The other day a few of my friends were telling me about neighbors and friends who they were trying to refer to me and some of the objections they heard. They ranged from the dog is too old; we just deal with it and it’s frustrating; or I’ve already had several trainers come out and nothing has changed. The dog makes us crazy, but what can you do? Or worse, we just put the dog in a room by himself till we can tolerate him again.
My first experience with hiring a trainer was when I agreed to keep an very loving, but wildly rambunctious and huge (110lb) Golden Retriever. He jumped on EVERYONE and no one liked it. I called several trainers, most of whom never returned my phone calls. I did not even know about positive reinforcement and/or aversive training. All I knew is that Sacha caused stress and chaos in my house and we were not willing to give him up to a third owner. But he was driving everyone crazy—human and dogs alike.
I liked the trainer who came out and within one evening she gave me a great foundation for working with Sacha. It took several months of diligent behavior on our part to reinforce the behavior we wanted and expected from him. And nine years later, he still tries to get away with a small jump (we call it the fly by kiss and greet), but he looks to make sure it might be ok this time. No, my look says. And then he stops.
Shortly after that experience, I decided to learn about training, positive re-enforcement and why some dogs are so calm and happy and others drive families to hysterical depths of despair. The most powerful thing I learned is that training a dog is not just about training a dog. It is about learning how the family communicates, how the dog fits into the family dynamics and how each family member responds to training—of any sort!
I also learned that some people may be great trainers, but just not the right person for your family. And I learned some families simply don’t have the time to give to dog training as the chore they perceive it to be. My job, as a good trainer, is to help the family understand that dog training is not a chore.
Training is like teaching your children good manners. You do it daily in steps. Small steps, then big steps and small steps again. With love and patience.
When done right, the annoying barking, jumping on people and other misbehaviors can be eliminated with little drudgery and lots of fun. A chronic barker, a car chaser, a snappy responder, a grumpy dog all have it in them to be a more enjoyable member of the family and it does not take weeks of hiring someone to put the family through their paces.
It takes the right person, for your family’s learning style, to open up the opportunity for a less chaotic dog owning experience. Participation from everyone, and a willingness to have fun, will make it possible to have less aggravation for everyone—family, dog and friends or neighbors.
Never give up and accept a behavior that seems unmovable. With a small shift in everyone’s perception and willingness to give a little rather than running to hide, a little bit of extra training will make not only the family happy, it will make the dog happy too. After all, who wants a life time of being considered annoying and nagged at all the time?
Give me a call and we can discuss your training issue—sometimes it just takes one session. You and your dog are worth the effort!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Canine Art Guild Celebrates 5th Year with Online Exhibition
For Immediate Release
March 2010
Contact: Kimberly Kelly Santini 810-908-9003
Canine Art Guild Celebrates 5th Year with Online Exhibition
No joke - this April 1st, 2010, the Canine Art Guild (CAG) will “hang” an online exhibition celebrating their five years of existence. Titled “Dog-Gonn It!” the show is entirely made up of artwork that is 5” square.
Canine Art Guild member Catherin McMillan said “For me it was a case of thinking outside the square I usually work in. I've never worked so small before and it was heaps of fun transferring my thoughts to a smaller canvas.”
There are 48 5” x 5” gems created by guild members, viewable 24/7 at www.canineartguild.com/gallery. You'll also find links on this page to archives of the CAG's past online exhibitions.
Canine Art Guild shows are rotated every 3-4 months. This gives members the opportunity to showcase new work within the context of other canine and animal-centric artists. For buyers looking for a pet portrait artist or simply to add to their art collection, the Canine Art Guild is a key stop.
Visitors to the “Dog-Gonn It!” exhibition can also cast their vote for People's Choice Award. Cash prizes are awarded to the artists who's work garners the most votes.
CAG artists work in all mediums, e.g. paint, ceramics, pencil, sculpture, photography, and digital art, and hail from all corners of the earth. They share resources, educational experiences and marketing ideas while providing inspiration and support to each other.
