Pit Pack

The original thread for which this post is a reply can be found here.

Replying to moderntemplar:<blockquote> and they are the sweetest big puppies in the world. Are they killers? No more than any other dog of any other breed  My point? Don’t blame the dog for acting like a dog. Blame the owner for not caring for her animals properly. Proper care includes making sure they don’t run free.</blockquote>You should reread Ormusdudes post made at 1:04pm. I implore you to refute these statistics. The Pit Bull Terrier is a bred specific breed. I do spout off a lot of opinions on here that are not popular or well thought through, but this breed has a history that cannot be changed. My opinions may be changed with facts and historical evidence. “I know a pit bull that is SOOO sweet” does not fit either one of these.

Ok, I will be happy to refute his post.  What he has done is called “fact stacking”.  This is when you take legitimate data and parse it with unverifiable data (or outright lies) in the hopes that the reader will accept both sets as truth.

ormusdude wrote::

“Pit bull type dogs were responsible for 67% of fatalities, the next closest breed was the rottweiler at 12%.”

FALSE:  This information was contrived form a report released by the Centers for Disease Control.  It has been highly publicized, to the point many people believ it as fact.  It is not fact.  The CDC retracted their statements about breed specific bite statistics by saying, “Finally, it is imperative to keep in mind that even if breed-specific bite rates could be accurately calculated, they do not factor in owner related issues. For example, less responsible owners or owners who want to foster aggression in their dogs may be drawn differentially to certain breeds.”

After 1998, the CDC stopped tracking which breeds of dogs are involved in fatal attacks; according to a CDC spokesperson, that information is no longer considered to be of discernable value.

Even though the CDC and all major animal organizations agreed that breed-specific bite data is inaccurate, many websites that profit directly from dog bites and the hysteria that surround them continue to present the flawed data as fact.

ormusdude wrote:

“Pit bull is one of the most brave and dauntless dogs that usually takes on any opponent.”

TRUE:  I love that about my dogs.  I can leave my 14 year old daughter at home while I work without having to worry about her being victimized by child molesters or other sexual predators (they are in every community).

ormusdude wrote:

“Therefore they take part in dog fighting.”

FALSE:  Pit bulls do not “take part” in dog fighting.  They are forced into it.

If you don’t believe it, take a look at the transformation that has occured with the Michael Vick dogs.  http://www.badrap.org/rescue/vick/now.html

ormusdude wrote:

“It is common knowledge that this dog breed can even mangle the human to death as pit bull locks its jaws onto the booty until it is dead.”

FALSE:  It is common knowledge that each day there are millions of pit bulls that don;t bite anyone.

All dogs over a certain size are capable of doing serious damage to the human body.  The idea that pit bulls somehow lock their jaws differently than other dogs is not only inaccurate but laughable.  Tray a quick google search:  http://tinyurl.com/y8tpuf8

ormusdude wrote:

“For each US dog bite fatality there are about 670 hospitalizations and 16,000 emergency room visits, 21,000 other medical visits (office and clinic), and 187,000 non-medically treated bites- 46.1% (nearly half) of dog bite injuries were triaged in emergency rooms as “urgent-emergent”- Dog bites are the second highest reason why children seek emergency treatmentThat’s about 60,000 bites per fatality and that information is dated. It is reported today that a US citizen is bitten by a dog every 75 seconds.”

TRUE:  this data can be easily verified.  It has nothing to do with pit bulls and everything to do with dog bites in general, which should be the focus of concern.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9424044

The part that he left out is this:  “Dog bite injuries are an important source of injury in the US population, especially among children. Improved surveillance and prevention of dog bite-related injuries, particularly among children, are needed.”

Improved surveillance and prevention, not breed-specific restrictions.  Interesting.

This is the part that I find relevant:  “… For each US dog bite fatality there are about 670 hospitalizations and 16,000 emergency room visits, …”

There are, on average 25 dog bite related deaths in the US each year.  If we believe ormusdude, (even though I don’t) that means that pit bulls are responsible for 16.75 deaths a year.  There are 307,914,462 people living in the US.

here are some adds for you:

Getting canonized:         20,000,000 to 1
Killed by a pit bull:      18,661,482 to 1
Being an astronaut:        13,200,000 to 1
Becoming president:        10,000,000 to 1
Being killed by lightning:  2,320,000 to 1
Winning Olympic medal:        662,000 to 1

So your chances of being killed by a pit bull are somewhere between becoming president and sainthood.

