Very often when we have a training problem in front of us, we want to address it directly. That makes sense, right? I see this problem, and I want to address it now. We put pressure on ourselves to “fix” the issue, and in turn, we put pressure on our dogs.
Most often, with positive reinforcement trainers, this pressure occurs with food. We tell our dogs “You’ll get this cookie if you do the thing.” We lure, we toss, we shape. We increase the value of the food. Then we add cooing and cheerleading and praise. And all the while, our dog struggles to learn and struggles to develop the confidence to perform the behavior we want.
Here’s an example of when I was guilty of this. Six years ago, back when my cat, Fig, was an adolescent, and I was a much younger trainer than I am today. I asked my husband for a “cat backpack” with dreams of safely bringing Fig on my hikes with my dogs. Chris gladly obliged, and I excitedly began “training” Fig to enjoy his new backpack. I put food in it, I shaped him, I lured him, I did all the things! I did them to the best of my abilities. And Fig, though he was agreeable to work for the food and would place his front paws into the bag, would never actually step all the way in.
I couldn’t figure out why. I had never forced him into the bag, and as far as I could tell, there was no reason why it would be aversive to him. Yet much to my dismay, he refused to get in, and my dreams of backpacking with a cat were not met. Over time I lost interest and the backpack found its place in the closet.
Until recently. I was cleaning out a closet and came across the backpack. I know SO much more now than I did back then! I immediately recalled, with sad realization, just how much pressure I put on poor Fig to appease my human desires to get him into that darn bag. BUT, as anyone who knows me knows, I do not give up easily, and so I decided to retry my approach.
A few days ago, I put the bag on the floor in the room that Fig most prefers to nap in. That’s it. No training, no food, nothing else. I just placed it on the ground and walked away. And sure enough, after a few days of the bag sitting on the ground, Fig made his way into it, curled up, and napped in it all day long. It was never about getting into the bag. It was about the pressure I had put on him to do so.
0 Comments