“Don’t Shoot the Dog”
January 21, 2013 § 2 Comments
This book is worth a much, much longer review, but alas there are so many other things to do, so just a brief one.
Karen Pryor’s Don’t Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training is an oldie. First published in 1984 it was part of the whole start of clicker training in the dog training world. But although being a time-honoured classic, the book is worth reading–or, if you’ve already done so, even rereading. It’s fun, and it manages to pack a whole lot of useful knowledge into a really readable little book. I’ve been reading, for the first time, the 2002 revised edition, reprinted in 2009.
Pryor explains the principles of positive reinforcement and clicker training. Clear and entertaining–the animal in training in her ‘case studies’ often is us, with our bad habits. For anyone who wants to understand animal behaviour. If nothing else, read the “10 Laws of Shaping” and the “8 Methods to Get Rid of Behaviour You Don’t Want”. These two sections are a good primer on real positive reinforcement training, showing the fallout of the use of punishment, corrections or any other aversives, for that matter.
Get a clicker, or get out your old one and brush it off, or remind yourself of what other marker signal you’ve used (Yes!), and have fun with your dog.
Playing around with Tuhi. Photo courtesy of Sybill Lieber.
Should I use this approach when dieting? Or stopping chewing my fingernails?
Definitely! There actually is a section on getting rid of biting your nails (pp. 142-143).
And re dieting. It’s about positive reinforcement, and no punishment: so stop dieting :)