September 4th, 2008
By Eric Letendre
A lot of people email me and ask for a good book recommendations. It’s a difficult question to answer, I have bookshelves loaded with books on dogs, dog training, behavior, nutrition, breeds, agilty, schutzhund, etc.
So, in my never ending quest to serve dog owners I have decided to do periodic book reviews. In this one I have done a written and audio review for you. I hope you enjoy it and please post your comments as I always look forward to hearing from you.
The Culture Clash Book Review
Listen to the audio book review here:
Audio Review: The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson
My dog-eared, worn-cover, beaten up copy of The Culture Clash, signed by Jean Donaldson Oct. 5, 1997, is one of my most prized books in my dog training library. I’ve had the great opportunity to attend her seminars and listen to her speak on a few occasions. It’s a book that is required reading for any serious student of dog behavior. It’s also great for anyone just interested in learning more about dog behavior and training. Let me explain why:
1. The book opens with “Getting The Dog’s Perspective – Walt Disney vs. B.F. Skinner” and goes on to explain that dogs are amoral animals, that they have no understanding of right and wrong. She adds that dogs don’t spite us, get back at us or feel guilty for doing “bad behavior.” When we believe that our dogs are getting back at us, or trying to spite us, they end up getting a lot of punishment.
Think about it, you come home after a long day at work only to find your favorite $200 pair of shoes chewed to bits. If you think your dog did that to “get back at you” you would dole out a nice big dose of punishment. In reality, your dog was stressed at being left alone and chewed to relieve the stress. The next day you leave for work and your dog feeling stressed again, chews your kitchen chairs. You walk in the house and think, “He did it again to ME!” Severe punishment follows.
If this happens again and again the behavior is likely to get worse. In reality, your dog is not associating the chewing with his behavior. The chewing is a direct result of your behavior. Your dog associates the punishment with your homecoming. You walk in the door and pound him – this sets up a behavioral history. When you walk out the door there is a good chance that when you come back in a beating will follow.
Everyday you leave and your dog learns that when you come home he is going to be punished. It’s all very stressful. How does the dog relieve stress – CHEWING!
Jean Donaldson explains this process so well and really gives you insights into why your dog is behaving a certain way.
2. Chapter 2 continues with the fact that dogs are predatory animals, that they are hard wired to search, stalk, rush, chase, bite/hold/shake/kill, and to dissect and eat(prey). This chapter is particularly important because of the writing on tug-o-war, the most misunderstood game in “dogdom”.
In addition to tug-o-war, she discusses alone training, chew training and a lot more.
3. Chapter 3 on Socialization, Conflict Resolution, Fear and Aggression goes on to give some of the best advice for new puppy owners. The sections on bite inhibition, timid puppies, dog-dog socialization, food bowl exercises, object exchanges, and the bite threshold model is a must read for any new puppy owner.
4. Chapter 4 – Its All Chew Toys To Them, starts off with the story of The Gorns. The Gorns is an excellent story of putting us in the position of dogs. Humans are kept as companion animals to a more intellectually sophisticated species.
Imagine living on a planet with a Gorn and this Gorn punishes you for doing normal human behavior like: Shaking hands, sitting on couches, eating anything but “Human Chow,” etc.
Think about dogs, they get punished for sniffing each others butts (human equilevlent to shaking hands), sitting on the couch, trying to eat anything other than the food from a bag that we feed them. This is a very eye-opening chapter.
5. Chapter 5 is the one chapter that I think makes a lot of people upset – “Lemon Brains But We Still Love Them.” The first paragraph of this chapter she states:
“The enmeshment between dog owners and Walt Disney has been too tight to allow behaviorism in. We’ve been clinging to the wish that dogs might just have big, convoluted, melon brains like humans and have a natural desire to please. The fact of the matter is dogs have little, smoothish lemon brains and are looking out for number one. I personally still like them.”
It’s an excellent chapter that goes on to explain how behaviors are taught. Much of what has been taught on dog training is false. For years dog owners have been told that when a dog does NOT do the command the dog is being dominant. The dog owner is then instructed to be “The Alpha” and apply appropriate force, setting up a negative situation between dog and owner. If we truly believe that the dog has a natural desire to please, then the dog should want to do it for us.
On the other hand, if we take a realistic view and understand that as Jean states, ‘They are looking out for number one,” we figure out what the proper motivation is to teach the dog to do the command.
6. The final chapter finishes up with instructions on how to teach your dog obedience commands starting with kindergarten levels and working up to PhD levels.
The relationship between dogs and humans is a long one. It’s time that we stop expecting our dogs to think like us and learn to think like our dogs.
Is it any reason that we have 56 million dog bites every year in the United States? The only way were going to make that number go down is to read books like Jean Donaldson’s book, The Culture Clash.
All the best,
Eric Letendre Amazing Dog Training Man
Eric Letendre is a professional dog trainer from the United States and has been training dogs for over 20 years, teaching regular, average, every-day owners all over the world how to get the training results they want as fast as possible. Eric is also the author of numerous reports, the E-Book “101 Ways to Improve Your Dog’s Behavior,” “The Amazing Dog Training Man Book,” and produced and stars in his DVD “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer.”
Eric Letendre is a professional dog trainer from the United States. For more than 20 years, he has been developing dog training "hacks" that have worked for dog owners all over the world. Eric operates from a home office or a laptop while traveling and draws on his experience and passion for dog training to show others how to develop a dog that is truly “Man’s Best Friend”.
Eric is the author of numerous reports, the E-Book “101 Ways to Hack Your Dog’s Behavior,” “The Amazing Dog Training Man Book,” and produced and stars in his DVD “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer.”
