Then in the mid 17th century Descartes came along and soothed all the itchy, uncomfortable thoughts by explaining that animals can’t feel pain.  His hypothesis was that animals were like machines, they could not think and therefore could have no souls and just as a dropped clock makes a noise when it shatters, so goes a cat when nailed to a board and vivisected live.  Simply the noise of a broken machine.

This made every one feel better. Man was still the higher being, no need to share God or heaven with mere animals, put on this Earth for our use.

Later as science progressed this hypothesis was upheld by the requirement of using animals in scientific studies, and yet science needed an out on the whole “religion” issue. So it was generally decided that animals were in fact organic machines and had no language to boot! Without language they could never tell us if they really had feelings or could experience pain. Hence, if we could not prove that emotions existed, then we could not assume them to exist. To do so would be humanocentric. And apparently it is better to be mechanomorphic than anthropomorphic. For some strange reason, never suitably explained, it is better to assume animals do not have emotions (so that we can feel OK about continuing to use them for scientific research, and turn them into slave labour) rather than assume they probably do have similar emotions to us (our brains work the same, drugs work the same on humans as they do for dogs in many cases) so then bringing up the old uncomfortable itchiness that maybe animals are deserving of a  little more respect.

This may sound a bit hyperbolic and I am not saying I believe snails have the same emotions (or any necessarily) that humans do. But what I am saying is, isn’t it better, isn’t it more humane and ethical to assume that any animal with similar physiological characteristics, probably have similar emotional lives to us as well? And if so, then shouldn’t we be treating them with more respect than our societies do now?

You may think that I am a fundamentalist when it comes to animal rights however,  I am not suggesting we don’t use animals for medical research, or that we should all become vegetarians. I am extremely darwinistic in my beliefs and I actually think that if we feel it will benefit our species (and frequently their species as well) to use some animals this way, then fine.

What I AM saying is that lets do it with a little respect. Lets stop hiding underneath  this blanket like we are children not wanting to face our terrible mistake. Lets face up to what we are doing and not pretend like we are ignorant to  an animal’s pain.

Maybe if we do, violence against animals will decrease. If children are taught  to respect an animal as another living, thinking, and emotional being perhaps it will help people relate to each other as well.

The answer is: your dog is NOT a child or a toaster. Dog’s are their own, they have become our partners in life and as a species. Sometimes it’s useful to compare them to a child, it helps some people relate better, when they can view their dog’s antics as they would a 4 year old child’s. Sometimes it’s even useful to relate them to a toaster, (there are a few children I would relate to a toaster as well). But to decide that since we can’t prove something, it doesn’t exist… well there are a lot of religions that would argue that point and a lot of scientists too.

Here is an example situation. It is 6PM in the evening, the family is trying to watch TV, it is not yet Bella’s dinner time and she is getting antsy. She is sniffing around the couch, prodding people’s legs, trying to instigate playtime. Her family is trying to ignore her while they watch their favorite show. Eventually she gets so frustrated that she bounces up and plants her feet squarely on dad’s lap and playfully nips his arm.

This is obviously inappropriate behavior. It isn’t aggressive or dominant, just annoying!  Dad can choose two options to “punish” this inappropriate behavior. He will probably yell “owe!”  and stand up. Then he could grab the dog and smack her, this does not change the Bella’s behavior but it will probably make her more nervous around dad in the future. Or dad could take Bella over to the door and send her out of the room.

Bella now has to earn back her privilege of spending time with the family. A time-out that lasts for an hour won’t teach her anything, she may even start barking behind the door because she feels abandoned. Keep time-outs to less than 15 seconds.

The best method for a successful time-out is to shut the door, count to 3 slowly, and then crack the door open, ask her for a “Sit”. If she does not respond immediately, shut the door and count to 3 again. repeat this process until she is able to control herself enough to demonstrate a sit, then  allow her back in the room. For many dogs this short time out is plenty of time for them to get themselves under control. For many other dogs they are STILL excited and may go back to jumping around the room as soon as they get the opportunity. This time don’t wait until she has jumped up and nipped someone! Move her immediately back out the door and wait for another 3-5 seconds for her to control herself again.

