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Sensational stories drive magazine sales and profits. In a study looking at the front page of the New York Times regarding coverage of causes of death (AIDS, automobiles, cancer, homicide, suicide, airline crashes), articles about airline accidents outnumbered other causes. Adjusted to a per-death basis, airline accident articles appeared sixty times more than AIDS and eight thousand times more than cancer. The airline industry is subject to distorted coverage similar to what we encounter daily about dog bite statistics.

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Not all biases come from authors and publishers; some come from within the reader.

For thousands of years, humans lived in small groups. We gathered food, hunted animals up to the size of a SUV and faced dangers from fast running predators. Our ability to perceive large and small things is shaped by this history.

In the past, if a tiger ate ten of thirty people in a village, it was good to take notice and avoid tigers. Those who didn't were eaten.

Today, we are exposed to instant news from around the world, but we still see it through the eyes of a village dweller. When dogs kill 10 people out of 300 million we see a potential threat; this is made more menacing by disproportionate media coverage. As a society, we are irrationally afraid of dogs. 

Our nature makes us suckers for fear-inducing news and advertising. We are suckers for lottery tickets. We simply don't understand very large or very small probabilities. The world has changed; we just haven't caught up yet. 

As humans we make interpretations of things we can't perceive. This simplifies things, but interpretations can be wrong. We believed the sun revolved around the Earth before telescopes proved otherwise.

We trust authority. This can be efficient... each generation doesn't start from scratch. Trust can be exploited when authority figures are paid to pitch a product or technique. 

We believe new things. When someone yelled "TIGER," it was good to act fast--doing so brought more offspring. The $4.7 billion nutritional supplement industry preys on this tendency, producing new products monthly to combat modern day tigers, often without much research. The FDA lacks funding to police nutritional products and does not require proof of "structure based claims."

These traits helped our ancestors avoid being eaten; but acting quickly may not always be in our best interests today. 

When reading new material, remember--you don't need to act right away. We are not faced with many tigers today--holding back on the "buy" button may be the best choice. Acting quickly can waste time, money, and lead to poor treatment of dogs when we are influenced by bias.

- John Buginas, "Avoiding the Impact of Biases When Considering Published Information" (2007) from The Dog Trainer's Resource 2: The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Collection edited by Mychelle Blake

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"Dominance: The "Dirty" Word" by Lore I. Haug, edited by Terry Long (2005) from The Dog Trainer's Resource 2: The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Collection edited by Mychelle Blake

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"Don't pet him when he is afraid or you will reinforce his fears." With all due respect, this does not make a bit of sense. A fearful dog that is being consoled is not going to become more fearful as a result. The philosopher Spinoza described counter-conditioning in his Ethics: "An emotion can only be controlled or destroyed by another emotion contrary thereto, and with more power for controlling emotion." (Lindsay, 2000, p. 225).

Pia Silvani, "Fear Factor--Frightened Fidos" (2007) from The Dog Trainer's Resource 2: The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Collection edited by Mychelle Blake

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Create Behavioral Momentum

This technique is based on the principle that when you want an individual to engage in a behavior that has a low probability of occurring, the request for that behavior should be inserted in between a number of requests for behaviors that have a high probability of occurring. This technique increases the likelihood of the target, low probability behavior being offered (Smith & Iwata, 1997; McGill 1999).

If a child refuses to take a walk, the caregiver might ask the child to doa number of behaviors that are likely to be accomplished (e.g., “tie your shoes,” “put on your coat”), provide reinforcement following the completion of each task and then make the low probability request (”come with me”), and reward the child when the task is completed. This procedure creates “momentum” as each task is completed and rewarded. Interspersing “high probability” requests with a low probability request creates a setting event for the opportunity to earn high levels of reinforcement. This change in events results in the child achieving repeated success and increased reinforcement and “builds momentum” for improved responding to all demands (Koegel, Cater & Koegel as cited in Luiselli 1998; Behavioral Momentum, n.d.).

Consider the dog that is already comfortable with four known men in the family. The trainer could have one unknown man inserted amongst the known men. That dog will be instructed to go to each man to get a treat one after another. If the dog knows the first three men, and gets treats from them, there may be enough behavioral momentum to get him to approach the fourth (unknown) man.

