If you ever go to Kansas in November to hunt pheasants, there is something you should know. There are two types of pheasants; pen-raised and wild. You can kill pen-raised pheasants with bird-shot normally used for much smaller birds. To kill wild pheasants, it takes bigger balls. Why? Wild pheasants are toughened up by the environment. Pen-raised pheasants are wussies, by comparison. This is not an isolated example. One type of pine tree in Yellowstone won’t open up its cones to drop seeds if the tree isn’t exposed to extreme heat – like a forest fire. No forest fire, no replication. By fighting forest fires, a natural event, forest service workers have limited the population of those trees.
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So, Pavlov says that once an association is made it doesn’t fade just because you teach something knew. That should trigger a reaction of ‘who doesn’t know that’? Lots of people – everyone from behavioral scientists to modern, scientific dog trainers and educators think that is a false statement. They think that if you see a problem behavior, the way to get rid of it is to teach something else. They have a number of pet names for this process, based on the concept of ‘differential reinforcement.” Differential reinforcement means you select which behaviors you will reinforce and ignore those you don’t like. That is also called “shaping” – a term coined by B.F. Skinner himself. There are several problems with this term and concept. Continue reading →

I got an interesting surprise today. I went to see a rescue Chihuahua mix who isn’t housetrained. Like all ‘rescue dogs’ the new owner said she was abused because she was fearful when she got her, about six months ago. I noticed a little sensitivity but nothing I would gauge as ‘fear’ in our greeting. She was hesitant about me touching her, even when I was sitting on the ground. So I decided to get started with the process. First thing – associate a clicker with treats. That is when I got the surprise. I clicked. She instantly jerked her head around and looked at the treat she obviously expected to be on the ground. It could have been a fluke so I tried it again. Sure enough, I clicked, she instantly was searching the ground for the treat. Hmmmmm. Continue reading →