Coaching a dog on how to behave appropriately in a human family environment is not always easy. You do need to be consistent and take the time to show them what you want, every single time. It can sometimes be a difficult, tiring, and frustrating task. But as every dog owner learns, its worth it! And if it gets too frustrating, then maybe you could use a time-out too occasionally. If you feel too frustrated and need a break, feel free to put yourself away for a little while until you can regain control. We all need time-outs sometimes!

When I am doing a first session with clients I usually start with introducing them to a clicker. A clicker is a small hand held noisemaker, much like you would find at kid’s parties. But for the purpose of training, it is used as a marker for behavior. A clicker is ideal for this purpose because it is a quick noise that is almost instantaneous and completely repeatable. That means you can easily teach the dog by learned association, that if they hear a click, they will get a treat.

Once the dog understands that a click will always get them a treat, you then teach them that they can demonstrate behaviors and make you click. In this way they become active in their own training and actually enjoy the learning process itself!

Because of this, clickers are used all over the world to teach a variety of different animals new or complicated behaviors.  When I worked with Big Cats we used clickers as a means of communicating to our feline friends that we liked what they were doing. This is especially important because with many large predators you can’t force them to do what you want, you have to make them want to do what you want! Frequently you are working behind a cage wall so even if you wanted to you couldn’t use physical cues to model the behavior you needed.

The same is true for dogs, if you can get them to want to do something, whether that is staying off the couch, going to the toilet on cue, or just shaking hands. You can show them how much fun it is to do the things you like! And lets be honest, if you don’t like something, you don’t do it, and if you do like something you do it even if someone doesn’t give you a cupcake afterwards.

And through my work with a variety of Wild and exotic creature I came to realize one fundamental idea about training any of these animals, and if you could do this well, you would be a fantastic animal trainer. And that one thing is to “think like the animal”, to try to see life from their point of view rather than your own.

From the Grizzlies at Washington State University the Lions at the Big Cat Sanctuary, the Slow Loris Primates at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, or your family dog, they all have this one thing in common. If you can see the world from their eyes and understand what is important to them, you can get them to do anything you need.

I have worked with Lions, Leopards, and Grizzly Bears. Large Carnivores all have something very important in common, something you can’t ever forget. They are dangerous. Of the Big Cats I worked with, many were friendly towards humans, some you could walk into their enclosure and they would lay down and get ready for a good scratch. Others… well if you walked into their enclosure you wouldn’t be walking out again. These animals are predators and they have never been domesticated. So even the friendliest of Pumas must be watched, in case her instincts kick in and she suddenly sees you as pray instead of a caregiver.

Aggressive dogs are like this as well. They can be dangerous and are at their most basic level, a predator. This sounds dire but in fact dogs are amazingly self controlled predators. They have been evolving alongside humans for thousands of years. During that time they have become one of the only species in the world that can coexist in our homes with us. They are unique in their ability to see us as pack members, members of their family. To them we are extremely strange dogs; we are dogs that are at many times unpredictable and hard to understand.

My point is that it is not common for dogs to just “snap” and become aggressive. Even the most frightening looking pit bull is still a dog, and dogs have evolved to live around and love humans. So if we understand that dogs don’t just snap, then what is the deal with dog aggression? Why do they do it? Well first of all let me point out that I rarely see truly aggressive dogs. Many behaviours people call “aggression” are simply the dog over reacting to a stressful situation.

Aggression is a term used very loosely in the dog community but has a severely negative connotation, a connotation which can result in the euthanasia of a perfectly normal and trainable dog. So in the future when I talk about aggression I will be referring to the issues that are classified as such by the professional behaviour consultant community.