Training dogs and children
It has become abundantly clear to me in the last month that before having children I should have attended a dog obedience class. It has also become clear, thanks to our adolescent dog, Sparky, what I should expect from my soon-to-be adolescent son, Ford.
Now, I’m not saying my children are like dogs and vice versa. I cannot, after all, put my children in crates. And despite Sparky’s “kisses” and nudges with a wet nose, his “hugs” do not compare to those from Ford, Owen and Lindell. But there are eerie similarities. So many, in fact, that I’ve begun to wonder why the hospital didn’t send me home with Dogs for Dummies instead of a copy of Parenting magazine.
Take the Click-n-Treat dog training method as an example. Without being a dog whisperer, I know Sparky’s internal dialogue — “squirrel, squirrel, small boy with sticky hands, squirrel, squirrel, freeze-dried liver!” — and that using food lures for dog training makes sense. Sparky will do just about anything — spin in circles, bow his head, get in his crate — for the chance to eat a morsel of liver. And once Sparky has been rewarded for an action, he is bound to do it again … and again, and again.
So it’s important that Sparky knows exactly which behavior earned him the treat: “Was it because I opened my mouth and panted? Or because I covered my nose with my paw? Surely it’s not because I covered my nose with my paw. Why would she want me to do that? I think I’ll pant again.”
On a recent walk, when the treat bag accidentally fell and spilled on the pavement, you could almost see the thought process on Sparky’s face: “Now what did I do to make that happen?”
The clicker, a handheld button that makes a popping sound when pressed and is irresistible to children, narrows the behavior down by a matter of seconds. If Sparky was licking his paw in an upstroke when he heard the click, he will lick his paw in an upstroke again.
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