Karen Pryor - Dont Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training

"This delightful, clear, and utterly helpful book is for anyone who wants to understand or change the behavior of an animal-whether the animal in question is a barking dog, a nosy neighbor, a hostile cat, or you and your own bad habits."-Carol Tavris, Ph.D., author of Anger

THENEWART OFTEACHING AND TRAINING

REVISED EDITION

KAREN PRYOR

Don't Shoot the Dog!

-Carol Tavris, Ph.D, author of Anger

"KarenPryorhasbeenapioneer...anyonewhowants to be more effective in rearing children, teaching, or managing hisorherownbehaviorwillfindherbookveryuseful."

-B. F Skinner

"Awealthofrelevantanecdotes...Pryor'streatment of tensituationsby each of eight methods is aperfect illustrationofbehaviormodification."

-Publishers Weekly

-Deborahjones, Ph.D, assistant professor, Kent State University, and owner, Planet Canine Dog Training School

"Don't Shoot the Dog! opened my eyes and my heart to a better way to communicate with my dogs and with those of my clients and students."

-Lee Livingood, Lee Livingood's Canine Learning Center

"Karen has a great gift of teaching us how to use positive reinforcement not only to train our animals but to use

it in everyday life!"

-Teresa Loya, director, Canine Companions, Inc.

"Don't Shoot the Dog! has been the single most significant influence on the way I deal with both human and canine students, not to mention friends, colleagues,

and my own husband."

-Elizabeth TeSelle, professional dog trainer and writing instructor

DON'T SHOOT THE DOG!

TEACHING AND TRAINING

R EVISED EDITION

KAREN PRYOR

BANTAM BOOKS

NEW YORK TORONTO LONDON SYDNEY AUCKLAND

DON ' T SHOOT THE DOG!

A Bantam Book I Published by arrangement with Simon &: Schuster

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Bantam mass market edition published 1985 Revised trade paperback edition/ August 1999

All rights reserved.

Copyright 1984, 1999 by Karen Pryor Book design by Glen M. Edelstein.

N o part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

For information address: Bantam Books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pryor, Karen

Don't shoot the dog! : the new art of teaching and training / Karen Pryor.-Rev. ed.

p. cm. Includes index.

ISBN 0-553-38039-7

1. Behavior modification. 2. Reinforcement (Psychology)

3. Conditioned response. I. Title. BF637.B4P69 1999

153.8'5-dc21 99-14695

CIP

Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words "Bantam Books" and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca

Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FFG 10 9 8 7

To my mother , Sally Ondeck my stepmother, Ricky Wylie and

Winifred Sturlcy,

my teacher and f riend

Contents

In which we learn of the ferocity of Wall Street lawyers; of how to-and how not to-buy presents and give compliments; of a grumpy gorilla, a grudging panda, and a truculent teenager (the author); of gambling, pencil chewing, falling in love with heels, and other bad habits; of how to reform a scolding teacher or a crabby boss without their knowing what you've done; and more.

How to conduct an opera; how to putt; how to handle a bad re port card. Parlor games for trainers. Notes on killer whales, Nim Chimpsky, Zen, Gregory Bateson, the Brearley School, why cats get stuck in trees, and how to train a chicken.

Orders, commands, requests, signals, cues, and words to the wise; what works and what doesn't. What discipline isn't. Who gets obeyed and why How to stop yelling at your kids. Dancing, drill teams, music, martial arts, and other recreational uses of stimulus control.

Eight methods of getting rid of behavior you don't want, from messy roommates to barking dogs to bad tennis to harmful addictions, starting with Method 1: Shoot the Animal, which definitely works, and ending with Method 8: Change the Motivation, which is more humane and definitely works too.

What it all means. Reading minds, coaching Olympic teams, how happiness can affect corporate profits, ways to deal with other governments, and other practical applications of reinforcement theory.

From the dolphin tanks to everyone's backyard: dog owners around the world put away the choke chain and pick up the clicker. Long-term benefits: accelerated learning, precision, reliability, better communication, and fun. The Great Internet Canine Hot Dog Challenge; some truly fetching horses; a pilot pilot program; and dicking and autism. Changing the world one click at a time.

This book is about how to train anyone -human or animal, young or old, oneself or others-to do anything that can and should be done. How to get the cat off the kitchen table or your grandmother to stop nagging you. How to affect behavior in your pets, your kids, your boss, your friends. How to improve your ten nis stroke, your golf game, your math skills, your memory. All by using the principles of training with reinforcement.

These principles are laws, like the laws of physics. They under lie all learning-teaching situations as surely as the law of gravity underlies the falling of an apple. Whenever we attempt to change behavior, in ourselves or in others, we are using these laws, whether we know it or not.

Usually we are using them inappropriately We threaten, wear gue, we coerce, we deprive. We pounce on others when things go wrong and pass up the chance to praise them when things go right. We are harsh and impatient with our children, with each other, with ourselves even; and we feel guilty over that harshness. We know that with better methods we could accomplish our ends faster, and without causing distress, but we can't conceive of those methods. We are just not attuned to the ways in which modem trainers take advantage of the laws of positive reinforcement.