The dirty dog book

Harry the Dirty Dog

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Full Text

Harry was a white dog with black spots who liked everything, except ... getting a bath. So one day when he heard the water running in the tub, he took the scrubbing brush... and buried it in the backyard. Then he ran away from home. He played where they were fixing the street and got very dirty. He played at the railroad and got even dirtier. He played tag with other dogs and became dirtier still. He slid down a coal chute and got the dirtiest of all. In fact, he changed from a white dog with black spots to a black dog with white spots. Although there were many other things to do, Harry began to wonder if his family thought that he had really run away. He felt tired and hungry too, so without stopping on the way he ran back home. When Harry got to his house, he crawled through the fence and sat looking at the back door. One of the family looked out and said, “There’s a strange dog in the backyard. ..by the way, has anyone seen Harry?” When Harry heard this, he tried very hard to show them he was Harry. He started to do all his old, clever tricks. He flip-flopped and he flop-flipped. He rolled over and played dead. He danced and he sang. He did these tricks over and over again, but everyone shook his head and said, “Oh, no, it couldn’t be Harry.” Harry gave up and walked slowly toward the gate, but suddenly he stopped. He ran to a corner of the garden and started to dig furiously. Soon he jumped away from the hole barking short, happy barks. He’d found the scrubbing brush! And carrying it in his mouth, he ran into the house. Up the stairs he dashed, with the family following close behind. He jumped into the bathtub and sat up begging, with the scrubbing brush in his mouth, a trick he certainly had never done before. “This little doggie wants a bath!” cried the little girl, and her father said, “Why don’t you and your brother give him one?” Harry’s bath was the soapiest one he’d ever had. It worked like magic. As soon as the children started to scrub, they began shouting, “Mummy! Daddy! Look, look! Come quick!” “It’s Harry!” “It’s Harry!” “It’s Harry!” they cried. Harry wagged his tail and was very, very happy. His family combed and brushed him lovingly, and he became once again a white dog with black spots. It was wonderful to be home. After dinner, Harry fell asleep in his favorite place, happily dreaming of how much fun it had been getting dirty. He slept so soundly, he didn’t even feel the scrubbing brush he’d hidden under his pillow.

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Harry the Dirty Dog - Book Share Time

2. Books
3. Harry the Dirty Dog

Written by Gene Zion

For ages 3 to 8

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This book is best for:

• action verbs
• comparatives & superlatives
• narrative retell
• sequencing
• past tense verbs

Review

Harry is a white dog with black spots, who detests having baths. So one day, he steals the bath brush, buries it in the yard and runs away from home. By the time he returns home, he is so dirty that he looks like a black dog with spots - and his family don’t even recognise him!

In print since 1956, Harry the Dirty Dog is a timeless story with a loveable main character and a humour story plot. This book has a true narrative structure with a traditional opening (“one day”), character description, multiple settings changes, clear problem, plans to overcome the problem and a happy resolution. This makes Harry the Dirty Dog an ideal choice for children working on their narrative retell skills. For younger children, it can also be used for a simple sequencing activity. I also like using this story for teaching comparatives and superlatives due to the lovely visual and verbal build-up of Harry becoming dirtier and dirtier until he’s at his dirtiest.

For further speech and language targets in Harry the Dirty Dog, see the list below.

Book Details

Narrative Structure: Complete Episode ; True Narrative

Story Plot: Journey Tale

Themes:

• animals - pets, dogs
• bath
• bathtime
• places - home, garden

Speech and Language Targets

Speech Sounds:

• /h/ - Harry, home, hungry, house

Grammar:

• adverbials (slowly, furiously, happily, lovingly, soundly)
• comparative (dirtier)
• superlative (dirtiest)
• regular past tense
• irregular past tense verbs (heard, took, ran, slid, sat, sang, shook, slept)
• action verbs (e. g. dig, slide, play, crawl, roll, dance, sing, run, jump)
• mental verbs (wonder, thought)

Semantics:

• explaining means to a goal (e.g. what could Harry do to convince his family that it's him? How could Harry get clean again?)
• figurative language - simile ("it worked like magic")

Concepts:

• descriptive concepts (dirty, clean)

Social-Emotional:

• problem solving

Narrative:

• traditional opening
• character description
• time
• setting
• sequencing
• initiating event
• problem
• plans
• feelings
• resolution
• direct character speech

Book Info

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Inc in 2001 (ISBN: 9780064430098)

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Best books about dogs. Part 1

The classic “doggy” top list is known to “every dog”: “Mumu”, “Three in a boat, not counting the dog”, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, “Lady with a Dog”, “White Poodle”, “Kashtanka”, “ White Fang" and so on. In my today's list are also well-known, but still not so obvious names. Enjoy your reading - and furry devotion nearby!

