We know all the clichés about dogs.
We love the memes and cartoons about a dog’s perspective. Watching videos of dogs doing crazy or amazing things brings us laughter to the point of tears. But let’s just stop and think about a dog’s life for a moment. Have you ever done that?
Dogs are communicating all the time. We know their body language when they are happy and content. We know when they are calm and sleeping. We understand their body language when they are excited. We can even tell most times they are afraid. You must admit that some of your dog’s behaviours not only baffle you, but they also drive you crazy.
Now we all know that puppies will be puppies and they are at an infant/learning stage of their lives. This is the time when it is crucial for them to be desensitized to certain things that might cause fear, including other people, other dogs or animals, children, loud noises, and places like the vet and other public areas.
You have been to obedience classes. You have had a trainer come into your home. You have worked through all the activities that should have your dog doing what you would like them to do but instead, they are doing the exact opposite. You know they know that what they are doing is wrong. It might even be a behavior they have not done for the first few years of life but have developed it, all of a sudden.
Enter Billy Groom.
The most mind-blowing concept came in the first few minutes of the interview when she said, “It’s not the issue or the behaviour problem that decides the technique or methodology that’s best, it is the dog.”
She went on to explain that “All trainers deal with the same issues. We all get dogs jumping up on people, leash reactivity, fear aggression, or house training and so on. Operant conditioning works best when you are encouraging a wanted behaviour or discouraging an unwanted behaviour. It goes on the platform that the dog does not know right from wrong. Or a dog that has a personality that they want to do the right thing, but they are just fearful, they want to do what you are asking them to do.”
Groom was very specific in her wording as she said: “The reason operant conditioning sometimes falls short is that the dog knows right from wrong and is choosing to not do it.” It was at that point that I understood that operant conditioning with all of its facets is great as a method, but it will not be appropriate or the best approach for a dog that is choosing to do the wrong behaviour.
Can a dog choose?
Groom explained numerous examples of dog behaviour where in one situation the dog would not know that something is wrong and how operant conditioning would change that behaviour. She used the exact same examples in an older dog where the dog would absolutely know the behaviour is wrong but would do it anyway.
This is where the concept of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy enters the scene. A human being can choose to eat that third and fourth piece of cake knowing it is not healthy. When they know and do it anyway, that is a cognitive function. It is the exact same for dogs. When your dog knows that lifting the lid on the garbage is wrong, but they get in, eat what they want and spread the entire contents over the house anyway, they have totally thought about it. They chose that action, regardless of the consequences. That is a cognitive choice your dog has made.
“You can always try standard operant conditioning with a behaviour to see if it works. If the dog wants to do the behaviour or needs to be taught the behaviour, it should work. If it doesn’t work, it is not your fault,” Billy said emphatically. “It is not the dog’s fault. It is like with children when you have two kids in the same house with the exact same environment and upbringing, values and all of that. One cares that you take away their allowance if they don’t clean their room but the other could not care less if they don’t get their allowance, they don’t want to clean their room and are not going to.”
In both situations, a different approach needs to be taken to discover what is going on. Cognitive behaviour therapy can be used in both cases because it changes perception to change behaviour.
“It has nothing to do with rewarding good behaviour or discouraging unwanted behaviour, you are looking at the reason for the behaviour,” Groom emphasized.
Why are not all dog trainers trained in both operant conditioning and cognitive behaviour therapy?
Groom has discovered this methodology in working with thousands of dogs over the past 34 years, first in Toronto and now in Regina. She began to see it work, documented what she was doing and the success and then contacted cognitive behaviour therapists to learn more. Every cognitive behaviour therapist/psychologist she worked with agreed that it works well with dogs when operant conditioning will not. Dogs can think. They have the genetic makeup to think cognitively (over the age of six months).
So why is this not a common solution?
Mindset is the answer.
Groom has developed the methodology and continues to work with over 150 one-on-one clients yearly, but there is only one of her. After contacting many of the influencers she feels would best be able to help her get this into the hands, minds and hearts of dog trainers and dog lovers everywhere – she has been shut down with the resonating idea that dog trainers will never buy into it.
If it works, why would they not buy in? If it saves one dog from being surrendered and possibly even euthanized because of bad behaviour, why not? What if we could save thousands of dogs? If you and your dog could live a happy, healthy life where you grow relationally and cognitively together, why not?
“Operant conditioning trainers have a hard time understanding that it is not about rewards. Because that is not in their training, they don’t understand and most will say that it can’t work or it can’t be right,” Billy answered my question and went on to say, “It is not that I never use rewards, but I do not rely on rewards, I rely on the skill that the reward has taught. And the skill is transferrable to every situation.”
To learn more and to give your support for the dog world to open up to this new way of thinking and training, go to: www.upwarddogology.com. Contact Groom for more information and show your support.
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UPWARD stands for: Urban People With Adopted & Rescued Dogs.
