Oregon Seminar October 2014 In any particular seminar some idea tends to stand out. While for me it’s all one thing, I know from my experience when learning a new system that something said once might not sink in, but then later in a different context it rings a bell so loud I can hear […]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552747/Dogs-lose-jobs-Fred-police-k-9-fired-getting-distracted-job-playing-soda-cans.html I highlight this story for what it can teach us about the power of “ungrounded energy” on a dog’s behavior, the deepest levels of which when abruptly summoned to the surface of awareness, I term “The Charge.” According to learning theory, this dog was trained 100% correctly and I have no doubt it graduated […]
Music, Natural Dog Training, Panksepp and the Constructal Law http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40285693?uid=3739664&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102652666731 My argument is that the locomotive dynamic is the basis for our aesthetic appreciation of music, however not in the manner which is theorized in the article below, i.e. that synchronizing footfalls renders a beat of silence which then makes it easier to hear […]
From the New York Times “Why We Like Sad Music” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/opinion/sunday/why-we-like-sad-music.html?ref=opinion The emotional experience of listening to music is an excellent way to separate thoughts from feelings and emotion from instinct because as a pure wave form music is principally apprehended and processed by the heart. Understanding how the heart works is vital […]
While I do not expect an interesting dialogue to emerge from this post/counter-post exchange with the Unknown Scientist, http://dogbehaviorscience.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/5-tall-tales-from-1-small-mind/ I nevertheless welcome the opportunity to rub my theory up against the mainstream in order to render some important distinctions that can help bring the emotional dynamic into sharper relief and hopefully make the effort worthwhile […]
http://www.wimp.com/throwstick/ Does this dog need its head examined, or does this video reveal something profound about the nature of information? Modern ethologists, behaviorists and many trainers argue that dogs and wolves organize into social structures according to a rational calculation relative to gaining control over resources. Supposedly dogs compute a cost/benefit analysis, while taking in […]
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/science/ may-britt-and-edvard-moser-explore-the-brains-gps.html>. A husband and wife team of neuroscientists, May Britt and Edvard Moser, have discovered “Grid cells” in the brains of rats, and these cells undoubtedly exist in all animals. As a rat moves, these cells track its movement and create a grid like pattern as a […]
(This is a long article to demonstrate how recent science validates the theory of Natural Dog Training as first articulated in the 1980’s.) Text: Sometimes critics ask for the math that substantiates the theory that underlies Natural Dog Training (emotion=attraction—-feelings=resistance) which is a little tough given that I’m not a mathematician. And the request is […]
I started this section on body language in order to explain what’s going on in a You Tube clip of an interesting interaction between a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Malinois. While brief, the video is rich with dynamic. In fact there’s so much going on that it’s necessary to do some theoretical backfilling before going […]
Eric Brad in his excellent blog has recently written about a phenomenon he thinks is a mysterious and yet a normal part of obedience training: the randomly disobedient dog. I would argue that it’s not mysterious and it’s not “normal” as in, to be expected in the natural course of living with a dog. In […]
What is body language? http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/story/2012/07/13/horse-training-methods-questioned/ This article demonstrates how interpreting behavior in the absence of a model leads to a defective conclusion. I’m not speaking here about what is the right way to train a horse, the researchers might be right that one shouldn’t scare a horse with a plastic bag, drive it around a […]
(Thanks to Russell for bringing this research to our attention.) http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-retreat-circuit-links-hunger-pursuit.html Emotion begins with “a want,” no matter how complex or sublime a feeling, it always crystallizes around “a want.” This is a common denominator that runs true from the most complex to the most primitive organisms. If something is perceived as conducive to a […]
Generally we think of a rabid animal, foaming at the mouth, sinking its fangs into the nearest warm blooded victim, as a crazed, frenetically enraged beast, a “mad dog” on a berserk rampage. Yet if we more closely consider the behavior of a rabid animal, we observe that there is a coherent and time-deferred string […]
The prey drive, manifested by a full, calm grip on a bite object and most importantly, by the body moving along with a smooth flowing gait, is like the Central Processing Unit in a computer: as the CPU turns electrical inputs from the key board into information—the prey drive turns neurological inputs from the brain […]
Instinct is a load/overload manner of energy transfer. It’s how most animals most of the time make their living. Drive on the other hand is a steady-state energy transfer and it allows two beings to emotionally fuse so as their combined energies can overcome greater and greater objects of resistance. This is how complex hunting […]
I am going to offer a number of thoughts on the nature of leadership, not because there is such a thing in the nature of animals, but because this issue is generally on every dog owner’s mind and can determine the nature of their relationship with their pet. In the old days folks used to […]
I’m looking forward to the possibility of a “blog-a-log” that might develop between Lee Kelley and Dr. John Bradshaw at Psychology Today. Especially since these questions of why animals do what they do I believe help illustrate the distinction between attraction and intention. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/pets-and-their-people/201104/greetings/comments I also look forward to reading Bradshaw’s new book, in particular […]
The more I try to explain an energy theory of behavior to those who are genuinely interested, the more sympathetic I am to the question: “Where’s the science?” I wish I had all day to collate the science that’s available in support of an energy theory but for now I’ll just try to call the […]
I’m commenting on the first Wolf Park video submitted wherein a moose head is brought from the cache TO THE CENTER as Energy wants to move! Any two heart cells when placed in a conductive medium synchronize with each others beat. The first thing to do is turn off the sound and learn to see […]
What does the emotional battery, the phenomenon of neotony, and the dog’s affinity for cars all have in common? Every debate I have with learning theorists argue that the distinction I’m drawing between dogs and other animals, for example animals such as cats and deer, are irrelevant because these distinctions can be taken into account […]
In the early eighties I found myself describing certain behaviors as “electric,” as for example when a dog is defensive, fearful or hyper, bristling, tense, taut and touchy, while other behaviors I intuitively would call “magnetic,” as for example when a dog is rolling on the ground, body contacting with others, supple to the touch, […]
