Clean Run Magazine - January 2008 - 15

Wait, it gets better. I am going to go out on a limb and guess that people consider a Basenji to be one of the hardest to train dogs, and a Sheltie to be one of the easiest. If you attend obedience or agility trials, you will see lots and lots of Shelties, and powerful few Basenjis. Some people will attribute this to superior intelligence and learning ability on the part of the Sheltie. Here is what Scott and Fuller found: “In general, the four hunting breeds (beagles, basenjis, terriers, and cockers) performed best on the tests. This is probably because most of the tests were deliberately designed to test independent capacities motivated by food rewards… By contrast, the Shetland sheep dogs, whose ancestors have been selected for their ability to perform complex tasks under close direction from their human masters, performed rather badly. Indeed, in many of the tests, the shelties gave the subjective impression of waiting around for someone to tell them what to do.” 2 The Basenji learned faster than the Sheltie. The Sheltie was waiting to be told what to do, and the Basenji was out there figuring it out on his own. So, if the Basenji is just as capable, if not more capable, than the Sheltie of learning, why is it so devilishly hard to get a Basenji to actually do what we want them to do? The answer is that traditional training models were designed with the biddable dog (like the Sheltie) in mind. Those methods rely heavily on “showing” or “telling” the dog what to do. If you have a dog that is preprogrammed through hundreds or thousands of years of breeding to be receptive to being told what to do, those methods might get you somewhere. If you have a dog that has only ever been bred to think for himself, you will find yourself beating your head against a wall. The problem is not the dog, but the method used to teach him. Instead of compelling or showing the dog what you want him to do, you need to learn a system of training that will tap into your dog’s ability to excel at independently motivated problem solving, just like the dogs in Fuller and Scott’s study. STRENGTHS • He is lively and very interested in his surroundings. • He is a good independent worker and problem solver. • Once he decides he wants something, he is obsessed about getting it and capable of overcoming amazing obstacles to reach his goal. CHALLENGES • He does not care much if you approve or disapprove of what he is doing—he has no natural desire to please you. • He has no natural inclination to pay attention to you • He is so obsessed with doing his own thing that it is hard or impossible to get him to refocus on the thing you would like him to do. © KENNETH REED PHOTOG RAPHY Please note that the fact that the Sheltie was reluctant to problem solve does not mean that the Sheltie was more or less intelligent than the other dogs. It only means that the Sheltie had a natural preference to be told what to do in that context. I think we must be careful not to ascribe labels like “intelligent” or “unintelligent” to dogs, because the assessment of a dog’s intelligence is going to depend on your preconceived notions of what a dog “should” be. Stick to thinking about what you want your dog to do and the best way to get him to do it. Diagnosing a dog as intelligent or unintelligent will not further your training program in any way and will only add unnecessary baggage to the process. Okay, now let’s look at your dog’s learning strengths and challenges. Your dog may or may not have all of these qualities, but he probably has most of them. What you will see is that your dog’s strengths and challenges are flip sides of the same coin: • He is lively and interested in his surroundings, which means that his whole world does not hinge on you and whether you approve of him or not. • He is good at solving problems on his own, therefore he is doesn’t need to pay much attention to you. • He is capable of great passion and obsession with reaching a goal, which is a fabulous thing, so long as your goals and his goals are the same. Keep these two-sided traits in mind as you train your dog. These are the qualities that made you fall in love with him in the first place, and we are going to respect and celebrate these qualities every step of the way. An exasperating trait always has a flip side—it is the job of a good trainer to find that flip side and use it to her advantage. Speaking of exasperating traits, next month you will learn how to take your dog’s natural independence and make it work for you. Rest assured that your dog does have the potential to become your agility partner—When Pigs Fly! D Jane, a breeder of Bull Terriers under the Madcap prefix, has put 17 performance titles on three different Bull Terriers and is one of only three people to have put an AX and AXJ on a Bull Terrier. Her passion is helping people who have been told that their dog “just has an attitude” or is incapable of learning. She never trains for mere compliance—she teaches her students how to shape a dog that vibrates with happiness when training. She teaches both at her home and at Positive Motivation Dog Training in Belvedire, New Jersey. Contact her through her website, www.madcapbullterriers.com, or at janekillion@yahoo.com. 1 2 John Paul Scott and John L. Fuller, Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1965) p. 258 Ibid. , p. 257 January 08 | Clean Run 15

Clean Run Magazine - January 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - January 2008