Sit! Stay! Come! Teaching Rover To Behave 
Finding the Right Training Method Increases the Likelihood of Success 

excerpts from an article written By Andrea Rouda
in a Special to The Washington Post
Monday, August 6, 2001; Page C10 

You can tell right away my dog is an obedience school dropout. Rufus begs for food at the table, barks stridently for no apparent reason and autographs every visitor with muddy paw prints. On the plus side, he's a miniature schnauzer -- one of the few breeds that don't shed, but I bet he would if he could.

After attending several classes at a nearby training center, we quit when the instructor requested I use a choke collar to curb my puppy's unbounded enthusiasm during walks. Rufus and I balked at what we considered cruel and unusual punishment.

What I didn't know then is that there are several different philosophical approaches to obedience training; it's important to match yours with the trainer's. To train or not to train is less a question than how to train.

Secrets of the Dolphins

When obedience training was introduced about 40 years ago, one simply put a choke chain or prong collar on the dog, gave it a command and jerked it into obeying. The use of food, games or toys -- any reward other than praise, and not too much of that -- was virtually unheard of.
Obedience training has evolved since then to include what many consider the more humane methods of positive reinforcement. One of its first advocates was Karen Pryor, a Boston-based biologist, writer and dolphin trainer who, in 1985, literally wrote the book on a new concept of training. "Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training" is concerned with altering animal behavior without being coercive.

Called"clicker training" because of the small hand-held device that emits a clicking sound, it's a slang term for B.F. Skinner's "operant conditioning," which defined the scientific principles underlying how animals learn.

Skinner's theories had long been used with dolphins and whales. Says Pryor, who has been a consultant to zoos and corporations: "My contribution has been to bridge the gap between science and practice, and to make it clear to people how this technology works and what it's for. I'm not especially concerned about what species is involved."

In the early '90s, Pryor's book caught the attention of Ian Dunbar, a California veterinarian and founder of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. He began applying Pryor's methods to dog training.

Gradually, new trainers coming into the field, and a few older ones looking for the latest fad, started advertising their use of "positive reinforcement, no-correction training," which appealed to the many people who believed traditional training was inhumane. Dunbar's followers have since swelled to 3,000 members.

Trainer Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz, who uses only positive reinforcement, is tactful in her disapproval of traditional training: "Both methods work; it's just a matter of choosing how one wants to go about it -- the traditional methods familiar to most people, or kinder methods that actually get the same job done without hurting the dog or the relationship one has with his dog."

Every Dog Benefits

Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Nancy Sheedy, who's been working with dogs for 29 years, says yes. "No time is too late if the dog is comfortable; 10- and 11-year-olds are not unusual."

Sheedy's classes are geared to family pets and their owners, and they're not just for dogs with behavior problems.

Citing socialization as a big reason to take a class, Sheedy says, "Most dogs are seriously under-stimulated and bored. Training gives them something to do. Some dogs, like golden retrievers and shelties, can get away with no training, but most others need it."

To find a trainer in your area, search the database of the American Association of Pet Dog Trainers at www.apdt.com. Arrange to observe a class before signing up, making sure you're comfortable with the methods used.

All trainers agree that while you need a highly dedicated owner, the whole family has to be involved, since everyone interacts with the dog. In families where there are several handlers, private training may be best.

Keep in mind that the wrong class can do damage. As for Rufus, I was somewhat disheartened when one trainer referred to him as a member of "the Prozac-needing breed." Apparently his "high prey drive" makes him bark at every sound and chase anything that moves. Fingers crossed, I asked Sheedy whether it was possible to outsmart a dog's genetic coding. She said yes, but called it "swimming uphill." 

One Woman's Story

As a single woman living alone, Tracy Howell thought that owning a dog would be a good bet as far as security goes. Also, she fell in love with KoKo, the American Staffordshire terrier -- a breed of pit bull -- on a visit to an animal shelter.

Very friendly at 9 months of age, KoKo grew to love other dogs but displayed increasing aggression toward people. Howell was reluctant to take him anywhere he might encounter quick-moving children. Despite her fear that KoKo might hurt someone, she knew if she returned him to the shelter he probably would be euthanized.

Enter Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz, who has been training dogs at Merit Puppy Training school in Georgetown since the early 1980s. Sylvia-Stasiewicz wasn't surprised at KoKo's changed behavior, explaining, "A dog is forever changing; the perfect puppy may, as a teenager, develop bad habits." She told Howell she'd better plan on doing some hard work with her pet if she wanted to have friends come around.

Having already tried and failed with electric shock collars and remote-control devices, which emitted "good" tones and "bad" tones, Howell opted for obedience training.

Weekly classes gave her the basics, but it was clearly the one-on-one time with her trainer that did the trick. Sylvia-Stasiewicz even took KoKo into her own home, working with her every day for two hours. And Howell, too, has continued to devote much of her time to training, almost to the exclusion of everything else.

"I went from being a workaholic to worrying about my dog. It was actually a good thing to focus on something else besides work. Now I wouldn't give KoKo up for the world."


© 2001 The Washington Post Company