The Next Big Thing: Do as I Do

Seminar Results: 

For those of you who have not heard of this technique... here is a good article from her website.

Do as I Do is based off of social learning and is relatively new technique. I have to say that the science and studies were deeply fascinating however I was disappointed in how they tried to incorporate training. Let me elaborate...

The science behind the training, social training, was rock solid and deeply interesting and I appreciated the applied form of it. I do not think Claudia Fugazza has had much training experience with wolves or dogs. However she has been working with them for many years.... I did not understand how she could think some of the things she did. One example being how she showed a video of two wolf pups playing and, as she said, it was obvious they were practicing the throat grab that they use to kill prey. Those who have studied wolf behavior know that the first thing a wolf does is grab whatever part of the prey is closer and only when the prey is grounded can they kill it (if they do at all sometimes leaving it alive). However I will say in some wolf packs they work as a team to grab down the prey and some do go for the throat with that said it is a dangerous move that can kill a wolf. Personally I think it looked like, and to most in the audience, that they were practicing dominating pinning going back and forth.

She was knowledgeable about many of the studies done in behavior but many of her explanations were slightly skewed when it came to the training. One of the dogs was  "shy" personally I never read shy off the dog he was rather scared yes but not shy at all. However she was very knowledgeable about training her Do as I Do technique and her method for teaching it made lots of sense but things like dogs not staying I don't think she understood very well... plus the seminar ended up being two days long when it could have easily only filled up one afternoon....


But lets move on to the positive....

The Next Big Thing In Dog Training 

I think that social learning really is the next big thing in dog training. It is an unexplored realm of training that many people had recognized but never utilized. This new technique that Claudia is introducing involves teaching the dog to mimic behavioral actions. (I asked if any exploration into mimicking reactions had been done, none so far). This is more advanced level training that has to be used hand in hand with other kinds. But lets face it most training is deeply connected so being able to use many types of training is key. I will be attempting to teach Doodles and Kaz using her methods to mimic and will let you know the results...

All in all I think more should have been researched (like how can this be applied to dogs who are for example scared of people, to which there was no answer) before being turned into a seminar however I am glad she decided to come and spread this new knowledge


~Happy Tails~