Remember school? I know it's hard for some of us older type
people, but I do remember the classes I disliked and the ones I excelled
at. I disliked history and English and
loved math and science. Many years ago I
figured out why. It had nothing to do
with the subjects themselves, it had to do with the way they were taught. Both history and English were full of rote
memorization and the tests for those subjects reflected that. Math and science
were full of puzzles to solve, creative processes and diving into the inner
structure of the universe and life.
I've since changed my mind about history when I discovered
in college how rich and exciting learning about those who helped create the
world we now live in could be. I also learned why we do the things we do today
and why money and leisure are the main motivators.
Studying the history of the language we speak, the
intricacies of grammar and the true definitions of words and how powerful
communication is, has changed my viewpoint of studying English. One of the most powerful changes was in
realizing that which words you choose and what order you put them in can create
either a scathing insult or a loving compliment and unless you understand
sentence structure and grammar, you'd never know which was coming from your
best friends mouth.
This fits right into dog training and why I train how I do
these days. My purpose is to create a self-controlled,
confident dog that is willing to work with the human end of the leash without
strife, can perceive and resolve problems and understands the rules of living
in a human created world. You can’t
really get this with training that only asks for rote learning.
Rote learning, memorization of facts and figures; or in the
case of a dog, commands; only works until the test or when the history teach
(trainer) is around to trigger that file drawer that you’ve stuffed everything
into. There is no tie-in to real life
and in the case of our dogs, no information about how to act when the human isn’t
there or in situations where commands haven’t been taught.
I’ve heard way too many trainers say “teach the dog to sit
to prevent jumping” and “teach the dog to sit to prevent fence fighting” and “teach
the dog to sit for food”. But what is
really happening here? Even in the R+
world, this is just basic rote learning, memorization of what to do in specific
situations. Where is the understanding
of sentence structure, grammar and understanding? How many situations are you
going to need to teach your dog to “sit” in?
About as many as there were dates I had to memorize in history class of
significant events in history? And even
if it is finite for those significant dates what about the small things in
life? What does the dog do when you
startle him flushing the toilet the first time or drop the roast on the kitchen
floor?
Hence my switch from rote learning of commands, often with force
behind the learning, to structured games that teach with nothing but fun, self
confidence, self control and the willingness to participate.
Ask yourself next time you hit the training ground, what is
it that you are really teaching your dog.
