{"id":1321,"date":"2012-04-30T11:31:36","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T01:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/?p=1321"},"modified":"2021-08-02T17:36:38","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T07:06:38","slug":"we-have-lost-words-from-dog-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-behaviour\/dog-training-dog-behaviour\/we-have-lost-words-from-dog-training\/","title":{"rendered":"We have lost words from dog training"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of the series in response to Dunbar’s 2012 Australian seminars. See\u00a0index<\/a>.<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

Dunbar said: \u201cWe have lost words from training.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunbar is saddened by the use of \u201cbuzzes and clicks\u201d in dog training.\u00a0 He believes that words and language (verbal feedback) are efficient, descriptive, and \u2018far better\u2019 at gaining, maintaining, and rewarding behaviours.\u00a0 He thinks that language is the \u2018feeling\u2019 that is needed in dog training.<\/p>\n

\"Scruffy<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Problem with Clicker and Shock Collar Trainers<\/span><\/p>\n

Dunbar criticised clicker and shock trainers mostly for their inability to fade clicking and shocking.\u00a0 Clickers click and treat forever, zappers zap forever, and all the while the process is sterile and unrich (according to Dunbar).<\/p>\n

To Ian, a click isn’t rich enough to convey levels of ‘good’ or ‘bad’. He described food and zaps as quantum (discrete) while verbal feedback is analog (continuous). According to Dunbar, both schools of thought (click vs zap) are inefficient at conveying degree of correctness.\u00a0 [Personal comment: I disagree.\u00a0 I think the rewards used following a click convey the degree of correctness to the dog.\u00a0 For example, the use of jackpots and <\/em>mini-jackpots<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Ian said he does use clickers, for things like shaping body positions (e.g. ears up, tail up, etc).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Verbal feedback as punishment<\/span><\/p>\n

When Ian Dunbar talks about using punishments in dog training, he is referring to verbal feedback.\u00a0 This verbal feedback can be used to define the degree of incorrectness and urgency, and also redirect the dogs\u2019 behaviour.\u00a0 (Read more about Dunbar\u2019s thoughts on punishment.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Further reading:<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Patricia McConnell looked at two studies<\/a> that found that clickers were better than verbal markers, but silence (no markers) were better than clickers!\u00a0 (Of course, Ian Dunbar would argue that teaching puppy owners about clickers is not an efficient use of training time \u2013 that is, dog owners struggle to use clickers effectively as experienced trainers.)<\/p>\n

Steve DeBono on DogStar Daily goes into this with more detail<\/a>.\u00a0 He talks about what daily life looks like, using frequent verbals, and how communicating with his dogs this way is natural.<\/p>\n

Added 12\/10\/12: For further viewing, you may be interested in this interview<\/a> between Zak George and Ian Dunbar on verbal feedback. Note, I haven\u2019t watched it yet! But it was recommended in the lecture notes and seems relevant from the first five minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Ian Dunbar in his recent Melbourne seminar explained that he was dismayed that we have “lost the words” from dog training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[432,12,164,11,376,434,375,438,433,437,435,436],"class_list":["post-1321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dog-training-dog-behaviour","tag-clicker-training","tag-dog","tag-dog-training","tag-dogs","tag-dunbar","tag-feeling","tag-ian-dunbar","tag-noise","tag-shock-collars","tag-verbal","tag-verbal-feedback","tag-words"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1321"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4948,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321\/revisions\/4948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}