our prejudices for or against training methods.

I like positive reinforcement training. But I recognize the limits of teaching with all positive reinforcement. The biggest problem with positive reinforcement training is that positive reinforcement is not the default behavior of people under aversive control. Most people contact me because their dogs are doing something the people don’t like. If you don’t like a behavior, that behavior is most likely aversive. The fist response most people have to adversity in their lives is emotional. That emotional response is the precursor to action. The action is usually in the form of offering some aversive to the one causing discomfort. Seldom do we want to reward those who cause us trouble. Desires and wants are emotions.

I do think as a culture we can learn how to be more positive reinforcement oriented. I also think that dog training is one of the best places to learn how positive reinforcement works. But, I do not think I have ever met what I would call an all positive reinforcement dog trainer. I have met plenty of dog trainers who primarily use positive reinforcement dog training techniques.

When someone hires me they are expecting results and I try to give them results with training techniques they can implement with the most ease. Even when working with and complimenting the owner’s human nature there is still a huge amount of new information the owner/handler needs to learn. The handler also need to develop new behavior patterns and needs to change many old behaviors. While I can introduce the new handler to reinforcement theory and techniques with a package of lessons, I probably can’t change the emotional responses to aversives in that time. It’s also unlikely I can change years of learning and conditioning within the time it takes to train the dog. However, learning the positive training techniques can begin to condition new patterns in the handler.

If someone really wants to change their moral character and how they interact with others I have developed two seven step programs. At this time I have not found too many people who want to change from a competitive and confrontational orientation to an accepting all positive one. For the time being I will match my training techniques to the underlying orientation of the paying owner/handler.

Wishing you the very best in dog training and in life
Andrew Ledford

I always think of Daylight Saving Time as the beginning to the dog training season. Now the average pet dog owner will have extra daylight hours to invest or squander. As I study the human/dog experience I’m always amazed at how important a variable time is. How we use our time determines what we will accomplish. Time is our most valuable resource. The importance of time is mentioned quit a bit in my book “Dog Training Best Friends Learning Together”

If we use our hours wisely we can accomplish more that the average person. It’s the dog training instructor’s job to show pet dog owners how they can accomplish their training goals in the shortest amount of time.

Wishing you the very best in dog training and in life,
Andrew Ledford

Dog Behavior and Stray Dogs in Russia and Taiwan

Moscow’s stray dogs article on FM.com is what motivated me to write this post.

Popsci.com also has an article going over much of the same info as FM.com. In the Popsci.com article from January, 21, 2010 talks about Andrei Poyarkov, who is a researcher at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution. Poyarkov is the same person that the FM.com article is about. Both articles mention that Poyarkov indicates the stray dogs of Moscow are losing the friendly gene that contributes to spotted coloring in domestic dogs. Poyarkov classifies dogs into four groups guard dogs, scavengers, wild dogs, and beggars.

I have observes all of these groups in Taiwan stray dogs. However, I have not noticed the four groups of behavior in the same degree as Poyarkov mentions. And, I have never seen street dogs in Taiwan get on a bus or the mass transit rail system. I have seen dogs share guard duty with security guards, but I have more often seen strays treated harshly by security guards who have their own dogs.

The scavenger dog is quite common in Taiwan. The scavenger is what I think of as one of the most common types of street dog. There is another classification of street dog I have noticed in Taiwan, the neighborhood dog. These dogs are part scavenger, part beggar and part of the neighborhood. Some of these dogs live at one house and some live in a home range that encompasses several houses or a city block. The neighborhood dog doesn’t have a name but if you ask, some people will say the dog lives at their house. The people who semi-claim these dogs also feed them and give them rudimentary care.

I agree with Poyarkov that the beggar dogs have developed some rather charming behavior. They make their living by cute friendliness. Beggar dogs are also a good indicator of the economic condition of people. I noticed when the economy is good the beggar dogs refuse handouts that are not up to their high standards. But when times are tough, almost any food will do. Beggar dogs are the most entertaining of the street dogs.

As I have mentioned in my dog training book, I think wild dogs are the most interesting to watch. The really wild dogs are very wary of people and must be watched at a distance. Even at a great distance, they are aware of your presents.

Wild Dog Puppies in den Taiwan

In my book I have a photo on page 8 of a small pack of dogs hunting rats. These dogs showed the hunting behavior of wild dogs, combined with friendliness towards visiting pets. This pack of dogs also got the occasional handout.

Stray dogs and Aggression

In 2008, there was an article on sky new about feral dogs in Russia attacking and even killing people.

I also found this on news24.com from December 2009 “Fears of contact with a rabies-stricken dog have left 41 people hospitalized in Moscow, said Russian officials quotes by the Interfax news agency.” My opinion on rabies will need to wait for another blog post.

Wherever you have large numbers of feral dogs you will have dog bites. It’s the nature of the dog. In Taiwan, street dogs are known for not always being friendly.

Aggressive Dog in Taiwan

The locals in the area I was staying even made special sticks to ward off dog attacks.

Dog sticks made while collecting herbs in Taiwan

I met this man at the river carving these sticks with grate care. It appears that he chooses a certain kind of tree to use. I don’t know but I am guessing it’s because the wood is harder than the others riverside plants. From what he said, I think that he’s been harvesting wild herbs and greens from this part of the river for a very long time. Notice herbs in the bag he’s holing in left hand. It seems driving away wild dogs while harvesting plant has a long history.