The Art of Non-Violence
& Dog
Training
by Paul Owens
with Norma Eckroate
 I remember the first time I correlated dog training with the concept of
violence. I had been studying yoga in India and had not trained dogs in quite a
while. One day the next door neighbors adopted a new puppy, which they named
Raju. They put her in the backyard where she began to bark and whine
incessantly. Periodically the husband or wife would poke a head out the back
door and scream at the pup to shut up. When the barking and whining continued,
they would charge out the door and jerk her on the leash. Raju would eventually
stop and they would go back inside, slamming the door in frustration behind
them. Soon the whole noisy cycle of barking, yelling, jerking the leash, and
going in and out of the house began again, with both dog and human emotions
escalating in intensity.
A few days passed and I finally decided enough was enough. The poor
puppy’s barking was quickly becoming a neighborhood noise nuisance. I felt
compassion for the animal as well as the humans involved. It seemed time to put
my experience as a dog trainer to good use. In addition, it occurred to me that
several aspects of my yoga studies might be used to help in this situation.
After all, there are many similarities between the learning principles that work
for humans and those that work for dogs.
So I went next door and talked to the family. I explained that the puppy
was barking because she didn’t have anything else to do and pointed out that, as
dogs are social animals, she needed companionship. I suggested they bring her
into the house so she could be with the family. They did so and, lo and behold,
with the addition of a few other socialization exercises and training tips, the
barking decreased to a tolerable level. And, of course, both the puppy and her
humans benefited from the budding familial bond.
It was a relatively easy process. A compassionate, nonviolent approach,
along with the integration of some holistic perspectives, had benefited the
puppy, her family, and, in fact, the whole neighborhood. I realized how
different this episode was from the methods I had been taught long ago to get a
dog to stop barking — such as yelling and threatening, pounding on the cage, and
jerking on the leash. In retrospect, some of the methods I had been taught, now
seemed downright violent.
On my return to the United States, my brother Tom
adopted a young dog from a shelter and asked for my help in training her. Her
name was Thunder. In the first session with Thunder, I jerked her leash to get
her attention. It was nothing serious — just a kind of “pay attention” pop on
the leash. This sweet, sensitive animal put her ears back, turned her head,
licked her lips, and did everything she could to say, “Okay, I submit. Please
don’t do that again.” In a flash a shock ran through my body and a realization
hit me. How quickly I had forgotten my experience in India. Without thinking, I
had automatically used the primary method I had always used to “correct” a
dog.
What was I doing? I suddenly knew that an animal
could be harmed when the collar is jerked but also that, in a less overt way, I
could even be harming myself in the process. A window had opened and common
sense came rushing up through my awareness, “Duh — it was never necessary to
jerk a leash to shape behavior, Paul.” Common sense just isn’t so “common”
sometimes. In spite of having trained thousands of dogs and received numerous
awards in competitive obedience, from that moment on, I irrevocably knew that
the training methods I had always used were wrong for me.
That episode began a new journey. Thousands of
people have come through my classes since then. In many cases they expressed the
same relief I felt, to know there is another way — a nonviolent way — to get
their dogs to do what they ask of them.
The good news is that non-aversive dog training is becoming more popular.
However, it is estimated that only twenty percent of professional dog trainers
in the United States teach strictly non-aversive methods of dog training. Most
trainers use a combination of both aversive methods and reward-based methods.
That means there are about forty million dogs in the country that are still
being subjected to human violence as part of the training process. The point is,
the majority of the population simply doesn’t know that nonviolent training
methods are available.
Taking the Lead In A Gentle, Empowering Way
Nonviolent dog training allows you to create a partnership with your dog
using gentle persuasion based in kindness, respect, and compassion. This gentle
persuasion is what the nonviolent dog training is all about. In this method, you
use gentleness with a flexible yet non-compromising attitude. The spoken word is
actually full of power — and part of this power is based in the silence before,
after, and between the spoken words.
Throughout history there have been many who have eloquently expressed the
power of gentle persuasion, including St. Francis of Assisi, Mahatma Gandhi, and
Martin Luther King, Jr. One of my favorite examples comes from the plant world.
