Mark Saccoccio or Dean Calderon who's a better trainer? - Page 9

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My problem-solving thinking dogs are laughing.
No, dogs don't laugh. They don't think either.

Sorry, about that,Shelley--my dog can think (outside the box) and problem-solve better than I can. It is as if he wrote the book on the theory of cognitive dissonance. He knows and evaluates numerous ways of achieving gratification. Myself, dammit--I tend to obsess too much and never to give up--given my Scottish heritance (if at first you don't succceed, try, try, try again). When someone gives me an ultimatum, I'm not nearly as creative or problem-solving as Mr. Nimo. Yes, when we go on our 40 minute morning and evening walks, he is a tad obsessed with cats lying under vehicles, in gutters, and springing out in our path. Sooner or latter, he gives up on his obsession and figures that he achieves equal gratification and less yanking on his pinch when he gets praised and rewarded for leaving it.


Although I majored in psychology (especially the theories of learning) at San Francisco State , it appears to me that dog trainers would do well to concentrate on cognitive dissonance and the offering of choices of acceptable, rewarding behaviors. This concept applies to training involving operant conditioning as well as to classical conditioning.


So, yes, my dog damned well thinks and has an excellent senseof humor.

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Here is an interesting discussion of cognitive dissonance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance  Note that the theory also applies to smoking cessation.

So, with the concept of cognitive dissonance, one can take a dog born with his own agenda and mold him into being thinking , intuitive, creative, and problem-solving to the point of being brilliant. My Nimo quickly learned that an inducive out of the sleeve brought him the reward re-bite almost immediately, that silent guarding was as effective as barking during the guarding phase, and that obedience and drive containment brought the reward. He taught himself the flip or military finish with no training by realizing intuitively that this was the shortest distance bewteen two points and brought him a tug reward and a play session.

I wish you could see the video that Douglas Surber took of Nimo's SchH2 after a little silent guarding training.  His hold and bark in the blind was a "hold and intense stare". Even with a loss of 10 points , he earned a protection score of 87 and a pronounced rating. 

When Nimo and I both spot a cat half a block away at the same time, I give the command "Think" followed by "good think--good leave it" as we contnue walking with no tugging or scrambling to get the cat.

As a trained service dog, he also has an excellent understanding of my conversational vocabulary: "go in, turn around, get underneath".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism

You're on your own here  Louise

Shelley, you're expressing your own ignorance or what you didn't major in in college. Ever studied about Konrad Lorenz's research at the Max Planck Institute or of the research done at the Yerkes National Primate Center at Emory University?

I recommend reading the cover article of the August 5, 2010 of Time magazine: "What Animals Think":

www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2008759,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2008629_2172456,00.html

www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,424741717001_2009072,00.html

Your inflexible attitude may reflect the paucity of skills you may have to offer as a "dog trainer".

As a I have posted before, my dogs have taught me far more than I have taught them. Mankind has demonstrated a recognition of  the values of animals throughout the ages via symbolism in art and literature via zoomorphism: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoomorphism, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zoomorphism

A successful trainer is one who recognizes choices, learns to think outside the box, and rewards the dog for similar behavior. When I was in my late 20s and trained  my first  GSD female  (Andrea's Annelore UDT) in advanced AKC obedience. Lore complete her UD at the age of 13 months in a total of 12 trials. Each basic AKC obedience title (CD, CDX, UD) consists of 3 "legs" and requires qualifying scores in 3 different trials.  Lore went on to complete her TD in her first tracking trial at the age of 20 months after only 6 weeks of training in tracking.

Teaching a dog to think and to "operate" on his environment creates new neural pathways which allows for repetition of learned behaviours  and to learn new behaviors.

As boring as I may have found my academic training in learning theory, this background certainly provided proof in the pudding. Kind of neat for a dog to earn his BH at 13 months with no training of the exercises on leash!