Paul Auster. Timbuktu

Per. from English. I. Kormiltseva. — M.: Eksmo

What do you think of when you hear the name "Timbuktu" ? Do you remember the line from the old song about "Sara Bara-Boo"? Or the relatively recent film by Abderrahman Sissako about religious fundamentalists in Mali?.. But Mr. Seltz, the protagonist of Paul Auster's novel , imagined Timbuktu to be a real paradise where, sooner or later, good people - and good dogs go.

“Mr. Seltz had not the slightest doubt that the other world was a real-life place called Timbuktu. Timbuktu, Mr. Seltz understood, was somewhere in the middle of the desert, far from New York and Baltimore, far from Poland, far from any place on earth they had visited during their travels. Willy sometimes described this place as an "oasis of spirits", then said that "where the map of the world ends, the map of Timbuktu begins." In order to get there, you first need to make your way through the hot sands for a long time, through the realm of eternal emptiness. Mr. Zelts seemed unattractive to such a journey, but Willy assured him that it was not so, and that the entire vast distance could be covered in the twinkling of an eye. But, once you are in Timbuktu, you will never again have to think about food, shelter, or even about where to urinate now. You remain there alone with the entire Universe, like a grain of antimatter that has fallen into the “divine consciousness. Mr. Seltz could hardly imagine life in such a place, but Willy talked about it with such delight, and there was such tenderness in his voice, that the dog did not even try. Timbuktu. Mr. Seltz's spirits rose at the mere sound of that word. Certain combinations of vowels and consonants touched him to the very depths of his soul, and whenever these three syllables broke from the lips of the owner, a wave of delight ran through the entire canine being of Mr. Zelts, as if this very word was the key to future happiness.

Mr. Seltz, as you already understood, is a dog, a faithful companion of the half-crazy street poet Willy G. Christmas Eve, who imagined himself to be the messenger of Santa Claus. The dog, according to Willy, was sent down to him by the Lord himself, because “DOG”, read backwards, is “GOD”. “A dog is God, that's the point. The name of the Almighty Creator of all things is contained in an encrypted form in the name of a four-legged creature. Can this be a coincidence?"

Dying, leaving for his Timbuktu, Willy worries about not leaving Mr. Zelts unattended - and scolds himself for not having time to teach him anything more or less useful: for example, Mr. Zelts cannot read! But everyone knows that dogs can read - otherwise, for whom, Willy reasonably asks, do they hang signs at some establishments that entrance with guide dogs is allowed here - after all, the blind cannot notice and read them!

A sad, funny and tender book about Mr. Zelts won the love of readers all over the world - and we are especially lucky because Timbuktu was translated into Russian by Ilya Kormiltsev . The adventures and misadventures of Mr. Zelts, who is undoubtedly related to Chekhov's Kashtanka, will keep the reader in a nervous suspense until the very end - maybe not the happiest, but certainly unexpected. As for Timbuktu - and the very idea of ​​​​a paradise for dogs, then any place can become it, if your owner is nearby.

Sasha Cherny. Fox Mickey's Diary

A short story, written by a famous poet of the Silver Age, is, in the language of that time, “what a charm!”. The diary of a very smart and enterprising fox terrier dog (by the way, representatives of this breed are found in literature more often than others - I wonder why?), who accidentally learned to write and now makes regular entries in his journal, will be of interest to both adult readers and those who 0+.

Mickey is very, very smart and observant, and some of his thoughts are just ready-made topics for dissertations. Well, for example: “Trees, even old ones, get younger every spring. And people and adult dogs - never. From what? Here Zinin's uncle is completely bald, all the hair has peeled off his head, exactly like a billiard ball. What if green grass grew on his skull in the spring? And flowers?

I would change everything in the world. But what can a little fox do?”

Mickey is a real philosopher, and he is interested in everything around - he, of course, is immensely devoted to his little mistress Zina, but he never misses the opportunity to stick his curious black nose "into someone else's question." Well, what if Mickey wants to know why the cow is such a fool, and eats grass all day to give milk to everyone in the house? Why do people constantly talk after eating and drink some colorful things?

“Why do fish climb into an empty net called a top? If you don't know how to live above water, sit quietly in the pond. I feel very sorry for them! In the morning they swam and blew bubbles, and in the evening they are digested in a dark and cramped human stomach. Moreover, the vile cat dragged all the guts around the garden ...

Why, when I behave badly, they put a muzzle on me, and the gardener gets drunk twice a week, rages like a rabid bull - and at least what?! Zinin's uncle says that the gardener was shell-shocked and therefore we must treat him condescendingly.

Fox Mickey tells in his diary about everything that he had experienced - how he was left under the supervision of that same shell-shocked gardener at the dacha, how he went to the sea and to Paris, how he got lost, how he went with Zina to the circus and cinema . .. In this book, like a dried maple leaf between the pages, preserved the spirit of the interwar period, that brief respite when people again learned to enjoy life. As for the dogs, they always knew how to do it - right, fox Mickey?

