I watched a dog trainer last night react to a 8 year old Dr. Gregory Berns Ted talk and he declared bullshit. I won’t mention the name, you can find it on youtube. This is a dog trainer. Dr. Gregory Berns is a economic neuroscientist that has been watching dogs brains live and in color in MRI for over a decade. Economic you say? Well, all the quadrants are is “adding and removing” things.
I suspect you will see alot more trainers going after Greg Berns – mark my words. Their commenters are so caught up in this thing called “dog training” – many are in agreement with the trainer. And they will likely take that ignorance to dog groups and tell others that “well, a professional says this”.
I urge people to read his books. If you don’t like to read, there are some videos on youtube. His video on the predictive brain is quite interesting – and yes, he’s proven that the dogs brain is similar to ours.
Why are trainers doing this? Always ask why? What is the cause of this behaviour? They have to and there are two reasons for it.
One – Dog trainers have no choice but to debunk all the science – they have to keep the charade up so they can hang onto their cash cow and keep control of dog owners.
Two – When dog owners wake up to the reality, dog trainers are going to get their asses kicked – and they know it. For all of those that have put down their dog due to behaviours – on a recommendation by a trainer? You should be pissed – and you need to learn what a behaviour really is. It’s not a condition at all – let alone a fixable one. The trainer was wrong. The trainer didn’t care about the underlying causes. And the trainers ego wouldn’t let them walk away. So many trainers carry the attitude and ego that they can’t fix it, nobody can.
If you don’t understand why your dog is acting the way it is – you’re not fixing anything. Applied Behaviour Analysis is applying the understanding of a behaviour. It is not modifying a behaviour using rewards and punishments.