SheltieChe
Forums Sage
your thoughts? Life stories?
http://www.helium.com/items/2159697...ical-part-of-solving-a-dogs-behavior-problems
http://www.helium.com/items/2159697...ical-part-of-solving-a-dogs-behavior-problems
Why management is a critical part
- Thread starter SheltieChe
- Start date
I like and agree with the concept.
You don't feed baby his first "feed-myself" meal on your fine China because he hasn't learned not to toss the bowl on the floor yet. You manage the situation and set him/her up for success and to learn the right way to do things.
HOWEVER… they discussed "managing" to deal with over-barking. How can one manage for that? When a dog barks at outside/inside noises and at the headlights of cars that pass the house, how can one manage that? Do I need to play loud music so he can't hear the noise from outside? Do I need to get black-out blinds so he can't see any light from outside?
As things stand now, he is constantly reinforcing this behaviour because I have not found a way to prevent the triggers or to distract him with something else.
You don't feed baby his first "feed-myself" meal on your fine China because he hasn't learned not to toss the bowl on the floor yet. You manage the situation and set him/her up for success and to learn the right way to do things.
HOWEVER… they discussed "managing" to deal with over-barking. How can one manage for that? When a dog barks at outside/inside noises and at the headlights of cars that pass the house, how can one manage that? Do I need to play loud music so he can't hear the noise from outside? Do I need to get black-out blinds so he can't see any light from outside?
As things stand now, he is constantly reinforcing this behaviour because I have not found a way to prevent the triggers or to distract him with something else.
SheltieChe
Forums Sage
I like and agree with the concept.
You don't feed baby his first "feed-myself" meal on your fine China because he hasn't learned not to toss the bowl on the floor yet. You manage the situation and set him/her up for success and to learn the right way to do things.
HOWEVER… they discussed "managing" to deal with over-barking. How can one manage for that? When a dog barks at outside/inside noises and at the headlights of cars that pass the house, how can one manage that? Do I need to play loud music so he can't hear the noise from outside? Do I need to get black-out blinds so he can't see any light from outside?
As things stand now, he is constantly reinforcing this behaviour because I have not found a way to prevent the triggers or to distract him with something else.
positive is not permissive. It works only as long as it irritates you enough.
If barking irritates you enough, you will, put black out blinds, or x pen in front of the window so Miko can not get to the window, or tether him on leash or put baby gates so he can not get into room. Going to the window is a privilege and barking there is self reinforcement. The longer you continue to allow it the better behavior gets. Concept is pretty simple. Doing it is not easy but as I said- it did not irritate you enough to make changes
corbinam
Moderator
It just depends on your willingness to manage the situation. Of course you can go to extremes to "manage", but I think we have to be realistic, too.
Bentley barks and lunges on walks when he sees or hears other dogs. We try to manage it as best we can, but we can't prevent other dogs from barking or coming across another dog. We could (if we really wanted to 100% prevent this from happening) only walk the dog in the middle of the night, but that's beyond the scope of what we're willing to do to manage the situation.
He also hears other dogs barking while we're in the house...should we blast music as loud as it goes so it drowns out the barking? Should we move? Those just aren't things that we're willing to make happen.
Bentley barks and lunges on walks when he sees or hears other dogs. We try to manage it as best we can, but we can't prevent other dogs from barking or coming across another dog. We could (if we really wanted to 100% prevent this from happening) only walk the dog in the middle of the night, but that's beyond the scope of what we're willing to do to manage the situation.
He also hears other dogs barking while we're in the house...should we blast music as loud as it goes so it drowns out the barking? Should we move? Those just aren't things that we're willing to make happen.
positive is not permissive. It works only as long as it irritates you enough.
If barking irritates you enough, you will, put black out blinds, or x pen in front of the window so Miko can not get to the window, or tether him on leash or put baby gates so he can not get into room. Going to the window is a privilege and barking there is self reinforcement. The longer you continue to allow it the better behavior gets. Concept is pretty simple. Doing it is not easy but as I said- it did not irritate you enough to make changes
I guess black out blinds would really our only option because our windows are large and the floorplan is open, so he can see the windows from pretty much everywhere.
I'm not willing to live in a cave, though... so I guess I'll just stick with the barking.
SheltieChe
Forums Sage
I thought article was about good things but very muddled in the explanations. There is management and there is training, sometimes we use one or other and sometimes both. I agree with you, we all have to choose our battles wisely. What important for one human is irrelevant to other.
But article raises good questions. If I caught Che's " Don't wanna don't hafta" habits in the beginning of " iceberg" stage I would have MUCH easier life now
But article raises good questions. If I caught Che's " Don't wanna don't hafta" habits in the beginning of " iceberg" stage I would have MUCH easier life now
corbinam
Moderator
Excellent point!
My IL's are always telling us to "let Bentley be a dog" and my mom was wondering why we don't allow Bentley to chase the neighbor's dogs up and down the fence line. She thought it would be good exercise.