04/3/11

McGreevy’s Thoughts on Dog Science

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index.

Paul McGreevy spoke a lot about research, and basically reaffirmed my points in my post Paucity in Dog Science. McGreevy believes that ‘the times are turning’ and dogs are beginning to be a legitimate research topic. There is a lot to be learnt about dogs.

In my post ‘Paucity in Dog Science’, I identified three reasons that dogs are rarely scientifically studied. Firstly, expense. Secondly, that dogs do not have an official academic field of study. And finally, because humans are self centred and only interested in themselves.

Paul McGreevy identified different issues hindering the research of dogs. Continue reading →

03/27/11

7 Tips for Improving Your Dog Recall

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index.

One of Paul McGreevy’s training insights was his list of “7 tips for improving your dog recall”. My notes detail his list as the below, however I may have used my own words to describe some of his tips!

Reward continuously until your pup is skeletally mature
Reward intermittently after your pup is skeletally mature
If dog doesn’t want to come back, increase the reward
One of the focuses of McGreevy’s overall series was to reward with what the dog wants and likes, not what you think it should want and like. Dogs have personal tastes and they need to be rewarded with what they want – because otherwise the reward runs the risk of not actually serving as reinforcement (i.e. something that increases the likelihood of the behaviour occurring).

Clover recalling to me and waiting for her reward.

Use the best ever jackpots
Coming back should be highly rewarded, and including jackpots in your reward schedule is a good practice to secure a reliable recall.
Run backwards when dog approaches
As we know, dogs like to chase things, and dogs like fun. In this way, running backwards is a fun game to the dog, and also changes things up, making the recall process more exciting.
Use release command
This is a good tip that is perhaps under-emphasised. Dogs need to know when they need to come back, and then when they’re free to do their own thing. If they are confused about this, then there is a risk of tarnishing the recall.

Clover, having received a release command, sets off.

Use the premack principle
The premack principle is basically that behaviours that the dog does not want to do can be reinforced by behaviours the dog does want to do. That is, you can use what your dog wants to do as rewards. So if your dog wants to run, jump, swim, etc, you can recall your dog and then reward him by sending him to run, jump, swim, etc.

A blurry Clover recalls

Though these do provide food for thought, I am not sure if I would put these as the top 7 most important things for improving a recall. I also do not think that this list suits the lay-person, the casual dog owner. Considering these suggestions, and my past experience, I am pleased to announce my very first guest post at AllYouNeedIsLists.com. This post covers my 7 tips for improving your dog recall, written for the dog-owner and not the dog-enthusiast.

Further reading: Seven Steps to Off-Leash Reliability

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index.

03/25/11

Paul McGreevy Seminars

Recently, I had the pleasure of listening to Paul McGreevy present a two-day lecture.

Paul McGreevy is from The University of Sydney’s faculty of vet science. He is a vet that practiced in the UK for 5 years, before pursuing an interest in behaviour. His approach is scientific, with frequent references to academic studies throughout his lectures. He is the author of A Modern Dog’s Life (“a rant about what we could do better for welfare”) and Carrots and Sticks (interviews with animal trainers globally). He concluded his sessions with an emphasis on the help science can provide to the training field, that there is “room for humanity” within science, and there is still plenty to learn.

Photos © Ruthless Photos

I have been struggling for several weeks to begin writing my summary of his two-day seminar. I think that, due to the breadth of topics covered, I have had a little difficulty organising my thoughts and the best order for presenting the topics on this blog.

What I have decided may be best is to summarise some of the topics covered, in preparation for more in-depth posts as time progresses. As such, this post is likely to be edited overtime and act as an index to future posts.

Firstly, I thoroughly enjoyed the scientific nature of this seminar. Paul McGreevy went into details examining many aspects on the nature of dog science, and then also specific dog studies that has taken place. In a way, Paul described a very similar phenomena to what I described in my post Paucity in Dog Science. However, this is a lot more to the dog-science conundrum than I initially thought. I will review this topic with enthusiasm!

Paul McGreevy also spoke a great deal about dog breeding, with a particular focus on dog health. As a dog breeder, I was perhaps sensitive to this information, but I surprisingly found myself quite receptive to his ideas. Basically, Paul believes that the health of dogs should be at the forefront of breeding practices and that inherited disorders should be considered a form of cruelty.

This was a dog training seminar, so Paul did consider the four quadrants of operant conditioning and other training principles (such as classical conditioning and non-associative learning) a great deal. He talked about what he thought were ‘the keys’ to dog training. He also spoke specifically about improving dog recalls. Though there were the occasional tidbits that offered new insights, for the most part the information was not new to me. However, Paul talked a lot about horse training which I found incredibly interesting. I have a curiosity in horses, yet not enough to actively pursue the subject.

Paul considered the ethical and welfare issues concerning working dogs. That is, working dogs in all aspects – from sheep dogs, to assistance dogs, to police or customs dogs. This was definitely thought provoking, and another issue I will look forward to examining in more depth. He refers to his work with the Australian Working Dog Survey, though I am yet to read this document thoroughly.

The book Paul wrote, and refers to, A Modern Dog’s Life, concerns the stresses of day-to-day life that dogs have to contend with. Though these weren’t at the forefront of his seminar, they were addressed throughout and did provide interesting food-for-thought. These also encompasses, in some ways, the extraordinary dog senses and the challenges these pose for dog trainers. He also considered how desexing, disease and aging could influence behaviour.

McGreevy Seminar Index

Dog Training

McGreevy on ‘The Keys’ to Dog Training

Classical Conditioning Bits

Operant Conditioning Bits

McGreevy on Rewarding Dogs

McGreevy on Punishing Dogs

McGreevy on Non-Associative Learning

General Dog Training Thoughts from Paul McGreevy

7 Tips for Improving Your Dog Recall

Other

Dog Senses (with Paul McGreevy)