Hector Malo. "Without family"

More than one generation of readers in Russia grew up on this book, first published in 1878 - what can we say about France, where the adventures of the boy Remy and his faithful companions have long become a textbook for learning French in schools.

Remy is an orphan, at least at the very beginning of the book we have no idea who his real mother was and why he has to do without parents and without a family. Remy's life is full of hardships and trials, however, the young reader cannot help but envy this amazing boy in every respect - after all, he is a traveler, an itinerant musician, besides, three dogs go along the roads of France with him and Monkey Dushka.

The head of the dog company, the trained poodle Kapi, is perhaps one of the most charming dogs in world literature and the same full-fledged hero of the novel as the mysterious musician Vitalis or Remy's friend, little Mattia. It is Capi who saves Remy in the most difficult situations, comes to the rescue when people are unable to help ... And how good, how fair that at the end of this sentimental, but such a sincere romance, the poodle stays with Remy, who happily found a family. Although already old and weak, the dog still wants to be useful to the owner: "Everyone gathered around us. At that moment, a poodle appeared. This is my dear, beloved Capi. Poor thing, he is quite old and deaf, but he still sees well. He lay quietly on his pillow, but, noticing that I took the harp, limping, came to the performance. He holds a saucer in his teeth and wants to bypass the “venerable audience” on his hind legs, but he does not have enough strength. Kapi sits down and, bowing importantly to those present, presses his paw to his chest. I cannot help kissing him on the nose, as when he comforted me in my sorrows.

While Remy was trying to survive by making a living from street performances on occasion, while he was trying to find his family (looking for a foster family, but by pure chance he found a real one), dogs managed to occupy an important place in his heart. Maybe they did not replace human kinship, but, for sure, they warmed his soul in the most hopeless hour. Believe me, only dogs are capable of this: it doesn’t matter if they are trained or not.

Karel Capek. "Dashenka, or the Story of Puppy Life"

The story of the birth and maturation of the little fox terrier Dashenka, told by the classic of Czech literature (and the creator of the word "robot") - this is perhaps one of the most successful writers' attempts to "move" into an animal skin. The owner perfectly understands all Dashenka's motives and desires, moreover, it seems that he himself, together with her, goes through all the stages of dog growing up: he learns to walk, correctly rearranging his legs, that is, sorry, paws, learns to jump, as only fox terriers can, learns " behave decently in society, as her mother Iris does. But at the same time Chapek does not at all try to “humanize” Dashenka and speak to the reader on her behalf: this short story is, rather, a gentle and very intimate “growing up journal”, and maybe even a doggy mini-“education novel”. By the way, the first Czech edition of this book was decorated with many photographs of Dashenka made by Capek himself, who also acted here as an amateur photographer. The book became a bestseller in Czechoslovakia, and its ending - both then and now - is able to squeeze a tear out of even the most insensitive reader.

“And then the day came when strangers took Dashenka and carried her away in a briefcase, accompanied by our ardent and benevolent assurances that Dashenka was a wonderful, glorious dog (that day she managed to break the glass in the greenhouse frame and dig up a whole bush of tiger lily) and in general she is unusually sweet, obedient, etc.

And in the kennel silently, with only eyes, weeping and tormented mother Iris.

Such words could only be written by someone who was once forced to part with his beloved dog, isn't it? ..

Kate Atkinson. "A little light with a dog together"

Per. from English. A. Gryzunova. — M.: Azbuka

I love prose by Kate Atkinson so much that I never get tired of praising her with or without reason. All of her books are wonderful (my favorite is Life After Life ), even if they are "only" detectives, such as A little light with a dog together . A through character of Atkinson's book series "Crimes of the Past" - private detective Jackson Brody - in the next, fourth in a row (and, in my opinion, the best) novel unexpectedly becomes the owner of a dog. But Brody already has enough problems at work and in his personal life, as befits any decent detective. But if the dog chose the owner herself, he can no longer get out of this role ...

Jackson was just walking in Leeds' Roundhay Park (by the way, in the television series Crimes of the Past the action was moved to Edinburgh) when he suddenly "saw happiness": . She frightened off a flock of pigeons that aimed at the discarded sandwich, and they flew up, flapping their wings in annoyance, and the dog barked at them in delight. Then she darted away and at full speed barely braked - a second late - near a woman sunbathing on a rug. The woman screamed and threw a Vietnamese dog at the dog. The dog caught the flip flops in mid-flight, shook it back and forth like a rat, dropped it and rushed to the little girl who squealed when the dog jumped up trying to lick her ice cream.

The dog's happiness did not last long - her owner soon appeared on the horizon (and Jackson thought she was ownerless!) And began to kick the pet, saying that he should have been drowned to hell a long time ago. And then he dragged the dog away on a leash, so that he "dragged along the ground and hit the pavement" . Here, our detective finally lost his nerve, and with pleasure he hit the owner with an “uppercut in the diaphragm” . And while he writhed on the ground, Jackson carried the dog away in his arms, comforting her with gentle words, like his own daughter in her early childhood ...