The CAG offers members a private discussion forum, a profile page linked to the artist’s website, editorial privileges on the Art With a Bark blog, and participation in regularly scheduled online exhibitions like “Dog-Gonn It!”.
Collectors can browse the CAG website (www.canineartguild.com) by breed grouping, artist’s location, medium, or alphabetically.
The Canine Art Guild plans an ongoing series of exhibitions. The next exhibition, slated for spring 2010, is titled “Here Kitty, Kitty.” Clearly a twist on the expected, which in a way exemplifies all that the CAG stands for. In a tail wagging, tongue lolling, sort of way.
For additional information, please contact:
Kimberly Kelly Santini
The Canine Art Guild
346 N Anderson
Lake Orion MI USA 48362
WEB: www.canineartguild.com
EMAIL: info@canineartguild.com
PHONE: 810.908.9003
March 2010
Contact: Kimberly Kelly Santini 810-908-9003
Canine Art Guild Celebrates 5th Year with Online Exhibition
No joke - this April 1st, 2010, the Canine Art Guild (CAG) will “hang” an online exhibition celebrating their five years of existence. Titled “Dog-Gonn It!” the show is entirely made up of artwork that is 5” square.
Canine Art Guild member Catherin McMillan said “For me it was a case of thinking outside the square I usually work in. I've never worked so small before and it was heaps of fun transferring my thoughts to a smaller canvas.”
There are 48 5” x 5” gems created by guild members, viewable 24/7 at www.canineartguild.com/gallery. You'll also find links on this page to archives of the CAG's past online exhibitions.
Canine Art Guild shows are rotated every 3-4 months. This gives members the opportunity to showcase new work within the context of other canine and animal-centric artists. For buyers looking for a pet portrait artist or simply to add to their art collection, the Canine Art Guild is a key stop.
Visitors to the “Dog-Gonn It!” exhibition can also cast their vote for People's Choice Award. Cash prizes are awarded to the artists who's work garners the most votes.
CAG artists work in all mediums, e.g. paint, ceramics, pencil, sculpture, photography, and digital art, and hail from all corners of the earth. They share resources, educational experiences and marketing ideas while providing inspiration and support to each other.
The CAG offers members a private discussion forum, a profile page linked to the artist’s website, editorial privileges on the Art With a Bark blog, and participation in regularly scheduled online exhibitions like “Dog-Gonn It!”.
Collectors can browse the CAG website (www.canineartguild.com) by breed grouping, artist’s location, medium, or alphabetically.
The Canine Art Guild plans an ongoing series of exhibitions. The next exhibition, slated for spring 2010, is titled “Here Kitty, Kitty.” Clearly a twist on the expected, which in a way exemplifies all that the CAG stands for. In a tail wagging, tongue lolling, sort of way.
For additional information, please contact:
Kimberly Kelly Santini
The Canine Art Guild
346 N Anderson
Lake Orion MI USA 48362
WEB: www.canineartguild.com
EMAIL: info@canineartguild.com
PHONE: 810.908.9003
The Ethical Dog - They Do Play Fair
Awesome article from Scientific American Mind - March 19, 2010
Looking for the roots of human morality in the animal kingdom? Focus on canines, who know how to play fair
By MARC BEKOFF and Jessica Pierce
Every dog owner knows a pooch can learn the house rules—and when she breaks one, her subsequent groveling is usually ingratiating enough to ensure quick forgiveness. But few people have stopped to ask why dogs have such a keen sense of right and wrong. Chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates regularly make the news when researchers, logically looking to our closest relatives for traits similar to our own, uncover evidence of their instinct for fairness. But our work has suggested that wild canine societies may be even better analogues for early hominid groups—and when we study dogs, wolves and coyotes, we discover behaviors that hint at the roots of human morality.
