Re: Bad relationship

[Dree]

[quote author=piglet link=topic=12456.msg240909#msg240909 date=1221600352]
Hi,

Suz – praise suits you because thats the highest thing that Honey works for 🙂  You can (and I  have) move dogs on from using treats to praise without losing R & F in cues as a next step.

Dree – I havent seen him but I have talked through this at great length and in great detail with CJ. 

He is post 16 weeks so learning is operant so he’ll be choosing to offer the behaviour (yay!) or do what he thinks is best (an extinction burst).  Re-modification is the term generally used by behaviourists (and others) to refer to the unlearning of “things you dont want” and the re-learning of the “things you do want”.

Intervention in this case would be the re-mod and getting CJ managing him all the time and this is extra challenging in her case due to specific details of her situation.

Claire x
[/quote]

Mmmm, I’m a dog trainer.  I don’t allow dogs to make a choice when the chances are it will choose what has been the most rewarding behaviour in the past.  (Picking a fight can be very self rewarding, and places the owner in the position of being the wally holding the lead.)  While “re-modification” is in place, the owner is *not* in control of the dog, and the longer that continues, the longer the dog thinks that the owner *is* the wally, and does not help the relationship change for the better.  It is very easy for a dog to “re-learn” what is wanted, and learn what you do want based on a reward suitable for that dog.  (Although I have to say, how does a dog “re-learn” what is wanted, when, in fact, it would seem that the dog has never learnt the proper behaviour in the first place?  How does a dog “re-learn” a behaviour it never knew?)  We can all talk “behaviourist” jargon, or we can talk about training dogs….it’s all the same thing.  But….what we want, and what the owner wants, is a well trained dog that they can take out quite happily, and with confidence.  Imho, this won’t happen while the dog is allowed to make choices for itself.  If I went out to a problem dog, and it was choosing to attack other dogs, do I allow it to make the choice to either attack a dog or stay with the owner?  No, I don’t.  I don’t allow the first behaviour (in whatever way will suit that dog and owner) and I put in place training so that the owner can have a well trained dog.

I obviously am not privy to CJ’s situation, and unless you (and CJ, obviously) are prepared to share, then others like myself cannot give the best advice that we could.