Comparative Learning
by
Jeanne Perciaccanto
Ultimate Dog Training
www.ultimatedogtraining.com
Why or in some case despite all obstacles, does a dog learn?
How is it, one dog can go through multiple training sessions and never learn to sit, yet take the same dog to a different trainer and the dog is sitting and staying quickly?
Is the dog different or the training different?
Are the trainers more in tune with the dog or do the owners see the training process differently?
I believe the answer lays between all worlds.
Watching dogs in large off leash social groups for years, I had the opportunity to observe how they learn from and teach each other.
First, dogs live in the world of allowance and consequence.
This sounds very simplistic which it is not.
There are many levels of conversational and corrective body language that dogs use with each other. Here are just a few behaviors you might see for both expressions of language.
Conversational language of course would be things such as: play posture; vocalization; seeking chase; invitation with toys; calming signals and ignoring or walking away from as a sort of talk to the paw comment.
Corrective language would be actions such as: eye set; tail carriage; growling; raised lip or showing front teeth; alpha roll ( yes they do); biting; snapping and nipping; chase away; pawing; climbing on and draping head over neck. They would also use ignoring and walking away to correct.
Most interaction are a combination of both. A dog unsure of another dogs’ intentions may rely on calming signals or play language to assess the full intent and potential behavior.
Basically they seek some form of a response without being fully direct or perceived confrontational.
These languages are comparative learning which produces self control.
Watch a pup who was corrected for trying to take a bone away from another dog. The corrected dog learns to give a wide berth the next time that particular dog is eating a bone.
They are not being made to leave them alone, self control is keeping them from going back and trying to take the bone.
Second, puppies learn through trial and error.
They test and explore their own personal limitations and boundaries both physically and emotionally. They do this by simply doing. In this process they learn how to achieve all their basic survival and life saving skills, along with social boundaries and pack structure.
They also learn how to get what they want and need from other pack members which includes us.
A example of trial and error would be paws up. A puppy puts its paws up on us and we pick them up. They repeat this a few times and have learned how to get picked up.
Puppies nervous in a play group may vocalize from fear of the unknown and find each time the are vocal, it draws the other dogs attention on to them but being quiet the dogs stay away. So in trial and error, the nervous dogs learn how to control their environment by being silent. Self control over vocalization is taking place.
So what is Comparative Learning and how do we need to use it?
Dogs assess everything they do by comparing. I do this and that happens. I put my paws up on another dog and get growled at. I bark in another dogs face and get chased away.
I pick up a toy and run, the others dogs follow and chase me.
They do and a response happens directly to their behavior.
They climb onto an unstable surface a fall off, they learn to test the surface the next time.
We cannot make our dogs do anything they do not want to do.
You can use as many treats or correct the dog as many times and the end result will be the same. Dogs will only do what is in their best interest.
We have seen in so many situations when a dog refuses a treat because the value of the distraction is higher. So treats are not the answer.
We have also seen dogs, despite leashes and collars, will still drag the owner down the street when the distraction value is high enough. Leashes and collars are not the answer.
So neither food nor equipment trains a dog.
But owners are ever hopeful to use and rely on either to get their dog to listen to them.
Makes you think our dogs are smarter than we are!
Training if done right, allows the dog an opportunity to assess and compare behaviors. The dog is the one choosing to sit and stay, we do not make them do so nor can we.
Comparative learning is when the dogs is able to determine the best course of action for themselves in any circumstance.
It is taught in the smallest part of the learning curve by marking thought not action.
This requires the trainer/handler to be able to read the dogs thought process and see where and when the marking needs to take place.
Is it an eye glance, a leg movement, a body lean or any number of indicators to what the dog may be is thinking.
Marking behaviors is a skilled technique and all to often done improperly for the dog to learn clearly.
If you mark the wrong moment, you may in fact teach the dog do something you don’t want. They need to clearly understand exactly what they did in that moment that they were rewarded for.
The same is true with correction. If the correction is poorly timed, you will end up marking the wrong part of the thought process.
Heel is taught first by getting the dog to just look at you.
Stay by getting the dog to become emotionally calm.
Come by teaching the dog what being next to means first.
They have to find the value in what they do through comparison.
Dogs are reward first via marking thought as it progresses closer to what will eventually become the final desired action. Correction is later used to help the dog further define a more exact moment in behavior.
Since dogs teach with correction, dogs learn when correction is used appropriately in defining thought.
Comparative learning teaches our dogs to develop self control which is the end result for all training.
The dog must be able to ascertain the appropriateness of what they are doing.
In learning to self control, our dogs create a fuller life as true companions.