We humans can articulate that we are tired, cold, or cranky. If we are on medications or ill, it is understandable that our behavior might be affected by these conditions. Considering the numerous antecedents at play during any given moment, it is not hard to understand why our productivity, mood, and behavior can change frequently. The dogs we trainer affected by these same types of antecedents, but we are not always (or ever) aware of the specific stimuli affecting them. An understanding of antecedent processes and procedures gives trainers a new set of tools in which to evaluate and modify behavior. Manipulating antecedents can play a crucial role in resolving unwanted behavior problems that are not easily resolved by making changes in consequences. This tactic does not preclude the use of other training protocols such as altering consequences, using medication, or engaging in a systematic desensitization program and should be considered a vital tool in the trainer’s toolbox.

- Wendy van Kerkhove, “Antecedent Events - Looking Past the Cue” (2005) from The Dog Trainer’s Resource 2: The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Collection edited by Mychelle Blake

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Introduce Procedures That Alter Reinforcer Effectiveness

This refers to creating a state of deprivation or satiation (Smith & Iwata, 1997; Michael, 2000; McGill 1999). There are instances when deliberate operations are used to create these states and times when these states occur as a result of other events. For example, physical illness can diminish the value of food as a reinforcer; it might also diminish Frisbee catching (physical activity) as a reinforcer. Diabetes, however, can increase the value of water as a reinforcer. Medication can suppress or increase appetite making food more or less reinforcing.

Self-injurious and other problem behaviors often occur in institutional environments in which little or no direct attention is given to patients. These patients discover that behaving inappropriately gains them significant staff attention. The staff’s attempt at stopping the “bad” behavior inadvertently rewards it (they come running over) and the patients learn that reinforcement is contingent upon staff presence. However, several studies have demonstrated that giving increased attention across the board to these patients even while they are engaging in challenging behavior leads to a diminishment of the “bad” behavior. Offering a dense schedule of non-contingent reinforcement can reduce unwanted behavior as equally effectively as the differential reinforcement of another behavior (Wilder & Carr, 1998; McGill, 1999; Iwata & Smith, 2000).

This fact completely turns upside down the notion that crated dogs should not be given attention or allowed out when barking. Using a dense schedule of non-contingent reinforcement during the time that the dog is crated will, in fact, lead to a diminishment of the barking due to the elimination of the state of attention deprivation.

- Wendy van Kerkhove, “Antecedent Events - Looking Past the Cue” (2005) from The Dog Trainer’s Resource 2: The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Collection edited by Mychelle Blake

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Expert Opinion on the Relative-Risk Dilemma

While it has long been recognized that behavioral illness kills more dogs than infectious disease, the first veterinary expert to promote getting puppies into socialization classes after a minimum of one vaccination was Dr. R.K. Anderson, a veterinarian, board certified in both population medicine and behavior. In an open letter to his colleagues titled “Puppy Vaccination and Socialization Should Go Together,” he emphasized that we have a responsibility to enable early learning and socialization in young puppies, and that they should be enrolled in a socialization program as a key part of any preventative medicine program.

Dr. Anderson recommends that puppies start puppy class at eight to nine weeks of age, with a minimum of one vaccination. He further argues that:

Experience and epidemiologic data support the relative safety and lack of transmission of disease in these puppy socialization classes over the past 10 years in many parts of the United States. In fact, the risk of a dog dying because of infection with distemper or parvo[virus] disease is far less than the much higher risk of a dog dying (euthanasia) because of a behavior problem.

Dr. Anderson concludes by stating that 10 years of good experience and data with few exceptions allows veterinarians to generally recommend early socialization and training classes, beginning when puppies are eight to nine weeks of age.

-  "Striving for Puppy Wellness: Are Early Socialization and Infectious Disease Prevention Incompatible?" by Jennifer Messer, edited by Terry Long (2009) from The Dog Trainer's Resource 2: The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Collection edited by Mychelle Blake

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Many people have a perception that muzzles are "cruel." Is it more cruel to muzzle the dog, therefore allowing the animal many more opportunities for mental stimulation and training, or to kill the dog because it finally bites someone? Veterinarians and groomers hesitate to use a muzzle because their clients become so emotional over it, therefore taking unnecessary risk. Really folks, what is better? The dog wearing a muzzle for ten minutes or a horrid experience for everyone involved, possibly culminating in injury?

Aggression in Dogs: Practical Management, Prevention & Behaviour Modification by Brenda Aloff

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Traditionally, much of dog behaviour has been neatly pigeon-holed into the categories of dominant and submissive. These words have been over-used and misused such that they mean something entirely differently to different groups of people, almost to the point of being entirely useless. Many people (including dog trainers) use “dominance” as an excuse for every misbehaviour, not taking into account whether the dog is properly trained or not! To the scientist and ethologist, dominance is defined as: priority access to a preferred resource. It doesn’t necessarily describe an attitude, belief or approach an animal has.

