I was going to give this short essay a title: For the Good of the Animal, but facebook kept insisting that it had to insert a link in the middle of it. I seem to have managed to sneak the title in under facebooks radar by inserting it into a sentence. Now for the essay: The Five Go To Sea cruise was Kay Laurences way to celebrate her sixtieth birthday. At 60 Kay is very clear about what she is doing. For her it is dogs first. People second. Business third. For many it is business first, and no where is this better illustrated than in the dog sports. As Kay put it in her own blunt and to the point way: there is no dog sport that is designed for the good of the dog. Many start out that way. She was part of the council that designed canine agility. Originally you stood in the middle of the course. You didnt run with the dog over ever faster courses and tougher obstacles. Canine obedience may look impressive, but the dog is torqued to one side. Horse people know the effect of that. If you work horses exclusively to one side, you will get very unbalanced individuals. Kay loves doing heel work to music with her dogs, but the behaviors she teaches help the dogs to be fitter, more flexible, healthier. She teaches her dogs canine dressage for the same reasons that I teach my horses equine dressage. It isnt for the ability to compete, but for the long-term health of our animals. Just because you can, doesnt mean you should. One of the current trends in dog sports is canine trick training. This was for people who didnt want to dress up and choreograph the routines for heel work to music. Apparently there are no restrictions and competition being what it is people are trying to come up with novel, ever more challenging tricks. To that end they are now teaching dogs to do walking hand stands. They are using clicker training, so for many that means it must be okay. And since so many people are now teaching their dogs to do hand stands using clicks and treats, that makes it seem even more acceptable. Just because you can doesnt mean you should applies to so many situations. Twenty plus years ago when we were first experimenting with clicker training, it was exciting just to be able to get simple behaviors. My horse touched a target. Hes so smart!!! You saw this over and over again in internet posts. (You still do! And yes, our horses (and dogs) are very smart!) I remember watching those first early approximations for teaching dogs to sit using a clicker and treats. At that juncture people werent thinking about whether the dog stepped forward or back into the sit. It was enough that you could get him to sit without shoving his rear end down or jerking on his lead. But fast forward twenty years and we are paying a lot more attention to details. How a behavior is taught and maintained is important. But more than that were asking if the behavior should be taught in the first place. Trainers like Kay are standing up for the dogs. As she said, if we dont, entertainment will take over and well be pushing dogs (and horses) to extremes of performance. People describe their training in so many different ways. The people who are teaching their dogs to do handstands arent thinking theres a problem. Their dogs are eager learners. They want the attention and the treats. The training is built in slow steps so the dogs are able to find their balance. The problem is dogs are not built to be able to walk on their front legs. The same can be said for some of the things people train horses to do. I could easily imagine a training plan for teaching a horse to follow a target up until he is rearing up on his hind legs. With a little bit of extra work, you could teach this horse to walk on his hind legs. The lesson plan is easy, but you wont see me teaching this to horses. I just cant believe that having a horse walking upright on his hind legs is good for long term soundness. Kay had a great line. She said: If I had to be any sort of trainer, it would be thoughtful. Im sure thats what all of our animals would wish for us. Alexandra Kurland theclickercenter
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 13:17:36 +0000
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