World-renowned dog trainer Dr. Ian Dunbar, who introduced his SIRIUS Puppy Training in 1982, does it once again. His new and highly acclaimed book Barking Up the Right Tree: The Science and Practice of Positive Dog Training is an encyclopedic, evidence-based, and easy-to-read discussion of positive dog training and having people become "fluent in dog."
His approach is a valuable way to teach dogs what we would like them to do and not do, learn and unlearn, while respecting them for their rich and deep cognitive and emotional lives and honoring the well-established fact that they are fully feeling, sentient beings who deserve nothing less than the very best and most respected lives. I'm thrilled Ian could take the time to answer a few questions about his book. His words of wisdom are a perfect sequel to an interview I recently posted with dog expert Marco Adda about canine anthropology.
Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Barking Up the Right Tree?
Ian Dunbar: I realized that much that I had lectured about over the past couple of decades was not written down and so, I thought if I wrote a book on concepts of "changing behavior," I could delete a lot of factual information from my brain's RAM to make room for the names of people that I have known for years but have difficulty recalling. I found my passion—observing and quantifying dog behavior and behavior change in the sunny hills of Berkeley.
MB: Who do you hope to reach in your interesting and important book?
ID: People who are curious about the workings of their dog's mind and desperately want to communicate with them in a manner that they understand, i.e., teaching dogs English as a Second Language (ESL)—for giving clear instructions, and offering verbal guidance when dogs err.
MB: What are some of the major topics you consider?
ID: First, we are not handling and socializing neonates and very young puppies nearly enough and so, far too many dogs become progressively more wary and fearful of people as they grow older. Increasing fear of "the unfamiliar" (unfamiliar people, places, situations, and other dogs and animals), is an adolescent-onset trait that is extremely adaptive in the wild; canids bond with their own kind in and around the den, yet avoid unfamiliar animals as they range farther from the den.
With domestic animals, early socialization with people prevents the otherwise predictable, normal, and natural increase of fearfulness during adolescence. In a sense, a domestic animal is not fully domesticated until it is socialized.
The major thrust of the book is that the established "learning theory" that evolved from laboratory experiments, wherein computers administered food pellets and shocks to train caged rats (that couldn't escape the shock) has made training clinical and impersonal and doesn't work that well when people train dogs off-leash, i.e., at home, and in parks.
All too often, people copy computers and offer the same old food treat over and over and over, thus decreasing food's reinforcing value, and making food a bribe. Instead, reducing the number of food rewards increases their reinforcing value, as does, using better rewards for better behavior, and the best rewards for the best behaviors.
Moreover, I suggested a selection of life rewards, interactive games, and creative secondary reinforcers to motivate dogs to the max. The secret is to integrate oodles of extremely short training interludes into every enjoyable doggy activity.
Of course, the interloper at the training party has always been aversive techniques, often billed as a quick fix. I logically suggest that they are neither quick nor a fix, as evidenced by their continued and frequent use.
In science, punishment is not defined by its nature (scary, painful), but by its effect on behaviors, i.e., decreasing frequency until eventual elimination. Now, if the frequency of undesirable behavior decreases to zero, so would the need for punishment. However, that is not what we see. Obviously, when aversive stimuli intended as punishment do not act like punishment, by definition, they are not punishment, but simply aversive.
Moreover, even when aversive stimuli do inhibit undesired behavior, that's barely a tenth of the equation. Aside from inconsistent and ill-timed application, the crippling failure of most aversive stimuli is that they fail to communicate what we would like our dog to do instead. Let's ask ourselves, "If this is 'wrong,' what is 'right'?"
In my view, the jewel of the book is this: Punishment does not need to be scary or painful to be effective. The sheer beauty of lure/reward training (i.e. teaching ESL) is that a single word may convey (at least) two pieces of information—1) Cease what you're doing, and 2) Do this instead—specifically instructing the dog how to act. In a sense, lure/reward training dogs to understand the meaning of words is the best non-aversive punishment.
We are not forcing the dog to "never bark in this town again," but to "shush" for the time being. When your dog is about to eliminate indoors, say "outside" or "toilet." When your dog is chewing your shoe, say "chew toy!" And if ever in doubt, say "sit," which promptly curtails most misbehaviors, including jumping up to say hello—a far more civilized approach than aversive treatment for a greeting behavior that has been heavily, albeit unintentionally, reinforced since puppyhood. The puppy's only crime? They grew.
Another major message of my book is that dogs are dying much too young. Human lifespan has doubled over the past 100 years, whereas dog longevity has decreased. I argue that breeders must selectively breed dogs for longevity so all dogs live for at least 10 or 15 years—or much longer.
MB: How does your book differ from others that are concerned with some of the same general topics?
ID: I am unaware of any writings that: 1. Suggest that laboratory-generated learning theory (the creed for many animal trainers) is seriously flawed—unnecessarily aversive, complicated, time-consuming, and relatively ineffective, or 2. Outline numerous quick, easy, effective, and non-aversive alternatives for when dogs err.
MB: Are you hopeful that as people learn more about the benefits of positive training they will stop going to trainers who harm dogs using aversive methods?
ID: Absolutely! But also, that people will learn to improve the speed, ease, and effectiveness of reward-based training. Ease is so important—otherwise, most owners won't be able to master the skills. Owners don't necessarily have the experience and expertise of trainers, so what comes so naturally to trainers may be challenging for first-time dog owners.
Training must be quick otherwise owners might not devote sufficient time. Wonderfully, lure/reward training is hands down the quickest way to put behaviors on cue, i.e., to teach dogs ESL.
But the biggie: Training must be effective, yet effectiveness is rarely measured. When we view training as a behaviorist (observing and quantifying behavior), we quickly realize that a speedy change in behavior (in the right direction) is not always apparent.1
References
In conversation with Dr. Ian Dunbar, DVM, a veterinarian, animal behaviorist, and author. He researched olfaction, sexual behavior, and the development of social hierarchies and aggression in dogs at UC Berkeley, taught the world's first off-leash puppy socialization and training classes, founded The Association of Professional Dog Trainers, was elected to the Dog Fancy Hall of Fame, alongside James Herriot, Konrad Lorenz, Lassie, and Balto, and more recently was the Canine Chauffeur for Next Step Service Dogs.
1) The key to success is quantifying response-reliability, quality of performance, and speed of behavior-change by gamifying dog training. In terms of ease, speed and effectiveness, aversive stimuli simply cannot compete, or even belong on the same stage as Lure/Reward Training. Or even backstage.
Todd, Zazie. One Third of Dogs Have a Behaviour Issue, Study Shows. Companion Animal Psychology, November 29, 2023.
Dogs Demystified: An A-to-Z Guide to All Things Canine
The Psychology and Art of Positive "Do No Harm" Dog Training; "Bad Dog?" The Psychology of Using Positive Reinforcement; Science Shows Positive Reward-Based Dog Training Is Best; Canine Anthropology: A Major Shift in Dog-Human Relationships
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