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Education

Cognitive-behavioral education

When, by ceasing to feel superior because we are human, we become able to put a dog in the position to show us how vast its intelligences are and how rich its skills are, beyond its specific genetic vocations, the feeling we can experience is truly magnificent. We feel like two minds confronting the world and we perceive the value of concertation, understood as the union of our species differences towards a common goal, something that for the dog, a pack predator, is natural, while for us, so individualistic, is an achievement. Cultivating this path of humility, to learn, through the cognitive approach to learning, to put animals in the position to acquire new skills of their own and to modify their behaviors in order to live better, is my great passion.

The teaching path

Being able to manage your dog correctly and pleasantly at home and outside means having a companion with whom you can peacefully share more time and more situations in your social and relational life. The dog is a highly social animal that by nature tends to move towards others. However, if it is the other who moves towards him, he will precede him to induce him to come along. This is the simple reason why most dogs pull on the leash or run in the opposite direction when their humans, performing an action dictated by our different caregiving culture, go towards them to call them back. The educational path starts by teaching humans how to exercise social attraction towards their dog, through the use of movement and vocal and postural communication, to obtain a dog that follows them voluntarily and naturally, laying the foundations for leash walking for puppies, adolescents, and adults. It then moves on to learning how to recall the dog and how to use a personalized signal to attract its attention, so as to be able to maintain or regain control in potentially distracting situations. In this way, the dog develops the ability to relate to the world through the mediation of humans, to whom it turns for the necessary normative education and to know how to correctly approach situations and encounters proposed by the urban environment. The basic commands - sit, down, stay, stop - are learned using the cognitive approach to learning and without conditioning, so that the dog internalizes them and makes them part of its own cultural background. Leash walking is based on the ability to make oneself interesting to the dog through movement and eye contact, anticipating changes in direction and speed so that daily outings become a "being together," thanks to which the dog is never left alone in managing its own initiatives and emotions. Socialization classes for puppies and for dogs with deficits in emotional self-control allow teaching the right gradual way to approach conspecifics, greet them and invite them to play, and to refine the knowledge of their own body and limits so as to feel adequate in every situation. Lessons focused on the backbone of skills teach dogs to have an active role in domestic life, learning increasingly complex exercises. Canine disciplines such as mobility dog are used to improve the bond of the pairs and develop experiences that allow the dog to explore its entire species-specific ethogram.

The cognitive approach to learning

The cognitive approach to learning is based on knowledge of the dog's mind and its species-specific traits, on understanding the motivations and emotions underlying behaviors, and on studying its intelligences and learning modalities. Its goal is to provide the dog with metacognition, that is, awareness of its own abilities and cognitive processes, by transferring a learning method structured for each individual subject, as it is suited to their genetic tendencies, ontogenetic background, and their conditions in the here and now. The proposed stimulus (the reward) does not condition the requested behavior, but is an "invitation to reflect." The response, which each dog provides according to its own processing times, is intentional and in line with its motivations. Only at this point does the reward arrive, which rewards the motivation and does not create it. For the dog, the reward is even... triple: there is the food gratification of the treat received, but even more so, the internal gratification due to self-esteem for the result achieved and, above all, the external gratification provided by our appreciation, which strengthens the human/dog relationship. The intentional and self-rewarding action is thus fixed in the dog's permanent memory thanks to the emotional pleasantness experienced and becomes an indelible part of its cultural heritage, unlike the conditioned action which always needs to be refreshed so that the behavior does not become extinct. The reward is not used to make the dog perform an action, but to invite it to reflect on what to do to reach the goal. Learning, in this way, is conscious, because the motivator is not the reward but the goal. The dog is given the opportunity to make mistakes in order to learn. The relationship acts as an active aid in the learning process, to encourage thinking or to signal errors by creating distance. The goal must be interesting for both the dog and the human, in order to strengthen their ability to work together and to respect a philosophy of common and shared growth. Teaching is gradual and proxemic, always suited to the subject's possibilities at the moment, to its age and physical condition, and to the general situation.

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