And then the dog realized that he had finally found a real owner for himself, and the fact that Jackson had no plans to acquire a pet did not bother him, to be honest. The nameless dog from the city park seemed to know that Detective Brody was now in no way easier than she herself - that he, too, needed a true friend and patient companion on this long journey, which people call life, and dogs call a walk.

And so began this amazing story of devotion and betrayal, a story where the missing children are many years later, and old dreams come true exactly when you finally decide to give them up. It began and ended - with a dog and with a dog.

Karen Pryor "Don't growl at the dog!" - social and educational project

Author of the summary: Elena Kuznetsova , marketer, journalist, volunteer speaker of the Arithmetic of Good Foundation, foster mother

Karen Prion

Karen Prion is a behavioral scientist, experienced trainer and writer. Provides advice on the psychology of human and animal learning to organizations such as NASA and the US National Zoo, and collaborates with the Cambridge Center for the Behavioral Sciences.

Don't growl at the dog

At first glance, the book paradoxically combines the principles of animal training, parenting, and interpersonal communication in general. The author, starting from the experience of a trainer, through coaching comes to universal methods of interaction that allow you to correct the behavior of those who are close to you. Managing behavior using the methods proposed by Praion excludes manipulation, emotional pressure and coercion, saves nerves and good relations. The book is beautifully illustrated with examples from completely different areas, so it will no doubt be an excellent practical guide.

Summary

From the very first lines of her book, Karen Prion makes a very ambitious claim: she says she has written a book that tells how to teach anyone - human or animal - what can and should be done using the principles of reinforcement. Further, the author explains what the principle of positive and negative reinforcement is.

These principles, according to Karen, are real laws, just like, for example, the laws of physics. Usually, when people try to change someone's behavior, they use the laws in the wrong way - they threaten, they argue, they coerce. However, they miss the opportunity to praise for the right actions. Rudeness and impatience usually cause feelings of guilt. But there are methods that allow you to achieve the desired goal much faster and without trouble.

Modern trainers are very good at changing behavior - this is a method of positive reinforcement. Anyone can become a trainer and teacher. Some are successful from the very beginning, they intuitively understand how the laws of training work. These are gifted teachers, brilliant commanders, excellent trainers.

The author notes that reinforcement is not a system of rewards and punishments (this system has a large emotional burden). Modern training is based not on universal beliefs, but on the laws of behavioral science.

How does Karen Prion describe reinforcement? This is an event that occurs during or immediately after the completion of the desired behavior and increases the likelihood of its repetition in the future. The two events are linked in real time—the behavior generates reinforcement, after which the desired behavior is repeated much more frequently. Reinforcement must occur in perfect synchrony with the behavior so that the learner can accurately understand that it was this particular behavior that caused the reinforcement.

The author writes that she first learned about training through positive reinforcement while training dolphins in Hawaii. She trained horses and dogs with traditional methods, but working with dolphins became a special case. It was impossible to use a bridle or a leash here - the dolphins simply swam away. Positive reinforcement - a basket of fish - was the only way. What dolphins taught her, Karen began to use when training other animals, and then in everyday life, in communicating with people. She stopped yelling at the kids because she realized that yelling didn't work. By noticing the desired behavior and reinforcing it at that very moment, she achieved much greater results and kept the peace in the family.

Karen notes that many psychotherapists are very successful in solving their patients' emotional problems with positive reinforcement. Some disorders, such as autism, compensate much better with reinforcement theory than with other methods.

At the same time, the book rightly notes that the theory of reinforcement does not solve all problems. It will not save a failing marriage, grow a bank account, or cure a personality disorder. These problems require a separate solution. But so many of life's difficulties can be avoided by correctly applying the laws of reinforcement. Prion noticed that those trainers who worked with dolphins and were used to using positive reinforcement in their daily work, got along well with the children, were polite, friendly and calm.

The author believes that behaviors that are already occurring, even if not regularly, can always be reinforced with positive reinforcement. Moreover, positive reinforcement works even in relation to oneself. She gives the example of an acquaintance who played squash. One day, he decided to stop blaming himself for bad shots. After that, he was sent to be tormented by anger and disappointment, he began to defeat his opponents.

The timing of the reinforcement makes it clear to the student what kind of action the coach likes. Late reinforcement is the main problem for beginner coaches. Timing is especially important when dealing with negative reinforcement. If negative reinforcement does not stop after achieving the desired result, it does not carry any information and turns into "noise" in a literal and informational sense.

