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Tales of the Power of Positive Reinforcement

6/16/2017

 
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I was inspired to write this post by Companion Animal Psychology’s Train for Rewards Blog Party. The purpose: “The party aims to encourage people to use rewards when training their dogs or other companion animals.” Exactly what I’m trying to do! So I hope the stories below inspire you to explore the use of rewards when training your dog, cat, horse, bird, or even child (after all, we’re animals too!).

If you’ve spent any time around dogs and dog trainers (or spent any time on this site), you heard us sing the praises of the power of positive reinforcement. Usually, the reinforcement in question is food, and that makes sense. Food is easy to dispense and is something that almost every animal will get excited about. The better the food, the more reinforcing. Any trainer using techniques based in science uses food, at least to some extent. However, food isn’t the only reward available to us when trying to teach a new behavior. Anything that the animal, be they dog, cat, horse, or human, finds rewarding can be used. Sometimes this requires a little thought. Every animal is an individual You need to be mindful of what your particular dog (or cat, or horse, etc.) finds rewarding, not what you think s/he should find rewarding. So think about what the animal in front of you is like. What do they enjoy? What makes their tails wag, or makes them purr?

Two instances stand out to me to show the power of positive reinforcement. One happened long before I started working with animals professionally. The other doesn’t involve pets at all; just more proof that positive reinforcement works for all animals, including humans.

I’m of an age that, when I was growing up, there was a loud and ongoing debate between the “spare the rod and spoil the child” contingent, and the “positive reinforcement and rewards make for healthier, happier children” folks. It was the Spanking Brigade vs. Dr. Spock, and for some reason, I was always very aware of the arguments on both sides. When I was in junior high school, I think seventh or eighth grade, I read an article saying that there was scientific evidence that positive reinforcement results in greater and more permanent behavior change than punishment. I don’t know why it stuck with me, but it did. So fast forward nearly twenty years later when I found myself with an unexpected cat, Viva, who started using my furniture as a scratching post.

At this point, I knew nothing about training an animal, and certainly not a cat. But I remembered that article. How to best teach this cat what to scratch and what not to scratch? Using food didn’t occur to me at the time, but I thought about what would make this cat happy. She was a very clingy cat, constantly wanting attention and affection, and crying if she went too long without it. So it seemed that the best possible reinforcement for her would be my attention. I created a simple plan: when Viva would scratch the furniture, I’d interrupt her and distract her. I would encourage her to go to her chair, an old, POS piece of crap that a friend “gave” (read: dumped on) me. When she would scratch her chair, I would sit with her and scratch with her, while praising her with a silly voice. Picture me, seated on the floor next to my cat, digging my fingernails into this crappy old chair and saying something ridiculous like “oh, yes, scritchy scratch scratch!” And after two repetitions of this exercise… problem solved. Viva stopped scratching the decent furniture and enthusiastically dug into the POS chair. All it took to maintain that good behavior was to join in the scratching party from time to time.

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Picture me, seated on the floor next to my cat, digging my fingernails into this crappy old chair and saying something ridiculous like “oh, yes, scritchy scratch scratch!”
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My other story involves my dear friend Walter (no, that’s not his real name) and his daughter Mary Jo. When MJ was about five years old, in her last year of preschool, she started misbehaving in class. It gradually became a regular occurrence, and Walt was getting frequent calls from the teacher about Mary’s behavior issues. Walt and his wife tried what many parents do: sending her to her room; taking away computer privileges; withdrawal of TV time. And none of it had any effect. Finally, Walt decided he needed to try something completely different, so one day, after Mary had had a good day at school, Walt sat down with her, and together they created a large poster on purple construction paper. It said, “Mary Jo is Great!” Walter told her that every day she had a good day at school, she could choose a sticker (of which he had many) and put it on her poster. They hung the poster in a prominent place near the kitchen, where everyone could see it. The combination of extra one-on-one “dad time,” creating a special art project, and awesome stickers (who doesn’t love awesome stickers?) had an incredible effect: in a very short time, the misbehavior decreased, said Walter, by something like 80%.
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These stories have something in common: an owner (or parent) determining what would be rewarding to their pet (or child), and using that as reinforcement for desired behavior. It works. It doesn’t always work as quickly as it did in these instances, but it works. And as you can see, you don’t need to be a professional trainer to use it. Now, are there other things to consider? Of course, and consulting a professional if you've never done any training before is always a good idea. But thinking about your pet (or child!) and all the things that make them happy and excited, and how you might use those things to reward them for desired behavior, sets you well on your way to training success.