Using dominance as the “reason” your dog does not come when you call it or doesn’t sit when you request a sit is excuse-making. There are technical reasons why your dog complies to a cue or reacts to the environment. Regardless of your philosophy, behaviour is governed by the Laws of Learning. Dominance is only one tiny facet of behaviour, not the all-consuming trait that it is often portrayed to be. If a training technique is working, it is following the principles of learning. A shortcoming of using dominance as a “reason” for behaviour is that it does not direct you toward a solution the way that learning theory does.

-  Aggression in Dogs: Practical Management, Prevention & Behaviour Modification by Brenda Aloff

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If the growl was triggered by something you were doing, stop doing it. Yes, your dog learned one tiny lesson about how to make you stop doing something he doesn't like, but you'll override that when you give him lots of lessons about how that thing that made him uncomfortable makes really, really good stuff happen. This is where counter-conditioning comes in. Your dog growls because he has a negative association with something--say he growls when you touch his paw. For some reason, he's convinced that having his paw touched is a bad thing. If you start by touching his knee, then feeding him a smidgen of chicken, and keep repeating that, he'll come to think that you touching his knee makes chicken happen. He'll want you to touch his leg so he gets a bit of chicken.

Positive Perspectives 2: Know Your Dog, Train Your Dog by Pat Miller CPDT CDBC

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Caused by Stress

What many people don’t realize is that aggression is caused by stress. The stressor may be related to pain, fear, intrusion, threats to resources, past association, or anticipation of any of these things. An assertive, aggressive dog attacks because he’s stressed by the intrusion of another dog or human into his territory. A fearful dog bites because he’s stressed by the approach of a human. An injured dog lacerates the hand of his rescuer because he’s stressed by pain.

When you punish a growl or other early warning signs, you may succeed in suppressing the growl, snarl, snap, or other warning behavior--but you don’t take away the stress that caused the growl in the first place. In fact, you increase the stress, because now you, the dog’s owner, have become unpredictable and violent as well.

Worst of all, and most significantly, if you succeed in suppressing the warning signs, you end up with a dog who bites without warning. He has learned that it’s not safe to warn, so he doesn’t.

If a dog is frightened of children, he may growl when a child approaches. You, being a conscientious and responsible owner, are well aware of the stigma--and fate--of dogs who bite children, so you punish your dog with a yank on the leash and a loud “No! Bad dog!” Every time your dog growls at a child you do this, and quickly your dog’s fear of children is confirmed--children do make bad things happen! He likes children even less, but he learns not to growl at them to avoid making you turn mean.

You think he’s learned that it’s not okay to be aggressive to children, because the next time one passes by, there’s no growl. “Phew,” you think to yourself. “We dodged that bullet!”

Convinced that your dog now accepts children because he no longer growls at them, the next time one approaches and asks if he can pat your dog, you say yes. In fact, your dog has simply learned not to growl, but children still make him very uncomfortable. Your dog is now super-stressed, trying to control his growl as the child gets nearer and nearer so you don’t lose control and punish him, but when the scary child reaches out for him he can’t hold back any longer--he lunges forward and snaps at the child’s face. Fortunately, you’re able to restrain him with the leash so he doesn’t connect. You, the dog, and the child are all quite shaken by the incident.

It’s time to change your thinking.

- Positive Perspectives 2: Know Your Dog, Train Your Dog by Pat Miller CPDT CDBC

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It is the inconsistent human--neurotic or not--who risks her dog's mental stability. There are legions of mentally sound dog owners whose lives are so chaotic, and their relationships with and responses to their dogs so unpredictable, that they are veritable Petri dishes for canine neuroses. If you invite your dog on the sofa sometimes--but yell at him for making himself comfortable at others, you are unpredictable and dangerous--he can't control your behavior by doing the "right" thing. If you hug him for jumping up on you when you're in blue jeans but knee him in the chest when you're in a suit, he can't control or predict his world.

Positive Perspectives 2: Know Your Dog, Train Your Dog by Pat Miller, CPDT, CDBC

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Dogs may not be able to articulate the principles of operant conditioning, but they understand them perfectly--especially the part about “Behaviors that are reinforced will increase.” The flip side of that says, “Behaviors that are not reinforced will decrease and eventually extinguish.”

