Natural Dog Training » instinct

An Interview with Kevin Behan

kbehan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:57:26 +0000

Every new client asks me what I think about Cesar Millan the “Dog Whisperer.” They want to know where I might agree and where I don’t. So we had the idea that I would answer questions that were posed to Cesar in an interview he conducted and then one could draw their own distinctions.

Link to the Interview with Cesar Millan

Questions answered by Cesar Millan and then by Kevin Behan…

Q) What makes you the Dog Whisperer?
Cesar) I was raised around dogs, and I understand the way they interact socially. My ability to relate to them is really instinctual… I can see the world from the dog’s point of view.

Kevin) I was raised in the dog training and boarding business. I learned that everything dogs do is normal. I can see why dogs do what they do and how this differs from the human perspective.

Q) Do you have formal training?
Cesar) My grandfather taught me at an early age about how not to work against Mother Nature. Since then, my formal training has been to work with literally thousands of dogs. I’m a real-world behaviorist – I work with dogs every day, and my methods achieve results.

Kevin) I apprenticed under my father who was the first trainer in America to apply the “alpha pack leader” theory to the family dog. After a while, I began to see that this was a misinterpretation of the nature of canines. We were projecting our own thoughts of dominance onto the behavior of dogs and wolves.

Q) How are you different from most dog trainers?
Cesar) Most training seeks to teach dogs how to obey commands, but this has nothing to do with dog psychology or understanding how to fulfill the needs of your dog. My technique is more about rehabilitation through exercise, discipline, and affection.

Kevin) I don’t seek to control a dog’s energy. I want the energy to control the dog. Then everyone gets what they want. The dog has energy and the owner is in control.

Q) Can anyone become a Dog Whisperer?
Cesar) Probably to a certain extent. But it requires very specific skills, particularly when dealing with aggressive dogs. You must understand the dog’s pack mentality. I bring 20 years of experience to each situation. I recommend on the show that owners – especially ones with aggressive dogs – always consult a professional.

Kevin) It’s better to be a listener than a whisperer. Dogs show us all the time what they need and want. All we have to do is listen. Dogs are attracted to man and they are masters of human energy. It’s up to us to tune in to them so that we can figure out what dogs want. Then our dog will tune in to us. Anyone can learn to listen.

Q) What do you mean by “pack mentality”?
Cesar) A dog’s pack mentality is its natural way of relating to other dogs. A family unit can also be a dog’s pack. Even a single person and a dog is the dog’s pack. It is important that the human be the dominant member of the pack. This is not achieved through violence or bullying, but with calm, assertive energy. The dog isn’t threatened; it just knows its place in the pack.

Kevin) In the canine makeup, there are pack instincts and there is group energy. Typically the pack instincts get all the credit for the cooperative nature of the dog when nothing could be further from the truth. The pack instincts are the source of all dysfunction. For example, a prison community is a perfect example of a society running on pack instincts. And every time an owner sees a pack instinct in their dog, they’re likely to call a trainer or a behaviorist because it is so unsettling. On the other hand, true sociability flows from those situations when everyone can find their energy satisfied by working toward a common purpose. This is not instinctual, this is going by feel. On a winning team each player plays their heart out in a specific role in order to receive a level of gratification that is impossible to attain by singular action. There is ’subordinace’ to a group ethic and yet no submission whatsoever. This is group energy.

Q) How do you get dogs to change?
Cesar) People humanize dogs and don’t understand their psychology as pack animals. I begin by showing the dog that I am the pack leader. I fulfill the dog’s need through exercise, which is walking the dog in the correct way. I give the dog rules, boundaries, and limitations … and then affection.

Kevin) You do not change a dog. You change the way a dog deals with stress. A dysfunctional dog reacts to stress with an instinct, which is always counterproductive to living harmoniously in man’s world because instincts evolved to resist change and man’s world is a realm of ceaseless change. Whereas a functional dog is able to turn stress into information because he can feel energized, rather than threatened, by change. So when a dog is emotionally energized rather than instinctually triggered by change, the dog is “changed”.

Q) What is the most common mistake people make with dogs?
Cesar) They don’t establish a leadership role. Almost all dog problems come from two things: lack of exercise and lack of leadership. Additionally, especially in America, owners tend to give affection, affection, and more affection, when what the dog really needs is exercise, discipline… and then affection.

Kevin) The number one problem is what I call “attention surplus disorder”. Owners give their dog attention as a way of expressing affection. But then the dog learns that it has to be the center-of-attention in order to feel connected to its family. As a consequence, it perceives things that divert the owner’s attention from them as threats.

True sociability arises from a passion-in-common, and the typical dog owner doesn’t understand canine passion. Dogs are group hunters. By working together as a team, each member of the group learns to be obedient to the ways of the prey. So when dog and owner agree on what is the prey, (and dogs are infinitely malleable as to what constitutes “the prey”) they are able to live in absolute harmony.

Q) What is the most important thing to do for your dog?
Cesar) Take your dog on a 45-minute power walk every morning. BUT, you must use the proper method in walking your dog – when leaving the house, make sure you always walk out the door ahead of your dog to demonstrate who is the leader, and make sure the dog is not in front of you on the walk.

