An excerpt from my book, LET THE DOG DECIDE

Q and A

Publishers’ Q and A with Dale Stavroff, author of Let the Dog Decide: The Revolutionary 15-Minute-a-Day Program to Train Your Dog Gently and Reliably

Q: With all the dog training books available, why is your book needed?

A: Because classical conditioning, the kind of “Be the pack leader” training that Cesar Millan for example uses, is hurting dogs and causing them to hurt, maim, and even kill vulnerable people, especially little children. The “Be the pack leader” approach can appear to work in the short term, but over time it puts the dog under tremendous stress. I am deeply concerned about the violence and the damage that dogs are being driven to inflict on children and the elderly because of this incorrect training. I am fed up with children having their faces torn off or being killed by dogs that have been trained with classical conditioning with choke chains and pinch collars. There are terrible incidents regularly (one happened this New Year’s Eve in England where a five year old girl was killed by her uncle’s dog and her grandmother was badly injured, and another occurred recently in Vancouver where an RCMP dog savagely mauled an eight year old boy). There are an increasing number of these incidents every year. Not to mention all the neurotic, destructive behavior that isn’t directed at people that pet dogs engage in: obsessive chewing and barking and urinating in the house and so on. It’s the result of bad training that subjects the dog to unbearable stress.

And we should know better, because Konrad Lorenz and B. F. Skinner and a few other pioneers established the theoretical basis for training dogs properly a long time ago. But it is one thing to consider the theory, and it is another thing to build a system that is continuous with those theoretical ideas and completely practical in its application. I have spent thirty years searching for that and developing that, and I have built a system that removes all the stressors, the violence and intimidation, that build up and build up in their assault on the dog in classical conditioning and leave the dog no escape from that stress except submission, avoidance, and eventually aggression. We’re not going to change the dog’s nature. The dog needs to escape from stress. My training system doesn’t fight the dog’s natural need to escape from stress. Instead it gives him a place to escape that is comfortable for him and us. My training system never puts a dog into conflict that we haven’t taught him how to escape. That way we can always Let the Dog Decide to be comfortable and relaxed. And we do that with Benevolent Eye Contact, Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement, and Compassionate Compulsion.

All the puppy wants to know is the right thing to do. And if we show that to the puppy, the dog will happily do that for the rest of its life.

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Q: What does it mean to LET THE DOG DECIDE?

A: It means shaping the training situation so that the dog can use its own problem-solving ability -- and dogs are great problem solvers as every dog-owner knows from all the mischief they can get into -- to discover what behavior brings reward, including food treats and the owner's praise and pets. When the dog discovers things for itself, when you LET THE DOG DECIDE, its learning during training lasts a lifetime. For example, instead of forcing the dog to sit by yanking on a leash attached to a choke chain, you can let the dog decide to sit on its own -- sitting is a very natural behavior for a dog -- reward that, and begin to guide the dog to sit on your signal without ever forcing it to do anything.

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Q: We usually think of dog training in terms of getting a dog to obey commands. How can "letting the dog decide" produce reliable obedience?

A: Actually, “letting the dog decide” is the only way to achieve truly reliable, immediate obedience. Traditional training methods can produce grudging, rote obedience that is dependent on who is handling the dog or the use of a choke chain that the dog has learned to fear and resent. That won’t keep the dog from rooting in the trash when we’re not there, or from running into the street when it’s not under our immediate control. Dogs are very strong willed and when they’re off the leash will do what they want, as everyone knows who has tried to get their dog to come when it’s running free in the park.

To get the dog’s willing cooperation and obedience, we have to recruit the dog’s natural problem-solving ability. I describe in my book how to shape training so that the dog can see a clear choice between a behavior that wins reward, praise and affection, and one that doesn’t. If we’re consistent in training, the dog will decide on the right option. And because the dog is making its own discoveries, its learning becomes much stronger. Before long, the dog cooperates for its own reasons, and its obedience becomes both leash- and handler-independent. Then we never have to worry about the dog’s instinctive behaviors – like chasing a squirrel or a ball across a busy street – putting it in danger or creating some other problem.

Look at sheepherding dogs. They have to think and make decisions for themselves all through the day in response to unpredictable events like the weather or the approach of predators. My training system shows you how to develop the same positive decision-making ability in any dog.

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Q: What is training with your system like?