It is noteworthy that the author recommends not reinforcing the learned behavior each time so that it is firmly fixed. On the contrary, it is very important not to reinforce behavior on a regular basis, but to use reinforcement on an occasional basis. Unreinforced behavior will die out on its own, but if the behavior is reinforced, even sporadically, one cigarette, one glass, one concession to a capricious child, it will not die out, but on the contrary will be fixed. And in this mode, you can only achieve the consolidation of an undesirable result. A person who quit smoking, after one cigarette, turns back into a heavy smoker.

Karen also writes that along with a positive conditioned reinforcer, you can use a negative conditioned reinforcer, which tells the student: "If you do not follow the commands, something not very pleasant will happen to you. " Negative conditioned reinforcement is more effective than threats. Some animals, such as cats, do not respond to threats and reprimands. The author's friend managed to wean the cat from tearing up the sofa when she accidentally dropped the large tray next to her with a noise and said "no"! The cat was very frightened of the noise, and the next time the friend always said no, when the cat was tearing up the sofa, the cat was frightened and moved away from the sofa.

Prion gives many examples from the lives of his friends and from his own life, how problems can be solved with the help of positive conditioned reinforcement. The teacher managed to ensure that his students completed the promised extracurricular task, the dog allowed the veterinarian to treat a sore ear, the wife taught her husband and father-in-law to be attentive and friendly towards her. Karen points out that positive reinforcement can also be used on yourself. People often ignore this valuable tool. Excessive criticality of one's actions and the lack of positive reinforcement leads to increased anxiety and depression. You can refresh yourself by walking, reading a good book, meeting with friends.

Reinforcing desirable behaviors that already exist is helpful, but how do you get sentient beings to do things they haven't done before? In this case, you need to create a behavior. Behavior shaping is the identification of the smallest inclination towards the desired behavior and its maximum amplification to the required degree. In scientific language, this is called "successive convergence."

Raising children is also a behavioral process, learning any new skill from tennis to driving a car is also a shaping process as we try to change our own behavior. Success or failure in shaping the behavior of our own or other beings does not depend on our professional skills, but on our perseverance. Most of us can become proficient in almost any field if we put enough time into it.

Each of us would like to quickly learn new skills and not engage in boring repetition. And this can help the correct formation. A well-designed shaping program will reduce the necessary repetitions to a minimum and increase their effectiveness. At the same time, in sports, and in music, and in other areas, you will want not just to learn, but to bring your skills to a certain level of perfection. In this case, it is important to know the laws (principles) of directional formation.

Methods (steps to change behavior) and principles (time and place to reinforce new behavior) are distinguished in the formation of behavior. Some coaches, gifted by nature with intuition, master these principles intuitively. Others need to pay attention to these principles, here they are:

1. Raise the requirements in small steps so that the subject (apprentice) always has the opportunity to receive reinforcement.

2. Develop only one aspect of behavior during one period of time. It is better not to try to lead the formation on two aspects.

3. During formation, build up a steady response to variable reinforcement before adding or increasing demands.

4. When introducing a new criterion or aspect, temporarily loosen the old ones.

5. Go ahead of your student, create a complete plan for the formation program. If he unexpectedly succeeds in the current workout, you will know where to go next.

6. Do not change coaches during formation. One student can have several trainers, but each of them must train one direction (aspect).

7. If your method of shaping the behavior is not successful, think of another way.

8. Do not interrupt a training session without reinforcement, this is tantamount to punishment.

9. If the behavior has deteriorated, go back and go through all the stages of formation again with simple exercises that will make it easy to earn reinforcements.

10. You should always end a session on a high note, once some progress has been made. The best thing to remember is what the session ended with. If the student has made some progress, do not force him to repeat this task over and over again, otherwise he will get tired and his behavior may deteriorate, and he will start making mistakes and the coach will swear. The latter should feel that it is time to stop at the desired reaction of the student, and start training from this place next time.

11. The process of forming behavior, according to Karen, is the opposite of the process of training through repetition. The worst way to end classes is to start learning new material, as this will inevitably lead to errors and failure to reinforce and the student's bad mood.

The author argues that even if you know the principles of behavior formation well, it is not a fact that you can become a good coach. Applying them without sufficient practice is quite difficult. To teach these principles in practice, she suggests using learning games. Formation is a non-verbal interactive process. Karen suggests dividing the participants in the learning process into "students" and "teachers" and try to play different tasks that need to be solved during several attempts. As soon as the "student" correctly completes the task - the coach encourages him and asks him to return to the starting point, the game lasts until the student fully guesses the action conceived by the coach (something similar to the "hot-cold" game). Karen notes that such a learning game proves that all the mistakes that students usually make are the result of the wrong actions of the coach, not the student.

She says that some people have natural instincts. In her experience, people with developed intuition, creative and emotional make good trainers and trainers. And calm and observant people make good students.

Next, the author talks about the control of behavior with the help of incentives, calling it interaction without coercion. What are incentives? Karen Prion describes them as anything that causes a certain behavioral response. Some stimuli cause a response without any learning, they are called unconditioned or primary.