Kevin) One must teach their dog that it can give their owner its energy. This is the basis of trust. If a dog can express its full energy toward its owner and this makes the owner happy, then they can live together as a group. In a group, every member does what it most wants so that every member gets what it wants most. The most important thing an owner can do for a dog is to understand what a dog wants.

Q) What dogs make the best family pets?
Cesar) Find a dog that fits your lifestyle. Active breeds like hunting dogs and herding dogs require more physical challenges to stay physically and mentally content. It is important to match a dog’s energy to your lifestyle before making a choice.

Kevin) Any breed of dog can make a great family pet. But don’t get a dog to make you look good, choose a dog that makes you feel good. The key is to be true to what you truly want.

One Problem To Solve: An Introduction to Training

kbehan — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:20:59 +0000

If we could ask a dog how he felt about living in Man’s civilized world, and if he could put his feelings into our human language, he would say, “Every time I get excited or nervous, I get into trouble. What am I supposed to do with my energy?”

Dogs see the world in their own way. When we humans think of dog training, we think about our dog learning all kinds of skills such as heeling by our side, listening to commands, doing this or not doing that. We think in terms of teaching the dog a wide range of rules. It appears to us as if the dog has dozens and dozens of things to learn. Meanwhile, the dog only has the one issue of energy in his heart. No matter how different one situation may look from another to us humans, to the dog they all involve the same question: What is he to do with his energy?

Regardless of how well we may think we have taught our dog to heel, or to sit, and what the rules of the house are, if we haven’t addressed this fundamental concern of the dog, he will never be 100% reliable. In fact the likelihood is that he will never have learned how to be under control in the first place and that a great degree of resistance between dog and owner will lay unresolved and brooding towards future encounters or nervous outbursts. So instead of trying to solve a thousand little problems without regard to an overall balance, (which would be like building a house without consulting a blueprint), I suggest that we break each problem down to its most fundamental element as it pertains to the flow of energy, which as I have outlined earlier, precisely conforms to the parameters of the hunt. We’ll find at the core of every problem, the same central element and by taking heed of this standard, every area of our training will be in balance with every other area. Each step will dovetail neatly into the next step on a smooth and steady progression with social resistance melting away in seemingly unrelated areas of the dog’s life.

When we arouse the dog and then channel its energy appropriately, the dog is put into a mood of calmness and this is the only condition in which he is ready and able to learn what a command means. The traditional way of commanding the dog and then trying to show him what the command means is the wrong way to train one’s dog. It causes the dog to associate the command with the shock or discomfort of having to change moods. Before the command to heel for instance, the dog may have been in the mood for examining buttercups. Arbitrarily changing the dog’s mood without a good instinctual reason grates on his nervous system precluding his ability to learn in a positive manner.

Behavior flows from a mood (not a thought!!) and so we must first use the flow of energy through a dog being in drive toward its owner, and then this automatically creates an appropriate mood relative to the situation. Once the mood is established and the desired behavior is elicited, the dog is NOW ready to have the command associated with this flow of events. We’re looking for straightforward expressions of drive so that the dog works in a straight line, in parallel with his handler. Also when drive flows directly, his behavior is pure and so he works with a happy attitude, and so these are the moods that we want our commands to evoke. To meet these criteria, training must always be approached from the issue of drive so that energy can flow.

In dog training we need to answer these questions: If we want to train the dog to our command, how are we going to first attract his drive? And, if the dog’s drive is already aroused, how are we going to permit the dog to find relief?

We also have to consider that there are certain situations so unnatural that an evolved instinct isn’t available to handle the flow of drive. A stranger knocking at the front door is a highly charged event and the social instincts of many dogs can’t plug in here so that drive can be calmly fulfilled. Excitement turns to nervousness if a course of action isn’t clear while they’re high in drive. The dog just can’t have energy once he has been energized: he’s stuck with it like a car approaching a curve at high speed. What is such a dog to do with his energy? In this case, the owner needs to deepen the group mood through praise and constructive obedience work so that drive will flow into a calm resolution of the moment.

Dog training is channeling drive away from a wild-like direction into an appropriate, domestic direction. To do this we have to develop the harmonic pathways so that drive can be steered smoothly in the direction the handler wishes.

The first step is for the handler to be able to attract his dog’s drive, not just some or the majority of it, but all of it. A simple test is to try to get your dog enthusiastic about you, or something you have, when in a new place or around strange dogs. If he can do it, next, observe the length of time the dog can sustain an active form of interest. The longer the interest, the greater the flow, and the greater will be the dog’s ability to resist something naturally appealing as another dog or a cat when the owner requires control. Many dogs considered well trained, will fail this test miserably.

Dogs don’t choose to ignore their owners: they are forced to because they have been trained to relate to their owners via their pack instincts. A pack instinct is designed to store stress, and to set overload thresholds, not to conduct drive in a calm manner. Through constantly being rebuffed when excited, the dog learns that he can’t be with his owner whenever he’s high in drive. His drive can only be expressed in the pack through warped distorted behaviors as his mind and body is clouded by the survival instincts. This precludes our control in a critical moment because if the owner is a source of nervousness, how can the dog be attentive to him? And if the dog is nervous, how can he be controlled? The truth is: it’s impossible to control nervousness.

Unless the dog is in a group mood, he can’t be both attentive to his handler and willing to calmly admit strangers, whom his natural instincts have defined for him as “trespassers”, into the family group.