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Ballue entered my life when he was only ten months old and already quite large. His previous owners reluctantly gave him up because they were moving out of town. He is a Huntaway (sheep herding dog) and Boarder Collie cross and has a lovely, playful personality, with heaps of energy and a very deep bark. I was reluctant to adopt him because of his age and size, but it was love at first sight and I eagerly brought him home and he settled in quite nicely. |
Everything was going fine till last
month when he started acting very strangely. His hormones were out of control
and he wanted to do what he was pre-wired to do, which is chase and subdue
anything on four legs; even two legged seagulls weren’t safe! Normally this
would not faze me, however, since he is the size of a small horse and very
strong, he can pull me off my feet in a flash. Not good to have an
out-of-control big dog. Suddenly, every walk was a nightmare.
After trying various techniques I had seen on popular TV shows for training
dogs, I was seriously thinking of taking Ballue down to the vet’s office and
having some bits snipped off. Fortunately for Ballue my friend Phoebe was
visiting and she had taken several courses with a leading animal whisperer
trainer. Besides keeping horses on her farm she also owned an unmanageable
Border Collie. Her advice was to use "positive reinforcement" and in this case
the best way to do that was with highly smelly jerky treats and lots of cuddles
followed by, "Good dog." Phoebe reckoned that the positive feedback would be
much more effective than constantly reprimanding him. After some practice
session with Ballue, we figured he was ready for a walk.
On our next walk we came across this gynormous St. Bernard, the size of a grown
horse. Thankfully he was on the other side of the street. As soon as Ballue
spotted him, every fiber in his body tensed and totally focused on the "big
sheep" to be subdued. Every hair in his coat was stiff and Ballue was ready to
launch a full out attack. Immediately, as I sensed the change in his body
language, I increased my gait and shortened the leash while sticking the treat
in Ballue's face without letting him have it. I continued to walk and kept
repeating, "Good dog." I could see, and sense, the confusion in Ballue as he
continued to do his aggressive stance, yet the treat was really distracting him.
Within ten seconds I could see that the treat was far more attractive and
continuing to rise on the "attraction scale" very rapidly. As soon as Ballue's
desire for the treat peaked (where he just wanted the treat and all thoughts of
the St. Bernard were gone) I let him have it, followed by lots of cuddles and
"Good dog" vocalizations.
Did it work? Yes! During our next walk Ballue spotted another dog, a yappy
little terrier that shot across the road with the owner in hot pursuit. Ballue
started to bristle, get all twitchy and nervous. He was probably thinking, "Oh
goody, lunch!" However, I had my "magic" pills with me (the foul smelling jerky)
and I waved it in front of his snout, but wouldn’t let him have it.
I could see the confusion in his eyes and imagined him thinking, "Lunch is being
delivered (as the yappy terrier got closer) but there’s this wonderful smell in
my nose, what should I do?"
Then he must have remembered the smell and taste of the jerky as he settled
down, sat and waited. I immediately gave him the treat, and he calmed down even
more. "Lunch" was forgotten.
What I've managed to do is attach a new trigger to an unwanted behaviour. The
promise of the treat and the positive reinforcement has definitely modified
Ballue's behaviour, and we both certainly have much happier daily walks.
The interesting thing is that we can apply the same strategies I used on Ballue, to humans. Although, trying to get a human excited about foul smelling jerky probably wouldn’t work! But, I’m sure you can think of many creative ways to reinforce or install positive behaviours in some of the humans in your life :-)
