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Can An Old Human Learn New Tricks? Positive Reinforcement Pet Training Week

7/6/2015

15 Comments

 
Typist: Bethany
The concepts and science behind what is now known as clicker and positive reinforcement training has been around for almost fifty years. I have been training my pets for just over half of that time. Yet in that long journey as a trainer, I only very recently learned about and began exclusively using positive reinforcement training techniques. Correction. I try to use only positive reinforcement training techniques. Those old negative reinforcement and aversive training techniques I used for decades have become bad habits that are hard to squelch. I have learned that it is easier to teach and old dog new tricks than an old human. And I am not really all that old!
Can an old human learn new tricks? Becoming a 100% Positive Reinforcement Pet Trainer
Please don't misunderstand this confession of my faults as a trainer and visualize me beating my pets for disobeying. I am simply admitting that I am not a perfect trainer. Pet training is forever a learning process and one of the places I am at in this process is losing some bad habits I picked up along the way. In an effort to keep this positive reinforcement training post positive I will first proudly share that one of the most difficult aversive training habits I desperately needed to rid myself of is long gone; the leash pop. Anyone who has been training a long time might remember the leash pop, a negative training technique of a quick pop on the leash when a dog pulls while walking or to correct a broken sit. Unfortunately, this pop had become a habit for me that I literally didn't even know I was doing. Once I became aware of how I was unconsciously leash popping, I spent countless walks undoing my own bad habit with the clicker. When the leash was taut and my instinct was to pop, I stopped, waited for a loose leash and clicked. Indeed, I clicker trained myself at the same time as the dogs! Not only is this method of teaching a loose leash walk massively more effective than the pop, it was another step on my journey to be a better trainer. A 100% positive trainer.
Blue Merle Cardigan Welsh corgi demonstrates a happy, loose leash walk
"Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn't know before you learned it."
~Doe Zantamata
My pets need to work on training away a few more of my bad habits. I still catch myself correcting the pets, mostly verbally but occasionally physically. In breaking my verbal correction habit, I first began a regimen to be sure to praise after accidentally correcting. Now I find myself skipping the negative and going straight to the positive. See, I can be trained! To diminish the bad habit of physical correction I am constantly reminding myself that I would not push a child back into a sit so I should not do it to my dogs. Cat and parrot clicker training is a huge help in getting rid of my physical correction habit. Amelia and Leo cannot be physically corrected. An inability to physically correct is exactly how positive reinforcement training came to exist a half a century ago since marine mammals also cannot be physically corrected. It's funny how I once wanted to be a marine biologist. Maybe I would have started the positive reinforcement training part of my pet training journey sooner. But at least it has begun.
Do you have any bad training habits or ways you could improve as a positive reinforcement pet trainer?
Clicker trained cat Amelia demostrates what happens when a trainer tries to physically help a cat into a sit
Cats can't be physically corrected into a sit.
The Cascadian Nomads well trained five pets at Lowman Beach Park, Seattle
These five happy pets deserve the best, most positive trainer.
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Welcome to Positive Reinforcement Pet Training Week hosted by Cascadian Nomads, Rubicon Days & Tenacious Little Terrier. This month we are sharing stories of our flaws as trainers. Like every month, any and all posts or comments about positive reinforcement pet training are welcome. The blog hop is open all week, so if you are a blogger, add a post and if you are a positive pet training enthusiast, hop around by clicking the thumbnails below, learn and share. Next months Positive Reinforcement Pet Training Week begins August 3rd and the theme is improving our pet training skills.
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15 Comments
Lauren Miller link
7/5/2015 02:53:03 pm

Great post, Bethany! I sort of touched on the leash pops on my post that's going up tomorrow. I definitely agree with you that it's harder to re-train myself than it is working with the dogs! I'm constantly working on myself so that I don't use corrections!

Reply
When The Cat Is Away link
7/5/2015 05:38:02 pm

I really appreciated your post, even though it doesn't have that much relevance to me. I have hardly started training my cats, and I'm solely working with positive reinforcement.

I love however people who are telling others about their mistakes. I love when we are questioning ourselves.

