Dogs have a very beautiful history. Originally descending from the wolf, today’s modern dog looks in a myriad of ways very like and very unlike their ancestors. We see their survival instincts kick in during moments of need, their pack pecking order instincts being asserted and reasserted on a daily basis, and the strikingly beautiful features carried down through the generations.
Yet I am still baffled that with all the science and research available to us in this era, we often forget that our babies with paws are, in fact, animals. I love my dogs, and I would call myself an animal crazed person for sure, but there are some serious issues that our dogs begin to develop when we treat them as though they are not animals.
First, we need to remember that animals have basic needs. They have the need for food and water, shelter, socialization, mating and the need to breathe oxygen. In observing these five basic needs, we can determine which role any given dog believes he or she plays in their pack.
If your dog is given these basic necessities without earning them first, they don’t respect the pack member (dog owner) giving them these things for free. Now, that’s not to say we should make our dogs earn the air they breathe, not at all. But within these basic needs dogs are well aware that food, socialization and mating are all rewarding occurrences and therefore they associate their present state of mind, behavior and environment with receiving them.
Dogs have the basic understanding of rewards and consequences written into their very genetic coding. They understand what an unconditioned reinforcer is, and they learn quickly what a conditioned reinforcer is. When they experience something that they don’t enjoy, they immediately associate that momentary experience with their current state of mind, behavior, and environment.
Where I believe most dog trainers misconstrue this solid fact is in the teaching of “positive only” or “negative only” methods. Every dog is unique in what they categorize as positive and negative. Dogs are, to varying degrees, both physically and audibly sensitive, and it should be up to the discretion of a trained professional to know the degree to which the dog they are working with is sensitive.
While I believe that dogs learn behaviors that are desired by their pack members (other dogs / dog owners) quicker when associated with reward, they also learn when those behaviors are associated with consequence. Some dogs are simply too stubborn in the moment to work for reward, and some dogs are simply too sensitive in the moment to respond to consequence.
I believe that it is my responsibility as a dog trainer and dog behavior expert to educate dog owners on the nuances of swinging the pendulum either way - be it negative or positive, and swinging either way between dogs’ wolf instincts and their modern genetic coding. My answer to questions like, “do dogs still act like their wolf ancestors?” and “aren’t toy dogs different from wolves?” is, “yes.” It’s a both and situation because both are true.
