Beanwood
Administrator
Well yeah, Italy was my "go to" place, however this morning I think we hit an odd sort of milestone. Yes, we have been able to get her in the front door of the vet, yes we have even managed to walk through the water tank at Tamsins. Otter even enjoyed a visit to my parents. So huge progress yes? 
I am starting look at things differently. I am not entirely sure @Beanwood is seeing this in quite such a relaxed mood as me, but here goes!
My coffee break this morning. I sit down after the whirlwind event our mornings always seem to be these days, dogs, hoomans, cats and chickens all need to be dealt with,but once hubby is out the door I take a breather, usually armed with a second cup of coffee and a pastry (yummm...) This morning I sit down with a norty SECOND pain au chocolat (heck they are really SMALL ones!!!) The instant I sit down, Otter wriggles over, there is a glint in her eye, she sidles over to Bramble, bounces around a little, giving me wee sidelong looks. Hmmm....She comes a bit closer. Her mouth is slightly open, showing her cute little bottom teeth. Her eyes are wide, head relaxed. Body wriggles, and wriggles!!! I am distracted, then WHAM!! She has swiped the darn pastry right off my plate! She had a plan all along. Of that I have no doubt. Now she is thrilled with her prize! Prancing and bouncing! Crumbs are flying everywhere! I have to laugh....
Eventually I get my pain au chocolate back, well some of it! I grab the purple puller and we have a play, Otter tug, tug tugging...then slowly I lower my energy, she lowers hers ,and offer her a small frozen kong. She takes this into her crate and quietly munches away. She is content. Then she is asleep.
We could look at what just happened and think, crikey storing trouble up for later, what about boundaries?? Yes I think probably! Even most likely!!
. I am happy though, to take the consequences on the chin. We know Otter is a special case. Her anxiety and sometimes fear, combined with the operation on her knee has been crippling (excuse the pun...)The journey in dealing with this at times looks like a bowl of spagetti thrown against the wall, helping Otter has been frustrating at times to say the least. What I have learned though, is work to with her emotions first and foremost. Create a confident environment where she is not frightened of consequences. Anxiety stifles creativity, knocks our courage on the head. We become incredibly risk averse thus leading to a reduction in our resilience.
Training is actually fairly straightforward compared to working with emotion. If we create and support the right emotional state for learning, heck! Our dogs can do anything, even teach us a thing or two!
This leads me to share an interesting article by Jenny Effimova,( Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP), Fear Free Certified Training Professional.)
I have permission to share this article, taken from her blog on facebook. It touches on the subject of the "risk averse" dog.
"Too often we equate a “good” dog with a dog who is doing nothing. We come to believe that the absence of behavior is the goal and conflate it with training.
I couldn’t count how many times I’ve heard people complement dogs for “good” behavior because they were being still, literally.
Most recently I heard someone describe how a high energy dog spent an entire length of an outdoor kids’ soccer game in a sit. Aside from it being completely unnatural and just plain weird, I knew immediately how it was trained and I was right.
It’s not hard to spot an animal who's learned that behavior is risky. Stay put and nothing bad will happen. Punishment and coercion tend to have that effect.
Behavior, though, is how every living organism works to meet their needs. It’s not “good” or “bad”, it just is. All behavior is functional and suppression of behavior shouldn’t be the goal.
The goal should be to give our dogs a multitude of tools to meet their needs in a way that also works for us and our human world. This is what thoughtful and humane training looks like.
Training should encourage more behavior, not less.
Training should build curiosity and confidence.
Training should empower dogs to be brave and to try new things.
Training should create thinking dogs who make choices i.e offer behaviors that have been cultivated through a robust history of reinforcement.
Training should be a motivation to work for great things not to avoid icky ones.
Training should be empowering.
Training should be for joy.
Training, and by effect behavior, should always be an opportunity not a risk.
More about Jenny here: Dogminded
I am starting look at things differently. I am not entirely sure @Beanwood is seeing this in quite such a relaxed mood as me, but here goes!
My coffee break this morning. I sit down after the whirlwind event our mornings always seem to be these days, dogs, hoomans, cats and chickens all need to be dealt with,but once hubby is out the door I take a breather, usually armed with a second cup of coffee and a pastry (yummm...)
This morning I sit down with a norty SECOND pain au chocolat (heck they are really SMALL ones!!!) The instant I sit down, Otter wriggles over, there is a glint in her eye, she sidles over to Bramble, bounces around a little, giving me wee sidelong looks. Hmmm....She comes a bit closer. Her mouth is slightly open, showing her cute little bottom teeth. Her eyes are wide, head relaxed. Body wriggles, and wriggles!!! I am distracted, then WHAM!! She has swiped the darn pastry right off my plate! She had a plan all along. Of that I have no doubt. Now she is thrilled with her prize! Prancing and bouncing! Crumbs are flying everywhere! I have to laugh....Eventually I get my pain au chocolate back, well some of it! I grab the purple puller and we have a play, Otter tug, tug tugging...then slowly I lower my energy, she lowers hers ,and offer her a small frozen kong. She takes this into her crate and quietly munches away. She is content. Then she is asleep.
We could look at what just happened and think, crikey storing trouble up for later, what about boundaries?? Yes I think probably! Even most likely!!
. I am happy though, to take the consequences on the chin. We know Otter is a special case. Her anxiety and sometimes fear, combined with the operation on her knee has been crippling (excuse the pun...)The journey in dealing with this at times looks like a bowl of spagetti thrown against the wall, helping Otter has been frustrating at times to say the least. What I have learned though, is work to with her emotions first and foremost. Create a confident environment where she is not frightened of consequences. Anxiety stifles creativity, knocks our courage on the head. We become incredibly risk averse thus leading to a reduction in our resilience. Training is actually fairly straightforward compared to working with emotion. If we create and support the right emotional state for learning, heck! Our dogs can do anything, even teach us a thing or two!
This leads me to share an interesting article by Jenny Effimova,( Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP), Fear Free Certified Training Professional.)
I have permission to share this article, taken from her blog on facebook. It touches on the subject of the "risk averse" dog.
"Too often we equate a “good” dog with a dog who is doing nothing. We come to believe that the absence of behavior is the goal and conflate it with training.
I couldn’t count how many times I’ve heard people complement dogs for “good” behavior because they were being still, literally.
Most recently I heard someone describe how a high energy dog spent an entire length of an outdoor kids’ soccer game in a sit. Aside from it being completely unnatural and just plain weird, I knew immediately how it was trained and I was right.
It’s not hard to spot an animal who's learned that behavior is risky. Stay put and nothing bad will happen. Punishment and coercion tend to have that effect.
Behavior, though, is how every living organism works to meet their needs. It’s not “good” or “bad”, it just is. All behavior is functional and suppression of behavior shouldn’t be the goal.
The goal should be to give our dogs a multitude of tools to meet their needs in a way that also works for us and our human world. This is what thoughtful and humane training looks like.
Training should encourage more behavior, not less.
Training should build curiosity and confidence.
Training should empower dogs to be brave and to try new things.
Training should create thinking dogs who make choices i.e offer behaviors that have been cultivated through a robust history of reinforcement.
Training should be a motivation to work for great things not to avoid icky ones.
Training should be empowering.
Training should be for joy.
Training, and by effect behavior, should always be an opportunity not a risk.
More about Jenny here: Dogminded