We are a busy culture. We tend to ignore our dogs when they are behaving themselves, and pay attention when they are being difficult. By doing so, in essence we are punishing appropriate behaviors, and reinforcing inappropriate behaviors. That’s backwards!

Dogs must find it frustrating when they perform a beautifully appropriate and rewardable behavior (such as sitting to greet you) and you are oblivious.

“Hey!” your dog thinks. “I’m sitting! Don’t I get a Click! and treat? Or at least a word of praise and a scratch behind the ear?” Preoccupied with planning dinner, or tomorrow’s budget meeting, you walk right past your sitting dog. “‘Scuse me,” your dog says as he puts his paws up on your $400 business suit and snags a thread. “Aren’t you supposed to reward me for sitting to greet you?” “Not now, Rover!” you snap as you push him away. “Well,” he sighs, “at least she spoke to me and touched me. I’ll have to try jumping up again next time.”

It’s easy to forget to pay attention to good behavior. You’re busy on your computer keyboard, and he’s sleeping quietly in the corner. He’s finally calm, and you don’t want to rile him up again. Just quietly croon to him, “Goooooood boy,” in a low voice. Or lean over and gently drop a treat in front of his nose. Make a pledge to notice (and reinforce) your dog’s good behavior at least three times a day. You’ll be surprised by how easy it really is.

-  Positive Perspectives 2: Know Your Dog, Train Your Dog by Pat Miller, CPDT, CDBC

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Job Michael Evans, one of the New Skete monks responsible for writing How To Be Your Dog’s Best Friend, later left the order, and subsequently stated he regretted including the now-controversial [alpha roll] technique in the book. While he didn’t go as far as to say the alpha roll was ineffective or inappropriate, he did say he felt it wasn’t safe for use by the general public.

Modern behavior professionals who are well-educated in the science of behavior and learning go much further, denouncing the risky technique along with other methods based on faulty dominance theory.

The most obvious negative consequence of techniques that encourage owners to physically overpower and intimidate their canine companions is the possibility of scaring or coercing the dog into defending himself. He reacts aggressively in return, angering or frightening his owner, who often responds by escalating his own level of violence. Before you know it, the relationship between the two is seriously, sometimes irreparably, damaged.

Despite compelling evidence that physical intimidation does more harm than good, some trainers today (indeed, some very high-profile ones) are stubbornly attached to the forced roll-over, cloaking it in new-age terms and turning a blind eye to the damage done to relationships between dogs and their humans in the process.

Questions of appropriateness aside, it takes someone skilled in handling dogs to be able to alpha roll a dog without significant risk to human safety--which is at least in part why one television show where the technique is frequently used includes a “Don’t try this at home” style disclaimer. It’s also why trainers who employ methods such as the alpha roll talk about being bitten as “part of the job,” while those who use more appropriate, non-confrontational approaches are more likely to keep their skins intact.

Canine as a Second Language

Again, the alpha roll is supposed to mimic the behavior of the “top dog” in a pack, and send the message, “I’m the boss of you!” But one huge error in alpha roll logic is the belief that we can successfully pretend to be dogs in our interactions with our canine companions. Dogs know we’re not dogs, an any attempt on our part to mimic their language is doomed to failure.

Dogs are masters at speaking and reading canine body language. Their communications with each other are often subtle and nuanced, a furry ballet designed to keep peace in the pack. Our efforts to use canine body communications are oafish in comparison--and I imagine that our dogs are alternately amused, confused, nonplussed, and terrified by our clumsy attempts to speak their language.

Violence occurs between dogs within established social groups when the communication system breaks down; it’s a sign of an unhealthy pack relationship. Ethology studies from the 1970s and 1980s suggest that canine social structure holds together because appeasement behaviors are offered by subordinate members, not because higher-ranking members aggressively demand subservience. Instead, successful pack leaders were observed to calmly control the good stuff--an approach frequently suggested by today’s modern, positive trainers as a much safer, more appropriate, and effective method for creating a harmonious mixed-species social group.

-  Positive Perspectives 2: Know Your Dog, Train Your Dog by Pat Miller, CPDT, CDBC

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Positive, Not Permissive

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that “positive” equates with “permissiveness.” Advocates of old-fashioned methods insist that if dogs aren’t taught that there are “bad” consequences for “bad” behavior, then they will never learn to be well-behaved. These people envision a generation of ill-mannered dogs running rampant because they have never been put in their place. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Certainly, some dog owners have difficulty providing the consistency and structure necessary to develop well-behaved dogs through positive training. These are most likely the very same owners who would be incapable of administering corrections consistently and effectively--the owners who would probably end up with out-of-control dogs regardless of what training method they chose.

