Today we have a link to What Shamu Taught Me about a Happy Marriage, one of the The New York Times most popular articles. It is a very entertaining read on how to train your spouse -like you would an animal- using positive reinforcement.
The principles that author Amy Sutherland used in training her husband are those that I employ daily training dogs.
To include:
Use a reward that is highly motivating to the animal.
Just like in dog training the author learned about her subject, and then used methods that her husband found rewarding and motivating.
The exotic animal known as Scott is a loner, but an alpha male. So hierarchy matters, but being in a group doesn't so much. He has the balance of a gymnast, but moves slowly, especially when getting dressed. Skiing comes naturally, but being on time does not. He's an omnivore, and what a trainer would call food-driven.
In dog training these might include, food, praise, affection, toys, access to people, play other dogs, tug, or something to chase.
Reward incompatible behaviors
At home, I came up with incompatible behaviors for Scott to keep him from crowding me while I cooked. To lure him away from the stove, I piled up parsley for him to chop or cheese for him to grate at the other end of the kitchen island. Or I'd set out a bowl of chips and salsa across the room. Soon I'd done it: no more Scott hovering around me while I cooked.
Most common would be to reward sit instead of jumping, quiet instead of barking, and chill out instead of begging.
Reward behaviors you want to repeat
I began thanking Scott if he threw one dirty shirt into the hamper. If he threw in two, I'd kiss him. Meanwhile, I would step over any soiled clothes on the floor without one sharp word, though I did sometimes kick them under the bed. But as he basked in my appreciation, the piles became smaller.
I was using what trainers call "approximations," rewarding the small steps toward learning a whole new behavior. You can't expect a baboon to learn to flip on command in one session, just as you can't expect an American husband to begin regularly picking up his dirty socks by praising him once for picking up a single sock.
In my Collie's case, I need Finney to be able to come to work with me, lay down and chill out for long periods of time until I need him. This is what he has been heavily rewarded for and what Finn will always readiliy "offer".
Ignore bad behavior
It was only a matter of time before he was again tearing around the house searching for his keys, at which point I said nothing and kept at what I was doing. It took a lot of discipline to maintain my calm, but results were immediate and stunning. His temper fell far shy of its usual pitch and then waned like a fast-moving storm. I felt as if I should throw him a mackerel.
For dogs this is used commonly for jumping, begging and whining.
If this blog has peaked your interest,and you want to learn to train your dog, husband, kids and even the neighbors in this manner, pick up a copy of Karen Pryor's book Don't Shoot the Dog. Karen is a former sea mammal trainer and it is she who is largely resonsible for the clicker training revolution. When I first read that book 10 years ago, I applied the postive principles to not only my x- husband but to my children as well.
My oldest son who is nearly 15 came along before I crossed over to positive training and he is still of the negative attention mind set, and to this day would prefer negative attention to none at all. My 10 year old daughter came along during my total embrace of positive training. This girl has fallen down whole flights of stairs and gotten up announcing to all "it's ok, I am fine!", even when she was not. We praised the heck out of her for being brave when she was younger.
By the time #3 came along, positive training kids was old hat to me.
Hint-tell the kids what they CAN do, not what the can't do.
I did use Karen's rules of positive reinforcement with my x- husband, much in the same way described by Amy Sutherland in her Shamu article, but their was a fly in the ointment. As those us who work with animals for any length of time learn--it is not possible to save them all. In my case I had a behavior to deal with that can not be addressed with positive reinforcement training. After all you can't ignore, or praise alternative behaviors if you don't know when someone is lying.
Today is the 6th "no school" snow day, and my three "little angels" are still sleeping, but when they wake, we will be looking for things to do.
I have replaced my dead computer with a brand spanking new laptop. Holy cow, being liberated from my cold basement, laundry room-slash-office is down right life altering! During the last snow storm, I sat on the couch with my girls on either side and we explored some fun sites together. In the interest of helping to keep you all sane, I am posting a few fun kid appropriate sites to surf today for your surfing pleasure.
Take a look at the picture of "Happy Dog" above. When the kids get up in an hour or so looking for breakfast, and things to do today, Happy Mom will smile...on the outside. On the inside she will be upset that she had to cancel two privates sessions, and most likely Finn's agility class later on tonight, and instead I will be wearing the hats of cruise director, chef and ref today.
Without further ado, here is your top three surf sites of the day-
1.) During the last storm incarceration, The girls (human) I and spent a ridiculous amount of time on line taking mind numbing quizzes. People.com has a near endless supply of mind numbing fluffy goodness. We got the highest scores guessing celebrity bodies, and oddly enough we totally tanked on celebrity dogs.
