What is a correction?
In the dog world, the phrase "to correct" is controversial Many dog trainers argue that there's nothing wrong with 'correcting' a dog because you're simply showing him how to be correct. I've seen entire blogs written to justify the use of the word, and its application in dog training, by referring to the root of the word "correct" - to make right. I know that I appreciate it when someone corrects my work to help me improve.
If a correction is designed to make the dog correct, why does it often look like the dog is being made sorry rather than being made right?
This reminds me of a phase in my life where saying something was "bad" really meant that it was "good". Cool. The meaning of the word changed, and only a person in a closet would have failed to notice that change. As a result, we accepted the changed word and we used the original meaning with care to avoid a misunderstanding.
Is it possible that the current meaning of the word "correct" has changed from "being made right" to "applying unpleasant consequences?" I'm talking about the dog world; not the common usage of the word (we are talking about dogs here, aren't we?).
If you cannot decide for yourself if the meaning of the word has changed, then I'd like to suggest a fairly simple test to help you get calibrated.
You'll need three things. A dog making a mistake, a trainer applying a correction, and a five year old.
While the five year old is observing, "correct" the dog for making a mistake. Then ask the child, "is the dog happy now that I showed him how to be correct?"
If the five year old looks at you like you've grown a second head, then you may wish to acknowledge that the root meaning of the word and the common usage of the word are no longer the same.
Lets call a spade a spade. A correction means to make the dog sorry so that they will perform differently the next time. If you are showing a dog how to perform correctly, then don't call it a correction. You are "showing","teaching" or "training" the dog. And if you are really trying to help the dog, then whatever you are doing should look like help to the random five year old.
Regardless of how you feel about corrections in training, isn't it better to use language that is clear and descriptive of what is really happening?
I've seen people jerk their dogs all over the place in the name of dog training. I've seen dogs cowering away from their owners and other run away in fear. I've seen dogs pee and roll on their backs as their trainer approached. I'm sure each of those individuals would say they were 'correcting' the dog, and many of them would subscribe to the usage of the word that I began with - that they were making the dog right.
I've yet to hear someone say they were abusing their dog. So, in the interest of clarity, if we are truly showing our dogs how to perform and we care how they feel about their work, we should eliminate the use of the word "correction" from our vocabularies and substitute onother, less tainted word, in it's place.
41 comments
another great post, Denise. And I do like Marcia’s use of the word “feedback” to describe our attempt to communicate with our dogs, that oops! it’s not that, but this. The challenge, and the joy of it when it works, is when I can give that feedback and see my dog “stay in the game”. He “hears” me say not that, and is trusting and willing to try to figure out “this.”
I think part of the change came about when we started to use the word as a noun – ‘give the dog a correction’.
I don’t much care if the dog feels sorry, and I don’t much care whether a 5-yr old understands or approves. In the first, it’s because I’m usually more concerned with the dog’s behavior than with his internal, mental state,. In the second, it’s because I don’t think a 5 yr old is some sort of pure, natural criterion of ethical purity.
I do care that the dog learns something and is motivated to do better. A correction of a dog’s mistake is — most of the time — the same as a correction of a schoolchild’s mistake: “No, that’s not right. Think again. Try again. Here, let’s work it out.”
A mistake is not a moral failing. (Presumably, we’re talking about technical errors on the part of the dog, not safety violations.) I don’t want the kid or the dog to feel remorse. I want the kid or the dog to feel clarity (“Ah! Yeah, now I got it”).
If we make “correction” a dirty word, then we’ll just have to create some other word, perhaps less elegant or less easily uttered, to convey the same meaning of helping a learner through remedying (is that a word?) an error.
Yesterday marked the beginning of 8 month old Toby’s collar conditioning. Do I call what I am doing in this work “showing him how to be correct”? No. I call what I am doing explaining to him that when I give a command he should view that as more relevant than the bumper he wants to fetch. But I don’t want to have to say “showing him that I am more relevant than his self reinforcing activity”. Instead I want to say that I am “correcting” him.
Why am I doing this instead of being patient and using positive reinforcement? Because my time is limited by my other responsibilities which I will not outline here. Because I value the ability to quickly take Toby for a run and exercise and know that he will be safe and not run into the street over his short term comfort.
Would I rather strap the ecollor around my own neck and apply the same correction to myself if it would have the same effect? Yes.
Do I want to take the chance that exercising him with a long line, patience and cookies will be better? Up until Monday that is the option I was choosing. At that point my fingers were burned and could have been broken when he did not listen to my “come” command. He could have gotten away from me and run into the street. Or I could choose to stay indoors instead of letting him exercise.
I respect people whose lives are so under control that they can be patient and use positive reinforcement to gain their dog’s compliance. I wish that I was one of them. But I am not.
Brilliant insight as usual – my biggest pet peeve with people who call them selves balanced trainers is that mostly they don’t seem to want to call a spade a spade. Even the term balance would make you think that there would be an equilibrium between pleasant and unpleasant consequences – this is rarely the case.