Morality, as we define it in our book Wild Justice, is a suite of interrelated other-regarding behaviors that cultivate and regulate social interactions. These behaviors, including altruism, tolerance, forgiveness, reciprocity and fairness, are readily evident in the egalitarian way wolves and coyotes play with one another. Canids (animals in the dog family) follow a strict code of conduct when they play, which teaches pups the rules of social engagement that allow their societies to succeed. Play also builds trusting relationships among pack members, which enables divisions of labor, dominance hierarchies and cooperation in hunting, raising young, and defending food and territory. Because this social organization closely resembles that of early humans (as anthropologists and other experts believe it existed), studying canid play may offer a glimpse of the moral code that allowed our ancestral societies to grow and flourish.
Playing by the Rules
When canids and other animals play, they use actions such as vigorous biting, mounting and body slamming that could be easily misinterpreted by the participants. Years of painstaking video analyses by one of us (Bekoff) and his students show, however, that individuals carefully negotiate play, following four general rules to prevent play from escalating into fighting.
Communicate clearly. Animals announce that they want to play and not fight or mate. Canids use a bow to solicit play, crouching on their forelimbs while standing on their hind legs (above). Bows are used almost exclusively during play and are highly stereotyped—that is, they always look the same—so the message “Come play with me” or “I still want to play” is clear. Even when an individual follows a play bow with seemingly aggressive actions such as baring teeth, growling or biting, his companions demonstrate submission or avoidance only around 15 percent of the time, which suggests they trust the bow’s message that whatever follows is meant in fun. Trust in one another’s honest communication is vital for a smoothly functioning social group.
Mind your manners. Animals consider their play partners’ abilities and engage in self-handicapping and role reversing to create and maintain equal footing. For instance, a coyote might not bite her play partner as hard as she can, handicapping herself to keep things fair. And a dominant pack member might perform a role reversal, rolling over on her back (a sign of submission that she would never offer during real aggression) to let her lower-status play partner take a turn at “winning”. Human children also behave this way when they play, for instance, taking turns overpowering each other in a mock wrestling match. [For more on childhood play, see “The Serious Need for Play,” by Melinda Wenner; Scientific American Mind, February/March 2009.] By keeping things fair in this manner, every member of the group can play with every other member, building bonds that keep the group cohesive and strong.
Admit when you are wrong. Even when everyone wants to keep things fair, play can sometimes get out of hand. When an animal misbehaves or accidentally hurts his play partner, he apologizes—just like a human would. After an intense bite, a bow sends the message, “Sorry I bit you so hard—this is still play regardless of what I just did. Don’t leave; I’ll play fair.” For play to continue, the other individual must forgive the wrongdoing. And forgiveness is almost always offered; understanding and tolerance are abundant during play as well as in daily pack life.
Be honest. An apology, like an invitation to play, must be sincere—individuals who continue to play unfairly or send dishonest signals will quickly find themselves ostracized. This has far greater consequences than simply reduced playtime; for instance, Bekoff’s long-term field research shows that juvenile coyotes who do not play fair often end up leaving their pack and are up to four times more likely to die than those individuals who remain with others. Violating social norms, established during play, is not good for perpetuating one’s genes.
Fair play, then, can be understood as an evolved adaptation that allows individuals to form and maintain social bonds. Canids, like humans, form intricate networks of social relationships and live by rules of conduct that maintain a stable society, which is necessary to ensure the survival of each individual. Basic rules of fairness guide social play, and similar rules are the foundation for fairness among adults. This moral intelligence, so evident in both wild canines and in domesticated dogs, probably closely resembles that of our early human ancestors. And it may have been just this sense of right and wrong that allowed human societies to flourish and spread across the world.
Looking for the roots of human morality in the animal kingdom? Focus on canines, who know how to play fair
By MARC BEKOFF and Jessica Pierce
Every dog owner knows a pooch can learn the house rules—and when she breaks one, her subsequent groveling is usually ingratiating enough to ensure quick forgiveness. But few people have stopped to ask why dogs have such a keen sense of right and wrong. Chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates regularly make the news when researchers, logically looking to our closest relatives for traits similar to our own, uncover evidence of their instinct for fairness. But our work has suggested that wild canine societies may be even better analogues for early hominid groups—and when we study dogs, wolves and coyotes, we discover behaviors that hint at the roots of human morality.
