Puppy Training:- a brief summary
Hosted by “Tracy” at “Mother May I,” but the photo-picture below will whizz you right there with one click.
I attend the primer.
A two hour lecture.
I did try very hard not to yawn.
• Consistency
• Persistence
• Always follow through
• Think like a dog
• Use logic
• Dogs have common dogginess principles
• Each dog has it’s own unique personality and character
• Keep language concise
• Use body language
• Use simple signs
• Generalize skills in different locations
• Reward with treats initially
• Don’t forget to fade rewards
• Pick your battles
• Schedules, routines and predictability
• Never punish natural doggy behaviour such as chewing, digging and barking
• Provide safe opportunities to chew, dig and bark
• Tone of voice
• Facial expression
• Repetition
On and on and on it goes……..
And do you know what? I can do all this standing on my head, whilst knitting and drinking Ensure. I tell you truly that if I had known it would be this easy, I would have found a dog years ago. Then again, years ago, I didn’t know, what I know now. Do I mean to imply that Autistic children learn similarly to dogs? No. I imply no such thing. On the contrary, children, both autistic and typical, need good teachers. It is easy to scoff, especially since I am so exceptionally good at scoffing:- why doesn’t everyone already know all this stuff? But we all have to start somewhere. This provides me with the perfect opportunity to thank those professional and vocational teachers who work tirelessly for my children, to help them reach their full potential. If I cannot learn to be a good teacher, then children are probably not a good career choice for me. Luckily, despite all the odds against me, it seems that old dogs like me really can learn new tricks. Other young pups master nauseous chalk when they have just the right motivation.
Don’t forget to keep your eyes and ideas open to “Jessica.”
January 26th, 2009 at 1:38 am
Hi,
I am a Special Education teacher in Australia. Most of my students are on the spectrum. It is so good to hear a positive comment about teachers. I started reeading parent blogs through the ‘Autism Hub’ because I wanted to understand what the journey was like along the parent Highway. I must say that there are very bad vibes regarding teachers out their in the parent community! Thank you for a positive ending to my blogging tonight!
January 26th, 2009 at 6:50 am
I’ve always said that I’d be thrilled if Cesar Milan came to my home and did his Dog Whisperer magic on my boys.
January 26th, 2009 at 7:58 am
I second Sue’s thanks! Also, have you read Temple Grandin’s book “Animals in Translation” ? The whole book is about how her Autism helps her think about things differently/scientifically when working with various animal populations. Good teaching is good teaching, no matter who you work with.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:08 am
‘children, both autistic and typical, need good teachers’
I totally agree! Great shots, too.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Those are great drawings! Love the chalk on black. Cool!
PS the dogs bed is awesome!
Happy Magic marker Monday!
January 26th, 2009 at 8:51 am
That is so great! It looks fantastic!
January 26th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Well Thatcher’s just all kinds of motivation in a furry little package, isn’t he?
The chalk drawings are FABULOUS!! (Can you hear me hopping up and down clapping my hands?
)
I love that your puppy has his own little private art gallery now — too cute!
~Michelle @ 5MFSN
January 26th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Hmm, I just read most of Temple Grandin’s latest, “How Animals Make us Human” while goofing off in the book store last night. She has a good chapter on dogs. Doesn’t completely agree with Cesar Milan. But then, she says that when she was a girl, dogs were allowed to be dogs, more than lately. She also likes that kids were taught manners when she was a girl, unlike lately, or in California. (Sorry, just had to slip that one in. :^) )
January 26th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
What a great post
I love Temple Grandin’s books, she makes everything seem so sensible and easy to grasp.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Wonderful post. Love the chalk drawings – especially the last one!
January 27th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Speaking of Temple Grandin, she spoke at a local bookstore shortly after one of her dog-related books came out and asked the audience how many were there for autism and how many for dogs. It was about half and half and she said that was fine because a lot of it would work for either one! (Not being derogatory in any way, just realistic.)
January 31st, 2009 at 1:25 pm
i have always used dog-training techniques in my parenting…
February 14th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
This wittering reminds me of the issue raised by that great philosopher George (Winston?) Bush: can we co-exist with the fish?
