I do not cease to be fascinated by how extremely fucking as-hardcore many are when it comes to how to have a dog, and above all – what methods you use in your dog ownership. I wrote a comment on a question in a Facebook group and suggested a couple of places that can help if you have what you experience as “problem dog”. Not surprisingly, my comment was questioned. Today's post will be about opinions on theories, methods and why / when to use them.
Larry Krohn, American dog trainer who is relatively big on Youtube, says that you train your dog all the time through how to be. Note the difference in training your dog through how to be, and through aware, goal-oriented training. To train your dog through how to be is most of all about that “only” live together. If we are to draw a comparison, we do not train our children in the same way as we train our dogs, despite the fact that children have a much larger and stronger role in our society than dogs.
It's amazing how incredibly single-minded many people are when it comes to dogs (and probably children – I do not know, because I do not have any). It is at least as amazing how many people seem to lack self-insight and understanding of how their own person affects the dog or dogs in the immediate vicinity.. I am fascinated and frightened by how this with positive reinforcement has somehow become The Only Truth, and how totally reluctant one is to even hear anything else. Apart from here on the blog, I am usually careful to express my views on this, because I risk being scolded – of people who can not handle that not everyone thinks and does the same.
I'm fascinated too over this with how single-track dog people are when it comes to how you are with your dog. Positive reinforcement in all glory, but it works like not having your hand full of candy 24 hours a day 7 days of the week, month out and month in, year after year.
For me, shopping it about different ways of being with your dog that work differently in different situations. I agree that positive reinforcement works fantastically well if you are going to teach your dog something, whatever it is. On the other hand, positive reinforcement is not the first step if you want to get through a change in your dog. I firmly believe that the first thing you need to look at is yourself (myself included) if you experience that your dog has some kind of problem, or just hard to learn something new.
I have never been on Gyllerboda dog center, but have only read about their philosophy and seen videos on Youtube. Dogs of Pegasus have I read, listened and seen quite a lot of, but it's too far away for it to be easy to have visited Alexandra and her dogs. But the methods both of these work with are precisely about getting to know oneself in order to be able to work better with their dog. I find it incredibly difficult to see how something can go wrong.
I think that it is fantastic that there are so many people who have and / or want a dog / s. It is a privilege to share your life with an animal, and dogs are special. But they are a completely different variety than we are, they understand reality and communicate in a different way than we do. I think we humans are more flexible and inclined to follow (and now I do not mean as in authoritarian leadership, without “have a relationship with”) people with weaker energy. It is my firm belief that dogs, unlike us, works better if and when they have someone to follow (have a relationship with) which can partly serve as a guide, can also act as a mainstay, teacher, reading, you name it.
All people who have a dog, maybe should not have a dog. Or they should have a dog of a different breed (or mixture of races). In the same way that different types of people do not work so well together (example; Big, powerful ejector on brutal bar and small, thin, provided librarian) not all people work with everyone (if any) dogs. Why? Because the energy and ability to communicate simply does not work. It does not have to be anyone's fault, but for some reason the human way of being and communicating with the dog's way of functioning intersects. Instead of focusing on developing yourself and making sure you find a way to reach your dog, you make an effort with dog candy and reward even though the dog completely shit in what you are trying to convey.
When problems arise in a dog? Why they occur? Is the dog wrong?, or it is the dog's human being that is the cause?
I buy straight that it is not always so fun to realize that it is you who is the cause of a behavior in your own dog, which is perceived by oneself and / or others as a problem. But you benefit from doing it. Especially since the positive reinforcement will most likely work better once you have done so. Self-awareness should be included in parenting, and any dog ownership later in life is just one reason for it. Self-insight and personal development can only be good – at least that's my personal opinion. If you get a better relationship with your dog on the purchase, it is exclusively one win-win-situation.
Again; positive reinforcement is not a bad method. But for me personally, it is preceded by self-insight, self-awareness, ability to read his dog, timing, ability to reward and correct at the right time and in the right way, and a number of more things. I choose to use parts from several different theories and methods – it works best for me.