Morality, as we define it in our book Wild Justice, is a suite of interrelated other-regarding behaviors that cultivate and regulate social interactions. These behaviors, including altruism, tolerance, forgiveness, reciprocity and fairness, are readily evident in the egalitarian way wolves and coyotes play with one another. Canids (animals in the dog family) follow a strict code of conduct when they play, which teaches pups the rules of social engagement that allow their societies to succeed. Play also builds trusting relationships among pack members, which enables divisions of labor, dominance hierarchies and cooperation in hunting, raising young, and defending food and territory. Because this social organization closely resembles that of early humans (as anthropologists and other experts believe it existed), studying canid play may offer a glimpse of the moral code that allowed our ancestral societies to grow and flourish.
Playing by the Rules
When canids and other animals play, they use actions such as vigorous biting, mounting and body slamming that could be easily misinterpreted by the participants. Years of painstaking video analyses by one of us (Bekoff) and his students show, however, that individuals carefully negotiate play, following four general rules to prevent play from escalating into fighting.
Communicate clearly. Animals announce that they want to play and not fight or mate. Canids use a bow to solicit play, crouching on their forelimbs while standing on their hind legs (above). Bows are used almost exclusively during play and are highly stereotyped—that is, they always look the same—so the message “Come play with me” or “I still want to play” is clear. Even when an individual follows a play bow with seemingly aggressive actions such as baring teeth, growling or biting, his companions demonstrate submission or avoidance only around 15 percent of the time, which suggests they trust the bow’s message that whatever follows is meant in fun. Trust in one another’s honest communication is vital for a smoothly functioning social group.
Mind your manners. Animals consider their play partners’ abilities and engage in self-handicapping and role reversing to create and maintain equal footing. For instance, a coyote might not bite her play partner as hard as she can, handicapping herself to keep things fair. And a dominant pack member might perform a role reversal, rolling over on her back (a sign of submission that she would never offer during real aggression) to let her lower-status play partner take a turn at “winning”. Human children also behave this way when they play, for instance, taking turns overpowering each other in a mock wrestling match. [For more on childhood play, see “The Serious Need for Play,” by Melinda Wenner; Scientific American Mind, February/March 2009.] By keeping things fair in this manner, every member of the group can play with every other member, building bonds that keep the group cohesive and strong.
Admit when you are wrong. Even when everyone wants to keep things fair, play can sometimes get out of hand. When an animal misbehaves or accidentally hurts his play partner, he apologizes—just like a human would. After an intense bite, a bow sends the message, “Sorry I bit you so hard—this is still play regardless of what I just did. Don’t leave; I’ll play fair.” For play to continue, the other individual must forgive the wrongdoing. And forgiveness is almost always offered; understanding and tolerance are abundant during play as well as in daily pack life.
Be honest. An apology, like an invitation to play, must be sincere—individuals who continue to play unfairly or send dishonest signals will quickly find themselves ostracized. This has far greater consequences than simply reduced playtime; for instance, Bekoff’s long-term field research shows that juvenile coyotes who do not play fair often end up leaving their pack and are up to four times more likely to die than those individuals who remain with others. Violating social norms, established during play, is not good for perpetuating one’s genes.
Fair play, then, can be understood as an evolved adaptation that allows individuals to form and maintain social bonds. Canids, like humans, form intricate networks of social relationships and live by rules of conduct that maintain a stable society, which is necessary to ensure the survival of each individual. Basic rules of fairness guide social play, and similar rules are the foundation for fairness among adults. This moral intelligence, so evident in both wild canines and in domesticated dogs, probably closely resembles that of our early human ancestors. And it may have been just this sense of right and wrong that allowed human societies to flourish and spread across the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
