Passive vs Active Observation

I am initiating a new blog for dog lovers. If you would like to follow it, just ‘follow’ the blog and you will be sent posts via RSS. Please add your observations for your own dog(s) in the comments section and it should make for lively discussion. They are moderated (by me!) so please apply the principles of positive reinforcement to the other humans like you do with your dogs. We are all here to learn! 

Dog professionals, feel free to refer clients to this page or copy these exercises & please credit 

“Donna Hill 2013 www.observationskills.blogspot.com”

Communication with Your Dog

Observation skills are probably the most underused skill people have to communicate with their dogs. Communication involves sending and receiving. As humans, we tend to focus on the on the sending part of the message but often ignore or are unaware of the dog’s response, unless it differs from our request. Observation is the receiving part of communication. You can’t have a 2 way conversation unless each party is both sending and receiving. What we also forget is that dogs initiate communication too.

Watching Dog Behavior

To develop your observation skills, start watching your dog as he goes about his day. Write down your observations then review them after a period of time, say a week. This helps you to identify behavior patterns or give you a starting point to pinpoint your observations. From there, you can test your hypothesis for a clearer understanding of how your dog currently responds in specific situations.

Why Bother Observing?

You’ll learn much about your dog, his likes and dislikes. You’ll learn to accurately predict how he is likely to behave in a specific situation and you will start learning what response from you can change the course of his behavior to something you would rather see. If there are issues around one specific thing, remember that you can use your response to his communication to respond differently (make different behavior choices) using the learning theory (positive reinforcement) approach.

Two Types of Observing 

A. ‘Passive Observation’ is a general awareness of our place in relation to physical objects & the space around us. Movement may occur but is not anything we feel the need to take notice of. When doing ‘Passive Observation’, we really aren’t paying attention, unless something unusual happens. Everyday occurrences, like when a dog eats, are passively observed. General awareness that the food is put down, it disappears & the dog moves away from the dish.

When something unusual happens, such as a growl, we switch into active observation.

B. Active observation occurs when we pay specific attention to one or more behaviors. It involves measuring behavior in some way- counting & noting specific behaviors, timing behaviors, the situation in which they occur & watching those behaviors over time to establish a pattern of occurrences. I place a food dish down, dog makes eye contact, waits for the verbal release cue, extends her head over the bowl, takes one piece at a time, & chews it with her back teeth, then swallows. The pattern is repeated each time.

ACTIVITY:

Choose one situation that you usually use passive observation with your dog’s naturally occurring behaviors. Instead switch to active observation. 

Choose one behavior and count how many times the behavior occurs in a one minute period. 

Some examples:  

How many times does your dog spin or bark or how many times does she lift her left front foot before you place the food dish on the floor

How long can your dog hold a sit before throwing the ball

Count the ratio of times your dog’s first contact with another dog is sniffing the other dog’s bum versus touching noses. 

Time how long it takes for your dog to perform a default behavior such as a sit or down when you stop to talk to a neighbor. 

All of these put you into a state of active observation. It will mean you will have to ignore other things that you might want to pay attention to (such as your neighbor), but if you explain what you are doing before you do it, it shouldn’t be a problem.  Please share your active observations!