effective training methods

[snugglekitty]

Recently, 7j pointed me at this article, which I totally love.

What are your favorite ways of reinforcing or discouraging behavior in your pets, children, employees, subs?

Comments

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I will read it. :)

I've been hearing a lot about a new form of dog "training" which is supposedly all about showing the dog you're dominant, and uses a lot of "disciplining" without much positive reinforcement. Especially interesting, since apparently there's new research showing that our theories about the alpha wolf, which most of that stuff is based on, are hooey, and only play out in zoos where the animals aren't related.

If you're interested, I'll try to track down some links.

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

The "new" form you're describing is really the bad old methods in a new bottle. Some people who use them call themselves "dog whisperers." Yeah, right.

Recent research suggests that you get a dog out of a wolf in the same way that you get a human out of an ape -- through neoteny. A dog is a juvenile wolf for its whole life in the same way that humans are juvenile apes (which, imho, explains a hell of a lot about humans). But that means that since dogs are not, in fact, wolves, the relationship they expect from us is more along the lines of Mommy and Daddy and less along the lines of alpha wolf.

But Karen Pryor's book isn't about this; it's about animal training principles. I know you aren't interested in dogs.