The famous botanist, Luther Burbank, was the first to develop a cactus without
thorns. He told the great yogi Paramahansa Yogananda how he did it: “I often
talked to the plants to create a vibration of love. ‘You have nothing to fear,’
I would tell them. ‘You don’t need your defensive thorns. I will protect you.’”
[Yogananda, Paramahansa, Autobiography of a Yogi, Self Realization Fellowship, 1946,
page 411.]
Nonviolence is not a new concept, but it is now taking root at a deeper
level than ever before. Just as it is no longer acceptable to many people to
punish a child by spanking, so, too, we are evolving as a species to eliminate
violence in other arenas. For many years there has been a movement toward the
use of nonviolent, “cruelty free” products — such as cosmetics that do not
include animal products or involve animal testing. Now it is time to totally
eliminate violence in the training of dogs and other animals.
Today many people are familiar with the concept of nonviolent animal
training because of the success of the book The Man Who Listens to Horses, the best-selling biography of
Monty Roberts. Roberts belongs to a lineage of animal trainers, going back to
“horse whisperer” John Rarey in the mid-nineteenth century. Instead of
“breaking” wild horses, these trainers use approaches in which the horse
voluntarily decides to work with them.
Gentler, kinder, and less dominating methods of animal training have also
been used for several decades to train dolphins, killer whales, elephants, and
other animals. Karen Pyror was one of the pioneers in training marine mammals.
Later, she incorporated nonviolent approaches in the training of other animals,
including dogs, which she details in her groundbreaking book Don’t Shoot the Dog.
Pryor is one of a number of behaviorists who have shown us new ways to
shape dog behaviors. A treat, a toy, or a scratch behind the ears, coupled with
patience and consistency, and — voila — behavioral success. The point of my
book, The Dog Whisperer, is that we humans have an equal role in the
behavioral give and take equation. The fact that we can get a dog to sit or lie
down when we ask is not the entire picture. In this philosophy, which is
certainly not new, how we go about it is equally important. Our desire to elicit
behavioral responses that correspond to our limited view of what is right,
wrong, or simply appropriate, doesn’t justify violent methodology. The end never
justifies the means. And might does not make right.
Responding Versus Reacting to Your Dog
Sometimes all that is necessary to tilt the scales toward nonviolence
during training is simply to become aware of the obvious. A few years ago a
couple called me to do a consultation for a dog that was exhibiting aggressive
behavior. When I arrived at the home, Lucky was locked in the basement. I
learned the wife was a psychiatrist and the husband was a psychologist. This
couple knew more about operant and classical conditioning than I could ever hope
to know in this lifetime. Yet, there I was setting up a behavior modification
program for them and their dog, which was, in principle, similar to the ones
they design and implement every day of the week for human beings! Fortunately,
the light bulb went off in their heads and they quickly realized they had not
been using their expertise with their own dog. They were able to implement my
suggestions with great results. A few weeks later when I checked back, Lucky was
well on her way to becoming a well-mannered member of society.
Like this couple, all of us have blocks in our awareness. It’s as if we
sometimes forget to “connect the dots”. Often it’s just a matter of finding the
trigger to release and remember what we already know. To do this, we have to
pause before we act, and learn to respond rather than react. “Reacting” denotes
an emotionally-based knee-jerk behavior to a particular situation. On the other
hand, a “response” means we bring all of our wisdom, creativity, intuition, and
emotion to the situation. Why learn to respond rather than react? For one
thing, when you stop and consider what you are about to do with your dog, you
are able to focus on how to deal with the problem rather than the
symptom.
Let’s say a dog is barking at the mail carrier walking toward the house.
The knee-jerk reaction is to respond to the symptom, which is the barking,
rather than the cause. Most people never think about what is causing the dog to
bark; he might be excited, he might be afraid, he might simply be saying hello.
In essence, he perceives that he’s doing his job. In most cases, people deal
with the barking by yelling at the dog, hitting him with a newspaper, or jerking
him on the leash to get him to stop.
