I am often asked why dogs behave well in some situations but poorly in others, and what exactly can be done to allow them to demonstrate their good manners more consistently. You have undoubtedly heard me talk about the importance of taking the dog’s perspective into account when training. This is precisely what makes training simple, effective, and permanent. If we want to reliably teach a dog to behave a certain way or perform a particular behavior on cue, it behooves us to first look at how they view the world and exactly how they learn.
From the perspective of learning, generalization can be described as an extension of a concept (or behavior) from a familiar situation to a less familiar situation. To give an exaggerated example, a dog may understand the cue “Sit” and do so diligently when it is requested of him at home. Given that he has had lots of practice and has been rewarded for sitting at home in the past, this is a familiar situation. If this same dog were asked to sit outdoors, and had never been asked to do so in this environment before – there is a good chance he would not understand what is expected of him. The reason for this is that his behavior of sitting has not been generalized to the unfamiliar outdoor situation appropriately. Continue reading A Dog’s Perspective : Generalization→
Dear Dog Lovers and Guardians,
As you are probably aware, there are camps in the world of dog training. Divergent perspectives on how to reduce unwanted behaviors and even eradicate them entirely. It’s become a sensitive and often heated topic of debate between professionals. On the one hand, we have the authoritarian, strict, and sometimes – totally absurd set of beliefs in Camp A. I want to be clear at this point and say that I am not being bashful of the individuals themselves that may practice out of these more traditional models, for in many cases they are simply doing what they have heard or been taught by someone else. My issue is with the bizarreness of the ideas themselves: ideas that have been objectively demonstrated to bring psychological and often physical harm to a dog’s health. In the other corner, we have the progressive, science-based, and nonviolent positive crew. While I am certain that a small amount of investigation would lead you to know where I personally stand – I would like, if it’s okay with you, to explore this issue a little bit further.
I am a Lebanese guy, a dog lover, and a believer in social media. Yes. I sound stupid. But really really think about it, social media already changed our lifes, how we connect, even how we work.
So why shouldn’t it change our minds, our opinions and our beliefs.
OK enough with Facebook, twitter and pinterest. This blog is about dogs. Yes about dogs how cool is that. Well sometimes i think a dog is better as a friend than a human being, he’s loyal respectful and what does he ask in return ? (yes i use “he” and “she” for dogs, “it” is just harsh) Nothing. Some attention and some food.
dogbloglb 