Day 287

2/27/23

We are enjoying our dog training so much! Gus is done with Obedience One next week and Sam is nipping at his heels. They will then move on to Obedience Two.

Tonight, Sammy and I worked on "Come", "Heel", "Down" and "Leave it"! Even our amazing instructor singled our boy out as doing a excellent job and used him for demonstration purposes. We sure were proud parents!

Sam is food-driven, while Gus is not quite as obsessed with the treats. They are both doing well, so I knew that goodies were not the common denominator. Ever the researcher, I began to think about what both dogs had in common. It's the same doggy ring, the same teaching style, the same treats and a like number of "barking" distractors. It didn't take me long to figure out why they are both progressing at a wonderful rate.

Praise! Each lesson is taught with rewards and kind words. Even the "trigger word", used when they do something right, is "Yes"! Both of my youngest boys seem to thrive on pleasing me and getting positive reinforcements for a job well done.

Soon after I made that observation, I immediately thought of my teaching career and how I tried to always be supportive and positive with my reinforcements. Negative reinforcement might bring the desired actions, but only because you are standing right there delivering it. Typically, the wrong choice is revisited when a teacher's eyes are on something else.

I had a 2nd grade student, a long time ago, who had a violent reaction to being thwarted. Donny would find the nearest HARD surface and proceed to bang his head on it repeatedly. I started off the year by giving him the attention he craved by moving in to stop his negative behavior. One day, when he was slamming his head on the corner of a bookcase, I walked over and placed my hand between his head and the hard surface. He threw his head down one or two more times before he looked up at me and asked my what I was doing. I told him, "It makes me so sad when you hurt yourself like that. I decided to try to take some of your hurt away." He slowly walked back to his desk with a swollen forehead and a bemused look on his face, but I could tell something had changed. He never used that behavior for attention again. By doing something positive, he got his attention with a dash of love thrown in.

Back to my Goldens...they thrive on positive attention. When the instructor took Sammy out to the arena for demonstration purposes, he sat right down in front of her offering the proverbial Golden high five. She laughed and said, "Typical golden retriever...he will simply settle for some love"!

I wish the world would be the same way. Positive reinforcement for positive behavior...with a little love thrown in for good measure!