2. We also sent a slew of (free) doggie talking emails at the new petcentric mail site.
Think Elf Your Self meets talking email. Have your pets send spoken messages, or use the dogs and cats provided. Very cool!
Later today we will go to petcentric to send valentines.
(thanks Donna!)
3.) I can has cheezburger has added the beta version of I has a hot dog, a sister site for dogs. Go upload a photo of your dog and make your own LOL dog.
Oh Happy Dog how I commiserate with you -she writes as her fingers slip to her mouth to force a smile that she hopes will freeze there for the for duration of this storm.
Dogs helping Autistic kids find their way....the Candy video
Watch this CBS news clip of a little boy with Asperperger's syndrome, a form of Autism, and his Golden Retriever service dog Candy running agility. In the three years of blogging here at A Dog's Life, I have to say, this is my favorite dog clip of all time. Maybe even ever!
Many of you tell me that you never watch the movies on blogs or emails. If you have a slow computer or a slow connection, be sure to check this out somewhere else. It is worth it.
While there is no specific scientific proof that dogs help kids with autism (yet!), more and more families report that dogs do in fact help their autistic children. I have seen it personally many times over.
Last last year I blogged my Lab client Hunter, and his little autistic boy Merrill. Many of you have been asking me how they are doing. They are doing well, but due to time constraints, the family was not able to keep commuting the three plus hours to class round trip.I have not seen them since the last blog, although we do continue to communicate via email. My work with Hunter has shown me just how difficult it is for families with young kids to carry out the type of training that an Autism assist dog needs. Not that it isn't possible to train your own dog, but certainly it is much more difficult.
More and more I find myself working with families with autistic kids. This should come as no suprise because 1 in every 166 kids is affected. Some families want nice pets and others are hoping that their dog has what it takes to be a service dog.
Candy the dog in the clip above was trained by North Star Foundation in Connecticut. Click here to visit North Star's web site. It looks like they are doing fantastic work over there.
I wrote the Executive Director, Patty Dobbs Gross, and told her of my intention to blog Candy and asked her if she had a quote to add.
Did she ever!
I have included the entire word document that she sent me because while she talks specifically about her program, she also gives a wonderful explanation about what is involved in training an Autism assist dog and offers help to families. Patty has also asked me to work with one of their dogs that is being placed in Maine this summer, and I will be honored to do so.
We Help Children Find Their Way
by Patty Dobbs Gross
North Star Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to place assistance dogs with children who face challenges. To date we have helped over seventy-five families around the country to meet their children's social, emotional and educational goals through the use of well-bred and trained North Star dogs.
Over half the children we serve are on the autism spectrum, although we also place North Star dogs with children who face a serious illness or who have suffered a loss. We use a different model of placement than the traditional assistance dog model that most people are familiar with, and this is due to the different roles that our dogs play. While most Seeing Eye or Wheelchair dogs need to have a multitude of trained skills, such as turning on or off light switches and picking up dropped items, our dogs tend to have less technical tasks such as comforting a child through a tantrum. Often this comfort doesn’t come from a task to be trained, but from the dog’s relaxed presence and focused attention.
Greetings readers! Just a quick how do ya do, and Happy New Years wishes for one and all.
First the big news...
Maine Today is expanding the pet section and today is the first day of the official soft launch. A Dog's Life has finally got a home, and we now live at the brand spanking new Maine Pets section.
I find this a bit ironic, because way back when my blog was pitched to Maine Today, it almost didn't get off the ground. Reason? They had no place to put a dog blog.
Now the very same powers that be have given me a home, and finally decided to pay me a paltry fee, with the chance of more mula if the new web site takes off.
What does that mean for you? That means you all should click over here a lot and forward my blogs to all your family and friends. No cutting and pasting you hear? These things are tracked!
I am going to try and write more in depth training articles mixed in as always with the usual fluff. I plan on keeping the blog focus on training and Maine. There are enough doggie blogs out there covering everything else.
To get ready for this new move, Charlee and Finney and I had to truck down to the Portland Press Herald office last month, and have official photos taken. I am happy that the chosen image includes both of my dogs, while not including the few extra chins that seem to be making more and more appearances in any photograph that I take. Poor sweet Finney took an instant dislike to the white photo paper that we had to stand on. Notice those, big tall prick ears of his are seen firmly plastered to his head. By the way, dogs whose ears have that wind swept look, like Finney's do in the picture, are exhibiting appeasement. His ears seem to be saying..."well ok, but, are you sure, this is scary." I see both of my dogs looking a little stressed in the picture, but really who could blame them. It was a teeny room and I expected a lot of them. I am just glad that Finney made the final cut, because I didn't make him stay on the paper for more than about 30 seconds.