Regardless of the reason the dog was initially barking, he now associates
the mail carrier walking toward him as a danger because of the bad things that
happened to him when he barked at that person. So now the dog has a growing
aggression problem towards people in uniforms walking towards the house.
Imagine, on the other hand, if every time the mail carrier showed up and the dog
started barking, you interrupted him with a phrase like “Who’s that” and then
gave him treat. You will have ended the barking and the dog will have associated
the mail carrier with something positive. So, by using this nonviolent, positive
approach, you’ve stopped the barking and, in the process, you’ve made the dog
more social.
Every dog deserves respect. And that respect includes being considerate.
You should do your best to find out why a dog is doing what he is doing before
responding. Otherwise, it is easy to inadvertently fly off the handle and react
in a way that might harm the dog and actually compound the behavioral problem.
Reacting blocks respect; responding fosters respect.
Consideration also includes the recognition that every dog learns at his
or her own rate. People often ask me how long it takes to train a dog. The
answer is — it takes as long as it takes. In many ways, training a dog is like
raising a child. No parent would ever expect a child to learn to behave
perfectly within three months or six months or even three years. Yet many people
expect a dog to learn to sit or walk by their side reliably with just a few
days’ training or after only a few sessions. It just doesn’t happen that
way.
What Is
Violence?
Everyone looks at the world differently. And we look at dogs differently.
To many of us a dog is a loved, cherished being with her own distinct
personality. Our dogs are members of our families and our partners in life. They
teach us patience and love, and allow us to see these qualities reflected back
when we look at them. Yes, to some, dogs are mirrors of our most exemplary human
characteristics. Their presence increases our feelings of self-worth and help to
heal us emotionally and physically. In their role as service dogs, they help us
stand and see, both figuratively and literally. They tell us when the phone is
ringing or when someone is at the door. They predict epileptic seizures and can
even smell diseases — and so much more.
To others, a dog is an extension of machismo; if a dog is big, tough, and
mean, it must mean that the dog’s owner is that way too. Finally, in some
people’s eyes, dogs are simply possessions, which are disposable. Many people
simply give up on dogs with behavior problems, such as eliminating in the house
or excessive barking, and drop them off at the shelter. In the United States
alone, desensitization, ignorance, and superstition are significant causes of
more than four million dogs being put to death annually — not to mention the
cruelty and the suffering of countless others.
People have dropped out of my classes because, as one guy put it, “I need
to work with a more ‘hands-on’ approach.” Read “jerk and shake” in that
comment. “He’s a rottweiler”, another guy said after literally punching his dog
in the face. “He can take it.” I reported the man for this abuse. I felt sorry
for the poor dog.
Violence is any behavior or thought that is harmful and stops growth —
emotionally, physically, and mentally. Nonviolence is the opposite — any
behavior or thought that promotes and fosters self-awareness, health, growth,
and safety in these areas. All dogs are individuals with their own unique
personalities just like us humans. And every situation in which the two of us
interact is unique for that time and place. It is up to each one of us to
determine what is violent, and what is not, at that moment in time. This holds
true for behavior directed towards animals, the environment, and, as common
sense dictates, ourselves. It takes lots of practice.
Here are some examples, a frame of mind, to clarify the differences, and
help you draw the nonviolence/violence line in the sand. To interrupt a dog that
is climbing on the dining room table or chewing an electric cord, you can
distract him with sound and motion, and ask him to do something else. Can you
see the difference between interrupting him and frightening him? In the same
vein, you can encourage your dog to sit, or you can force and intimidate him by
jerking, hitting, shocking, or shaking. You can create an environment so your
dog learns by her successes, or you can punish him. Does that mean there is no
anger in the training of dogs? Let’s face it, we’re human beings and anger is a
human emotion. Every now and then, we humans get angry.
But there is a difference between ethical anger and violent anger. Ethical
anger is anger in which emotion is expressed appropriately and with full
awareness of the consequences of that expression. It means expressing oneself
without causing harm. In its best expression, anger is a prod to positive
change. Violent anger has no regard for consequence. At those rare times when
you find yourself angry, reward-based dog training takes the violence out of
that anger. This means that in no situation whatsoever do you ever harm your
dog. And that takes awareness.