I’ve known a few cats that if they took over and could wield the ultimate apocalyptic kind of power that we humans have over their lives and this planet, then we’d all be in Gitmo, perhaps only a few scratch posts for company
I think this article is fascinatingly and accidentally loaded with the whole — very human baggage — of hierarchy, our obsession with classification and authority (I want to say it’s religious but then I realised the Chinese like a good hierarchy and a hot dog as much as the next man).
There are a lot of dangers inherent in comparing child rearing to puppy training, especially if those children are autistic. Dangerously close to political incorrectness, you naughty blogger, you. Luckily you are almost in the position of a Jewish comic who jokes about Jews. The thought police will be after you but they are not sure what to charge you with: self-loathing? Guilty Catholics of the world watch out.
Just to help you out, here’s my disclaimer for the end of your piece.
1. Adults are not superior to children.
2. Non-autistic humans are not superior to autistic humans.
3. We can co-exist with the fish.
That last one was a joke. Jeez.
More controversially:
1. Humans are not superior to other mammals.
2. Dogs are not superior to cats.
3. Cats are not superior to mice.
To believe most of the statements above is to mistake power for superiority. Just because a cat can capture, kill and eat a mouse does not make it superior. It just makes him hungry.
) to kill and eat. I don’t know if I can claim the right. In my dealings with animals and humans I am happy to compare a child, any child, to a dog or puppy. I err on the side of equality.
To be exact: more powerful. It just means Britain had a bigger navy. it just means America had better helicopters with better guns.
With greater power, comes greater responsibility.
Define superior. Ah, that’s a tricky one. You see, my definition of superior is superior to your definition of superior.
To be “superior”, I would argue you have need to exhibit some kind of superior level of oh I don’t know, say, compassion.
To stupidly and arrogantly assume that because we humans have the power/ability to kill and eat a pig/dog/whatever that we therefore have the RIGHT to do it, well, it’s a slippery slope.
I hear stupid people say this kind of thing all the time. I try to tell them: Dude, that’s not an argument. It’s a rationalisation. Repeat after me: I’m a hypocitre who grew up unquestioning about this animal rights stuff and I just happen to really like the taste of meat and so I lack the independence of thought or willpower to challenge the dominant mindset of my times. If I was an ancient Roman, I’d probably argue it was fine to own a slave as long as you don’t torture him too often.
Unfortunately, I am cursed with a free and independent mind. So I’m just not able to justify inflicting unthinkable pain upon a sentient, pain-feeling mammal/animal. Yet ironically, because I live inbackward and barabric times, I am more often being asked to justify NOT inflicting pain and death upon an animal. As though that was the weirdo view. they try and sidetrack me with birds and insects and plants. They don’t like admitting that’s a whole other argument for another day.
yes, I know I have the power (actually, I’m not sure, but again, stop that, let’s not get off the point.
I’m not burdened with weird hierarchical baggage. The problem is that as a writer, you can’t just go ahead and write like that. Because the reader doesn’t know me from Adam (!) so I first have to deconstruct the dominant paradigm of our dreary shared time. Then I can state more openly that it is not insulting to compare a dog to an autistic child because you now know about my appraoch to the world.
Pigs don’t vote (insert species-ist gag here). If you beleive in your superiority to animals, then I think it behooves us “superior” beings to show a little compassion and try and think/vote for them. Grown men with hunting rifles might laugh loudly at this idea, but they would blub like a big baby if I shoot their dog, with absolutely no awareness of their screaming contradiction.
I just assume, in the absence of credible evidence, that we are all equal. No warm-blooded sentient animal is superior to any other, no matter what the Bible/Koran/Torah/Darwin says. Like rats in a sinking ship/Arc, we all have to share this earth and make the best of it: sentient animals, children and adults.
But I watch my fellow humans try and paper up their elaborate towers of self-serving bullshit that usuallly start at God, then man, then woman, then monkeys, horses, dogs, pigs down to cows etc. the little fishies in the sea. Amoeba, anyone?
My point? let go of it.
To say that dogs and autistic humans can be trained/treated similar only carries some kind of a dangerous-sounding prejudice if you suppose that dogs are inferior to humans. I don’t, and I am probably right. I am a superior being to you!
If you want to believe in that convenient self-serving smugly human hierarchy, then ponder these assumptions:
1. A pig is smarter than a dog.
2. A dog is is cuter than a pig.
3. If you agree, then why do you eat pork and not eat dog?
Gotta respect the Chinese for their consistency, if not necessarily their hotpot.