A: Training with my system is fun for you and the dog, because it begins with making sure you have a good relationship by establishing and enhancing Benevolent Eye Contact. And then it keeps things fun with brief, high-energy training sessions - three 5-minute sessions a day -- that keep the dog's mood and your own mood upbeat and positive. Keeping the mood positive is crucial to good training, and Benevolent Eye Contact, Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement, and Compassionate Compulsion all help establish and sustain that positive mood.

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Q: What makes LET THE DOG DECIDE different from other dog training books?

A: Other training books and methods, like Cesar Millan’s for example, treat the dog’s natural behaviors as problems that have to be controlled with dominance, which is usually enforced with a painful choke chain or pinch collar. This approach produces resentment and shuts down the dog’s mind.

My training system accepts the dog’s independent will, insatiable curiosity, and strong instinctual drives, not as problems that training must eliminate or control, but as fortunate natural attributes that can aid effective learning. In addition to keeping the dog’s mind open to learning, the training system in Let the Dog Decide limits stress on both you and your dog with an easy-to-follow program of informal handling, quiet time, and three formal five-minute training sessions a day.

The most effective way to train is to engage the dog as a partner in its own training. My system makes that possible through three breakthrough techniques: Benevolent Eye Contact, Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement, and the use of Compassionate Compulsion that never hurts the dog or forces it to do anything you haven't already taught it how to do.

My training system doesn't begin with trying to get the dog to do anything, it begins with establishing the right relationship with the dog. And then all the training has the foundation of that good relationship. Instead of telling you how to dominate the dog and force it to do something, I show you how to make the dog see you as a partner and how you can shape the training system to Let the Dog Decide and use its tremendous natural problem-solving ability to discover that cooperating with your wishes brings tremendous reward. And then the dog will be eager to learn its obedience and cooperate with you.

Unlike most trainers and most dog training books, I don't throw you out there with a leash and a choke chain and a "be the pack leader," none of which will work in the long run. I show you step by step how to establish Benevolent Eye Contact and train all the obedience behaviors without choke chains and without ever hurting the dog through a combination of Gentle Covert Control with Overt Positive Reinforcement. This creates a deep, fulfilling, devoted relationship between you and the dog. Then I show how to establish absolute reliability by training the obedience behaviors on a small bench, a space of restricted mobility that acts as a form of Compassionate Compulsion that never hurts the dog and never forces it to do something you haven't already taught it how to do. Benevolent Eye Contact; Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement; and Compassionate Compulsion -- these are the three unique hallmarks of the LET THE DOG DECIDE training system.

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Q: What is Benevolent Eye Contact?

A: Benevolent Eye Contact is the best means of deepening your relationship with the dog and accelerating its training. If the dog doesn't look at you, it doesn't have to do what you want. But eye contact is naturally very threatening among dogs -- when dogs stare at each other, it means they are going to fight; and if you stare at your dog, it makes the dog uncomfortable and anxious. I have developed a way to override that and make eye contact with you comfortable and enjoyable for the dog. I show step by step how to do this even with a fearfully withdrawn or aggressive dog, at first with a lot of food treats -- eating something yummy relaxes and calms the dog -- and then gradually decreasing the food treats, until you reach the point where the eye contact is self-reinforcing and the dog experiences eye contact with you as something benevolent and soothing in and of itself.

Benevolent Eye Contact is the first of three breakthroughs in my training system, and it's the foundation for the other two: Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement and Compassionate Compulsion training for reliability on a small bench. Benevolent Eye Contact enables you to manage the dog through the rest of training, because it enables you calm the dog whenever the stress of learning rises a little. All learning is a little stressful, and we want to lower that stress as much as possible. Together these three things – Benevolent Eye Contact, Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement, and Compassionate Compulsion enable you to keep your dog's mind open to learning and Let the Dog Decide to do the right thing in every situation.

Many dog training books note the value of non-threatening eye contact with the dog, but Let the Dog Decide is the first book to offer an easy-to-follow, reliable way to build benevolent eye contact with your dog. This alone will transform your relationship with your dog in profoundly positive ways.

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Q: Dogs can be very mischievous and strong willed. How do you control and discipline the dog during training?