Positive trainers do use punishment--negative punishment, that is--as a back-up for positive reinforcement that rewards desirable behaviors. Positively trained dogs learn that there are consequences for inappropriate or unwanted behaviors, but the consequences don’t involve pain.

In behavioral terms, “punishment” is simply an action that decreases the likelihood that an organism will continue to perform a behavior. It doesn’t have to be violent or involve pain. “Negative punishment” simply means that the dog’s behavior makes a good thing go away.

Negative punishment works like this: If your dog tries to grab a food-stuffed Kong from your hand, say, “Oops!” and whisk it behind your back. His behavior has caused a good thing to go away. If his grabbing behavior causes him to lose the desired object every time he grabs, he’ll quickly learn not to grab thereby decreasing grabbing behavior.

Used in combination with positive reinforcement, this is a powerful tool. When your dog realizes that grabbing doesn’t get him the Kong, he will do something else, like sit (especially if you have consistently rewarded sit in the past). When he sits, say, “Yes!” and hand him the Kong, reinforcing the polite sitting behavior. You may need to prompt him to sit at first, but when he realizes that a sit gets the Kong, he will happily offer sits instead of grabbing whenever he sees something he covets in your hand.

Dogs do what works. In fact, all living things repeat behaviors that are found rewarding, and behaviors that are not rewarded tend to be extinguished (go away).

- Positive Perspectives 2: Know Your Dog, Train Your Dog by Pat Miller, CPDT, CDBC

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Recent studies of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in humans is spinning off information which can be applied to animal training. Dr. Chris Cantor, a psychiatrist in Australia examined the role of appeasement in complex PTSD and it's widespread occurrence throughout the vertebrate kingdom. Appeasement is considered a defence strategy between social animals of the same species (defence against non-predators) If a subordinate is trapped with a dominant conspecific, appeasement seems to de-escalate the conflict and lower the cost of losing Different mammals have different appeasement behaviors. A related phenomenon in which the subordinate and dominant develop social bonding is known variously as capture bonding", "reverted escape", or the "Stockholm Syndrome' Dr. Joseph Carver provides this heuristic list of factors present in situations were the victim becomes emotionally attached to the abuser: 1. The presence of a perceived threat to one's physical or psychological survival and the belief that the abuser would carry out the threat. 2. The presence of a perceived small kindness from the abuser to the victim. 3. Isolation from perspectives other than those of the abuser. 4. The perceived inability to escape the situation. The prevalence of dominance/subordinate concepts in animal training suggests that it has a pragmatic value. More research into appeasement behaviors of horses, and specifically the capacity for trans-species appeasement might make sense of the apparent discrepancy between the prediction of theory and the success of traditional and ethological based training paradigms.

How 2 Train A (Fill in the Blank) by Patricia Barlow-Irick

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A lot of people just head into a training session with some random training habits they acquired somewhere in their lives. They start interacting with the animal with no plan. This is especially true with horse trainers. They don't know what they are looking for, they are using pressure but often without understanding the concept of release, and then they don't see the horse trying because they aren't getting a perfected behavior. The horse gets frustrated and emotional, then things quickly get out of hand. I can't help but feel sorry for animals who are being abused by ignorant humans in the name of training. I do what I can to encourage other people to plan for success. I offer them positive feedback for having a plan and being able to explain their objectives. Abrasive words from me about their methods never have worked to change things. Their animal failing is probably abrasive enough If I try to motivate them to change, it backfires on me and they get more entrenched in their position. Modeling success is my best bet. Secondly, I try to reinforce them for planning their training in detail (most people are comfortable telling you their plans). It is very important to recognize their tries and keep encouraging them to train in the best way they can. The animals will be the beneficiaries of any efforts to raise the consciousness of trainers about the efficacy of their practices. If you merely recognize and salute trainer consistency, that, in itself, will help many animals down the road.

How 2 Train A (Fill in the Blank) by Patricia Barlow-Irick, PhD

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Allow yourself to be shaped. The cowboys put it this way: "Let the horse show you." It's all that same idea of responding to what the animal is doing, not just doggedly doing something over and over because you are sure it should work in principle. People get really stuck when they stop looking at what the animal is telling them.

How 2 Train A (Fill in the Blank) by Patricia Barlow-Irick, PhD