Once you understand what a behavior is – you then have to realize that you cannot train a dog to behave. Obedience does not equate to behaved but that’s exactly what dog training sells you. I hear it so often – he’s a great dog but… He’s an obedient dog but… after that but comes a string of behaviors.
What is a behavior? It’s your body’s response to something “new” in the environment – and how you react to – was it positive or negative consequence. That’s part of what operant conditioning is – your actions surrounding the first time you meet or interact with something new. Because that first reaction will become your default reaction the next time you meet it – positive or negative. Fight or flight – your positive reinforcement.
What drives behaviors? Emotions of course. When you get angry – you will likely show aggression either by display or physically. It’s no different for the dog – they are sentient animals just like us – and they have a slew of emotions that drive their behaviors of fight and flight – aggression and reactivity. Aggression and reactivity are being sold by the dog training community as a diagnosis – a condition you can fix. And they try to modify the behavior?
Aggression is a symptom – the outcome of a problem – the result of an emotion. And you’re supposed to reward or punish the dog for being emotional? And people bloody wonder why this crap isn’t working?. Can we please start asking – what is the cause of my dog showing aggression or reactivity? Why is the dog showing reactivity – the natural behavior of flight in response to fear?
But how is your aggressive or reactivity dog while in a calm state? Funny isn’t it – so it begs a question. Why is your dog scared of things in the environment. Ignore the behavior – and focus on helping the dog overcome the fear instead. If the fear doesn’t exist, the default resulting behaviors have no reason to exist. Why is your dog excited – cause excitement is your enemy. And how do you get your dog to become calm. Oh, that’s another blog that trainers are not going to like.
When all you have is a hammer – then everything has to be treated like it’s a nail. this is why you only see the cookie cutter dog training – one size fits everything – obedience, tracking, protection and now behavior.
It all comes down to how you look at behaviors – there is objective or subjective. Let me explain both.
When you look at behaviors Objectively – you are metaphorically cutting the head off the dog. Behaviors now become something you can shut down, something you can stop with a piece of food, an ecollar or a prong. Make it make sense – why are they pushing these tools on emotional dogs? Make it make sense. I can, dogs are a $100 billion dollar industry and dog trainers at large have a huge slice in that pie. When all you see is objective – you don’t need any science – you don’t need any psychology. Bur they are all experts in behaviors? Trainers can’t and won’t define the word behavior – once you do – you expose yourself as a fraud and an extortionist.
Subjective. That’s all the good stuff that psychology is interested in – psychology explains subjective. – not objective. Objective throws the subjective in the garbage – that’s psychology. But lets all blame Skinner and hide the real name. Lets make it make sense – why they would lie to you. Your subjective is everything you are – your operant conditioning. The sum of all your lifes experiences good and bad. It’s encompasses all your hopes, your fears, your desires – everything that lead up to producing the human you are now. You are your past – positive and negative. Does it make sense now?
What drives all your behaviors good and bad? Your past – your subjective – the emotional result of past interactions. It’s no different for the dog – or the pigeon or the rat. What is dog training? We don’t need all that pesky subjective – who cares about psychology. They all claim to be experts – but they can’t even define the word behavior – they won’t. They don’t need to when you sweep the subjective under the rug and punish the shit out of the dog for their past… Make it make sense? I bet you can’t.