Self Correction by Mary Mazzeri

Dogs learn things all the time. But sometimes they learn to do that which we don’t want them to do. Wouldn’t it be great if a dog could learn to ‘train itself’ to avoid those unwanted behaviors? Well, with a little help, perhaps it can. A 'self-correction' is really a great learning experience. This is where a dog learns to avoid/extinguish a behavior because it thinks that its own behavior causes an unpleasant reaction. I can think of many ‘Self Correction’ training examples that use physical corrections and where re-direction is not required. Here are just a couple of them:

1. The Electronic fence: here a dog learns to respect its boundaries because it discovers that going into a ‘forbidden zone’ is quite uncomfortable
2. A Remote electronic collar that is hand triggered from inside the kitchen window when Bowser starts to excavate the flower bed. As far as Bowser knows, that digging in the flower bed is not as much fun as he thought it was going to be.
3. A dragline on a dog that bolts out the door every chance it gets. This dog LIVES on a dragging line. (Supervised of course). Length depends on how fast dog is and how slow handler is. The problem situation is 'set up' many times. Someone stands on the drag line with a couple of feet of slack in it as they (or someone else opens the door) and allows the dog to 'go for it' and experience the consequences of its action. This teaches quickly and unemotionally. Enough repetitions over several weeks at each door of the house will help the dog to discover ‘self- control’. Just the presence of the dragging line (or bicycle cable if the dog is a chewer) acts as a constant reminder. The longer the bad habit has existed, the longer the dog wears the reminder.

Another example of Self-correction awareness is more personal and brings back warm memories of a wonderful little pal God loaned to me for a while...

"George", a striking champion Border terrier that I inherited when he was almost 4 yrs. old, came to me as an intact male with a well-developed 'marking in the house' behavior. I used physical Self-Correction exclusively to extinguish the behavior. I brought this happy go lucky little fellow home, showed him around the yard and 'bathroom facilities', and praised him for using them. George and I played ball and he had a drink of nice fresh water. After his initial learning experiences and to the day he died, George held himself accountable for using the outdoor run and yard as his only 'marking' area…

When I brought George inside my home that first day, I closed the two of us off in a room and I settled into a comfortable chair with a good book and six little throw chains ready for use. I gave him a toy to play with and settled into a chair with my book and the first chain held silently in the palm of my hand. George promptly went off exploring. I gave him no direct eye contact and acted pre-occupied with reading the book. Sure enough, it didn't take him long to pick a spot on my wall to sniff and line up and *Zap!* something bit him in the butt just as he went to lift his leg. (Yes I threw it at him when he wasn't looking.) He startled as it interrupted his behavior. He looked at the chain, looked at me, (I was reading the book) and took a brief look around the room. (If George had been a more insecure dog, it might have prompted me to land the chain beside him, but this was a mature, high-minded terrier.) I left the chain lay where it was, and during this whole time said nothing. After a minute he shrugged it off and went on his way exploring the room. Sure enough, he picked the corner of a closet as his next target, but somewhere between the sniff and the ‘leg-up', another Zap in the butt. He looked at the chain, he looked at me, (I was on page three now) and he laid down and looked around the room with his mind processing. I said nothing and ignored the whole scenario, except that II had silently slipped yet another chain into my palm when he wasn't looking.

After about 10 minutes, George shrugged off the experience again and proceeded with his reconnoitering, discovering the couch. Ah, sniff, sniff now that corner smells really interesting...no wait, George is pulling his nose back abruptly, lifting one paw and looking up thoughtfully at the ceiling. He decides that the 'marking bug' might bite him again so he aborts the target. He goes over, lays down and starts chewing on the toy I had placed on his new bed.

I wanted George to think that his behavior was not pleasant. Not in the house anyway. For six weeks I watched him closer than a puppy, throw chain always nestled 'in hand' so the timing would be immediate. It got to where I could, block him off in the kitchen with me while I was preparing dinner, chop the salad, watch him out of the corner of one eye, see him sniffing a chair leg, set down the knife, tag him and pick the knife right back up and go on with the salad. Never did I yell at him or get personally involved with correcting him. Over the first month or so he tried marking in every room in the house at one time or another without success. He was always under my direct supervision or crated or outside in the dog yard. After two weeks, when he would start to sniff, he would automatically and quickly pull his head back and look up to heaven as if to say "I wasn't going to mark. See I stopped myself." Was he starting perhaps to think ‘god is watching’...?

Eventually he could be trusted anywhere in the house (took a while, it was a well-established behavior, but gradually George earned more freedom.) But the point is, it was a physical correction that worked to create an aversion to an unwanted behavior without me having to be involved directly. It didn't effect my relationship with the dog. His behavior didn't change based on my presence.

I was able to give him positive attention when he did the right stuff. He also received physical corrections when appropriate. He was a happy-working dog who earned an AKC CDX Obedience Title and a Working Certificate of Gameness Certificate. George best loved his job as a Therapy dog.

Whenever possible I like to distance myself –emotionally (and physically if possible) from a correction, but I don’t avoid needed corrections. If a dog learns to think that some behaviors have unpleasant consequences, they tend to internalize the avoidance of the behavior. Then all I have to do is make it my job to ‘look for the good and praise it’. My dogs have always liked it this way and perhaps your clients’ dogs will too.