After the scary white paper incident at the photo shoot, I nearly canceled agility lessons with Anne and I had just about convinced myself that agility was not and would never be Finn's forte. I am sure glad that I did not. Finn is a very nice jumper, and he has been smokin'. Even with my poor handling skills, we have been running courses after only a few classes. Seriously, agility is a complicated sport and it does NOT come naturally to me. When I flounder to run and train at the same time, I think it gives me a glimpse as to how new dog owners must feel. Keeps me humble!
No one was more surprised than me when we got to class and started running courses. Finn and I needed to establish lots of trust between us and I think all the ground work has really started to pay off. A sharp contrast from last winter when he was all legs and nerves. I pulled him after a few sessions and ran Charlee instead.
He did so well in agility in fact, that I then nearly pulled him from his upcoming training class. All three of my kids are sharing the dog in an intro to clicker training class with my friend Jenny Yasi.
Again---glad I didn't pull him! Dogs really can work for different handlers if you keep it positive and fun. It is a great learning experience for my kids and has really helped with that ever important human/canine bond.
This is the first time, by the way, that I have let my kids use a clicker. You should see me in their class as I force my control freak self to bite my tongue and let Yasi work her magic with them. It is imposible for me not to say something, but I am working hard on that.
I tell you my heart was bursting watching Finney work with them. He made all three of my kids feel that he loved them best, and that they were the only people on this earth when it was their respective turns, as you can see from Yasi's video of my 6 year old.
Happy Holidays from A Dog's Life! -now go Elf yourself!
It is that time of year again. Head over to Office Max and Go Elf Yourself.
After you are done Elfing yourself, please send your link to the comment section for all of use to see.
The world has lost one great trick dog. You may remember Shebang from her appearances on Pet Star a few years back. Here is one of her most famous tricks.
Shebang gets in Tupperware
Here are a few of my other favorites:
Bring me your tail
Shebang stacks rings on a toy
You can read more about Shebang and see wonderful pictures of her performing by clicking here.
Shebang was only 8 years old. We are all sorry for your loss Tammy.
In the last few weeks, I have been bombarded with ultrasonic pet solutions for barking dogs both on my welcome home pages and via direct marketing. The makers of these ultrasonic products claim it will solve both my barking dog problems and even stop my neighbor's dogs from barking. By emitting a noise only a dog can hear when they bark, the company claims the dog will find the product so annoying it will quiet them.
Beware direct marketers of the can of worms you may open when you fill my in box with crap.
My kids and I played around with my Cafe Press store, which by the way, never sells anything, and we cracked ourselves up when we made our very first thong. Yup it's true, anyone can make their own thong.
Go ahead, make a thong. You can put just about anything you want on it to.
Seems like only yesterday the kids uttered their very first words, and took their very first steps, and now another milestone, the very first thong. My oldest son has been toying with designs all his own, but we won't even go there.
At this point I am not sure if it was a "had to be there joke", but we all still think it is kind of funny.
In case your eyes are failing like mine, the small print says:
"Life can be so much better"
Gooddogz Training.com
I am pleased to announce that I have joined the writing staff over at Itchmo.com - news for cats, dogs and pet owners. Itchmo is a relatively new site that has grown in leaps and bounds in the wake of the pet food recall, where they did an absolutely incredible job of keeping us all up to date. By adding several more writers to their already top notch staff, they hope to soon have the number one place for pet parents on the web.
In addition to blogging here on a A Dog's Life I will be writing weekly in depth articles on training and behavior for Itchmo.com. My very first article is posted today! Those of you who have trained with me will recognize it as a slightly changed version of your Attention handout.
For the rest of you, if you ever thought about trying clicker training, teaching your dog to love their name, or just wanted a little more attention from your dog, my Attention article is a great place to begin.
My last post left me in a rock and roll mood. Instead of keeping you all up to date on Hunter, my service dog client, I have instead been traveling down memory lane. The little free time that I do have should have spent working and blogging, but I instead utilized (wasted) that time by playing endless You Tube Live Aid concert Videos. It was fun going back to the very fun pre kid and dog less days of my youth...if only in my head.
Hunter comes to class tonight and I promise to get you all up to speed ASAP , but until then, it is time for more Rock and Roll. Here is a fun clip of agility dogs at the start line.
