Stop Yo-Yo Dieting!
Yes, you read that correctly, and I’ll bet you’re probably wondering what dieting has to do with dog training, so as usual, I will digress…
There’s an old joke that Americans have been on a diet for decades and gained 20 pounds.
Diets don’t work, believe me! And when I look back on my teenage and early adulthood years, the focus of my life it seemed was finding the latest fad diet. I even hooked my sister into this miserable lifestyle where the two of us took up the “popcorn diet”, the “drink Tab soda all day diet”, and the “cayenne pepper diet”, along with the belief that if we wore a rubber workout suit, we would loose even more weight. The only thing crazier than the diets and “slimming wear” was our perception of perfection that kept us tethered to the strings of the Yo-Yo mentality, so to speak.
Of the many reasons why people diet to loose weight, you’ll often hear answers like, “ Because it works”. And that’s hard to argue with, especially when you can see that they they appear thinner. Likewise, of the many reasons why dog owners use aversive tools to train their dog, you’ll hear answers like, “Because it works.”. And again, hard to argue with, when you see that the dog, for example, is not pulling on the leash.
But the real question that is difficult to answer is why humans cannot connect the dots to reality. Sure diets work in the short run, but without the continuing dieting, the weight usually returns. Similarly, you can use a prong collar on your dog, but without the continued use, the behavior usually returns. When one deprives themselves of calories the result is weight loss, and when one puts a prong collar around their dog’s neck the result is often suppressed behavior. But there’s something even more sinister at play, and that is the disconnect between hurting ones body and hurting the family dog.
Like the Yo-Yo dieting, which often leaves the person on a quest for the next quick fix program, dog owners too, look for the next quick fix tool that they know exists because after all, the media has evidence that bodies can be made perfect and dogs can be trained to be perfect. Of course when we can’t meet that standard, we continue our quest, knowing that there’s something else out there that “works”.
When the only goal is loosing weight, it’s easy to accomplish that with starvation, diet pills, purging, all of which are very dangerous because the side effects, to name a few are muscle wasting, fainting and even death; as well, when the only goal is obedience, this too can be accomplished by using aversive tools, also dangerous because the side effects, to name a few are aggression, learned helplessness, physical harm, and here too, even death.
My answer to stop the “Yo-Yo dieting” is to replace the goal of weight loss with the goal of health because when health is the new goal, all your choices will be aligned with wellness which encompasses learning about nutrition, taking up a new activity, having a supportive group of like minded friends and family. And as for stopping the “Yo-Yo aversive protocols”, replace the goal of obedience with the goal of enrichment so your choices are aimed at meeting all your dog’s physical and emotional needs such as allowing your dog to engage in problem solving activities, like puzzle toys, scent work as well as giving him more latitude on the leash and being allowed to explore his environment by sniffing to his heart’s content, instead of being popped, socked and shocked in order to force the dog to follow his owner’s every move.
While the Yo-Yo mentality, is a temporary quick fix for problems, it will keep you seeking the next diet or aversive tool with the faulty thinking that you are in control of some aspect of your life or dog, however, by aiming for a healthy, satisfying and nurturing relationship with yourself and or your four legged companion we free ourselves from the Yo-Yo strings, by making a paradigm shift.
Happy Training & Enrichment
© Fran Berry CPDT-KA, UW-AAB all rights reserved 2023
