Reflection

"There is nothing more likely to lead to error than to begin with the part rather than the whole."

Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones

The above quote just keeps nagging at me. I ran acrossed it the other day when I was doing some research on Operant Conditioning. Someone had mentioned that we use all 4 parts of Operant Conditioning when we are training our stock dogs, well that comment made me realize that I had no clue what operant conditioning really was. I'm not even going to pretend that I know what it is, no preconceptions, but after reading it sure seems as though it is often misunderstood. So, off I went to Google it, and wow did a whole new world open.

I've been trying to work through some training issues with a few of my dogs, and keep asking why are they not changing, well the answer lies within those many pages that explained Operant Conditioning. I've gotten to the point where I understand what I want my dogs to do in regards to the livestock, I understand how I expect them to respond when I give them the command, but I was missing the bridge with some of them. I could get them to do what I wanted but not when I wanted it, or maybe they would offer the right thing but still not give up on the old undesirable thing. I was failing at being a complete trainer...and we come full circle "There is nothing more likely to lead to error than to begin with the part rather than the whole". This trainer (me) was getting hung up on the part, the method in which we communicate and teach along with the results is part of the whole, ahh...it's not just dogs and livestock.

As I reflect I find that that quote is not limited to dog training, it relates to all and any training, learning and understanding. It relates to dog breeding and selection, it relates to decision making.

I'm not going to try to explain it, google it for yourself, read more then one source and prepare to be awed at least I was, sorry to make another quote "We don't know what we don't know".