Other stimuli are learned by association with the behavior being reinforced. They may not make sense on their own, but they become recognizable cues for specific behaviors. For example, we move off in a car at a green traffic light, pick up the phone when the phone rings, turn around in the street if we hear our name. Such stimuli are called conditioned or secondary. We learn such stimuli because the behavior associated with them has been reinforced many times over.

The essence of traditional training is precisely the assimilation of conditioned stimuli. Humans and animals can perfectly perform actions on command. The command will guarantee that the same actions will be performed on this command at any time. Psychologists call this phenomenon "staging behavior under the control of stimuli." Developing ideal unconditional behavior is difficult, but possible.

If you manage people and often have to repeat instructions and orders, you have problems managing with incentives. You can repeat: “I asked you a thousand times” (do not slam the door, come on time, etc.). If neither after the tenth nor after the thousandth request there was a reaction, then the behavior is not subject to stimulus control.

Sometimes the subject responds correctly, but not immediately. Slow response means that the student has not been trained to respond immediately. Such behavior cannot be considered completely controlled by incentives. This is common in real life, but the problem is often that a command has been misunderstood or a signal has been given that cannot be obeyed. We are dealing with ineffective communication and bad incentive management.

Control with incentives should not be carried out continuously. It is aimed at reaching agreement - children begin to obey, animals follow commands, you can rely on employees. Specific stimulus control is required to perform a series of group actions. For example, a marching band, performances by dance couples and sports teams. Responding to a series of conditioned cues can be pleasurable because the cues become reinforcers in the behavioral chain. As soon as a person or animal masters all actions and signals, their performance becomes a true reinforcement. Participation in a group that obeys certain rules - choral singing, dancing, football game - brings real satisfaction.

The ability to establish stimulus control without resorting to threats and violence makes life much easier for both the coach and the student. People who understand the essence of stimulus control avoid unintelligent or incomprehensible commands, commands that cannot be obeyed. They try to do without requests, for which it is not clear what follows.

When the whole family, all households or colleagues work on the basis of real control through incentives - that is, when everyone keeps their promises, says what they need, and does what they must - amazing results can be achieved. And at the same time, you do not need to give orders, and trust arises quickly and turns out to be very strong. This is the most complex and elegant aspect of positive reinforcement training.

After Karen Prion taught how to shape desirable behavior, she devoted an entire chapter to how to get rid of unwanted behavior that is already formed and manifesting. This, in my opinion, is also a very interesting section.

Every day we encounter unwanted behavior - children make excessive noise in the car, the dog may bark all night, the cat will tear up the sofa, the neighbor will do repairs on the weekends.

Praion states that there are only eight ways (methods) to get rid of unwanted behavior. This applies to both recent problems and old bad habits (but these methods cannot be applied to mentally ill people and dangerous dogs). These methods are:

Method 1 - "Kill the beast" - this method definitely works, because you will never have to face a person or animal again.

Method 2 - "Punishment" - everyone loves this method, although it almost never works.

Method 3 - "Negative Reinforcement" - removing an unpleasant stimulus while demonstrating the desired behavior.

Method 4 - "Fade Out" - the unwanted behavior goes away on its own over time.

Method 5 - Incompatible Behaviors - This method is especially useful for athletes and dog owners.

Method 6 - Setting a signal for this behavior - then simply don't give a signal for this action.

Method 7 - "Formation of absence" - in this case, absolutely everything is reinforced, except for undesirable behavior.

Method 8 – Change of Motivation is the fundamental and gentlest method.

The first four methods are negative and the last four are based on positive reinforcement. Everyone must choose their own method in a given situation.

Method 1 is very cruel, but sometimes it is the only possible method.

It is resorted to when the problem is seriously aggravated and it is clear that there are no other ways to get rid of it. The subject physically loses the ability to exhibit unwanted behavior or is removed physically from your life. It is important to understand that this method does not teach anyone anything. Physical elimination of the subject by divorce, death, imprisonment will not teach him anything.

For example, if a roommate scatters dirty things, within the framework of this method it is worth changing the neighbor, and if the children make noise in the car and interfere with driving, you need to send the children to go on foot, if a lazy employee appears, you should fire him.

Method 2 - Punishment - loved by many, but not very effective, and the more often repeated - the lower its effectiveness, people and animals rarely associate their bad behavior with punishment. But this is the most common method. Punishment teaches you to try not to be caught.

For example, a flatmate throws his dirty clothes around - swear and shout at him. The dog in the yard howls all night - you need to go out and pour a hose over the dog or hit it with a leash. Children make noise in the car - yell at them. The spouse constantly comes home in a bad mood - start a quarrel, the way dinner will burn on the stove, scream and cry.

Punishment only works if the undesirable behavior occurs for the first time and does not develop into a bad habit.

