I had been reading a “conversation” in one of the list serves that is subscribed to by people who are either professionals or interested in canine behavior and/or training.
The conversation was about a trainer who had tried to work with a family (husband, wife, two adolescents) with a LARGE breed dog who had bit a few times unprovoked. The trainer asked the list serve what they thought he should do.
The family had asked the trainer to take the dog to the veterinarian to be euthanized as one of their children had a disability that would make this decision not something she could understand. So the premise was the trainer was “taking” the dog, not euthanizing the dog. The details are many, but the discussion of the best solution is what I would like to talk about here.
One list serve member strongly believed that the trainer, if he did take the dog to be euthanized, should make the owners pay in some way, to punish them so they would think about this next time. Other list serve members disagreed with this position urging the trainer to not punish the owners as dog trainers are trying to work with people, not alienate them.
Before you comment, please realize that the family was going to euthanize the dog. It was the only option at that point for that family.
My issue with the punishment of the owners idea is this: It is not reality and the focus will not be on learning, it will be on the punishment (sound familiar?). If the trainer was to try to “punish”, the fallout would be the exact thing that should not happen in this instance: The focus will come off the dog’s actual death and be put on the trainer.
In human psychology of relationships, we call this a “triangle.” Here are the 3 sides in this scenario: 1. dog euthanized because he is aggressive; 2. dog euthanized because humans did not train/raise/manage properly; 3. trainer is now making us pay/causing problems for us. Instead of the dichotomy it is now: 1. dog euthanized because he is aggressive; 2. dog euthanized because humans did not train/raise/manage properly. This introduction of the trainer making them PAY will be the excuse to focus on THAT (THE TRAINER), taking the focus off of the real thing happening and every emotion they have will now be able to be focused on him, not the dog’s death and the why of it which WILL swirl in their brains until they give it a proper “grave dressing.”
The list serve member who wants the trainer to step in needs a reality check and a little understanding of the humans she is trying to reach.
Dog behaviorists and trainers need to be able to reach the humans that own the dogs …the dog is easy. We ALL know that!
An analogy of a “Triangle” – man and woman (dichotomy) are fighting and heading for divorce. Teen son (now a triangle) gets in trouble at school constantly. Now the attention is focused on the son, not the divorce. This is a constant and typical reaction to any “trouble.” The son does not even realize he is creating a diversion, but he is. The one list serve member is suggesting that the trainer become the diversion. It will backfire. Triangles for dogs is “splitting” for example.A dog sees two dogs moving from play to aggression and he will simply trot between them. We have all seen this occur. The focus is taken off of whatever was building between the two dogs and is now on the dog that does the splitting and that dog is simply moving off.
“Grave dressing” is what all humans do when they do something cognitively dissonant to what they want to believe is something they could do. It is dissonant to think of yourself as someone who puts their beloved pet to death. It is dissonant to think of yourself as someone who did such a bad job training/socializing/managing a dog that it now needs to be euthanized. They will eventually build a “story” (grave dress) that will make this event in their life NOT dissonant. If the trainer becomes the problem, the story will be about HIM, not them. Isn’t this the same as the fallout of punishment…displacement?
Dogs that bite are a sad and hard situation for anyone. Even experienced trainers. We do have some awesome information about aggressive dogs within some of our lectures and courses.
From our Ethology and Canine Behavior Lecture Library:
- BAT (Behavior Adjustment Training) with Grisha Stewart is live this week and then will be available OnDemand mid July.
- Dog Play “Gone Bad” with Sue Alexander available OnDemand
- Aggressive Behavior With Dogs: Solutions and Strategies with Ken McCort available OnDemand
Coming up in this lecture series is:
- Developing Self-Control in Dogs with Behavioral Issues – Dee Ganley (August, 2011)
- Nature vs. Nurture: Development of Serious Aggression Issues in Puppies – Sarah Kalnajs (October, 2011)
A great course on the human side of how to act to prevent and rehabilitate aggressive dogs is:
The True Nature of Dogs, taught by Rhonda Camfield who rehabilitates and places aggressive Bull terriers. It is based on, and both vintage audio and video footage is in this course by the late pioneer of “non-punishment” in training (yes, an outspoken advocate WAY back in the 1940’s and 1950’s) C.W. Meisterfeld. It is an amazing course with some insights into how dogs think who seemingly change from a sweet loving dog to a raging biter in seconds and then back again to sweet.
OK, back to work for me!