Category: Advanced Stuff ¤
  Author: Sue Ailsby ¤
   Title: Is Punishment Evil? Try Bidurfee Instead! ¤

"I think these people do use punishment,
and simply choose to call it something else (eg. NRM)."

I hope I'm clarifying here and not mudifying, but YES!!  Let's introduce a
new word.  Bidurfee.  Bidurfee makes the behaviour go away.  If the dog is
sitting in front of me staring at me, Bidurfee will make him stop staring
and sitting and go paw the box or pick up his dish.  What is Bidurfee for
MY dog in THIS scenario?  The simple, quiet word "oops".  Last night I was
shaping my dog to put her head under the seat of a chair and she got in a
rut of putting her cheek beside the chair and then doing a spin.  I
Bidurfeed the first spin (oops), I Bidurfeed the second spin (oops), I
Bidurfeed the third spin (oops) which she aborted and went back to the
chair.  When a puppy gets over-enthusiastic with his teeth and makes
marks on my hand, I Bidurfee him - in this case, usually a big OUCH!, a
tiny bump on the nose with the palm of my hand, and occasionally walking
away.  Is it a Bidurfee?  YES because he takes better care of where his
teeth are next time.  I do NOT use electric collars as a rule, but I DID
use one once because I had a dog who was jumping a 7' fence to chase
bunnies across the highway and I couldn't think of any other solution at
the time.  Dog started to jump fence, I applied Bidurfee in the form of
shock.  Dog did not try to jump fence.  My PWD sits halfway up the
staircase in the living room and watches the cats outside.  She barks at
the cats.  EVERY time she barks at the cats I Bidurfee her by calling her
over to the computer and asking her to lie down beside me for a few
minutes.  Then I release her and she goes back up on the stairs to watch
the cats again.  If she barks, I call her over to lie beside me for a few
minutes.  Only three of these Bidurfees and she now sits quietly watching
the cats for hours.  ALL of these examples give the dog effective
information which allows the dog to STOP doing the behaviour which was
Bidurfeed.

BIDURFEE REDUCES THE CHANCES THAT A BEHAVIOUR WILL HAPPEN AGAIN.  

My neighbour finds a pee spot on her carpet when she comes home from work.
She drags the pup out from under the bed, rubs his nose in the spot, and
shakes her finger at him.  This is NOT Bidurfee, because it does NOT give
the dog effective information about putting pee spots somewhere else, it
only tells the dog that sometimes when mom comes home she's in a really
bad mood.  My new student comes down my long hallway continuously yanking
her dog back to her with the choke chain.  The dog continuously yanks her
forward again.  This is NOT Bidurfee because it does NOT give the dog
effective information about not keeping the leash tight, it only tells the
dog that getting where he wants to go is painful.

THESE ARE NOT BIDURFEE BECAUSE THEY DO NOT REDUCE THE CHANCE THAT THE
BEHAVIOUR WILL HAPPEN AGAIN.

If this post makes sense to you, go back and change every "Bidurfee" to
"Punishment".  Punishment isn't evil, it simply reduces the chance that a
particular behaviour will happen again.

Sue eh?