The Lassie Myth - Fox Terrier Network - Wire Fox Terriers and Smooth Fox Terriers Club, Education, Resources, Information, Dog Training, Obedience, Behavior, Photo contest

The Lassie Myth You have probably heard of or seen the "Find Waldo"^tm books for children. They involve very detailed pictures with the object being to "Find Waldo." They are a "Find the hidden objects" kind of a puzzle. For our dogs, either puppies or older animals that we are in the midst of Potty Training, the location of Where To Go Potty is much the same type of issue. "Finding Waldo" as it were, is a task that is complicated needlessly by humans. The Indoor vs. Outdoors to Potty discrimination is: Very Apparent to Humans Not At All Apparent to Dogs When Potty Training our dogs, we are merely taking advantage of the dog's innate tendency to keep it's immediate denning areas (sleeping/eating areas) clean. From a survival perspective this is well founded - this habit of cleanliness prevents spread of disease. Therefore, those "cleaner" animals live to reproduce, thus passing along this desirable trait. A dog's Denning Area is small. Our goal is to teach the dog that we have a Really Big Den. People assume a lot with dogs. Because we feel such kinship to them and they are a social species, many people think that dogs learn right and wrong. This gives moral overtones to behavior and Muddies The Waters of dog training in a big way. Forget all that. What dogs do quickly pick up on is Safe vs. Dangerous. Please dispel the "Lassie Myth" from your training! I would remind you that not only was Lassie seven different dogs (originally). I am just as certain that when "Lassie" was not under Rudd's (yes, Lassie's trainer was really named Rudd Weatherwax) watchful eye and immediate direction, he was rolling in dead things, barking and being just as dog-like as any other normal dog - your dog. Dogs are trying to figure humans out without the benefit of our spoken language. They have to pick out "patterns" in the environment and try to "match" the reinforcement history to specific behaviors. Dogs are trying to do all this with humans, who tend to rely on the spoken word, which makes us very clumsy communicators from the dog's point of view. Dogs are subtle and sophisticated communicators using primarily body language. Humans just need to be sensitive to the means the dog uses to “talk” to us. With the usual inconsistent and sketchy or non-existent reinforcement history provided for most of our animals the majority of the time it becomes more of a surprise that any of them get trained at all! Next Back to the Potty Training Menu
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