Do you have a success story about training with rewards? Share it in the comments!

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Animals are Messy

6/6/2017

 
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Time and again, I see pet owners who don’t seem to understand one fundamental truth: animals are messy.
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We understand that people are messy, especially very young, small people. And while no one’s happy when their precious bundle pushes over the flatscreen or somehow manages to use their full diaper as an art medium—they’re your precious bundle, and you forgive. You would certainly never consider giving your child up to an adoption agency because it took a few weeks (months, years) to teach them not to do these things. Sadly, some people resort to the shelter because the cat shred the furniture or the dog saturated the rug in pee.

If this is you, please don’t get defensive. I’m not judging. Honestly, I’m not. If you’ve ever had any of these thoughts, well… so has everyone else from time to time. Like the time my precious new kitten somehow managed to knock over and destroy an heirloom cut crystal vase. I was sure it was too heavy for her to move, so I didn’t put it in a secure place. At that moment, it became hard to love her enough. She hadn’t been with me that long, and our bond was still forming. But I got over it, because in the end, a living, breathing, sentient being is more valuable than an inanimate object, no matter the beauty or the cost, and it was my fault for leaving the vase on the counter. So I’m not shaming you; I only urge you to adjust your expectations. If it’s in your home, there’s a good chance your pet will scratch it, eat it, knock it over, break it, or pee on it. 

People often think that dogs, cats, kittens, and puppies come with an innate ability to do the “right thing,” or at least not to do the “wrong thing.” They get that they’ll have to teach their kid how exactly to behave. But why, oh why, is Fido still chewing on the armchair? Why is Snowball still lacerating the love seat? They’ve shown their pet what they want him to do, but he doesn’t. So what gives? Is he stubborn? Stupid? Or, worst of all, DOMINANT? (Don’t get me started on that last one. Oy. That’s another four-part post.) They feel despair that they will either have to get rid of the animal or never own a beautiful thing ever again.

​If it’s in your home, there’s a good chance your pet will scratch it, eat it, knock it over, break it, or pee on it.
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Training your cat or dog to scratch and chew the right things, pee and poop in the right places, and generally behave in a civilized manner is a process. It’s sometimes fast, sometimes painfully slow, but it’s always a process. Kittens do tend to come programmed to want to go to the bathroom on a sandy substrate, which can make using the litterbox pretty much a slam-dunk. But that’s it. They need to be taught everything else. And they need us to teach them. And to be patient if it takes them more than one trial to learn.

How to teach them is a subject for another post (or many posts). What I want to say now is: Please do not get a pet and expect them never to make a mess. Please know that even the best of pets sometimes attacks the table leg, scratches the sofa, or poops in the bathtub. And even if they’re perfect now, they will, at some point, God willing, get old. Old pets suffer from many of the same difficulties as old people: stiff joints, dwindling eyesight, impaired hearing, loss of bladder and bowel control, and even forms of dementia (for more information on the latter, go to http://dogdementia.com/. Eileen Anderson literally wrote the book on Canine Cognitive Dysfunction). Which can be messy. Very messy.

Another thing: please don’t get a pet to match your furniture. I get it; I do—you want a cat, so you might as well get a white one to go with your white living room set. But be sure that the wrong hair color isn’t a deal breaker. You may get a navy blue couch someday, but Fluffy will still be white. If the thought of a stray or mismatched cat or dog hair fills you with disgust, get a non-shedding breed. Or a hamster. Hamsters almost never shed.

And if you really, truly, can’t stand the idea of tears in the curtains or poop on the rug or hair on the sofa, so much so that you’d disown a pet who did those things, then, maybe, the answer is not to get a pet. Or, if you genuinely want to share your love and your home with another being, choose one that can conform to your needs and standards. Do your homework before bringing a pet into your life. Don’t just get a dog (or cat) because when you think pet, you think dog (or cat). There is absolutely no reason why you can’t bond with your guinea pig or your goldfish. (I’m serious. I’ve had lovely relationships with several goldfish over the years.)

If you want a pet, whether it be a dog or a cat or a rabbit or a rat, please remember that all pets make messes from time to time. If you have a possession that is fragile and precious to you (I know I do), make sure your pets cannot access it, or create a protective barrier of some kind (e.g., a sturdy slipcover on the gorgeous silk couch). If you've filled your home to bursting with such objects, get a pet, such as a gerbil or a gecko, whose messiness will be easy to confine to a particular area. Set everyone up for success by preparing the environment and having reasonable expectations. Before you know it, your bond with your pet will be so profound that, no matter what they destroy, they are your precious bundle. And you forgive.