One more fact worth mentioning…

Odds of being killed sometime in the next year in any sort of transportation accident: 77 to 1

Before you begin any type of dog training it is important to understand how dogs learn.  This understanding will speed your training and make the entire process more enjoyable for both you and your dog.

1. Learning by observation

This might seem obvious but is still one of the earliest and most common ways that dogs acquire knowledge. One of my dogs will go over to the Toy box, pick out a toy, bring it back and chew on it. The other, observing what the first dog has done, makes a decision in her mind and does the same thing. This type of learning by observation has been demonstrated in laboratory conditions too.  Puppies in the juvenile period of development were taught to pull a food cart on a runner by means of a ribbon. Other puppies in an adjacent compartment were allowed to watch and learn to do the same thing.

2. Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning (also Pavlovian or respondent conditioning) is a form of associative learning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov. The typical procedure for inducing classical conditioning involves presentations of a neutral stimulus along with a stimulus of some significance. The neutral stimulus could be any  event that does not result in an overt behavior response from the organism under investigation. Pavlov referred to this as a conditioned stimulus. Conversely, presentation of the significant stimulus necessarily evokes an innate, often reflexive, response.

The original and most famous example of classical conditioning involved the salivary conditioning of Pavlov’s dogs. During this research on the physiology of digestion in dogs, Pavlov noticed that, rather than simply salivating in the presence of meat powder (an innate response to food that he called the unconditioned response), the dogs began to salivate in the presence of the lab technician who normally fed them. Pavlov called these psychic secretions. From this observation he predicted that, if a particular stimulus in the dogs surroundings were present when the dog was presented with meat powder, then this stimulus would become associated with food and cause salivation on its own. In his initial experiment, Pavlov used a metronome to call the dogs to their food and, after a few repetitions, the dog started to salivate in response to the metronome. Thus, a neutral response (metronome) became a conditioned stimulus as a result of consistent pairing with the unconditioned stimulus (meat powder in this example). Pavlov referred to this learned relationship as a conditioned reflex (now called conditioned response).

3. Operant conditioning (otherwise known as dog training)

Operant conditioning is the behaviorists’ term for standard dog training. Other terms are used also, instrumental conditioning, instrumental learning or operant learning. The words ‘learning’ and ‘conditioning’ are interchangeable. The most important fact to remember is that dog training is constantly going on whether or not people are actually involved in it. The principle of this type of conditioning of the dog’s mind is that a certain action carried out under certain circumstances is followed by a reward. They dog chases a car driving by and the car “runs away”. Action — reaction — reward. This simple approach to learning is based on work that was originally carried out by B.F.  Skinner in the late 1930s in which rats in boxes were “trained” to do things for food rewards.

Reinforcement

Dogs are constantly learning in the operant conditioning since of the word. They learn fastest when their behavior is consistently rewarded. The rewards themselves will vary. The dog addicts under a garden fence and escaped out onto the street is rewarded by the mental stimulation that comes with exploration. It was fun. He’ll do it again.  The behavior is reinforced.  Food rewards, praise and padding are simple methods of reinforcing behavior that we want our dogs to have. Dogs have been trained in the laboratory to bark exactly 33 times for a food reward. Dogs differ in their enjoyments. To some, exercise is the greatest pleasure. To the more gluttonous, food is the supreme reinforcer. With this in mind, any dog training that we participate in, that we want to control, should be reinforced with a variety of rewards — food, praise, touch or activity.

Food and physical contact can be called primary reinforcers. Both are potent rewards to the dog. Purple praise is a less potent reward and can be called a secondary reinforcer. And operant learning, it is always best to use a primary reinforcer first to reward a dog and then to couple that with the secondary reinforcer. An example can be teaching a puppy to sit. His meals are potent rewards, primary reinforcers of behavior. Bolding his food bowl directly above his head can naturally bring the pop into the “it” position and once he is in that position, we can be given his food. We will so learn to sit when he seized his food bowl. And if you command “set” each time you feed him, this acts as a secondary reinforcer. Soon, simply say the word “sit” will have him okay without the need of the original primary reinforcer.

Types of rewards

In the dog’s mind there are degrees of reward and the more valuable the reward, the faster his learning will be. This means that whenever possible and especially during the juvenile learning. We should with whole the most potent rewards, food and touch, and only give them at the proper time to suit or a listed proper behavior. We should also very rewards as much as possible to reinforce specific behaviors.

Reinforcers are positive or negative. Positive reinforcers are pleasurable. Negative reinforcers are punishing.

