[00:00:00] I want to tell you about something I'd bet money you've seen a hundred times at a trial and never really looked at.
[00:00:07] And by the end of this episode, I think the word aversive is going to mean something a little different to you than it did before you dove in for a listen.
[00:00:30] Okay, here's the scene.
[00:00:32] A dog comes out of the ring, maybe they're wired up, maybe they're a little flat. And the handler crouches down and starts petting them. Big reassuring strokes down the side of the neck, really well intentioned, really kind, and the dog leans away.
[00:00:48] If we're anthropomorphizing, we'd say the dog looks disgusted. Or at the very least, the. There's an element of a little ick.
[00:00:58] The dog turns their head, ducks their head, leans away, clearly not interested in being touched at that moment. I've done this, you've probably done this. I've watched hundreds of people do this in my decades in the sport. And we usually explain it as, oh, the dog's over threshold, he's not connecting, he's checked out.
[00:01:19] But go back and, and watch it again because the dog is telling you something really specific in that moment. In that context, being petted is not a rewarding experience for that dog. It's something that dog is actively working to get away from. Which means, technically, by the actual definition, it's an aversive experience for your dog. An aversive is not a category of equipment, it's a category of experience. And your dog is the one who decides what goes into that category. Not you, not me, and not a label on a box in a catalog. Now, let's take that same exact dog.
[00:01:57] Same exact hands that night on the couch. The dog leans in, they shove their head under the hand, they shove their head under your hand, you stop and they nudge you to keep going.
[00:02:11] Same petting, completely different meaning. And if you deliberately stopped petting them right there, that would be an aversive experience.
[00:02:20] It's a gentle one, but that's what it is.
[00:02:23] So, same hand, same dog. An aversive experience in one context and a reinforcing experience in another.
[00:02:31] And I'll go even further. I've got one dog who thinks a finger tickling her nose is the best game in the world.
[00:02:39] I've known dogs who would leave the room for that. Same finger, same nose.
[00:02:43] Other dogs might bite that finger in play, and another type of dog might hate that experience and bite the finger to make it stop.
[00:02:51] Your hands are a training tool.
[00:02:55] Your Hands are the most basic piece of training equipment you own. You've had them all your life.
[00:03:01] And I just spent a couple of minutes talking about how a hand can create a rewarding experience or an aversive experience, depending on nothing but the dog and the moment.
[00:03:14] So if your hands can't be sorted firmly into aversive or not aversive, nothing can. There's really no such thing as an aversive tool.
[00:03:24] There's only an aversive experience.
[00:03:27] And your dog is the one who decides.
[00:03:30] And before anybody takes that and runs with it, that means more things, aversives than you thought, at least, potentially, not fewer. And it's not just your hands. Take the most simple piece of dog equipment you own, a flat buckle collar. For most dogs, most of the time, that's nothing, just a thing they wear.
[00:03:52] Now, put one on a dog that's never worn a collar in their life, or a dog that got grabbed by the collar once in a way that scared them. Same collar. Now it's something that that dog is working to get away from, or go the other way. A cookie. Least aversive thing in the world, right? Unless your dog is stressed and a little nauseated at a trial, and you keep pushing food at their face when what they actually needed was for you to back off a step.
[00:04:17] Same cookie. And now you're the one leaning in while your dog leans away.
[00:04:22] So aversive was never a property of the object. It's a description of how your dog experienced something.
[00:04:31] The object doesn't get a vote. You don't get a vote. Your dog decides in that moment, in that context, and the answer can be different tomorrow. The answer can change depending on the conditioning you've done with your dog to change how they feel about an experience.
[00:04:48] The answer can change based on your dog's age, where they might be hormonally, whether they're hungry or satiated, tired or refreshed. Any number of factors, some of which you can influence, many of which you can influence, but some of which you can't. And this cuts in a direction people don't tend to think about. It doesn't mean fewer things can create an aversive experience than you thought. It means more things can. Your hand, your cookie, your voice, the collar they wear every single day.
[00:05:19] Context is king.
[00:05:20] And there's a sort of economics at play as to whether an experience in a given moment is an aversive or reinforcing experience. And depending on the context, the same experience can have a radically different value for your dog. Alright, so what do you actually do with this information?
[00:05:38] First, evaluate whether or not your actions in a given moment are interpreted by your dog as an aversive or a reinforcement.
[00:05:47] Don't just assume that that cookie or that verbal praise or that pat on the head will produce a reinforcing experience for your dog because it did before in the past.
[00:05:56] Stay in the moment and always strive to have your mind on your dog's emotional state. Second, go find out what your dog actually wants in that environment because it's not going to be the same as what they want at home, not necessarily. And it might not even be the same as what they wanted at the last competition. It's going to be different in every new environment. It always is. And third, stop assuming that anything is universally anything.
[00:06:23] Food, toys, praise, petting, your voice, all of it depends on the dog and the moment. That's not a technicality. That's most of the skill of a good dog trainer. Being able to stay on top of and manipulate the economics of aversive and reinforcing experiences for your dog is the name of the game for a skilled dog trainer. And this is also why I've gotten a lot quieter about a phrase I hear a lot when I, which is I never use aversives with my dog.
[00:06:55] Not because I think anybody saying it is lying. I really don't. I think people mean it completely sincerely. But once you start looking at it from the dog side of things, you start to notice you might be using one right now with your bare hand, with the kindest intentions in the world. You can't really opt out of aversives, you guys. You can only opt out of noticing them and noticing.
[00:07:18] I think noticing is the whole job. A dog who gets listened to in context, in the moment by somebody who's actually watching them is a dog being trained. Well, that's worth more than any label we could stick on our training.
[00:07:33] So this week, really watch your dogs during your interactions with them. Just watch, don't fix anything, just really seek to understand how context, how your dog's arousal level, how the time of the day, how your emotional state, the list goes on and on.
[00:07:52] How those things.
[00:07:54] Seek to understand how all those things influence the value of your dog's experience.
[00:07:59] Look for those things like petting your dog, such a simple thing. Look for things like that and notice just how fluid their value is to your dog, not you. Remember, you don't get to decide ultimately how your dog is going to process and interpret and experience in the moment. As an aversive or reinforcing experience.
[00:08:18] Of course you can influence how they process those experiences. And again, that's the name of the game for a good dog trainer. Once you've observed for a while, let me know what you saw, because I'm pretty curious and I'd really like to know.
[00:08:32] Just like I say at the end of every episode, you can email me at heretohelpaisypiel.com anytime and help me make sure that I'm not just talking into the void here. Talking to myself.
[00:08:43] Subscribe in your podcast player of choice Leave a rating or leave a comment at the Episode
[email protected] Let me know that you're out there enjoying the show and let me know your thoughts on this episode.