Send The Down East Dog News your dog license plates
The Down East News wants you to send them your dog related license plate for their web site. All states and countries welcome.
I just sent in mine!
You can up load your photo and view the license plates already submitted at the Down East Dog News on line here. Great idea Holly!
Way back in the early days of this blog, I blogged Clean Runs page of agility plates along with Agility Barbie. Both are must sees! Click here to fetch them.
We interrupt this mini blog hiatus to announce that A Dog's Life has been "banned in China. This URL ban is most likely due to past coverage of the Pet Food recalls. If you have not been keeping up to speed on pet food recall news, be sure to check out Pet Connection and Itchmo for the latest. Recalls appear far from over.
This blog is resting up and re-engergizing, but will return real soon.
Blizzard and Brian take a nap
Thanks to Monique for the great photo of her loved ones.
There is usually not very much time that elapses between email pleas where I am asked time and time again to please go and vote for someone's dog in some on line contest or another. I usually do take time and go vote,and of course my friend's dogs are the best contestants by a long shot anyway!
Come on-
just take look at her! They got in and will be flying to Sonoma in June.
Dawn is a great person and fabulous trainer and she and her husband live with 11 dogs - all rescues. You can read all about Dawn's dogs and their wonderful rescue stories here.
You may have seen Dawn on Pet Star, not once, but twice and well I just can't say enough nice things about her. Dawn and her dogs perform over 500
shows a year at The Comedy Barn in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.
But I digress.
Two of Dawn's dogs are entered in WE's Craziest Canine Contest, and I think she just might have this one in the bag. While I haven't had time to review all the videos,
wait until you see Taz...spaz.
While on the site, you can see how you can enter your own dog to win the grand prize worth $3,000 in prizes in the WE Craziest Dog Competition.
Below are the answers to Mondays hoax quiz. There were five real and five hoax entries. Drop us a comment and let us know how you did.
1.) Is this the world's biggest dog?
HOAX!
This is the real Hercules, the worlds heaviest dog.
Gibson, the worlds tallest dog
Snopes has the story here.
My nine year old knew it was a fake. When I asked her how she knew, she said because the dog only has two legs.
2.)Is this the world's biggest cat?
HOAX!
The picture has been around the net since 2001 when stories of the cat that lived near a nuclear power plant in Canada starting flying around the net. It still makes it's way to my mail box often enough.
I love that picture!
3.) Are dogs being taught to use ATM's?
TRUE!
The Canine Partner Service dogs featured are being taught to put in the ATM card in and out, and take out the money and give it to a person in a wheelchair. Story Here
4.) Dog Island
Can you send your dog to live free on an island off the coast of Florida?
"Over 2,500 dogs are already enjoying a better life at Dog Island. Separated from the anxieties of urban life, dogs on Dog Island are healthy dogs who live a natural, healthy and happy life, free from the stress and hardship associated with daily live among humans".
HOAX!
Well done, but a hoax non the less. While there is an actual Dog Isalnd off the coast of Florida, there is not one where dogs can live free. Snopes has the whole story here.
5.) A poodle in sheep's clothes?
"thousands of pet owners in Japan paid upwards of $1600.00 for baby lambs after being told they were poodles". (thanks Kathy)
HOAX
On April 26th, An article called "Ewe've Been Conned Ladies" appeard in the The Sun, England telling of how thousands of Japanese were conned into buying sheep sold as Poodles. It was widely believed to be fact for days, but it is a hoax. The article found here, made the email rounds and links can be found and on numerous blogs all over the web spouting it as a true tale.
Oil tycoon T. Bone Pickens and his wife paid $50,000 to charter a Continental airplane and send 50 dogs from Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana to San Francisco. SF Gate story here.
10.) Is it true that only 16 pets have been killed by poison pet food in the biggest pet food recall in history?
HOAX!
I know you all got this one right. Finally the FDA has released numbers in a press release on Monday.
From the FDA's web site. This has been one of the largest pet food recalls in history, a recall that continues to expand. Thus far, 18 firms have recalled product, 17 Class I and 1 class II, covering over 5,300 product lines. As of April 26, 2007, FDA had received over 17,000 consumer complaints relating to this outbreak, and those complaints included reports of approximately 1950 deaths of cats and 2200 deaths of dogs.
Hey that was fun! We all needed a break. If you just can't get enough of this Hoax biz, I have an extra treat for you.
Check out Hogzilla-thanks to Susan in Isreal.
The rules-No cheating! If you didn't know the answer and went surfing to look it up, it does not count as correct!
