Agency-Accountability Slide Deck
Forrest Micke, and Stewart Hilliard
A conceptual scheme for evaluating dog training methods
A set of terms and principles, derived from Comparative Psychology, Stress Science, Welfare Science, Ethics, and Philosophy, indicating ”best general practices” for dog training, leaving the details of methodology to the individual practitioner
- Assist practitioners in selecting and improving on existing methods from a technical, ethical, and pragmatic standpoint
- Inform efforts to develop the methods of tomorrow
We evaluate specific dog training methods by examining how each method conforms to the conceptual framework
A training method that best fits the framework should also best meet dog, guardian, and community needs
Components of the Agency-Accountability Framework
The dog’s ability to predict and control environmental events
Assessed in terms of observable behavior that occurs during training
How much stress an animal experiences in response to a stressor is not a function solely of the intensity of the stressor — It is a function of whether the animal can predict and control the stressor.
The dog’s ability to choose between alternative environments, stimuli, or behaviors
Assessed in terms of observable behaviors that occur during training and also daily life
Stress Science and Welfare Science tell us that:
Availability of alternatives promotes welfare in captive and domesticated animals, for example:
- More than one “habitat area” to choose between
- Complex environments to explore
- A range of objects or substrates in the environment with which to interact
- Multiple activities or behavioral options to choose between
Because dog behavioral choice must be limited to ensure dog and community safety and welfare
Because dog training intrinsically limits dog behavioral choice
- Dogs commonly live in proximity to human beings and other animals, to whom they may pose welfare risks
- Dogs also commonly live in proximity to hazards posing dog welfare risks
- Dogs have functional roles, as companion or working animals
- A well-trained pet walks with the guardian instead of disappearing into the woods after a squirrel
- A well-trained detector dog sniffs for target odor rather than chases cars
The dog’s: a) Prevailing positive internal emotional state, b) eagerness for interaction– including training–with the guardian, c) instrumental agency and choice agency, and d) ability to experience a wide range of different environments and social contacts and engage in a wide variety of dog behaviors
Assessed in terms of observable behaviors that occur during training and throughout daily life
Animal welfare should be defined primarily in terms of the presence or absence of the ability to predict and control stressors rather than in terms of the presence or absence of stressors
The guardian’s ethical responsibility for the welfare of the dog and all other members of the community
Assessed in terms of welfare of the dog and other animal members of the community, and and the economic, emotional, and physical well-being of the human members of the community
The dog is not a moral agent and cannot be burdened with ethical responsibility, cannot be held culpable, guilty, or at fault…..
And therefore cannot be held accountable for the consequences of its behavior. Accountability is the guardian’s burden only.
Although the Kynology conception of guardian accountability does not imply the dog is accountable in any way…..
…..it does provide for ethical coercion of the dog in the interest of dog welfare, communal welfare, or functional role
Thus, although the dog has no burden of accountability, the dog’s ”good behavior” is a manifestation of the guardian’s burden of accountability, and may be ethically obtained through coercion
Freedom from injury, threat, undue stress or inconvenience, economic hardship, or property damage caused by the dog to human beings—including the guardian —in the community enclosing the dog
Freedom from harm caused by the dog to other dogs and animals in the community enclosing the dog
Communal welfare includes welfare of all human and animal members of the community enclosing the dog
Communal welfare should be defined in terms of the greatest good for the greatest number rather than in absolute terms
See next slide for explanations of arrows, by number…..
- The dog’s ability to predict and control rewards and punishers promotes its welfare
- The dog’s ability to exercise a degree of choice in selected situations promotes its welfare
- Guardian accountability limits the dog’s choice and fits the dog to its role as a companion or working animal
- Guardian accountability to the dog results in technically strong husbandry, and training—incorporating prediction, control, and choice—that promotes dog welfare
- Guardian accountability protects communal welfare
First Principles of the
Agency-Accountability Framework
We give the dog the maximum freedom and agency compatible with the dog’s role, the dog’s welfare, and the welfare of our community
We hold ourselves accountable and assure the dog’s value as a companion or working dog by training the dog using a technically strong method and limiting its behavior where necessary…..
…..thus we limit the dog’s choice
Ultimately, we do not ask for the dog’s “consent” to all demands, and sometimes we do not permit the dog to “opt out” of trained responses or sessions
We maintain that the use of pressure is ethically justified to ensure dog or communal welfare or the dog’s functional role as companion or working animal—Providing pressure is properly used so that the dog has the ability to predict and control events in training
Hence the dog does not control what it does— We, the guardians, who are accountable for communal welfare, do so
We are also accountable for the dog’s welfare, which does not outweigh communal welfare and guardian welfare
We understand dog welfare as the dog’s ability to predict and control events in training, and exercise choice when appropriate, rather than as the dog’s complete freedom from psychological stress or discomfort
We assess dog welfare in terms of good physical and behavioral health, prevailing– but not necessarily uninterrupted– positive internal state, and agency within the limits imposed by communal welfare and the dog’s functional role
Aversive Control Principles of the Agency-Accountability Framework
Aversive control is defined as the use of stimuli that function as positive punishers or negative reinforcers, rather than in terms of how we think pressure might “feel” to the dog
- Properly applied, pressure effectiveness does not depend on high intensity physical stimuli
- Pressure can be very effective, and is designed to be so, at low intensity
Use of aversive control thus does not inevitably mean the dog experiences pain or significant stress, or that its welfare is harmed
Aversive control is not typically used for teaching the dog how to execute new trained responses— New trained responses are taught using rewards rather than pressure
Aversive control is used to facilitate generalization of established trained responses to new emotional and physical contexts— So that the dog responds to cues even when very excited, distracted, or in an unfamiliar environment
Aversive control is always accompanied by positive reinforcers— the dog does not work solely to “turn off” (escape) or prevent (avoid) pressure— and thus the presence of rewards in the situation positively affects the dog’s emotional response to the situation and to pressure
Aversive control at significant intensity is normally predicted for the dog– The dog is not surprised, and has the ability to control its exposure to pressure
Prior to using significant pressure to “drive” a specific trained response (i.e. prior to using negative reinforcement) we teach the dog efficient escape— how to control very low-intensity pressure using simple behaviors to “turn it off”
The Agency-Accountability Framework depends on many key terms (e.g. agency, welfare, escape, avoidance, prediction, control). These terms are carefully chosen and very carefully defined, based on technical references.
- With time, we will add detail to this presentation, including definitions and analysis of all key terms, and the references supporting the analysis
For additional education and detail on the Agency-Accountability Framework, watch for:
- Kynology webinars
- Live Kynology events
- Additional resources on Kynology.org
Notifications of updates will be sent to Kynology.org community members
