Northeast Ohio Pet Photography » learning

Behavior Concepts that Extend Beyond Pets

Mary — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:40:25 +0000

If you haven’t read through all of the “about me” information on my site, you may not know that over the last fifteen or so years, I’ve also worked as a marine mammal trainer and dog trainer. For the last four years, I’ve taught people how to train their dogs using positive reinforcement training techniques. Having been initially trained by the staff at a marine life park, I’ve always been a reward based trainer. In my heart I believe, and through practice with hundreds of dogs, I know, that it’s possible to change behavior without using coercion and positive punishment. This is a topic that is dear to my heart.

In a recent forum discussion, someone asked about how the concepts of operant conditioning using the R+ quadrant apply outside of dog training and I put together some links and information that I thought my readers here might also find interesting.

One of the seminal works for the lay person is Karen Pryor’s book, Don’t Shoot the Dog. For many people who are positive trainers, this was the first book they read and the one that inspired them to follow the path of non-coercion. It’s a great book that talks about how we can use the concepts used in marine mammal training to improve relationships with our spouses, co-workers, bosses, dolphins, kids and dogs.

More recently, Amy Sutherland wrote an article for the NY Times that evolved into the book, What Shamu taught me about Life, Love and Marriage. While doing research for her book, Kicked, Bitten and Scratched, she was exposed to how zookeepers use behavior modification to manage the animals they care for. She follows up on this by exploring the idea of using the principles of operant conditioning to get her husband to pick up his socks (and other things)! She shares a variety of stories about how these principles affect our lives in ways that we might not even expect. (here’s a direct link to the NYTimes article.)

The book Whale Done! was written by a couple of Sea World marine mammal trainers to help managers improve the performance of their employees using the science of behavior modification.

Karen Pryor’s organization has started a program called Tag Teach. It’s a way of using the same concepts as clicker training to help kids master complex skills.

Although she focuses primarily on animals in her more mainstream writing, Temple Grandin writes about behavior with unique insight. She always makes me think and adjust my perspective on concepts that I thought I understood!

And what about parenting? Or working with kids in a classroom? There is an interesting article available online that is partly based on the work of Murray Sidman. A Teaching Approach to Discipline explores the concepts of reward and punishment in the context of working with kids. (This article also has a complete bibliography listed.)

Several years ago, I had the privilege of attending several sessions with Kathy Sdao. Kathy is an incredibly motivating speaker. She brings to her lectures a sense of all the good that is possible if we seek out kindness and respect in all that we do when we interact with other people and creatures. On her recommendation, I read the book, Coercion and it’s Fallout by Murray Sidman. This book looks at the effects of using the P+ quadrant and extrapolates how this affects individuals and our community both on a local and global scale. His premise is that we live in a world which defaults to coercive tactics to manage and control it’s populations. Perhaps it’s human nature – or perhaps we can do better if we can imagine what is possible.

Ellie Retouched

Mary — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:06:41 +0000

Using this tutorial, I played around with painting over a photograph. In this case, I like the results. The process takes alot of patience. Something I’m not always very good at. I could have easily spent a few more hours on this to get it really looking good.

Old Fashioned

Mary — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:23:45 +0000

For Make Art Monday, here’s Teddy looking old-time.

Training Exercise :: Slow Treat

Mary — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:06:35 +0000

A fellow pet photographer, Jennie Sloan, asked a question on twitter about how to work with dogs who like to chew off a bit of finger while taking treats. I’m going to share an exercise called “Slow Treat” that offers a great way to teach a finger-grabber some self control. Full credit for this exercise goes to Deb Jones. I learned this at one of her seminars and immediately added it to my training bag of tricks.

This exercise will be really helpful when you practice it at home with your own dog. For photographers who are spending just a few hours with a new dogs, I think you could still make use of this exercise. A few slow treat sessions, that only take two or three minutes each, will at least get the dog intrigued by what you’re doing. The other solution is to deliver treats from a flat palm, so that the dog has to pick the treat off of your flat hand instead of grabbing it off your fingertips. (Retriever pups are notorious for this! My Ellie was a pretty serious grabber and it wasn’t until she was about two years old that all of the white marks on my fingernails finally disappeared!)