Why A(nother) Blog?

6/3/2017

 
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I fought blogging for a long, long time. I resisted like crazy. But I finally caved. Here's why.

To say that I love animals is an understatement. I've had the great good fortune, as I've done this work, to meet so many others like me, people who just adore animals and want the best for them. Some are colleagues, some are clients, but that love of animals makes us all fellow travelers, a community.

As I've gone through this journey of studying dog and cat behavior--learning what they're trying to tell us, discovering what makes them happy, what makes them stressed, what makes them miserable--I've learned that I have been a crappy pet owner. Okay, maybe not crappy; certainly nothing cruel or abusive, just--ignorant. And I wish so much that I knew then what I know now. My previous pets deserved so much more than I knew how to give them. So, while I was not a bad pet owner, I was... average. A C student. And I never got Cs.

I've also watched the transformation that happens when someone who loves their pet realizes that THIS is what their dog wants, that THIS is what their cat needs, that THIS is what their pet was trying so desperately to communicate to them. Sometimes there's guilt, but it's brief and followed by this amazing connection with the animal they love and live with. It's profound, and amazing, and breathtaking, and it's what I want for every pet owner everywhere. 

Why doesn't every pet owner know all this stuff? Two major reasons come up in my practice over, and over, and over again:

1) You don't know what you don't know. There are the things you know that you know, like how to tie your shoes. There are the things that you know you don't know, like how to perform neurosurgery (unless you're a neurosurgeon, of course). And there's the things you don't know that you know--those wonderful "ah-ha" moments when you realize that you have a grasp on something you didn't even know was on your radar. And, finally, there's all the stuff that you don't know you don't know. 

I grew up surrounded by dogs. My mother grew up around dogs and taught me all kinds of things about how to interact with dogs, many correct, some not so much. But I knew about dogs. There was certainly nothing about dogs that I would need to know that I didn't know already. Cats, too. I'd always loved cats; when I got my first kitten, I read a booklet about how to care for your kitten. I mean, cats aren't all that complicated, right? So I knew all I needed to know about cats. It wasn't until I started working with them, and HAD to learn more about them, that I realized just how much I didn't know. That I realized just how much I had stressed out our family dog. That I realized how I had, completely unknowingly, caused one of my cats undue distress. I struggled with a lot of guilt. I even cried over my ignorance. But at the end, I realized that I, that we all, just need to keep learning. We have all made mistakes with our animals, and we all will again. But we'll make fewer, and be better equipped to avoid situations we may not have before if we just all remember that we don't know it all. And we still don't know it all. Research studies are turning up new information just about every day. I will never know it all. But that's okay, because I, we, can all just keep learning.

I've also watched the transformation that happens when someone who loves their pet realizes... that THIS is what their pet was trying so desperately to communicate to them.... It's profound, and amazing, and breathtaking, and it's what I want for every pet owner everywhere.      
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​2) Fear and guilt. One thing about animal lovers--they are passionate about animal welfare. That is what drives some to bring animals into their home, some to rescue and foster animals, some to work at or volunteer at animal shelters, and many to do all of the above. The upside, and it's substantial, is a community of people who are working together for the benefit of all species. The downside is that the very passion they feel for non-human animals can drive them to be a little... judgmental of the human ones. I think most, if not all of us, have been met with something like, "Oh, my Gawd, I can't believe you own a [dog/cat/horse/bird] and didn't know that!" It happens on a professional level, too. It all comes from a place of fierce love; but it can lead to people shutting down, not asking questions or seeking information for fear that they should already know that, and there's something wrong with them if they don't. 

I hope to entertain, or at least interest you. After all, I spent the first 25 years of my adult life as an entertainer, so I should be able to pull that off. I will strive to bring you content and information and insights that you will enjoy and find interesting. I am not above posting excruciatingly cute pictures of dogs, cats, and other animals, and I hope to keep the squee factor high. And if, along the way, you find out something new, fantastic! If not, I hope you enjoy the content anyway. 

I also plan to share my journey, including my mistakes. Because I don't want anyone reading this, or anything I post, thinking that they must be horrible people because they didn't know something. I am very judgmental about deliberate cruelty, and I don't have a soft spot for willful ignorance. But as for the rest--we don't know what we don't know. And we're all in this together.

    Author

    Mary Molloy
    ​Pet behavior professional, ex-actor, still a ham.

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