1. Food

This is a powerful reinforcer of behavior.

2. Touch

Contact is a potent reward for the sociable canine and should be used wisely and carefully simply because different types of touch mean different things to the dog. Gentle petting has a calming effect but linked the padding, while giving us emotional satisfaction, actually means “dominance” to the dog and can result in chronic attention seeking from him. Rough-and-tumble contact will make a dog more excitable and is not conducive to learning.

3. Sound

Praise is an excellent secondary reinforcer but must be used initially with a primary reinforcer such as food or touch. The tone of voice, rather than the actual word, it is most important. A relaxing tone of voice should be used for positive reinforcement and a harsh tone should be associated with negative reinforcement and punishment.

4. Play

Physical activity is an outstanding reinforcer of behavior but because it is so exciting, it is often difficult to use.

5. Owner attention

As leaders of the pack, or at very least, as members of the pack, we often inadvertently reward behavior simply by paying attention to our dogs. A shout in response to a dog barking can be a potent reward for parking. Acting as doorman to your dogs scratching to go in and out is another suitable reinforcer of this behavior. And rewarding this behavior intermittently makes it even harder to extinguish.

6. Chewing

Mal being activities such as chewing on toys (or chewing up carpets and furniture) can be rewarding by having a subduing effect on the dog’s state of arousal, on his adreno- pituitary axis. Urinating and defecating might produce similar reports.

7. Discomfort avoidance

Avoiding physical or psychological discomfort can be a potent reward. This can be a cruel method of training and physical pain must be avoided except in the most heinous of crimes. Shock collars and high-frequency sound collars are high-tech methods of negatively reinforcing behavior. Punishment is not always productive but it does have a place in altering the dog’s mind.

A clicker is a way of letting your dog know when he has done the right thing. It acts as a bridge between Teddy doing what he was told and receiving his reward. It is an efficient way of relating this information quickly and distinctively.

Once you understand how to use a clicker, it proves more efficient than using your voice. That’s because your voice is always in use. This isn’t a bad thing, because you will need to use varying tones and specific words to communicate with your dog. However, since your voice is a constant sound in your dog’s life, it doesn’t offer a distinctive sound to reinforce a good response. This is important, because Teddy will be less confused if he receives notice of a good  behavior the moment it occurs. Telling him “good boy” as he moves away from doing something you want only rewards him for moving away, not for doing what you had requested.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you want Teddy to sit. He does so, but then jumps up on you, his muddy paws redesigning your apparel. You had praised him, but not at the exact moment he sat. He received his praise as he was rising up to jump on you. Teddy has learned that the act of jumping up on you is rewarding but the act of sitting is not; therefore, he will continue to jump on you. Had you clicked when he sat, he would have learned that behavior was what you wanted, because he was rewarded for it and the act of jumping was not rewarded. The result would be a dog who sits for a reward instead of jumping up for it.

As this example illustrates, verbal praise doesn’t always come at the right time.   It is far more difficult to express praise in the proper tone of voice than it is to simply  press on the clicker. Yes, you always carry your voice with you, whereas you  don’t always carry a clicker. But eventually you won’t need to carry the clicker  because your dog will respond properly to vocal and visual cues. When teaching  your dog something new, however, it’s best to offer a timely bridge to his proper  response, and the clicker works best for this.  

The sound of the clicker offers a nonemotional response. Regardless of the  mood you are in, your dog receives a consistent bridge, thereby producing reliability.
You can use the clicker from any position, any location, and under any environmental  conditions. You can be sitting, standing, near, or far. You can be inside,  outside, in a quiet yard, or a busy shopping mall. Your dog will learn to work for  the sound of the clicker because he knows the sound will be followed by a reward. His mind will be fixed on offering a proper response to your cues.

A clicker is a noise-making device that was once a child’s toy. The old ones are  made entirely of metal and were often designed in bright colors and pleasing  shapes, such as animals. To make the clicking noise, a flexible metal tongue in the  middle is pressed down onto another piece of metal. The sound is best if the piece  of metal is pressed and released quickly.

Clickers are currently made of plastic rectangular or oval boxes with a flexible  metal piece in the middle that makes a distinctive sound. Clicker training has  become so popular that you can obtain a clicker at most pet supply shops or from  many catalogs and online stores.

Even though they are mass-produced, each clicker has its own unique sound. Because dogs can hear far better than humans, they can tell the difference, no matter how slight. That means in a class full of dogs and clicker trainers, your dog can still pick out the sound of your clicker.

WHY USE A CLICKER?