When Pigs Fly_ Training Success With Impossible Dogs - Jane Killion [72]
C. He is reinforced by getting to rest when he is tired.
Physical exercise is usually a pretty good predictor for calmness. Here is another predictor for calm behavior:
A. Dog goes to training class.
B. Dog comes home mentally exhausted, flops down on the floor, and sleeps.
C. He is reinforced by getting to rest when he is tired.
It takes a lot less to tire a dog out mentally than it does to tire a dog out physically. I have found that 15 minutes of intense free shaping has as much of a calming effect on a dog as an hour of exercise. You still need to exercise your dog, both for his health and as an investment in your relationship with him, but when it is 10 degrees outside, pitch black, and there are 18 inches of icy snow in your back yard, it is much easier to put your feet up in the living room and free shape some fun tricks.
One more common ABC for calm behaviors:
A. Dog follows you all day as you putter around the house and yard.
B. Periodically during the day, he lies down quietly while you go about your business.
C. He is reinforced by getting to lie down when he feels like it.
Now, you can and should take your dog for more walks, train him more, and hang out with him more during the day, but that is only half the story. The other half lies in the consequences in each of these three examples. How could you change the consequences to ensure that you get more of those behaviors you like?
If you are like most other people, your life is hectic. You are probably just relieved when your dog is not bothering you or doing something awful. You would never dream of going over to the couch where your dog is lying down quietly and giving him a treat or affection. For Pete’s sake, he might wake up and start bothering you again!
It is understandable if you feel this way, but you are missing a golden opportunity for shaping your dog into a companion you can live with. If you want a dog that is quiet and polite in the house, you have to reinforce that. Every dog calms down sometimes, even if it is only for ten seconds. Find that ten seconds and reinforce it. Go over to Fluffy and cuddle with him. Tell him what a good boy he is for being so quiet. Lying quietly in a corner is not the default behavior of most Pigs Fly dogs. You have to reinforce the heck out of lying down quietly if you want to see more of it. By reinforcing the quiet behavior, you can grow those ten seconds of calmness into hours of calmness. If, on the other hand, you don’t reinforce the dog for lying down quietly and then yell at/strike/ shove him when he is being a nuisance, you have done nothing to increase the quiet behavior and have fed the “annoying” behavior by giving it attention.
Don’t let sleeping dogs lie! Make sure that you give your dog lots of gentle affection and attention when he is being calm and not pestering you.
For Wild Behaviors:
A. Dog is home alone or in crate all day and owner comes home exhausted and not in the mood to do anything with the dog.
B. Dog is an unmanageable nuisance that night.
C. Dog gets frequently scolded for being a pest (hey, at least she is paying attention to me!).
As Oscar Wilde wisely observed, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” Your dog agrees with this whole-heartedly. He would much rather have you paying attention to him, even if it is in a negative way, than be totally ignored. You may think that scolding him or otherwise “punishing” him is going to make him stop being a nuisance, but it will not. He is looking for attention and you are giving it to him. You are actually reinforcing the annoying behavior.
I do not expect you to be interested in training your dog or to spend time exercising him every night of your life. This is the real world. There will be times when you have other things to do, or are so tired that it is just not possible to do right by your dog. Remember, if you can’t train, manage. If you know you will be working late, you know your dog will be extra hyper because he has been cooped up all day. Make