Raising a 'Loved Dog'
"20/20" introduced celebrity dog trainer Tamar Geller, author of "The Loved Dog," to John Stossel and his dog, Luca. Although Luca is usually well-behaved, he doesn't come when called and Stossel, who lives on a heavily trafficked street and walks Luca in a bustling public park, is worried for his safety. (ABC News)
From 2020
Dog Trainer and Author Tamar Geller Believes in Empowering Your Pet
The web site for ABC News has a very interesting story posted this morning about dog trainer and author Tamar Geller. Geller is a popular trainer for the dogs of many Hollywood stars, such as Oprah Winfrey, Ben Affleck, Steve Martin and Courtney Cox-Arquette. Her philosophy of training involves teaching dogs through love and games — making training fun for the dog — always a good idea.
In the story, the show 20/20 introduced Geller, author of The Loved Dog, to reporter John Stossel and his dog, Luca. According to the story (and Stossel), Luca is usually well-behaved, but he doesn’t come when called. Stossel and Luca live on a high-traffic treet and he walks Luca in a busy public park, so he has concerns about the dog’s safety. (Surely Stossel does not let Luca run loose on that street. Let’s assume that he’s afraid Luca could get out of the house by accident. Coming when called is one of the most important things a dog can learn. It can save his life. Ideally it should be one of the first things a new puppy or dog learns when he/she comes to live with you.)
Geller’s solution for Stossel and Luca was games. Yes, games. In this case, hide and seek. She recommended that Stossel take Luca indoors, away from distractions, and call his name from a different part of the house, then reward him with a treat when he responded by coming when Stossel called his name. According to Geller, the point was to play the game repeatedly until Luca automatically associated his name being called with something good. This typifies Geller’s method of making learning fun.
According to the article,
Geller believes that the key to a perfect dog lies not in dominance but in creating a loving environment where the dog wants to obey. "I don't believe in anyone who is in a relationship with anybody, whether it's a dog, whether it's a child, anybody, that submission needs to be a part of it," she explains. "I actually believe in the opposite. I believe in happiness, in joy, in empowerment."
Geller grew up in Israel, in what she calls an abusive home. She says she developed an aversion to forceful teaching early in life. She escaped home by joining the Israeli air force (probably not a good place to go to avoid strong training techniques). She says she was horrified by the techniques being used to train dogs in the military canine units.
"I saw, basically, the army train the way a lot of people train in the United States," she says. "By choke chain, and force, and breaking the spirit."
This traditional form of dog training — mastery by dominance, where an animal owner uses force to assert him or herself as the alpha member — seemed all wrong to Geller. But it wasn't until she spent several months at a nature center in the Israeli desert, observing wolves in the wild, that she realized training dogs was her life's calling.
"I would sit and observe them, and I realized there was none of that nonsense of breaking the spirit involved. As a matter of fact, they really interacted and set their pecking order by games," she explains. "I would take [the games] to my home, try it on my dogs, and my dogs looked at me and they were like, 'Finally! Finally someone who speaks my language.'"
It’s a good article. You can also read an excerpt from Geller’s book, The Loved Dog, at the site.
It does raise a question about what role discipline has in training. Personally (and I am not a professional trainer), I think you have to have some discipline along with the love when you teach your dogs. I’ve written before that I am not a stickler for my dogs obeying me with perfect precision. However, when I want them to do something for their own good, I need them to do it. Even in the wild, with wolves, there are consequences if a puppy goes to far. For instance, when learning bite inhibition, if a puppy is playing too rough and bites an adult wolf, that wolf will growl or nip him back. That is discipline. It is done as soon as the puppy does something wrong and the puppy knows what he did. It’s done in a “language” that the puppy understands. Do I bite my dogs? Not usually. That’s the problem. How do we find ways to communicate training to them — discipline and approval — so they know what they have done right or wrong? For the most part, as Ms. Geller has found, teaching with love is the surest way to communicate with our dogs. But, when a puppy nips you, for instance, you have to let him/her know that the behavior is unacceptable. Otherwise you will have an adult dog who nips. Either way, it hurts.
The way I handle nipping with a puppy is to yell, “OUCH” loud enough to startle the puppy (into stopping the behavior), and I immediately put the puppy down and stop petting/playing. I ignore the puppy completely and cut off all play for a few minutes. Then I give the puppy another chance. I do this two or three times to give the puppy a chance to learn that nipping will make the fun activities of petting and playing go away.
I will also offer the puppy an acceptable chew toy other than my hand or nose.
I try to deal with the problem in a way similar to what Ms. Gellar has described, but if you escalate play with a puppy who nips, they will get very excited and may nip more.
I’m always interested in training articles. If you have one to share, please post the link in the comments section.