Punishment is the punisher's way of showing his dominant position, strengthening his high position and getting confirmation of his strength. When applying punishment, it is very important to understand whether you want to change behavior or confirm your dominant position. If the latter, then you need to deal with yourself.

Method 3 implies negative reinforcement, that is, any negative event or stimulus that the student can avoid if he changes his behavior. Almost all traditional training methods consist of a dosed application of negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement can also be used to shape behavior, but in this case it must be very closely related to the behavior that needs to be changed. You can get rid of trouble only if the reaction is correct. Since negative reinforcement leads to a change in behavior, this unfortunately reinforces the use of this method. Some coaches use exclusively negative reinforcement for training. This eventually boils down to constant punishment, and what follows is that the animals or the person become inactive and passive and try to avoid the learning process.

Sometimes parents may be forced to use positive reinforcement to reinforce bad behavior. For example, when a child throws a tantrum in a store with a request to buy a toy in order to stop this unpleasant moment, the parents agree, the tantrum stops, the child receives reinforcement for bad behavior.

Small children are the only kind of creatures to whom it is pointless to apply a system of negative reinforcement, but with positive reinforcement they learn quickly and willingly.

Here are examples of how this method can be used. If the dog barks all night in the yard, you need to direct a bright beam of light at its kennel and turn it off only when it stops barking. The spouse comes home constantly in a bad mood - leave the room when the spouse's tone becomes unacceptable, and return only when he stops talking or begins to speak in a normal tone. You have a grumpy and lazy employee - increase control, scold the employee for every poorly completed task.

Method 4 - Fading. Behavior that does not bring any results, either good or bad, gradually disappears. According to Prion, this method is best suited for correcting verbal behavior. This is the only way to stop whimpering, grumbling, annoying requests and threats. If such behavior does not bring results, it quickly fades away.

The habit of whining in children is brought up by parents. Any child who is tired, hungry, or irritated will whimper. But first-class whiners are children whose parents have a high degree of self-control. They hold on for a long time, but then they give up under the pressure of whining children and fulfill their requests. Thus, parents reinforce undesirable behavior.

Karen herself writes that when she has to deal with such whining children, she immediately tells them that whining doesn't work on her. This immediately stops the children and gives them food for thought - they usually do not even suspect that their behavior is called "whining", believing that this is their brilliant way to get what they want. As soon as the children stop whining, she praises or hugs them. If the whining resumes, the positive reinforcements run out and she gives them a stern look. As a rule, children then stop whining and switch to other more interesting activities.

This method won't help you to deal with well-learned reward behaviors, but it's very effective at getting rid of whining, bad moods, and teasing.

Here are examples of how the fourth method can be used. Children make a lot of noise in the car - a certain level of noise is harmless and natural, they will soon get tired and become silent. The spouse comes home in a bad mood - take it easy: “the dog barks, the wind wears”, do not pay attention. The bus driver is very rude - ignore it, get a ticket and forget about it. The dog barks all night long - the behavior itself is a reinforcer and is unlikely to disappear spontaneously.

It is very important to learn to separate the spoken words from the real substance of the behavior. When a husband and wife quarrel, their attention is focused on the topic of the quarrel, not the process. You may be right in everything you say, but this does not reflect the essence - the conflict and struggle.

When a grouchy husband comes home from work and his wife tries to please him, she reinforces his grouchiness. It is important for a wife not to pay attention to her husband's behavior, but at the same time not to ignore him - a cheerful conversation and a good dinner, as well as a complete lack of interest in her husband's grumbling, will help to nullify unwanted behavior.

Method 5 - Shaping Incompatible Behavior is an elegant way to get the student to exhibit other behavior that is not physically compatible with the unwanted behavior. This is one of the four positive methods of getting rid of unwanted behavior.

The formation of incompatible behavior, as Karen notes, is very useful for modifying one's own actions. Especially if they are associated with emotional states, such as grief, anxiety, loneliness. Some activities are absolutely incompatible with self-pity - dancing, choral singing, jogging - any motor activity. You can't dance and feel sorry for yourself.

Here are some examples of how this method can deal with the unwanted behavior of others. The dog barks all night long. Teach your dog to lie down on command. Dogs rarely bark while lying down. As soon as the dog starts barking, give the command “Lie down!” from the window. and encourage her with words. Children make noise in the car - sing songs together, tell them stories, play games. The spouse constantly comes home in a bad mood - make his coming home pleasant, let him do some things he loves or play with the children. Allow him 30 minutes of privacy so that he can switch to home life. If the bus driver is very rude, smile, wish “Good morning”, you can sympathize with him: “You have a really hard job”, this approach can lead to politeness in return.

Method 6 involves setting a stimulus for the unwanted behavior. This funny method, according to the author, works when none of the other methods work.

