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| The current "gang" and myself. Photo: (c) Suzie Woods. |
Heike
Hahner is a dog trainer and obedience instructor, journalist, artist, art
teacher and host of Pet Tales on Radio 2CC. She has had a lifelong interest in
animal behaviour and human-animal interactions. But it was a “problem” dog
called Penny who sparked her formal study in this area. She lives with a menagerie
of animals in a part of Australia where snakes and snake bites are very common,
and shares how she has managed this challenge. She also thinks deeply about our
views about animals, their origin, and where there is room for improvement.
What’s your day job?
I run a
business advising pet owners on Dog Training and Domestic Animal Psychology
issues. A large part of my work deals with aggression related issues as well as
working and controlling dogs in a multitude of situations in the country and
city environment. I also work as a Radio host at Canberra Radio Station 2CC's
Pet Tales, as a freelance journalist, photographer, artist and art teacher.
How did you become interested in animal
behaviour and dog training?
I was
very much a horse person and working as an artist, photographer and Visual Arts
lecturer at the Australian National University and University of Canberra in
1990, when I found a stray dog. This was a female Kooli Collie, Penny, and my
then husband and I decided to keep her.
Having
come from Germany a few years beforehand I had never met a dog like her before.
Her energy levels were off the scale and she was also quite volatile towards
other dogs and people. I ended up going to the ACT Companion Dog Club with her
to train. I became an Instructor and in 1992 met Terry Ryan, an American Dog
Behaviourist. I was blown away by how quickly and easily a good connection
could be established between you and your dog, if you understand and accept
their motivations in life. In Penny's case her sole motivation in life was a
tennis ball. I owe it to Penny that I
ended up studying psychology, of both animals and humans, and working in a
field that I find endlessly fascinating and rewarding.
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Heike's first "mad" Australian
Working Dog Penny, a few weeks before she died.
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What training did you do to work in this
field?
I am a
qualified Obedience Instructor and I studied with John Fisher, one of the
founding members of the APBC in the UK, completing his Canine /Human Interface
Course in the 1990's. On the advice of Terry Ryan I studied human psychology at
the Australian National University and I take refresher courses on a variety of
topics and different animal species.
Over the
last 33 years I have also been working with livestock such as goats, cattle,
sheep and horses and I have experience with other animals such as birds,
poultry, fish and wildlife.
One of the things you specialise in is
teaching dogs to avoid snakes. How do you achieve this?
When I
teach snake avoidance my goal is to teach dogs to avoid touching snakes and
reptiles even when they are unsupervised. This requires the dog to understand
that reptiles need to be approached with caution, rather than outright fear or,
worse, aggression. Dogs and cats living in the wild learn to be cautious of
various situations through trial and error, in the case of poisonous snakes it’s
usually a one-off-scenario, and by observing other animals in the same
situation.
There are
a number of ways snake avoidance can be achieved in dogs. Dogs like many other
animals learn from observing each other and other species. So if another dog or
the owner is observed to show caution in the presence of reptiles many dogs are
inclined to take this warning on and will also be cautious near reptiles.
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| Captain undergoes reptile avoidance training. |
Sadly
there are some dogs that will not respond well to the caution method. These are
often Labradors or Cattle dogs or their crosses. Labradors in my experience do
not read their owners fear very well or do not care. While Cattle dogs have a
strong guarding instinct and when the owner shows fear of something the dog is
likely to attack.
Finally
there are also those dogs that become frightened of their owner if the owner
reacts fearfully and they do not associate the owners fear with the reptile but
appear to think that the owner has lost their mind. So teaching snake avoidance
to owners and dogs requires careful assessment of the owner’s dog handling
skills as well as the dogs innate reactions to situations that require caution
or are frightening.
Finally
although I teach snake avoidance and awareness I will also encourage owners to
take preventative steps to protecting their dogs and cats, such as not leaving
them unattended outside during snake season and to get help from Wildcare
Organisations should they locate a snake in their environment.
What makes a dog trainable?
I believe
that training dogs, and animals in general, is a team effort between you and
your dog. So I find the most important trait in a dog is a willingness to
engage and affection for people. Dogs, like people, vary greatly in how willing
they are in participating in team efforts. Willingness is not necessarily breed
depended, though some breeds have more "willing" members than others.
What are the most common misconceptions
people have about dog training?
The two
top misconceptions about dog training are that a dog's level of obedience and
trainability are a result of intelligence. Obedience and trainability have less
to do with intelligence but with willingness to engage with humans.
The other
frequent misconception is that dogs come trained, train themselves or should
learn by osmosis. Dogs need regular training, especially when they are young,
like horses and children.
We accept
that horses and children need to be schooled for many years, so that they learn
what is required off them in society and when engaging with people. Dogs are
expected to just "know" how to behave with very little input
from the owner. This is especially sad for me when the dog is a classic working
breed such as a Kelpie, German Shepherd or a Border Collie. Dogs that are
mentally very active and bred do perform a daily job have a strong need to
learn their whole lives. They really suffer psychologically if their
intelligence and mental activity is not utilised.
