Chris Redenbach CDBC, CBCC-KA
I first just have to say that I love ethology. It let the daylight in for me regarding some serious questions about dog behavior and, as the science develops, it continues to illuminate more for me than any other science surrounding my work and passion of dogs. In just over an hour, I hope to share the joy of discovery, the many ah-ha moments, by bringing this to you.
Ethology explains the building blocks of behavior. When I lived in Brazil in the 70’s, I traveled in some remote places where people live on the land on a subsistence basis. I heard stories about how they hunt the large lizards that can feed a family. They just find a lizard path…worn in the ground…and then they wait until the lizard is coming back from its own hunt and kill it with their hand made weapons as it comes down its path. They couldn’t do this without a basic knowledge of ethology…the biology of the behavior of this species.
Likewise, any working protection dog trainer will tell you that some dogs are just born with what is known as a “full mouth bite” meaning that the dog naturally grasps what they are biting all the way to the back of the molars. Other dogs have a half mouth bite and grasp only with the front half of their mouth, and still others are slashers who prefer not to grasp at all and just strike out with canines for a brief hard bite while simultaneously retreating. These genetically determined patterns are fascinating to know and can really help a breeder or trainer in their everyday analysis and decision making.
As trainers and behavior consultants, we are taught to analyze behavior according to its antecedents and consequences, but our understanding and ability to give a full analysis and choose the most efficient ways to help a dog understand what we want or help us understand why the dog behaved a certain way, we need ethology.
As a breeder, I have puzzled over why some dogs play ball and littermates don’t; why some dogs go directly up to strange people or things and others hang back; why some tear apart toys and others never do; why some are eager to do what they are trained and others are independent despite using reward based methods; why some would claim the entire neighborhood as territory if they could while others would never stray from a close radius around the house.
CEU’s Available:
2 IAABC CEU’s
2 CCPDT CEU’s
Part of the journey of discovery in ethology is asking the right questions and part is observation and tinkering. Join me for this fun exploration of diverse questions.
The lecture will be recorded and available OnDemand after the lecture.
Cost: $25.00
