If you close your eyes and picture a toolbox what kind of tools do you imagine being in the box? If you pick up a few of those tools how do they feel in your hand? Are they heavy or light,,,,,made out of metal, wood, even surgical in nature? Tools, in my experience, are made for a purpose and that purpose is to repair an object or to address a medical disease or abnormality by physically modifying the patient in some way.
Since the first time I heard the world toolbox in relation to work with dogs I’ve found the term jarring. It was used by an ‘all positive/force free’ dog trainer. The image of a toolbox needed for addressing unwanted behavior seemed out of place, maybe in part because the speaker had spent most of the weekend teaching foundations for thoughtful and non-invasive methods of behavior modification in dogs. Dogs are sentient beings and not mechanical objects, and the rest of the presenter’s actions reflected this.
If we consider our collection of ways to work with our dogs to be skills instead, there are countless numbers of skills for us to strengthen as we learn. How we use our knowledge depends on the dog we are working as we factor in a dog’s strengths and weaknesses. Dogs aren't things,.
Skills are nuanced and give us strength in working with dogs. Skills lessen our attachment to outcome and help us see the individual characteristics of the dog both up close and from a distance. We are then better able to respect and understand where our dog is now and how to best teach and support them going forward.
Some skills helpful to improving interaction with and training of our dogs:
Observation - Being able to recognize how a dog is processing an environment. Very helpful since we are the ones placing the dogs in their environments. How does the dog look when they are comfortable stable and functional? How can you tell when they are having difficulties?
Timing – Understanding when and how to mark the behavior choices we are working to create in our dogs so we are teaching our dogs and not confusing them.
Goal Setting - Assessment of realistic versus unrealistic goals for dog.
Communication – Understanding how tone of voice and body language and eye contact effect our dogs. Pressure is something many dogs feel before they let us know that we are too loud or leaning in too close to them or giving them excessively strong eye contact to stop or start their actions.
Silence – Giving our dogs the gift of peace and quiet. Dogs do not need our constant input in the form of putting all behavior on cue or narrating their actions or any other way we may add our language to their experiences. Often less is more when it comes to talking to your dog.
Time – Giving them time to process a situation or environment without being rushed forward. Giving your dog time to grow into the best dog they can be is not as easy as it sounds. Working on their schedule benefits everyone.
Working with your dog as opposed to ‘at’ your dog takes time, patience and a little bit of rebellion. Currently, the dog world is filled with quick fixes that claim to change your dog’s behavior almost instantaneously. How often do humans change their behavior in an instant, especially to suit the needs of others? What tools would you find effective if someone was going to head to their toolbox to pick out how best to alter your behavior?
I understand that this is an extreme example. But I believe language has power and needs to be used carefully when speaking of our canine family members, students and friends.
It may be said that I am being overly literal. [EA1] However, I believe that beginning with theory, then morphing it into something that fits in a box, is a mixed metaphor with potentially negative fallout for both teacher and student. If it’s possible to do so, I think that articulating the difference between tools and skills is, at the very least, a useful exercise and a conversation worth having. Reconsidering how we talk about dogs may give us some new ideas for how we work with our dogs.
Copyright Emily Rogeness 2018
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