I follow a lot of people on YouTube in particular, and partly on Facebook. It's about everything possible, which to a fairly large extent includes dogs. Of course. I happen to be interested in means, as well as. 😀 I follow a few Swedish dog people, and the more from the USA (!) and a couple from Great Britain. Why? To give myself a wide range of knowledge to pick and choose from, of course.
After a while thinking, I have come to the conclusion that I believe that you choose which philosophies and ways you want to spend time with your dog, based on the race chosen. Most dog breeds that the common man has are what I would call “normal”. They are kind, easy to raise, does not require much from its human – and then maybe not so much leadership and communication is needed, which is what interests me.
I myself am on overall extremely uninterested in that type of dog. I want a dog that demands a lot from its human, and I want a special kind of relationship with my dog. For that reason, I am most interested in dogs that many perceive as tougher and tougher, although not necessarily working dogs.
I will try keep me brief, but there are some things I really question about the positive reinforcement philosophy, which I thought I would bring up.
For example; in which way it is wrong to demand acceptable behavior from your dog, and to inform the dog about it?
Do you have a dog with strong will and resourcefulness, how can you trust the positive reinforcement to work in sharp mode?
While I and one side may agree that positive reinforcement works for learning purposes – what do you do when the dog needs to know what you taught it, but for some reason refuses to do so? This applies, among other things, and above all, dogs used in demanding work; police dogs, military dogs, watchman with dog, and so on.
Why do you seem assume and assume that anything that is not positive reinforcement means punishing the dog? Correcting a dog is not automatically the same as punishing it.
There is tremendous many questions that I think this method leaves unanswered. Also, I believe it leaves out a large number of dogs for which it is simply not suitable, other than in pure learning.
Not to mention that every single person who is a follower of this method is so extremely unforgiving and unreasonable about other methods. I think that is the hardest thing for me to understand. Although it is clear; it's the same with politics, religion and child rearing (and many more things).
My personal opinion is that the more things you open yourself up to, the better you get at sorting and selecting the parts you want to use yourself. It would be incredibly interesting to know how many people engage in positive reinforcement, who secretly feel that it is not quite enough.
This question about whether you choose an approach to your dog that fits with the type of dog you have chosen, is interesting. I think, in all cases. I actually don't know many people who have what I call “normal” dogs. Most people I know closely who have/had dogs, have had demanding dogs. For at the leadership and communication have been extremely important to us.
In other words, the thought with this post was to start talking about people i follow on social media, but I notice that there is mostly criticism. 😀 I'll get into individuals in the next post, quite simply.
The question of leadership and communication is also extremely interesting. Is there something I think is boring about the term “train dog”, so it is that I do not feel that it necessarily benefits the relationship with my dog. Certainly, if you're lucky, the dog thinks it's fun – but late, when? For me, exercise doesn't automatically bring confidence. Trust comes from the dog knowing that it can count on me to be there when I'm needed, that I am safe and stable and give the dog room to be himself and at the same time develop.
One thing I experience that those who deal with positive reinforcement miss out, is that leadership and communication are in no way about training a dog. It's about your own attitude towards dogs, how to behave and how to communicate.
As with everything otherwise, we humans have a tendency to reinforce the belief that our own truth is the only one, through what we choose to read, listen to, with, and so on. This also applies to dogs. I do it – of course, also. I choose who I follow with great care. Some I follow slavishly, others I see a little from time to time, and then there are actually some I normally completely refuse to see anything with because I think their attitude and philosophy is so wrong that I snap. Sometimes I can imagine seeing something anyway, but it usually only takes a couple of seconds before I remember why I refuse to see it.
Cesar Millan is the first dog person I discovered, and it was many, many years ago. But he is not the only one who has sensible thoughts and ideas of his own – there are more. Going forward, I will tell you a little about who I follow, and why. I will also bring up one or a few, which I chose not to follow – and what makes me not do it.
If it has escaped any, This is something I find so extremely damn interesting. I can sit for hours and watch clips that address various issues related to dog behavior, and how to remedy them – not necessarily with exercise, but through how you relate to and communicate with the dog. For me, this beats dog training every minute of every day.