Temperament Theory

DEFINITION: Identify the combinations of Actions and Feelings in your dog to improve training method decisions.

QUOTE: "Finding the perfect balance is getting harder and harder. We need to teach our children to be cautious without imparting fear, to learn right from wrong without being judgmental, to be assertive but not pushy, to stick to routines without sacrificing spontaneity, and to be determined but not stubborn." Fred G. Gosman, How to Be a Happy Parent...In Spite of Your Children.

This symbol represents our goals. We want the dog to be comfortable with all of the emotions so the dog can confidently deal with all sorts of situations. We call this symbol the "emotion pinwheel" where all the colors and all the horizontal and vertical lines of the temperament theory blend into one beautifully cohesive design.

TYPE STORY: Dash was one of the first dogs in my home after this theory was finally figured out. His adopter, Karen, was kind enough to let me experiment with the two of them. (Thanks, Karen!)

The first thing I wanted to try was setting up a new situation that was dramatic enough to give real results, but not so dramatic as to put too much stress on Dash. I put Dash in a crate and Karen left the house for awhile. Then Karen came back and I let Dash out of the crate. Now, in case you haven't figured it out yet from the cartoons, you should know that playing tetherball is a big action game around here for some of the dogs. Dash is among those who are addicted to the game. In order to read a dog's predominant type, a somewhat stressful or new situation has to be set up that involves the dog's Feelings and Actions in a strong way. It also has to be set up in a way we can clearly read the dog's body language.

The environment was set up this way: Dash's crate was in a room where he couldn't see Karen when she came in the house. He also couldn't see the door to where the tether ball is located. At my house, the tether ball addicts think this door is magical. They go to that door and stare at the doorknob. They always expect the weather to be wonderful, no matter how awful it is in my front yard! And they always expect that if they stare at that doorknob long enough, the door will open, the weather will be wonderful, and the tetherball will be in perfect condition for them give it huge flying bops! I had Karen stand and wait at the end of the hallway, where Dash could see her and the "magic" door, but he'd have to look and move in two different directions for Karen and the door --- this way I could get a very clear read on Dash's body language. I already knew that Dash's predominant Action type is Bold and his predominant Feeling type is Wary. I wanted to know if he is a Bold/Wary or a Wary/Bold.

I let Dash out of the crate and then I stood back and watched. He went directly to Karen. He remained there, making eye contact with Karen and making sure everything was okay between them. Then his eyes darted between Karen and the "magic" door. Very clear signs --- Feeling first (his relationship with Karen) and Action second (showing the desire to play tetherball), which makes Dash a Wary/Bold.

We took this information with us out to the tetherball to experiment with training to this type. Dash was having a problem playing tetherball; at times he'd get too excited and do a real Bold action and grab the tetherball rope in his mouth and start chewing. He'd also been having a problem with his livestock training; when Karen yelled in a correction kind of voice, Dash would shut down totally. So we wanted a plan of action using the tetherball that could also help when he and Karen were learning about sheep herding.

The symbol for Dash as he begins tetherball play. The gray arrows represent his displayed emotions. Bold and Upbeat --- he's got tetherball (Action is Bold) and Karen is playing tetherball with him (Feeling is Upbeat).

He goes out and nicely plays tetherball with Karen (Feeling), then he gets excited and zooms in to bite the rope (Action). A bold incorrect move needs a dramatic correction (see the size of the bars for extreme Bold). The dramatic correction he got was Karen loudly growled at him. However! The size of the correction needed to get him to stop biting the rope throws him into his predominant type of wary and after he's moved away from the tetherball from receiving the correction, he freezes. His Feeling of Wary goes extreme and he worries that he's destroyed his relationship with Karen. He wants to play tetherball but his relationship is more important but is now wrecked forever (in his mind), so he shuts down. We did this one time so I could show Karen what was happening with the game and also with the sheep herding lessons.

The symbol for Dash biting the tetherball rope. Notice how the arrow shows this is a more extreme Action than in the symbol above. Also, there is no arrow for Feeling as this is a totally Action move. A correction will be needed for this move since replacing tetherball ropes is a right royal pain. However, this symbol could also represent an appropriate Action move, such as a proper nip to a sheep who's challenged him.

Then we played tetherball again, but this time we did it using the temperament theory. Since Dash is predominantly Wary, his relationship with Karen is all-important. We want that relationship to grow stronger and bring it from the extreme to the yellow circle, where Dash can more easily accept corrections from Karen without him thinking his world is ending. Stop reading for a minute and decide how you would handle this situation. The goal is to get Dash to quit biting the rope, still have fun playing tetherball, and be comfortable in his relationship with Karen.

Dash. Our thanks go to Sharon Nunan for saving this boy's life. Photo by Ruth Ottiger.

What we did was the next time Dash bit the rope, I loudly growled at him. As soon as he let go of the rope, Karen quietly praised him and softly tossed the tetherball to encourage him to play again. We did this a few times. He got a bit confused about what was the absolutely right way to play tetherball but that can be fixed with a couple of practice sessions. The main thing was he did not shut down. If Karen had been playing tetherball with Dash with no one else around, she could have tried putting duct tape, sticky-side out, on the rope so that the environment would give him a correction for biting the rope.

This symbol represents the correction given. The correction is just enough to get Dash to release the rope and back off a bit (Action - Shy, otherwise known as Flight).

This symbol represents Dash's emotion immediately after the correction (Feeling - Wary). Notice how extreme this arrow is. Karen gave him a correction just a few minutes before this and Dash was waiting (or in freeze), expecting Karen to correct him again.

To transfer this over to their sheep herding lessons, their trainer could give the corrections to be immediately followed by Karen giving Dash encouragement and help to do the correct thing. If the trainer isn't there, then Karen could throw something (something that will not hurt him if it hits him) to interrupt his extreme bold action. (Dash's extreme bold action that was getting him in trouble was diving into the sheep.) Since Dash wouldn't be paying much attention to Karen while he was in the midst of the bold action, he won't notice that it was Karen who threw the object, (unless she is way too obvious about it) making it seem to Dash that it was the environment that gave him a correction, not his beloved Karen. Once he's backed off, Karen would immediately encourage and help him to do the right thing.

This symbol represents Dash's original emotions of Bold and Upbeat. When the correction did not come from Karen and the re-encouragement did come from her, the original positive emotions associated with the task quickly returned.

THRILL: Comprehension is fast and easy, which strengthens the partnership.

PROBLEM PREVENTIONS: Think about how your dog coped with training sessions and new situations in the past. What did the dog easily learn? How did the dog learn that lesson easily? What did your dog have problems learning? What freaked the dog out? How did you solve the problems? Use the theory symbol as a lesson planner before the dog is in a new lesson or situation.

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BORDER COLLIE BEHAVIORS: A TEMPERAMENT THEORY Training With Temperament Theory

by Val Maurer

BORDER COLLIE BEHAVIORS:
A TEMPERAMENT THEORY
Training With Temperament Theory