The scoring:
All wrong- time to take a self help internet course.
You don't come here very often do you?
1 correct
It had better have been the pet food question!
2-4 correct
not to worry, some of them were tough. Only a true pet surfer would do well.
5 -7 correct
ok, so you got a bunch wrong. At least you don't spend all your time on the Internet
8 or more right.
You spend as much time on the net as I do.
Go, go outside now. Right now - and take your dog with you!
4.) Dog Island
Can you send your dog to live free on an island off the coast of Florida?
"Over 2,500 dogs are already enjoying a better life at Dog Island. Separated from the anxieties of urban life, dogs on Dog Island are healthy dogs who live a natural, healthy and happy life, free from the stress and hardship associated with daily live among humans".
5.) A poodle in sheep's clothes?
"thousands of pet owners in Japan paid upwards of $1600.00 for baby lambs after being told they were poodles". (thanks Kathy)
6.) Is the Panda Dog one of the latest designer dogs?
7.) Meet Herman the world's largest rabbit. He weighs in at 22 pounds and measures a little over 3 feet long. Do you think he is real?
8.) Can you really purchase a "Hotdoll" humping toy for dogs?
9.) Did these dogs really charter an airplane?
10.) Is it true that only 16 pets have been killed by poison pet food in the biggest pet food recall in history?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The rules-No cheating! If you don't know the answer and go surfing to look it up, it does not count as correct!
The scoring:
All wrong- time to take a self help internet course.
You don't come here very often do you?
1 correct
It had better have been the pet food question!
2-4 correct
not to worry, some of them were tough. Only a true pet surfer would do well.
5 -7 correct
ok, so you got a bunch wrong. At least you don't spend all your time on the Internet
8 or more right.
You spend as much time on the net as I do.
Go, go outside now. Right now - and take your dog with you!
Now back to wicked cute fluff pet blogging (whew!)
Now that the media has finally started to get real about the seriousness of the Menu Foods recall, I can get back to fluff blogging.
After all the tragic news of the last week, I think we all need a little brain candy and a picture of
Onion in her space suit to help to clear all our minds.
Talk about your well rounded celebrity cyber media hound! Check out the adorable Onion, a Miniature Bull Terrier. She has a web page, a my space, and she is a huge hit over on You Tube, putting her big bullyhead
through a cat door. She has been in a Ewan McGregar movie! and a music video, and she has served as muse for several artists.
You can buy her adorable likeness on a night lite and we are proud to boast that Onion is Charlee's newest Pup pal over on Dogster!
Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire
Penn State is conducting a very interesting on line canine behavior study. The more dogs that participate in the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire, the more accurate the results will be.
At the end of the 5 minute survey, you will receive your dogs results.
I think it is a very worthwhile way to spend 5 mintues. Click here to take the test.
I have been reading Gina Spadafori syndicated pet column for years and freely admit that I am addicted to her blog Dogma, and I never miss an entry. Check it out!
To me, Gina is but another far away friend that I just haven't met yet and I have even heard another dog person lamenting "When I grow up I want to be Gina". She gets paid to write about pets, and I write about pets and don't get paid. So yes when I grow up I want to be Gina to!
In honor of the books launching, they have created two fast and interesting pet quizzes. Test your knowledge! Go on and see what you really know about dogs,
and cats .
Take the tests, and leave a comment and let us know how you did.
And as if that wasn't enough you can win all sorts of free stuff with the purchase of the books.
PS-I haven't had a chance to check the books out in person yet. This pro Gina blog comes to you without the usual free book from a PR person. But, because I LOVE free, I lifted the great picture of Woody, her working Flat Coated Retriever getting some big air, off of her very worthy of checking out photo blog over at Flickr.
It was seeing these doggie shoes that started me on the kick to feature silly and overpriced accessories for dogs.
We are not talking about shoes to keep your dogs feet warm and protected from ice and snow. We are not talking about special boots to keep your dog from slipping on the floor. We are talking accessory shoes for your dog.
These shoes are 63.99 at www.tinypawsco.com and they come with socks. I can usually buy shoes and socks for all three of my HUMAN kids for that price.
At least one time a month I will feature dog related links on the web. Some will be very informative and others will be total (but fun!) wastes of time. To illustrate my innate adaptability for this task, check out: What breed of dog are you?
Once there, click what dog are you. This has been fairly accurate among my doggie friends.
Proud to say I was a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. Big boned, good with kids, intelligent, loyal, kind, and a problem solver, but needs space. Yup, that’s me all right.
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