{"id":360,"date":"2009-07-06T22:57:15","date_gmt":"2009-07-06T22:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shibashake.com\/shibainublog\/?p=360"},"modified":"2009-07-06T22:57:15","modified_gmt":"2009-07-06T22:57:15","slug":"nice-dog-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shibashake.com\/dog\/nice-dog-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Nice Dog Training – When Did Being Nice Become Bad?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, I am frequently accused<\/strong> of being NICE to my dogs.<\/p>\n

I have also been accused<\/strong> of being NICE and overly polite to people.<\/p>\n

This made me wonder\u00a0… When did NICE become something negative that we accuse<\/em> someone of?<\/p>\n

\"When
When Did \u2018NICE\u2019 Become a Four-Letter Word?<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>\n

Ok I admit it, I am nice to my dogs. I try to be nice to them as much as I can, so that they get to enjoy a good quality of life. They must follow certain rules for their own safety, but by working with me,\u00a0they get paid with a variety of “good stuff”\u00a0throughout the day.<\/p>\n

I guess I just do not\u00a0see why I should use negative techniques such as\u00a0poking at them, pushing them down, or growling at them<\/a>.\u00a0Negative communication<\/a> does not\u00a0work well on people either, so being ‘nice’ is actually\u00a0effective for both dogs and humans.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why is being NICE so bad?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I suppose it comes from a\u00a0misguided belief\u00a0that if we are NICE, people and dogs will somehow disrespect us, and crap all over us. If we are nice, our dog will win<\/a>, and then we will be an awful dog owner.<\/p>\n

I do\u00a0not think we need\u00a0to cultivate an antagonistic, winner takes all relationship, with\u00a0our dog.\u00a0It is healthier to foster\u00a0a more cooperative relationship <\/a>– where the both of us work together, and the both of us win. After all, our dog is not an enemy that we must defeat, and keep defeating over and over again.<\/p>\n

\"A
A cooperative relationship that is fun and rewarding.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>\n
\"Making
Making a dog work for his food is a good thing.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>\n

Rolled into all this, is the notion that using food in training is wrong, bad, and bribery<\/a>. Somehow the dog’s only motivation should be to do ‘everything’\u00a0out of\u00a0love, and only love\u00a0for us.<\/p>\n

I truly do not understand this.<\/em> <\/p>\n

I respect my dogs and trust them as independent, thinking entities. They have a variety of motivations for doing the range of things that they do. Some of these motivations\u00a0have nothing to do with me at all<\/strong>. They are not robots or slaves<\/a>\u00a0who follow my every whim, and my every command. Most of the time they are motivated by their own needs, as we are.<\/p>\n

All dogs need short term motivators<\/em> to reinforce good behaviors, or ‘punish’ bad behaviors. A short term motivator can be a reward stimulus<\/a>\u00a0such as food, toys, affection, and freedom; or\u00a0an aversive stimulus<\/a>\u00a0such as slaps, electric shocks,\u00a0jabs, and hanging. <\/p>\n

Short term motivators are necessary for shaping a dog’s behavior.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"A
A short term motivator that is enjoyed by everyone. Everybody wins.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>\n

Both the nice way, and the not-so-nice way, can\u00a0help a dog learn<\/a>\u00a0if properly implemented<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I choose the nice way – I admit it. In my world, nice it not bad, or wrong. When I say that someone is nice, it is not an accusation but a compliment.<\/p>\n

Have a nice day \ud83d\ude42<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"In
In my world, nice it not bad, or wrong. When I say that someone is nice, it is not an accusation but a compliment.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is strange why in dog training some people view being ‘nice’ as also being ‘wrong’. There is nothing wrong with being nice to our dogs. In fact, if we have problems being nice, then why even get a dog? Being a good pack leader means that we should understand our dog’s needs, protect him, and help him achieve success. Being not nice or mean, does not make a good pack leader, to dogs or to people. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[113],"tags":[174,121,175,176,177,178,179,180,181],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shibashake.com\/dog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shibashake.com\/dog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shibashake.com\/dog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shibashake.com\/dog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shibashake.com\/dog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shibashake.com\/dog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shibashake.com\/dog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shibashake.com\/dog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shibashake.com\/dog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shibashake.com\/dog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}