A: My book shows how to manage the dog with Gentle Covert Control and Overt Positive Reinforcement through the use of long lines attached to the dog’s flat collar. This enables you to interrupt the dog’s unwanted behaviors without its realizing that you are responsible for the interruption. This in turn prevents the resentment and avoidance that are instilled in the dog when it sees you yanking on the end of a leash, especially when that leash is attached to a painful choke chain or pinch collar. After interrupting an unwanted behavior surreptitiously with the long line, you can call the dog to you for praise, pets, and a treat, which quickly makes you the center of the dog’s positive associations, heightens its focus on you, and accelerates its learning.

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Q: Your training method includes getting the dog to do sits, stands, and downs on a small bench. What is the purpose of training on the bench?

A: Reliability in training requires some form of compulsion, which is why all guide dog training, for example, employs compulsion. But compulsion produces resentment, and we therefore need a form of what I call Compassionate Compulsion, something that never hurts the dog and that it learns how to avoid by compliance with our instructions. My innovation is to use the bench as Compassionate Compulsion, placing the dog into a space of restricted mobility where -- through a combination of benevolent eye contact, food treats, praise, and pets – you can intensively reward the dog for its good decisions and limit its ability to refuse the training.

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Q: Why is Cesar Millan's "Be the pack leader" bad advice?

A: As I explain in a section of my book called “Do You Really Want To Be Alpha?”, trying to be the alpha pack leader is a losing proposition for both you and your dog. The reason is that among dogs, being alpha is a tenuous, temporary position. Beneath the alpha male and alpha female in any dog, coyote, or wolf pack, the other dogs are constantly wrangling for position, with the stronger dogs lording it over the weaker ones.

If you reduce your human status to that of an alpha dog in your dog’s eyes, you are condemning yourself to trying to keep the dog permanently in submission. Every dog, like every other living creature with a mind of its own, resents enforced, prolonged submission. As times goes on, dogs with submissive temperaments will respond to your alpha pack leader behavior by withdrawing into themselves and shutting down their minds, whereas those with dominant temperaments will grow more, not less, inclined to test your alpha status.

Meanwhile, neither dog will respect or listen to anyone else in the household. Among the most common problems that people ask me to help them with is when one member of the household, usually the husband or father, has become alpha to the dog and no one else can control it. Alpha dominance can easily create havoc, and even tragedy, in a household. When little children or other vulnerable family members are hurt by the family dog – a very frequent occurrence – it is generally because the dog is expressing resentment at being dominated by the family member who has assumed the role of alpha pack leader.

In farming families that still rely on working dogs, the dog does not submit to the human beings as it would to a pack leader; it respects and defers to them as we would to a wise elder. The dog is a willing partner in the family’s life, as every pet dog should be -- and can be with my training method.

Cesar Millan’s “Be the pack leader” approach is not just counter-productive to good training, in that it creates an unending battle of wills with dominant dogs and shuts down the minds of submissive dogs. It is also dangerous, a prescription for producing misbehavior towards other members of the family, including nips, bites, and worse.


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Q: What other problems are there with Cesar Millan's approach to dog training?

A: The overriding problem with all alpha dominance approaches such as Cesar Millan’s is that they create more and more resentment in the dog and close its mind to learning. Scientists of animal behavior have proven that dogs subjected to such treatment will look for the first opportunity to express that resentment, whether by peeing on the carpet, rooting in the trash, refusing to come when they are off the leash, or nipping the kids or another vulnerable person. These methods also make obedience dependent on the presence of the alpha pack leader or the use of a leash (the worst enemy of good training), both of which the dog has been taught to fear.

In contrast, my method empowers the dog’s own decision making and opens its mind to drive its own learning. It produces a devoted, cooperative dog whose good behavior is leash- and handler-independent.

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Q: What are the benefits and limits of clicker conditioning?

A: Clicker conditioning, which was introduced to the dog world by Karen Pryor, has been a great advance. It provides a gentle way to teach the dog positive associations with desired behaviors. But clicker conditioning alone cannot produce reliable obedience. There are many reasons for this. One of the most important is that it is very difficult to time the click so that it reinforces the behavior you want rather than a behavior you don’t want. Fundamentally the clicker is good for teaching, but not for training. So the dog is still at risk of running into a busy street to chase a ball or squirrel, ignoring the clicker to play or fight with other dogs, and engaging in other unwanted or dangerous behaviors.

Behaviors learned through clicker conditioning quickly “extinguish” without constant use of the clicker. An even more serious problem is that clicker conditioning diminishes deference, and increases aggression, in dominant, high-drive dogs.

