Killing Creativity, in Dogs & Trainers

I happened across this video a couple of months ago and bookmarked it. I enjoyed it at the time, but even as I was watching, I was thinking of clicker training.

I really like shaping, and I love the results I get with a dog who has learned to offer and vary behavior. I hear frequently from clients or trainer friends who don’t enjoy shaping or don’t get satisfactory results, and while it’s true that not every dog adores it, I think that most of the time their failure to love it isn’t that they have the wrong dog — it’s that they, or their dogs, are diligently following this checklist.

[youtube video_id=”AsyAtkjYcEk” width=”640″ height=”360″ ]

A dog who is afraid to try the unknown (perhaps because of a history of punishment, or perhaps simply because of a lack of reinforcement for trying new things) is going to have a hard time offering behavior. A dog who has been trained to wait for human help such as a lure, a prompt, verbal cues, or encouragement is a dog who can’t work independently or think through solutions on his own. A trainer who labels her dogs — “Oh, he doesn’t retrieve” — isn’t going to be pleasantly surprised by a new accomplishment.

I often joke with new clients that “We don’t tell our dogs “no,” but it’s not because we’re afraid to stunt their emotional growth!” — but, in fact, that’s not untrue. How are you stifling your dog’s creativity and your own training progress?