A nonviolent approach doesn’t victimize. It is a proactive approach in
which the nonviolent principles of love, respect, and compassion are foremost in
your mind. A nonviolent approach also means not taking on the role of a victim,
although there are times when we must put ourselves in harm’s way to protect or
care for a loved one or for a greater good. For example, Gandhi practiced what
he called peaceful resistance in India’s struggle for independence. The point
is, a commitment to nonviolence doesn’t preclude using our good old common
sense, as well as wisdom, humor, and other nonaversive conflict resolution
methods. We are the intelligent, compassionate, intuitive, creative species, are
we not? Certainly we can figure out how to shape a dog’s behavior without the
use of aversive methods.
Aversive training methods are not only harmful to animals; I believe they
are at least part of the reason that animals sometimes exhibit violent behavior
toward humans. According to recent statistics, there were 4.5 million dog bites
in the United States last year, and 75 percent of the victims were children. In
fact, dog bites are the leading cause of children being taken to the
hospital.
The Cycle of
Violence
So, why do people still continue to harm or threaten to harm their dogs?
There are three major reasons: 1) it’s always been done this way, 2) the sense
or need of the person to be in physical control of a situation, or 3) wanting to
punish the dog. If a person is using aversive methods with a dog because “it’s
always been done this way”, habituation and familiarity have set in. Changing
things can be a threat to the status quo. To less secure individuals it also
might mean that they would have to admit they had been violent in the past. This
would be like looking in a mirror and seeing themselves as different from who
they thought they were. Scary! The other reasons people continue to use harmful
training methods — their need to be in physical control and wanting to punish
the dog — are usually associated with anger and frustration. As I said earlier,
anger has no place in dog training. It shuts off and restricts wisdom,
creativity, and intuition. Both the person and the dog suffer. To quote from the
Bhagavad Gita: “From unfulfilled desire comes frustration; from frustration,
anger; from anger, ruin.”
The tendency to use domination techniques — violent force or the threat of
force — is ingrained early in life. For example, whenever a child sees another
person demonstrating dominating behavior, she learns that we “win” by being
bigger, stronger, and tougher. In nonviolent dog training there is no “winning”
because there is no competition.
When we use aversive training methods instead of nonviolent alternatives,
we risk ensnaring our dogs and ourselves in a downward spiral of aggression, and
we desensitize ourselves to the higher aspects of who we are as humans. There
was a recent article in the paper about a fourteen-year-old girl who had just
killed a deer for sport. An accompanying photo showed the dead animal strapped
to the hood of her father’s car. The girl was asked, “How did you feel when you
killed the deer?” She said, “Well, when I killed my first one last year I felt
pretty bad. Now it’s easier and I don’t think about it at all.” Education is
the key to creating awareness.
Studies have shown that humans who are violent toward animals often extend
that behavior and become violent towards other humans. In the last decade, a
number of news headlines have repeated the same tragic facts in story after
story — a child who exhibited violence toward animals had turned to murdering
people.
Reward-based dog training, through its nonviolent approach, promotes
compassion and encourages our true nature as sensitive, empathic, loving beings.
It acts as a bridge and fosters human-to-animal and human-to-human
nonviolence.
This article was excerpted
from
 The Dog Whisperer: A Compassionate, Nonviolent Approach
to Dog Training
by Paul Owens.
This
article was excerpted with permission from the publisher, Adams Media Corporation.
Info/Order this book
About The
Author
Paul Owens began training dogs in 1972 and has
earned several awards in competitive obedience. He is a certified evaluator for
the Delta Society's Animal Assisted Therapy Program and a member of
The National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors (NADOI), and the
Association of Pet Dog Trainers
(APDT). His specialty is in the
evaluation and behavior modification of aggressive dogs. Paul has studied,
practiced and taught yoga and stress management (for humans) in the United
States and India for more than 25 years. In 1991, he founded the non-profit
educational organization Raise with Praise, Inc. Over the years Paul has taught
and consulted for thousands of families and individuals working to improve the
dog-human relationship. For more info, visit his website at www.raisewithpraise.com.
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