somerville dog: a weblog

I got my copy of Jean Donaldson's new book, Fight: A Practical Guide to the Treatment of Dog-Dog Aggression, last week. Donaldson's discussion of the bite threshold in dogs, in her 1996 book, Culture Clash, is the most useful thing I have read for preventing dog bites. In Fight, Donaldson applies her behaviorist perspective to problems of dog-dog aggression: not only fighting, but also undesirable behaviors that are precursors to a full-blown fight, including fear and avoidance of other dogs, and pro-active lunging, barking, snapping and snarling. Donaldson's new book could be better organized, though the detailed table of contents is a great improvement over Culture Clash. And once again Donaldson could benefit from a good editor: whereas, in Culture Clash, her style was abrasive, here it is encumbered--and not just by the typos.

Anyone who has seen Strummer harass Mosley, a wonderful Golden Retriever at AAAS, will recognize Strummer in Donaldson's description of a "bully:"

Bullies . . . target certain dogs for harassment or attack. They rarely play normally with with these dogs yet play fine with others (80).

Indeed, Strummer's only "target" seems to be the lovable "Mo," who, at the park, wants nothing other than to play fetch with his person. Strummer likes to chase dogs who are chasing balls (frisbees, sticks...), and ordinarily the retriever and my meta-retriever work it out, and both enjoy themselves (though they seem to be playing two different games). But when Strummer chases this particular Retriever, their interaction is completely different. She engages in all the contact behaviors she typically employs to solicit play (i.e. she doesn't play-bow, but she nips at Mosley's legs, neck and flanks and hits him with her signature "left jab"), while he ignores her and tries to focus on his tennis ball.

I, of course, don't enjoy watching Strummer be a bully: I distract her by calling her sharply and telling her to "play nice." When she persists in bullying poor Mosley, I put her on her leash and, if she fails to settle down and pulls on the leash, we leave the park. This is almost the regimen that Donaldson recommends for treating bullying behavior.

There is a disclaimer at the beginning of the book that advises,

the services of a competent professional trainer or applied behaviorist should be sought regarding the [book's] applicability with respect to your own dog.

Fortunately, Strummer's bullying of Mosley is not dangerous to the dogs or to the human handlers, so I am comfortable trying to implement Donaldson's treatment. Moreover, Strummer's "acquired bite inhibition" is excellent. Donaldson explains that

the most important prognostic factor in dog-dog aggression is the degree of acquired bite inhibition, which determines how much damage is done when the dog bites. This can range from bites that break bones, deeply puncture muscle and create massive tearing, to bites that leave saliva but no damage whatsoever (21).

Standard Poodles were bred for a soft mouth so that, as hunting companions, they can retrieve a felled duck without damaging the bird's flesh. Strummer's mouth is so soft that, when offered a treat, she will not close her mouth to hold it until you let go of it.

Donaldson recommends treating bullying with "negative punishment," the removal of a reinforcing stimulus.

Dogs that bully other dogs find both play and harassment/fighting to be reinforcing events, so timing them out for harassment and fighting is extremely effective at reducing these (82).

The method of applying negative punishment that Donaldson recommends to teach a dog to stop bullying looks like this:

1. Issue a Warning Cue
A. dog continues bullying
2a. Issue a Time-Out Cue
3a. Execute the Time-Out
B. dog stops bullying
2b. Acknowledge with a "Thank you"
3b. Continue monitoring the interaction

The command that the dog has to learn is the warning cue (Donaldson suggests "Enough," but "Play Nice!" should work just as well). The dog can either offer the desired behavior and stop harassing her target, or the dog can offer undesirable behavior and continue harassing her target. Once the dog is given the Time-Out cue (Donaldson suggests, "Too bad," or "You're out"), the dog has failed to offer the desired behavior and a Time-Out must be executed immediately.

The way this treatment works is that, if the Time-Out is executed properly, the dog learns the warning command, i.e. the dog is eventually able to reliably offer the desired behavior when the warning command is issued (scenario B). I'm not sure what purpose saying "Thank You" serves. Perhaps it merely addresses the human's need to respond to the dog's reaction, turning negative punishment into an opportunity for positive reinforcement.

In fact, teaching a dog not to bully by negative punishment is like teaching a dog the "Sit" command by positive reinforcement. The method of teaching a dog the "Sit" command by positive reinforcement (e.g. clicker training) looks like this:

1. Issue the command cue, "Sit"
A. dog does not sit
2a. nothing happens
B. dog sits
2b. Click and
3b. Treat

In both cases (negative punishment and positive reinforcement), scenario B is what the dog is supposed to learn. Whereas by negative punishment, the dog learns to prevent something bad from happening (the punishment, administered as a Time-Out), in positive reinforcement, the dog learns to make something good happen (the reinforcement, administered as a treat.) The difference is that in teaching a dog the "Sit" command, you can shape the desired behavior before teaching the cue, so that the dog already knows how to sit when you start teaching her the command. In teaching a dog not to bully, you can't really shape the desired behavior with the target before teaching the warning cue.

UPDATE January 25, 2005: There is two feet of snow on the ground, and who did Strummer meet at Triple-A-S this afternoon? Mosley! ...whose tennis ball was aparently lost within twenty seconds of his arrival at the park. After Moe showed the little Strummer girl how to bound through the snow, they had a great time chasing each other! Ah, snow. It brings out the best in all of us...