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Old May 12th, 2012, 04:00 PM
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millitntanimist millitntanimist is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Kitchener, ON
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Goldfields View Post
This is interesting. If not corrections, then what? How do you redirect that drive? And what do you term dominance reduction? I must admit I do find all the terms amusing because if you talk about herding instinct, the old farmers who actually had to work dogs every day wouldn't know what the heck these terms mean. If they saw a dog streaking past, Hell bent on heeling a cow it shouldn't, they'd hit it with a clod of dirt, give it a flick of the stock whip etc.. Curbs the dog's enthusiasm and doesn't make it aggressive, certainly makes it respect who is in charge, and most working dogs idolise their owners. Sometimes these debates make me think of how children aren't allowed to be punished nowadays, the world is not a better place because of it. Many children are growing up with no respect for others.
You work sub-threshold around distractions to build your dog's attention. You work on self-control exercises to give them emotional stability when they are presented with their triggers. You build the value of a toy reward that you can redirect the dog's drive onto.
For example, that client's dog is obcessed with his chuck-it toy. When they are around his triggers, if they bring it out, he becomes completely unreative and just goes after the toy. He is transferring his herding drive onto a more appropriate target. If they condition it properly, seeing his triggers will become a predictor for a game of chuck-it and he will return to them like a cue.
This is the same principle by which we trained our dog and male-reactive girl in my profile pic. If we come up to strange people or dogs in the woods on a walk, she will run back to us un-cued because she expects a round of frisbee to start. She will also bring said frisbee to the strangers, even large men who she is still careful of, as a way to break the ice.

You say "love their owner" I say appeasement gestures. I don't mean to sound crude but I be very deferential too if I was worried about getting smacked with a stock whip. That, and I would probably learn it was safe to chase cows as long as my person wasn't around because when I'm alone no-one smacks me

Your last statement is a little too much. Positive punishment is statistically the the slowest and worst way to change behavior, and has nothing to do with the "state" of today's youth. A good example of positive punishment (something that occurs after a behavior that is intended to decrease it) is a speeding ticket. How many people get 1 speeding ticket (or even 50 speeding tickets) and never speed again? Exactly. That's how effective positive punishment is.
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