Choice and empowerment are two words I have used a lot over the years when it comes to modifying behaviors AND enhancing quality of life. Rather than using force and aversive strategies as much as possible, I prefer to teach and create change in the most positive and least intrusive ways (now called LIMA training for Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive) and that typically involves those concepts. Now there is another psychology buzz word that is commonly used by dog trainers, other animal trainers, and behaviorists. It is AGENCY. This post will talk about agency, choice and empowerment in dog training (and parrot training, or training any other animal – including humans), and why they are important concepts to understand (and practice).
What is agency and why is it important to dog training and other pet training?
Agency refers to an individual’s ability to have some kind of control of his/her environment, decisions, and life. To be able to make his/her own choices. To be able to learn from those choices. To feel empowered.
I can often hear my first Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) teacher – Dr. Susan Friedman – on my shoulder, reminding that, “The power to control one’s own outcomes is essential to behavioral health, and the degree to which a behavior reduction procedure preserves learner control is essential to developing a standard of humane, effective practice.”
I can hear you on my other shoulder saying something like,
“but Lisa, if I allow my dog to make his own choices, he will chew up my living
room carpet, steal food off our kitchen counter and bolt out the front door to
see people walking by,” or
“but Lisa, if I allow my dog to make his own choices, he will chase every squirrel,
and will bark, lunge and snarl at other dogs or kids,”
“but Lisa, if I allow my dog to make his own choices, he will bite the vet and
groomer, or me if I force him to move, or will run away from me if I need to handle,
harness or make my dog do anything he doesn’t want to do.”
And your comment would be understandable. There are absolutely times when agency may not be in your pet’s or your best interest like when it may be unsafe or may put at risk behavioral, physical, or mental health.
Management to prevent practice of unwanted behaviors can be as minimally intrusive as removing an area rug or putting a barrier around a piece of furniture until a puppy is through with teething, practicing training behind a fence, or moving the proximity to something. If you can not count on your dog to come when called, then practicing recall with a long line is another form of management.
You want to aim for making the ‘wanted’ choice the easiest and most valued choice from the perspective of your learner.
What can happen when agency is not allowed in pet training?
Agency is so important as much as possible because without it, there are so many possible negative ramifications. Let’s face it. Not many of us like to be dictated to about what we HAVE TO do. If you have ever experienced a boss, parent, significant other or friend doing this, more than likely you have not felt motivated to want to perform that behavior. You probably have just done that behavior only to a minimal level in order to avoid a negative outcome.
Lack of agency can create heightened fear, anxiety, apathy, and even aggressive (distance increasing) behaviors on the part of the learner. To the extreme, flooding occurs when you expose an animal to maximum intensity of an anxiety-provoking stimulus with no means of escape. While it may look like your pet (or other person) is less reactive, internally flooding can create extreme stress and what you may actually be seeing is that animal experiencing learned helplessness. Please click here to read my blog post on flooding and learned helplessness.
Incorporating choice, control, and agency in training
I use agency a lot both with my own pets and with my training clients.
Here are a few examples of how I incorporate agency in my relationship with my own pets.
My dog, Dawson, and I have established a place – his Leave Me Alone Place – where he can go anytime he wants to communicate a NO answer to me. He may go there if he has something that he does not want to risk losing, if (on the rare instance) I begin walking back to his crate and he does not want to go in it, or if I ask him to do something else that he does not want to do.
On walks, I often allow Dawson to let me know when he wants to go in a certain direction. If we are walking to the car and he wants a little more time, he just needs to stand still and look at me. Unless I am in a rush, I always try to give him a few extra minutes at our location. Then he walks with me, without hesitation, toward the car.
I have taught Dawson to get into his car crate on his own, and to let me know if he wants to get onto the grooming table (which he always does now). All I do is open my car door and Dawson jumps in. When I take the grooming table out, he typically will put his front paws up signaling me to pick him up. If he did not do this (which never happens now), then I would walk away.
My African Grey, Barnaby, can call me with different phrases to indicate he wants something…like ‘Mommy here!’ or ‘want cream cheese’. (I am so embarrassed that I taught him to call me ‘mommy’!) If he would prefer to have distance, he can simply stay where he is, lean or move away and I will not approach. (That rarely happens with Barnaby.)
Here are a few examples of how I have incorporated agency with my dog training clients:
Brutus was afraid to get onto the scale at his veterinarian’s office so we taught him to get onto different surfaces with a paw
targeting game where we reinforced him by tossing a treat away, setting him up to repeat the behavior. Without stress or fear, and only positive reinforcement, he quickly learned getting onto unfamiliar surfaces was good, not scary.
For Brutus and other dogs who have shown reluctance to having leashes or harnesses attached, I have taught the dogs to participate in the process. Here is a link to watching me give agency to a puppy, teaching the puppy to let me know when he felt ok for me to attach his leash.
When a dog is exhibiting distance increasing behaviors such as barking, lunging, growling, or running away, teaching caregivers how to recognize early dog signals and then teach their dog to move to a place of ‘feeling safe’ is important. With one such dog, he learned all he had to do was look away for his leash handler to say, “I hear you. Let’s go” and walk him farther away. We practiced that in a park where kids were playing on equipment. The more that dog felt ‘heard’ and able to control his distance with that simple communication, the more that dog was able to get closer to the kids with loose body muscles.
When interacting with a dog or puppy, I don’t force interaction. I like for that pet to approach me and watch that pet’s body language for signs of whether or not that pet wants to continue interacting. If not, then I allow that dog or puppy to move away as needed and then assess what I or someone else needs to change to help that pet feel safe or comfortable….and teach caregivers this also.
Toy, food and activity preference tests can be used to determine what that animal values most IN THAT MOMENT.
If you have not seen this video yet, this is a video that you need to watch. This little boy lights up a room with his personality. However, his mother said that past haircuts were absolute nightmares. He had meltdowns, pulling the scissors out of the barber’s hands. Now Ellison loves his haircuts with Vernon. That is because of the beautiful way in which Vernon incorporates agency when he cuts hair.
Thanks to Pet Harmony Training for talking about agency in the wonderful book, Canine Enrichment For The Real World.
I hope this post has given you some thought. My challenge to you is this. Think about your relationship with your dog or other pet (or even another person). In what ways can you give your pet more control?
Need help? Please reach out!
