Category: Common Problems ¤
  Author: Bianca Uittenbogaard ¤
   Title: Two Reward System ¤

>I must have missed the beginning of this thread, and it's something I'm 
>very interested in.  For one thing, although I know a good deal about 
>John Fisher's work, I don't know what you're referring to when you speak 
>of his "two-reward system."  In addition, I don't know what situation 
>gave rise to this discussion.
Here is a forwarded post the Bianca wrote recently about this:

Hi list,

I tried my best to translate my notes on the two-reward system
developed by John Fisher. I have seen this being trained with a very
aggressive black labrador male. His owners were desperate. John showed
us how it worked in I think four sessions. Then the owner and his dog
left, because John had made his point clear. The owner had to leave
the room and go down the stairs to the lobby of the hotel where the
seminar was being held. The hotel owner had two bouviers who acted not
too friendly to the visiting dogs, but they were supposed to be
outside at that moment. As it happened one of them turned out to be in
the hallway just as the lab came down the stairs. As soon as the
labrador saw the bouvier he sat down and looked up to his owner. He
was cured in one session! I tried this myself with a dog once, but it
did not work for this dog, as he had no real bonding with his owner.
So there it is, hope you all can do something with it so that my
translating it was not in vain. 

USING THE TWO-REWARD SYSTEM TO RECONDITION DOG TO DOG AGGRESSION BY
JOHN FISHER

The rewards in the two-reward system exist of:
1. take the unwanted stimulus (dog) away
2. the return of the owner

It is very important to let the training take place in a controllable
environment so that one is not disturbed by anything or anyone coming
by. A club building or other big room will do, preferably with doors
on either end of the room. You have to be able to close the door.  

The participants are: a trainer, a handler with a well-trained dog,
the aggressive dog and its owner. The aggressive dog is leashed with a
solid leash to a hook in the wall. The owner sits on a chair next to
the dog, but does not make contact with the dog. John Fisher said to
take the time to  let the dog acclimatize, before being confronted
with his 'opponent'.

At a signal from the trainer a handler with a well-trained dog comes
in. (They have to be out of sight at first.) This handler approaches
the leashed dog until he starts showing the smallest sign of
aggression. At this point the trainer (who is orchestrating every
move) signals to the handler to stop, preferably with a handsignal. As
soon as this signal is given, the owner of the dog walks away to a
corner and stands there with his back to the dog. As long as the dog
is showing interest in, or aggression to the handled dog, this
situation does not alter. All this time the handler keeps his dog
quietly busy with small training exercises on the spot. 

As soon as the aggressive dog looks for his owner, or shows a
different behaviour like jawning, licking etc. and by doing so is
taking his eyes off the handled dog, the handler (at a sign of the
trainer) leaves the room. After that the owner can come back and sit
next to the dog without making contact. After a short resting period
(3 to 5 min.) the handler and his dog are coming back into the room.
As soon as there is a small sign of aggression the handler stays on
that spot and the owner leaves to his corner again. As soon as the
aggressive dog relaxes, looks for his owner or looks away from the
handled dog, the handler and his dog disappear and after that the
owner reappears. This should be done for four or five times (not more
than six). If this method works, the dog will make eye contact with
his owner on the fourth of fifth occasion as soon as he sees the
handled dog apear. As this happens, the handler and his dog leave the
room, and the owner comes back and praises and rewards his dog.

A few of these training sessions should do to recondition the dog.
This method works ONLY if the dog has a good bonding with his owner,
and is disturbed by this leaving. If the dog shows no improvement in
the first five repetitions, then this method will not help him. A
period of three or four weeks with one or two training sessions should
be sufficient to recondition the dog completely. It is very important
NOT to let the dog make contact with other dogs during this period of
traning. 

Bianca Uittenbogaard
Matchdog@pi.net

Success is a journey not a destination