Category Archives: Behavior Modification and Training

People use the term behavior modification to sound smarter than the average bear. In reality, behavior modification, learning and training are synonyms. They all mean the same thing. However, most people think of “behavior modification” specifically as “correcting aberrant or unacceptable behavior.” The posts in this area are mostly about that, but if there is a bleed-over to training don’t be surprised.

Scientific Confirmation: A Specious Argument

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I once met a woman at a seminar who was up-to-date on all the academic blather about why one should never use punishment. She said two things that were completely mistaken – not because she had ever done or seen what she described, but because someone with an academic degree (or some opportunistic “modern, scientific trainer”) had pronounced a rule. The first was the concept that if you attempt to punish aggression, you are only punishing the “precursor” to the behavior while leaving the motivation intact. The implication is that the dog will be seething with pent-up angst and then explode when you least expect it. The other thing she said was that there is “no scientific evidence” to demonstrate that punishment stops behaviors. Au contraire on both counts. Continue reading →

Charlie, Pt.1 – a work in progess.

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Charley is a dog that looks like a solid gray bearded collie. He lived for three years with a hoarder. Two more years in two different rescue organizations, a month at a vet clinic and now, in a 20 X 15 pen (with a shade tree) and a sturdy dog house behind a horse stable. If you walk toward his pen he will growl at you without moving his head – as if it’s a matter of smell. Like those Japanese movies about Zatoichi, the blind samurai masseuse. This is not your run-of-the-mill growl, but a low, soft grumble that sends a chill up your spine. If you put a leash on him, he will violently bite through it, usually leaving his mouth bloody. As he has long hair around his mouth, it rapidly becomes a clot of blood, spit and dirt. He will not take food in the presence of a human. He will allow you to rub him through the chain link when he’s lying up against it, but he shows no indication that he likes it. It doesn’t change his behavior, either. Meaning that if your tools are “all positive” you can forget about fixing him before he dies.

(Note, I am a month into Charlie’s training. This post is where I started. I will update it as I can. This is  a dog who makes progress but throws speed-bumps in your way, constantly. Solve one thing and you are stopped until you solve something else. Right now we are working on getting him on leash without a war, every time. His leash biting is from being handled only on control sticks/catch poles his entire life. He goes from zero to 100 at the instant he feels tension on a leash.)

 

Conditional Reflexes: Pavlov translated

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A correct translation of the title of Ivan Pavlov’s magnum opus is not Conditioned Reflexes. Pavlov studied unconditioned reflexes. The title of his book is Conditional Reflexes. In Russian, the word for conditioned and conditional is the same. You can only know which meaning is correct if you put the word in context. The English translator didn’t know the context – just like modern behavioral scientists. If you think this is a small thing, read on.

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As Easy as Falling off a Bike: What punishment teaches us.

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Part of the litany of modern behaviorists and trainers is that punishment doesn’t teach an animal what to do and the implication is that the results of punishment are baaaaad. Terrible. Horrible. Traumatic. Confusing. Evil.

“But just punishing the animal for doing something else does not teach it to sit. At most, punishment only teaches it what not to do.” Murray Sidman Coercion and Its Fallout (1989)

“ It does not teach the dog WHAT to do.” Pat Miller, Pitfalls of Positive Punishment

“Punishment teaches an animal what you don’t want it to do but fails to teach it what you expect of it.” Valerie Tynes – veterinary behaviorist

In all cases, these people limit the discussion to incorrect applications of punishment by untrained people. As there is no course, text, instructor, practical training, internship or certification in the use of aversive control, they are all blowing smoke. Continue reading →

All Positive Trainers: Illogical, to say the least.

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Lewis Carrol wrote Alice in Wonderland. He was also a mathematics professor and lecturer. One of his least known but incredibly interesting books is about logic, specifically syllogisms. Here’s an example of how Dr. Dodgson (his real name) used fantasy to teach a little used mental tool – logic.

  • Babies are illogical;
  • Nobody is despised who can manage a crocodile;
  • Illogical persons are despised.

    Logical conclusion: Babies cannot manage a crocodile.

  • Continue reading →