When Pigs Fly_ Training Success With Impossible Dogs - Jane Killion [67]
1. A ringing doorbell—prompts a dog to bark.
2. An open refrigerator door—prompts a dog to poke his head in and grab something.
3. Running, screaming, children—prompts a dog to nip.
4. A new person approaching—prompts a dog to jump on them.
The ringing doorbell, the open refrigerator door, the running children, and the approaching new person all prompted a behavior in the dog. Something that prompts behavior in this way is called an antecedent.
B is for Behavior
Every single moment your dog is breathing, he is doing some kind of behavior. In the examples above, barking, stealing food, jumping, and nipping are some all-too-familiar behaviors for most Pigs Fly dog owners. But did you know that all the good things your dog does are behaviors, too? Lying down quietly on a mat is a behavior. Sitting politely to be patted is a behavior. Even sleeping is a behavior. So, the B in ABC stands for behavior.
C is for Consequence
Well, why does any particular antecedent prompt a particular behavior? Why should a ringing doorbell make a dog bark? Why should an open refrigerator door make a dog stick his head in and steal something? What sustains or diminishes a behavior is the consequence of that behavior. If the consequence is something the dog likes, he will do the behavior more and more. If it is something he does not like, he will do the behavior less and less. So the C in ABC stands for consequence.
Now we will go down the list of ABC situations that grieve the average dog owner, de-install the troublesome behaviors and insert a new behavior from our portfolio of foundation behaviors. Your operant dog will get it in no time that, in order to earn a good consequence, he needs to respond to the antecedent, with a behavior that pays. Your dog can only do one behavior at a time, so when we install the new behaviors, the old, troublesome, ones go away. Here is the process:
1. Figure out the antecedent. What is the event, thing, or situation is prompting your dog to engage in the behavior you do not like? If you can’t figure out what the antecedent is at first, just make a note of what was happening right before he did the “bad” thing. If you do that a few times, a pattern will jump out at you and you will see what the antecedent is.
2. You then have two options regarding your dog’s behavior:
a. Train an alternate behavior. Think of a behavior that you would like your dog to do instead of the “bad” behavior and start training him to automatically perform the “good” behavior in response to the antecedent, or
b. If you can’t train, manage. If you don’t have the time right now to train an alternate behavior, or if the behavior is one that is very dangerous or difficult (or even impossible) to train out, manage the situation by removing your dog to another place, like his crate. You will keep him from doing the “bad” thing. If you take the time to figure out the antecedents, you can literally make sure that your dog never does anything wrong because you can stop him before he does.
3. Make the consequence of doing the right thing very reinforcing. Make sure that your dog gets rewarded for doing the “right” thing and he will always choose to do the “right” thing. Incidentally, this will also be very reinforcing for you, too. It is a tiring downer to be constantly angry and nagging at another member of your household. Your own outlook on life will be much happier if you are looking for ways to reinforce your dog for good things instead of being a warden who is on the lookout for bad behaviors to punish.
I have selected the nine problem behaviors that, in my experience, Pigs Fly dog owners complain about most, but, as you can see, you can use the ABC principle to change any behavior.
1. Jumping up on people
2. Going crazy when the doorbell rings
3. Nipping
4. Restlessness