Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / January 2006

LeeCharlesKelley Wrote:

a completely new model of learning, which is based (in
simplest terms) on the idea that all behavior is the
result of finding a way to relieve emotional tension.

This is true not just for dogs but all animals.

You don't believe in the validity of this
particular model of learning?  You don't
think it makes sense?

Fine, I guess.

But it makes total sense to me.

And it made sense to Pavlov, too,
though not many people know this.

"Postitive emotions arising in connection
with the perfection of a skill, irrespective
of its pragmatic significance at a given
moment, serve as the reinforcement."
IOW, emotions, not outside rewards, are
what reinforces any behavior.

Finn once saw a small mouse come out of a hole
atthe base of a tree. Needless to say his prey
instinct kicked in BIG TIME and he chased it
back into the hole.  This was 7 years before
he died. Up until the very last time he walked
through that section of the park (an hour before
he went) he checked the base of that tree.

He saw that mouse exactly *once*....he never
saw it again. Don't we all have stories like
that?

Especially those of us with dogs whose
prey drives are pretty intense?

And there are lots of examples that may not
even require the prey drive to be active,
just a strong desire to do something: a dog
who wants to escape from the back yard will
learn how to do it once and never forget it,
a dog who wants to jump on the couch or the
bed doesn't need any repetitions to "reinforce"
or re-learn the behavior.

If something is important to a dog, he'll
learn how to do it.  Once he learns it, he
learns it.  The trick to getting him to
"unlearn" it, is to give him a more
emotionally satisfying replacement behavior.

With Oscar and the cat, the more satisfying
behavior was relating to me instead of the cat.
(He's a Lab, with a strong need for social
connections, so that was pretty easy.)

I've been experimenting recently with Jerry
Howe's method of using a sound distraction,
then praising the dog, without any physical
contact, for 15 seconds.

My initial reaction to his technique was that
it was silly to keep praising the dog that long.

I mean, Jerry's a nut, right?

But in every case except one, when I've followed
the exercise exactly, I've seen a definite
physiological change take place in the dog -
- yawning or stretching have been the usual
indicators -- and after only a few repetitions,
the dog often relaxes, curls up, and goes to sleep!

I've tried this on barking, counter-surfing,
separation anxiety, even two dogs who live
together and fight constantly.  I was pretty
amazed when I saw this little Boston give up
her aggression and start to yawn!

It's too early for me to be convinced that it
will work every single time with every single
dog, or that it will even have a lasting effect
on these dogs, but so far I think that it's
effective at reducing emotional tension, which,
as you know, I believe that all behavior comes
from the dog trying to find a way to reduce
emotional tension.  If you give the dog a
replacement behavior that successfully reduces
emotional tension, the first behavior will no
longer be necessary and the dog will stop doing it.

From: "LeeCharlesKelley" <kelleymet...@aol.com> -
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 10:03:38 -0400

Subject: Re: Has anyone read . .

Leah:

Kelley: Doubtful, since being "educated" in this
case means being indocrinated into a total
misunderstanding about how a dog's mind actually
operates.

As I said in my post, everything the experts say
about dogs is wrong.  If the common folklore was
true, what I've been doing wouldn't work at all,
ever.  And it not only works, it works better
than the accepted, prescribed way of doing things.

It's good that you're curious, but I wouldn't look
to any "educated" trainers for answers, I'd look to
your dogs.