Reply
Emma link
7/5/2015 09:06:51 pm

Mom is always training herself and trying to be better at working with us. She hates yelling, but sometimes when all three of us get going on a bad behavior and won't stop she just yells. We do stop then, but she feels bad anyway and has to figure out a better way to handle three against one sometimes.

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Pamela link
7/6/2015 12:04:50 am

Really great reminder that clicker training developed out of working with animals who could not be physically corrected (sea mammals).

I think one reason it's so hard for humans to train themselves away from physical or verbal corrections is because it's natural for us to respond to frustration that way. And the very best trainers don't come from a place of frustration at all.

Reply
Flea link
7/6/2015 12:49:04 am

If I was better about training at all ... Your beautiful critters are lucky to have you as mom.

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Kari link
7/6/2015 03:28:09 am

I hope you rewarded yourself with every click!

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Lara Elizabeth link
7/6/2015 04:04:27 am

Positive training is definitely a work in progress! One of my biggest struggles is not using verbal corrections (yelling) when the dogs are barking. We are a long way from successfully redirecting, but at least I've gotten better about just remaining quiet instead of joining in the noisy fray.

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Jan K link
7/6/2015 06:38:36 am

Yelling is my biggest bad habit too. It's just a reaction for me (ha, guess humans are reactive too, right?)....and it is a hard habit to break. Sometimes it's the only way to get their attention too, but I never feel good after doing it.
Hmmm, as Kari said, maybe if we rewarded ourselves every time we managed not to yell?

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Tenacious Little Terrier link
7/6/2015 07:10:24 am

I started off training Mr. N with positive methods so at least I don't have bad habits to break there! And he's a really soft dog so leash popping or yelling would make him so sad. I am horrible at remembering to split things when training though. So guilty of lumping!

Reply
Meghan link
7/6/2015 07:20:12 am

I love this idea of doing the same thing to change your own behavior as you do for your animals--pick a behavior you like better, and reinforce that! I think you're really onto something there! But I agree with Kari and Jan--you should reward yourself for every click, too!

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It's Dog or Nothing link
7/6/2015 07:32:33 am

Those leash pops can be so difficult to break. We all have places we need to improve - I'm glad I'm not the only one ;)

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KB link
7/7/2015 11:27:50 am

I could have written the same words as you. I too am a "crossover trainer", and some of the negative habits are hard to break! For me, the absolute hardest was "ah, ah" sound that I used to make when my dog was doing something wrong. In fact, I really didn't know that I was still making that sound until my trainer guru pointed it out to me a few years ago.

I love how you describe the clicker as training both you and your dog!!! That's a very fun way to think about it. For me, another "helpful" thing has been that my current dog is the most sensitive (and fearful) dog I've ever had. Seeing her body language when I use an angry tone or even say "ah, ah" has been the best way to teach me to never go back to the dark side!

Thanks for hosting this blog hop. I enjoy reading the experiences of others who train their dogs positively.

Reply
Callie, Shadow, and Ducky's Mom link
7/8/2015 05:30:25 am

For me, the verbal corrections are the hardest to curtail because of my too-frequent impatience. Add to that a hubby who, even after 7-plus months of retirement, has still not learned to chill out. His answer to everything is impatient yelling. And that's when everything stops because all 3 dogs go into hiding. And I stand there about ready to do a leash pop on HIM. I literally have to turn away and ignore him at times like that.

Reply
DZ Dog link
7/8/2015 07:33:26 am

I struggle with the same thing! It was only about 2 years ago or so that I learned about positive reinforcement training and began to switch over..sometimes I still find myself slip into previous bad habits and get frustrated. I just try to remember that it doesn't help them or me. :-)

Reply
Jen Gabbard link
7/10/2015 03:45:02 am

Wonderful article - I've definitely found myself struggling with the same thing. Growing up leash popping, yelling "NO" & rubbing a dogs nose in it were pretty common. Unfortunately I was a leash popper for years, but I must say making the change to more positive based training has been awesome. I've learned so much and it's absolutely made my bond with Laika stronger. I will admit that I still catch myself yelling "no" from time to time, but it's slowly fading away.

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