Clicker conditioning is a form of operance teaching, and my training system combines use of the clicker with more advanced operance techniques that instill a reliable response to word signals in dogs of all breeds and temperaments and in all situations, no matter what distractions are present. If the dog’s behavior depends on a clicker or a leash, it really hasn’t been trained properly.

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Q: What is the most important factor in having a great relationship with your dog?

A: The least appreciated part of the dog-human relationship is choosing an appropriate dog in the first place. A dog that is a good fit for a single person with an active lifestyle may not be right for a family with young children, and vice versa. Each of the world’s many dog breeds has distinctive behavioral traits that you need to consider before choosing one to bring into your home. Unfortunately, most people choose dogs based on appearance or in ignorance of the dog’s basic characteristics. In Let the Dog Decide, I provide a set of guidelines for making good dog-human matches.

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Q: Many people are attracted to the idea of rescuing a dog from a shelter. What should they know before they visit an animal shelter?

A: The idea of rescuing an unwanted animal can be very attractive, not to mention the high prices that many good breeders charge for their dogs. But animals that have wound up in the pound or shelter, often through no fault of their own, have also usually suffered seriously before being placed there. The shelter itself is generally a traumatic experience for dogs, including the puppies that are born there. All of these factors mean that shelter dogs will need special care and training.

In addition, some shelter dogs have hidden triggers for aggression. As a result of their prior experiences, they have formed associations to human behaviors that may appear innocuous to us but cause them to bite in self-defense. There is no way to predict these events, and no way for the shelter to identify the problem in advance, because the triggers can be as simple as petting the dog in an “incorrect” manner.

Good dogs can be adopted from shelters, but I recommend that only experienced dog people look for a dog at a shelter. Single people, couples without children, semiretired and retired people – if they have sufficient experience with dogs – can all benefit from, and bring benefit to, unwanted dogs in need of a home.

However, I strongly advise families with children to find a reputable breeder and buy a purebred puppy. You are going to own this animal for many years. You and your kids and the dog deserve the best chance you can get at success. Taking someone else’s mistakes into your home represents a poor way to start.

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Q: You give a special place in your training to play, and you even talk about doing a “dance of delight” for the dog. Why is that?

A: The dog’s mood is crucial to good training, and a playful, happy dog is a quick study in a game involving learning something new. The more you delight the dog with fun behavior, including sometimes acting like a puppy yourself, the faster and better the dog will learn. That is why I give very specific guidance on how to gauge the dog’s mood during training and keep it in a positive frame of mind. Doing a “dance of delight” for the dog when it gives the desired response in training will make its learning more memorable and long lasting. By the way, it’s also a great stress reliever for you, too.

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Q: What is your final message to people about their dogs?

A: Owning and training a dog should be fun and beneficial for both you and the dog. If you step aside from the traditional idea of controlling the dog with rigid commands, you can take the much more productive route of shaping training so that the dog can decide to cooperate with your wishes of its own free will. It is a great experience to see your dog’s mind open up and its understanding and confidence grow into cooperative, willing obedience.

Your relationship with a dog that you have wisely and carefully trained will be richly rewarding in itself, do wonders for your physical, emotional, and mental health, and connect you to nature in a way that has become all too rare in the modern world.

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Welcome to "Dale on Dogs"

Welcome to my blog, and thanks for visiting. For much of my life I've been deeply involved with dogs and their training, and I have written a book, LET THE DOG DECIDE, to guide people in training their own dogs. As the title probably suggests, I've developed a radically unconventional approach to training. On this blog, I'll be commenting from that same independent perspective.

There'll be lots about the wonderful creatures dogs are and the extraordinary relationships we have with them. But because these relationships don't happen in a vacuum, I'll also be talking about what our treatment of dogs, and animals in general, says about us and modern society.

Finally, because I am also a guitarist and a singer/songwriter, you may find some observations about music, art, politics, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I hope you'll find it all enjoyable and stimulating, and I invite you to join in with comments, questions, and observations of your own.

Thanks again for visiting!

Here's the cover of my book in the U.S.

And here's the cover in Canada.