How can we rectify this?
Choose
your puppy or dog very, very carefully. Train your puppy or dog until he is at
least 3 years old. Most importantly be clear in your own mind on how much time
you are willing to dedicate to training your dog. Acquire a breed of dog that
suits your attitude to training and avoid choosing a dog for his looks only.
Do you live with any non-human companions? Can
you tell us a bit about them?
I own
three horses, an older mare and two young ones, which I am currently training
with Natural Horsemanship and reward based methods. Then there are seven dogs
and a flock of sheep. Five of the dogs are Working dogs and three of these are
Australian Working Border Collies who I am training for 3 sheep trialling. To
this mixture also belongs a cat, who is often more obedient than the dogs.
There is also a batch of chooks, the size of the batch varies on how hungry the
local fox population is, and fish. The property that I have been living on
since 1993 also keeps cattle and is home to a wide variety of wildlife,
including snakes, which means we have daily interactions with many of these as
well.
How can we make the world a better place for
companion animals?
I think
one of the things that would make the world a better place for animals is for
people to be more careful about labelling animals. Labelling of any kind
assigns animals to groups such as companion animals, pets, live-stock, etc.
Labelling usually also assigns a value to an animal group and animals belonging
to that group may be treated according to the group that they find themselves
in. For example, livestock in general are treated differently, often much more
harshly, than pets or companion animals.
Avoiding
conceptualising animals only in terms of their types or groups can also help us
understand that they feel and experience their environment in the same way we
do. We are at a place in Western society that increasingly requires us to view
animals as equals when it comes to their feelings, thoughts and
self-consciousness.
Self-consciousness
in animals is my particular concern as it is still seen as something exclusive
to "higher order" animals such as primates or dolphins, and often the
size of the brain, certain cells or the amount of folding in the brain maybe
cited as evidence. Also many people at this point still equate
self-consciousness with a certain degree of intelligence or the ability to
talk. However, I see self-consciousness as an essential part of the psyche of
any living being. Self -consciousness is needed to taking care of yourself,
both physically and mentally, as well as for engagement with the environment,
or with others such as your partner, your group members, or your offspring.
Without self-consciousness you cannot fulfil these tasks.
Any advice you’d like to share with veterinarians
and future veterinarians?
In our
society vets are portrayed as experts on both the body and the mind of
animals. Very few people know however that our current Western medical system,
both human and animal, still largely adheres to a philosophy on how the body
and mind function that was devised by René Descartes 400 years ago.
The current
approach to dealing with the animal mind is still heavily dominated by
Behaviourism, a branch of animal psychology, and a direct descendant of Cartesian
thinking and attitudes. Behaviourism dates back to the turn of the last century
and was spear-headed by scientists such as Pavlov, Skinner and Watson.
Just
briefly, Descartes was fascinated by mechanical puppets and clocks, like many
people of his day. He came to the conclusion that living creatures were just
puppets repeating patterns of behaviour without feelings, thoughts or
self-consciousness. Humans, in his view, were a step ahead of animals, because
of our language ability. He equated the ability to talk with the ability to
think. So if you can't talk, according to Descartes, you also cannot think. If
you cannot think, the equation continued, you therefore do not feel and are not
self-conscious [And if you think, therefore you are...(ed)].
This way
of thinking about animals freed the sciences and everyone else to treat
animals, or anyone akin to animals, as if they were not going to be consciously
affected by any procedure they might have to endure. We know today this view is
not correct, but sadly we are not making the progress we should have, given
that the influential natural scientist, Charles Darwin, questioned this
proposition more than 150 years ago. Darwin recognised that there is no
absolute hierarchy in nature with us at the top.
Darwin's
theory of evolution demonstrated that the physiological structures such as
organs and skeletons, as well as morphology, are the same in humans and
animals. According to Bernard E. Rollin, Darwin knew the logical conclusion
to this line of reasoning—that if humans share all physical and organic
structures and functions with animals, then it follows that they share the same
mental functions as well. Crucially, this includes the one we have always denied
them—self-consciousness.
So in my
eyes the vet of today and of the future has the responsibility, if s/he wishes
to advise on the animals overall well-being in general, and on matters of
animal psychology in particular, that s/he should be able to address his/her
clients’ needs on a level that has moved on from Behaviourism and, ultimately,
Cartesian thinking. It will be essential that s/he embraces modern theories
that acknowledge and understand animal thoughts, feelings and
self-consciousness.
It will
be also essential that his/her grasp of animal psychology and the mind includes
knowledge and understanding of self-consciousness, feelings and thoughts in
animals - not just in those we view as higher order animals, pets and
companions - but in all animals, including those we view as livestock, such as
sheep, pigs, chickens and cattle.
Thank
you Heike. This brings to mind the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness,
declared back in 2012 by neuroscientists. If you’d like to hear more from
Heike, listen to Pet Tales on 2CC.
