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Constructional Aggression Treatment

Written by Jean Donaldson

Wednesday, 29 October 2008

This is the use of negative reinforcement (removal of or increasing the distance of the unfamiliar person) to shape more desirable behavior in dogs who behave aggressively to strangers. I have not tried this and it doesn’t fall within my personal method constraints - I am philosophically opposed to the use of aversives in training, so for the same type of cases use differential reinforcement using positive reinforcement or desensitization and counterconditioning (D&C). I am asked several times a week what I think of it. I must therefore preface my comments with two enormous caveats:

I’ve not tried it (and I won’t, any more than I’ll go back to jerking dogs with metal chains)
I come to the table with a bias against the use of R-

Here goes:

On the plus side, operant conditioning (OC) appears to be much more intuitive to people than Pavlovian conditioning, and so the use of OC could generate better compliance and more competent execution, among both trainers and clients. It also has the nice benefit of teaching people to observe nuances in body language. In the current climate of jaw-dropping body language illiteracy (freaked out, stressed and shut down dogs being labeled “calm” on national television being the most glaring example), this is good.

On the negative side, I wish they would call a spade a spade. An increase in responding contingent on the removal of a stimulus makes that stimulus an aversive by definition and the procedure negative reinforcement by definition.

One of the claims is that the procedure is “faster” than D&C. Proponents describe sessions of one hour or longer that employ the same unfamiliar person as stimulus. Stranger aggressive dogs routinely habituate to a particular individual in that amount of time, or gain a positive CER via treat tosses during history taking in the first session.

Finally, I would respectfully submit that some of the disciples of this stuff are engaging in straw man arguments. Anybody who says systematic desensitization and counterconditioning, a technique with one of the most robust track records in pure and applied settings, “doesn’t work” is advertising their incompetence at executing the technique. Now, that said, if a given trainer is better at doing OC than CC, do OC. Play to your strengths. But please be aware of the rather large contingent of practitioners who have had quiet success with D&C for decades.

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Comments (1)

	1. 15-11-2008 19:51
	As a longtime dog trainer I consider CAT (Constructional Aggression Treatment) as refreshing as the clicker was 15 years ago when I was introduced to that. I work with CAT for a year and a half. I am a 100% positive trainer - dogs in a CAT session will not be more (often less)stressed then when working with Operant Conditioning. I may still work with OC in some cases but my favorite tool when I am working with aggressive or fearful dogs is now without a doubt: CAT - just because - if performed correctly - CAT does not put pressure on the dogs. I had the same reservations when I heard about Negative reinforcement. After attending a workshop and after working with CAT, carefully and highly successful, I was sold. It is exciting to see an aggressive or fearful dog showing completely new behaviors and often having a total switchover. The idea of CAT is that aggression is often a learned behavior that is being rewarded by the fact that strangers/strange dogs turn and walk away when the dog barks and lunges. With CAT the stranger turns when the dog shows calm behavior - for most dogs an amazing new experience. So when they stretch, yawn, soften the eyes or lowering the ears - the stranger/dog leaves. It gives the dog the feeling of having control over the situation. A well performed CAT session may be boring but never stressful. Based on my own experiences I am sorry that some dog trainers don't want to look deeper into CAT only because of the words 'negative reinforcement'For me CAT is the most gentle and positive way for working with aggressive and/of fearful dogs. Really, don't just throw it away because of -R. CAT is really too valuable for that. Karin Vermeegen, CPDT, TTouch Practitioner, Florida null Registered

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