My book, LET THE DOG DECIDE: THE REVOLUTIONARY 15-MINUTE-A-DAY PROGRAM TO TRAIN YOUR DOG -- GENTLY AND RELIABLY

My book is being published by Marlowe & Company in the United States in February and by HarperCollins in Canada in March. It is available now from amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, booksamillion.com, buy.com, and overstock.com, and it will soon be in a bookstore near you. Here is how my publishers' press release describes the book:

ADVANCE PRAISE for LET THE DOG DECIDE:

“This gentle method can be used to teach basic obedience and to deal with problem behaviors…. Recommended especially for patrons who do not wish to use aversive methods such as those
expounded on in Cesar Millan’s Cesar’s Way.” –Library Journal

“Dale Stavroff works in a way that shows the dog that learning, training and obedience are enjoyable and rewarding, as opposed to something the dog is forced to do. . . . Dale has helped to instill happiness and confidence in both of my dogs, and he has shown me how to do the same.”
-- Anthony Kiedis, the Red Hot Chili Peppers

“Dale is a great guy and a fabulous trainer.”
-- Dr. Laura Schlesinger

“If you want to have a great relationship with your dog, the Stavroff method is just what you need.”
-- Gil Cates, multi-year producer of the Academy Awards Show, and Dr. Judith Reichman, author of I’m Too Young to Get Old

The first viable alternative for average pet owners to the choke chain techniques of Cesar’s Way and other books based on classical conditioning and the first to show how to incorporate clicker conditioning into a complete, reliable training system, LET THE DOG DECIDE has the potential to revolutionize dog training. Its unique, easy-to-follow concepts and methods engage the dog’s will in harmony with the owner’s and enable the dog to become a partner in its own training.

Until now books on dog training have fallen into two categories. There are books on so-called classical, punishment-based conditioning, like Cesar Millan’s Cesar’s Way, which make training dependent on the use of a leash and a painful choke chain or pinch collar, and which over time produce resentment, avoidance, and/or aggression, shutting down the dog’s mind and distorting its personality. And there are
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books on clicker conditioning, an important and gentle advance in teaching animals positive associations with desired behaviors, but one that cannot by itself produce the reliable, willing obedience necessary for the owner’s peace of mind and the dog’s safety.

LET THE DOG DECIDE provides a new approach based on a fundamental understanding of the dog’s evolutionary psychology and behavior, and employs a unique set of non-violent techniques that are available in no other book. For the first time there is a training system that
• Accepts the dog’s independent will, insatiable curiosity, and strong instinctual drives, not as problems that have to be controlled, but as fortunate natural attributes that can aid effective learning.
• Explains how benevolent eye contact can transform the dog-human relationship in profoundly positive ways and shows step by step how to build it even with fearfully withdrawn or aggressive dogs.
• Limits and virtually replaces dependence on the leash – the worst enemy of good training – through the use of long lines attached to a flat collar, a breakthrough technique that makes it possible to combine painless covert control of the dog with overt positive reinforcement, freeing the dog’s mind to drive its own learning.
• Achieves unprecedented reliability in the dog’s behavior by training on a small bench, which teaches the dog how to access reward and comfort in compliance.
• Shows how to incorporate clicker conditioning in the development of reliable obedience in all circumstances.
• Limits stress on both owner and dog with an easy-to-follow program of informal handling, quiet time, and three fun five-minute training sessions a day.
• Empowers the dog’s natural decision-making ability and produces a dog whose cooperative obedience is self-directed and both leash- and handler-independent.

LET THE DOG DECIDE explains why being the dog’s alpha pack leader, the basic prescription of classical conditioning books, is an unnatural role for a human being and ultimately a losing proposition for both owner and dog (see attached Q&A). Instead the Stavroff method lets the owner be a human being and the dog be a dog, and develops an enduring bond of trust and cooperation between them.

Stavroff also explains why behaviors learned through clicker conditioning, a form of operance teaching, quickly “extinguish” without constant use of the clicker, something that is not possible in all situations (see attached Q&A). Combining clicker conditioning with more advanced operance techniques, the Stavroff method instills lifelong, self-reinforcing behaviors in the dog in response to word signals. Another unrecognized problem with clicker conditioning is that it diminishes deference, and increases aggression, in dogs with strongly dominant temperaments. In contrast, the Stavroff method produces deference and cooperative obedience in all dogs, no matter what their breed or temperament.

Dale Stavroff is a pioneer in positive motivational dog training who has trained championship-winning dogs of many breeds. In addition to training companion dogs for select clients, he trains dogs for search and rescue, explosives detection, and other service work and conducts seminars for average pet owners. Stavroff lives with his family in British Columbia. Visit him at www.precisiondogs.com.