(I’ll try to record a video of this exercise at our puppy class Wednesday evening and then come back and post it here.)

Slow Treat!

This method of giving your dog a treat can be done while the dog is any stationary position. You’ll probably find it easiest to work on this while your dog is in a sit, but eventually you’ll want your dog to accept his treats nicely while in any position.

The goal is to teach our dogs that when they remain in position, the treat will come to them. If the dog moves towards the treat, the treat slowly moves away out of their reach. The slow treat game is a variation on Doggie Zen.

Steps:

With your dog in position, take one treat and slowly start to move the treat towards your dog’s mouth.
As long as your dog is not moving towards the treat, continue to move the treat closer.
If your dog starts to move towards the hand with the treat, slowly move the treat away. As soon as your dog stops moving towards your hand, change direction and move the treat back towards the dog.

The picture that we’re trying to build for the dog is that by remaining still, he can draw the treats toward him. Leaning, moving or jumping out of position pushes the treat away.

What this teaches your dog:
Self-control
To not grab for treats
His behavior controls the results

Hints and Tips
At first, don’t worry about using the clicker while playing this game. We’re less concerned with the position that your dog is in during the initial stages of this game. The most important thing is that the dog holds his position while the treat is delivered. Because our dog’s are learning that the click marks good behavior and the delivery of reinforcement, we don’t want to confuse them with the slow treat game (where we may be pulling the treat away. We don’t want the dog to associate the click with the taking away of the treat).

Once your dog is accomplished at always taking his treats nicely, this becomes the rule for taking treats. Maintain this criteria during all other training sessions for stationary behaviors.

Tee Creek Farm

Mary — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:45:06 +0000

I’m working through the photos that I took at the herding seminar I went to back in April. At the seminar was a small group of super nice people and great dogs. There were some natural herding breeds there – a border collie, a beardie and a gorgeous aussie. Along with my shar-pei mix and my friend’s Doberman and Rat Terrier. We learned so much, had lots of laughs and were inspired to go and buy some sheep or ducks of our own. That’s easier said than done and I know we won’t be getting any sheep at my house!

Cool Concept :: Custom Fabric

Mary — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:38:44 +0000

(ETA: Since a post without photos is soooo boring, here’s one of Ellie wearing her necklace made by my friend Julie who I mention below. This necklace makes Ellie an honorary sight hound. Sight hounds are notoriously fashionable!)

I participate quite a bit on a knitting/networking site. One of the most fun aspects of the site is the ability to browse through projects that people have completed. All of the projects are databased and linked via keywords and user favorites so that one can spend hours exploring and finding new things that match their tastes (I like projects that are super-colorful and detailed).

So, one day I ran across this lady who makes little project bags that are a combination of actual knitting and fabric which has a realistic pattern printed on it that looks like knitting (I think she uses crochet as well). I investigated and it turns out that she scans her actual knitting and then has the scanned image made into her own custom fabric by a company called spoonflower. This is one of the coolest things ever.

On my list of things to do is figure out a way to use this service to create a really cool project. I’m thinking graphic images of my dogs printed on fabric that is used to make custom collars. META-doggie-style! I have a friend who sews amazing coats for her dogs and her husband is a very accomplished graphic artist. I’m pushing him to create some fabric with images of their dogs just to see what kinds of neat applications of the fabric she’ll come up with.

Some useful links I found when researching this:
How to create a repeating pattern from True Up.
An example of one illustrator’s work made into fabric (her artwork is pretty darn amazing).

Textured Girlies

Mary — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 05:42:42 +0000

This was a bunch of fun. Following a textures tutorial from the MCP Actions blog and using some free textures that I found on flickr, I had some fun with these photos of the girls. I kind of like the results. I think Ellie’s portrait (on the left) has a Rembrandt feel to it. Katy’s reminds me a bit of an old print that you might find covered in dust at a hunting lodge.

The tutorial on how to use and apply textures is here.
Check out the free textures available on flickr here, here and here. Nice stuff!