Ora the Pit Bull

I had the opportunity over the last couple days to spend some time chatting with Ron Watson @ pawsitivevybe about various things such as contextual VS conceptual learning/teaching, tug, confidence, shy dogs and a few other topics to boot. I want to publicly thank Ron for the time he takes to talk with fellow dog lovers and more importantly his desire to always advance his own understanding of the human and canine bond and tenaciously endeavor to improve that bond for the benefit of us all.

During our conversation Ron made the comment “Marking and reinforcing small decisions gives them confidence.” and of course he is absolutely right. How many people hear things about handling a dog and just apply it without another thought and how many people have actually pondered what they have read or heard? If there is one thing that I have become increasingly aware of is that people generally dont spend a lot of time (or any time in many cases) pondering things they are told or read. They simply take direction as written or heard and apply it to their situation never giving it a second thought unless for some reason it doesnt provide the desired result. As Ron would likely put it, this is contextual learning, and there is nothing wrong with it but it certainly has its limitations.

For me though, having an answer simply is not enough. If something intrigues me I want to know more than just a step by step instruction on how to accomplish something. I want to know WHY it works not just how to accomplish a task.

With the above in mind I wanted to spend some time looking at confidence, what it means to me and why I think its important. Lets start by looking at the definition of confidence. Websters states the following……

belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance: His lack of confidence defeated him.

Websters own definition eludes to the fact that a lack of confidence can be problematic and I think we can all recall a time when we have seen a person or dog who definitely did not have confidence and that lack of confidence had a direct impact on how the individual was perceived. Not only does a lack of confidence affect ones perception to others but it can cause very real and physical side effects to the individual that is lacking confidence.

For years we have all heard that training a dog builds confidence and I wont disagree with that general principle but I do not feel all training is equal in its ability to build confidence and I think this is exactly what Ron was getting at when he said “Marking and reinforcing small decisions gives them confidence.”. The key word in that phrase is decisions. Let me elaborate…….

Everyone knows that we have rules in society, these rules allow us to live relatively happy and safe lives. On a much smaller scale, as a dog owner we also set rules for our home and what is expected of our dogs. By and large the average dog has very little input regarding the rules, but once learned are generally content to live by them….not that they actually have a choice.

Book after book, web site after web site we are inundated with phrases like “your dog must know your in charge”, “Dont do this or that unless your dog knows your the boss”, “If your dog knows a command and refuses to perform it a physical correction is required”. Im not going to dwell on the specifics of these but simply bring them up to highlight that when it comes to training and life with a dog in general people rarely seem to offer their dogs the freedom to choose without the shadow of negative consequence, the freedom to think and make choices. Please note I am not saying we should allow our dogs to run rampant and do as they wish, when they wish. What I am saying is that there is a lot of power and benefit in allowing your dog the freedom to make its own choices when safe and appropriate.

Lets look at a couple scenarios in human terms, put yourself in these examples and think about them, how they make you feel and what effect they would have on your confidence.

Example 1.
Your boss walks in your office and says she would like you to put together a presentation and she hands you a CD with a bunch of quotes, images and data she would like you to use to create the presentation. You sit down, wade through all the data and arrange it in a pleasing format for the presentation later that day. The presentation goes off without a hitch and your boss tells you “job well done”.

Example 2.
Its Monday morning and your department has its weekly status meeting. On the agenda you see a big client is coming in for a presentation your boss will give at the end of the week. You stay at work late that night and put together a presentation and send it off to your Boss. The next morning your Boss comes into your office and gives you a gift card to Starbucks, thanks you for your dedication and going above and beyond and taking the time to create a presentation for him.

How do these two scenarios differ? In both you created a presentation and for both you received praise and were acknowledged for a job well done but at the heart these are very different. In scenario 1 you had choices, create the presentation or dont create the presentation but there were expectations there as well and along with those expectations there were consequences. What would happen if you refused to do the presentation? Would you be written up and reprimanded? Perhaps fired? At the end of the day you technically did have choices but you also have other responsibilities which rely on income from your job. You dont want to lose your house and car and you have this nasty habit of eating which of course costs money so invariably you comply with what was asked.

Even though you may not have a problem with doing the presentation when asked in scenario one, the undertones of expectation and consequences exist to influence your decision making process and ultimately will also have an impact on how you perceive praise. The praise is always nice of course but after all its still your job, your just doing it as requested and as expected, what was the alternative?

In scenario 2 however you were not asked to create the presentation. It was not expected and therefor the consequences of your decision to do it where totally different. Worse case scenario your boss just wouldnt use your presentation but the chances of being reprimanded or worse yet, fired, were slim to none. On the flip side the potential benefits were palpable. It was an opportunity to show your boss your dedication and perhaps some other skills he didnt know you had. And when the praise came for successfully making the decision to take a chance it meant so much more than just praise for doing your day to day duties.

So how does this apply to dogs or more specifically a dogs confidence? I think most people play the roll of Boss in example 1, they request and expect results. They dish out consequences when results are not realized and on the flip side freely dole out praise when a dog behaves as requested.

At this point you are probably saying whats wrong with that? And to that I reply its not about right or wrong, what works and what doesnt work, its about degrees of success, shades of grey if you will. Its about taking advantage of all the tools in our tool box when and where they apply. Our dogs are always acting as the employee of example 2 but I fear that most people simply miss it or if they do see it often dont take advantage of it and use that opportunity to build your dogs confidence and encourage it to think on its own.

Of course we want to be conscious and careful about how we reward the decisions a dog freely makes so we dont encourage unwanted behavior but thats a conversation for another time.