Aidan

http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/20...18_scents.shtml It turns out we're not bad at it, with a little practise.

Sabella my GSD opens sliding doors, amongst others. Our back door used to have one of those large old-fashioned keys and she unlocked it once, probably by accident though. Another time I caught her trying to open a window, thankfully the latch was a bit stiff, but she was performing the right action (pushing it to the side, not just batting at it). Another time she wanted to come inside so she smashed the window to get in.

Yes, a very good read. The Black Box isn't so dark any more. It hasn't been for a long time. Objective measurement of things outside of basic physiological responses and overt behaviour has been possible for a very long time, and some of it is quite applicable to pet dog trainers. Karen Pryor does a pretty good job of bringing it to the people, as she has always done.

Say what??? One of my dogs somehow managed to get to the Christmas presents one year and eat all the foil-wrapped chocolate santas that had been taped to the gifts, somehow leaving the foil in tact. There were a few disappointed faces on Christmas day, which I thought was hilarious.

:D I'm not saying the OP shouldn't be cautious, but nothing in her post suggested that the dog had anything but friendly intentions.

I gave an opinion, declared it as "just my opinion" and you came back with sarcasm. It's OK to disagree with me or hold a different opinion, just don't be sarcastic about it. I don't know you well enough for that to work.

Really? I find that very sad. Dogs have been our watchdogs & our hunting companions since the stone age. I can't believe that the Australian national kennel council has the best interests of any of the hunting or guardian breeds at heart if they don't want them to do their jobs anymore. I would be surprised if they opposed actual working dogs, although they do clearly oppose sports that involve man work so who knows?

While there are still some left who continue to fill a vital working role in our society I think they are safe. The ones who feature amongst the bite statistics are generally not working dogs.

I tend to think that if we stopped pandering to the vocal minority and just presented the facts the "public" would have a better chance of understanding. This is just my opinion though. I agree. If the public does not like the idea of a breeds being bred for and used for attack work they need to get over it. More descriptive action photos to show real aggression would help them understand possibly. Is it the public who do not like this idea, or a vocal minority? No-one seems to get upset when they send the dogs in to subdue a PCP addled lunatic with a knife in a shopping centre. No-one wants a dangerous dog living next door, at the same time they don't mind properly trained, bred and housed dogs who serve an important role in our community - and these dogs necessarily have aggression. Notice that I said nothing about anyone having to "get over it".

I tend to think that if we stopped pandering to the vocal minority and just presented the facts the "public" would have a better chance of understanding. This is just my opinion though.

I know individuals who prefer this sort of dog. I don't think the majority of breeders of working lines think this is the standard to which they should strive though.

I agree that aggression is a perfectly appropriate word to describe these dogs and a normal aspect of GSD behaviour. It does not imply that the dogs are unbalanced or incapable of normal, social behaviours; and the ad gives further detail to this effect. If a person is not looking for this sort of dog they would be amply put off by this ad as has been demonstrated here - and that's a very good thing!

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1171

I don't think it is? To me, good off leash reliability is pretty much the ultimate outcome of not relying on any tool. I mean, if my girl walks nicely at my side off leash on request, then it's going to be a pretty easy step to keep her doing it when I put on the leash, no matter what tool she's wearing? I'm confused, now. My old boy wore a leash about once a month until recently when I hired a dog walker to come once a week. He is brilliant off-leash, walks quite well on a loose leash for me, but pulls like a freight train for his walker. I got her a front-attaching harness, problem solved.

They do, but keep in mind that discrimination experiments have demonstrated that dogs can perceive a difference of something like 3nm wavelength in light. They are remarkably moldable to whatever level of discrimination or generalisation you condition them to - so long as it's appropriate to their species evolved tendencies (known as "preparedness").

Your thread has been HIJACKED!!! We're not bringing this plane down until you deposit $10M into my account in the Caymans!

What if you put the 5/8" collar on the dog at the same time as the body harness, but attached the leash to the harness? Or the 3/4" collar for that matter, presuming they both fit on at the same time. If the dog had "back-chained" and reaslied that getting the 5/8" collar put on led to those rules, could he generalise just from that action? Not via back-chaining, but yes it would aid in generalisation. Hence my suggestion to use a double-ended leash when using a harness, halter or even prong. That way you subtract stimulus conditions until you are left with a common denominator.

Head collars are a very poor aversive stimulus for training purposes. As a training tool (for LLW) their function is to remove the reinforcement for pulling and to elicit loose leash walking, thus giving you something to positively reinforce.

I don't know though Aidan, I think some things are MORE salient to the dog. As in, I think some collars/tools are more obvious to the dog, so are more likely to be associated with the new "rules" for walking. Some tools are more effective at stopping pulling so they write the new rules for walking - and become associated with them. Let's say I decide that I'm going to teach a dog to walk nicely on a flat collar and I'm going to use a flat collar and 4' leash only. No treats, no voice, no collar pops, no nothing. All I'm going to do is stop or possibly back up every time the dog forges, consistently, so that pulling never, ever works for the dog. In this case the tool is doing nothing much in particular, it's the "big tool" at the other end (me!) who is "effective". I'm writing the rules, so to speak. Every time I do this I put a 3/4" collar on the dog, who normally wears a 5/8" collar. When he's wearing his 5/8" collar he can pull as much as he likes. When he's wearing his 3/4" collar he may never pull and get anywhere. We will pretty soon get stimulus discrimination for the 3/4" collar, it will become salient. It's less salient than a head halter, but it doesn't matter. That 1/8" inch difference is salient enough to cause pulling vs no-pulling stimulus conditions. Where your point becomes important is in terms of stimulus generalisation. If we were to apply exactly the same rules that we use while wearing a 3/4" collar to the 5/8" collar and as a comparison, to a body harness, we would expect to see generalisation to the 5/8" collar occur faster than we would to the body harness. So in this sense you are right, the head halter or harness will generalise less readily. But we're not really talking an appreciable difference here so long as the owner doesn't encourage stimulus discrimination by changing the rules between stimulus conditions (e.g continues to let dog pull on flat collar every now and then). I hope that makes sense because I used all the big words that I know

No appreciable difference. Anything you use is salient (and I would include even martingale collars in this). One way to do it (my preferred method) is to use a double-ended leash, the other end attached to a flat collar. Most people can manage the transition with this configuration and feel confident having the option still open. Once they are confident that the dog is actually conditioned to walk on a loose leash with distractions then they can unclip the tool end.

Indeed, and unless you make the conditioned stimulus something other than the harness they will pull as soon as you put them in something else. The evidence suggests that conditioned responses are never really "unlearned" whether it is extinction or punishment. We have to reinforce something else.

Yes, mechanical leverage. The point of tether is in front of the dog. Then, if the dog does pull the pressure is applied to the opposite shoulder which turns the dog towards you. They can try to pull harder but if just works against them, they have nothing to pull into. So they don't bother, pulling is no longer effective, therefore it is no longer reinforced. It's a bit like shaking an empty bottle of sauce. Natural position in the dogs I have seen is to walk slightly in front but on a loose leash. It is very easy to condition the dog to walk beside you from there, as they have given up pulling.

Another interesting, related story: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/09/2...better.primates

I get them on the couch, sit on a chair behind them with a notepad, then ask them about their parents... It soon comes out.

How do dogs get fat on supermarket kibble? I have used carbohydrates (from grains) strategically to improve brain chemistry in some dogs who do not function well without them.