There is a rule in learning theory: when a student's behavior is brought under stimulus control, that is, he demonstrates behavior only in response to a certain signal and only in response to it, in the absence of a signal, it simply disappears. This law can be used to get rid of unwanted behavior. It is necessary to first bring the unwanted behavior under stimulus control, and then not give a signal, and the behavior will disappear.

This method, Prayon notes, seems counter-intuitive, but it brings real results. Here is how this method works on specific examples already known. The dog in the yard barks all night - you need to teach the dog to bark on the command "Voice!" and encourage her with a treat, in the absence of a command, it simply will not make sense for her to bark. When children make too much noise in the car with excitement that they are going to the circus, they are not able to sing songs, they don’t want to apply punishment, you can resort to method 6 and bring the behavior under stimulus control - invite the children to make a lot of noise. At your command, all the children and you make a lot of noise, then a break and this is repeated 2-3 times, and the rest of the way can be driven in complete silence.

If your spouse comes home from work in a grumpy mood all the time, set a time and signal for him to grumble, for example 10 minutes from 5 pm, listen carefully and empathize during this period of time and ignore him before and after this period. A flatmate constantly scatters dirty things, arrange a war for him - show what kind of mess you can make. If you have a grumpy or lazy co-worker, give them time off (Karen says this is very effective). The adult offspring again wants to live with their parents - as soon as the adult children leave their father's house, make sure that they can only come to you by invitation, and then do not invite them to return to their father's shelter.

Method 7 - Shaping non-behavior is useful when you don't have the desired activity left, but need the subject to stop the unwanted behavior. For example, a boring relative whose calls cause feelings of guilt. He is close to you, and you cannot hang up, ridicule or scold him. The technical name of the method is differentiated reinforcement of other behavior.

It will take some time to put in the effort, but this is the best way to change ingrained behavior.

Here are examples of how this method works in practice. A roommate scatters his clothes - buy a beer and invite guests of the opposite sex, then all the clothes will be washed and the apartment cleaned. The dog in the yard barks all night - go out and reward him when he is silent for an hour, two or more. If the children make a lot of noise in the car, wait for a quiet moment and declare that the children are so quiet today that they deserve a trip to McDonald's.

You have a grumpy or lazy employee - praise him for any really well done job. The cat constantly climbs the kitchen table - reward him when he does not (you need to make sure that he does not have access to the table when you are not at home). The bus driver is rude and it pisses you off - if you ride the same bus every day, give the driver a can of cola or flowers when he's not rude and he'll be a different person in a couple of weeks.

Method 8 - Changing Motivation - This is the gentlest and most effective way. The author gives an example of how to prevent a child's tantrum in a supermarket in advance. Usually children fight because of fatigue and hunger. If they are fed in advance, there is a good chance that they will behave calmly during shopping. The food may even be in a hurry and not very healthy, but it will remove the problem of an awkward situation when a child cries for the whole store.

For each problem, there can be 2-3 best solutions. It is important to find the best one that is right for you. If the dog barks all night outside, you can let him in the house or find a companion. There are many ways to calm children in the car. But there are problems that are ingrained, and then they cannot be solved in one particular way. Here we are talking, for example, about the habit of biting nails (a symptom of stress), constant lateness (bad habit), chronic smoking (addiction). For myself personally, I decided to take note of the methods for dealing with lateness.

Nail biting is a real distraction from stress, so it's hard to get rid of it. Sometimes the fading method works, it disappears over the years when a person grows up and becomes more confident, but this is a long process. Method 2 - punishment or reprimand - will only work for a while. The method of negative reinforcement - smearing your nails with something unpleasant - will only work if the habit is already at the stage of extinction. But it is better to use a combination of several positive methods. When the hand reaches for a cigarette, you need to get up and do an incompatible action - a few breaths (method 5). Change motivation (method 8) - reduce the level of stress in life. Form the absence of behavior (method 7) and reward yourself with a beautiful manicure.

The easiest way to deal with eternal lateness is to change motivation - method 8. People can have many reasons for being late, and the main one is that an adult does not want to go to work because he is not interested in it or he does not want to be with the assembled people. Sometimes the purpose of being late is to get attention. Regardless of the reason for being late, you need to change the motivation. The goal of being on time and being accurate should be the highest motivation. You can add method 7 - reward yourself and ask friends to reward you for coming on time. It is also worth using method 5 - incompatible behavior - always arrive early.

Most addictions - tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, drugs - are associated not only with physical sensations, but also with temporary stress relief. They become substitution behavior, so getting rid of them can be very difficult. But since the behavioral component is still quite large, you can get rid of them by a combination of several studied methods. Usually, all addiction programs actively use methods 1 and 8. The desired substance becomes physically unavailable, and therapy is aimed at finding other ways to obtain satisfaction: therapy, introspection, self-esteem, and so on.

The author writes that methods 2 and 3 (punishment and negative reinforcement) did not work for her when she tried to quit, but they work well for many people. Weight control programs not only praise those who have lost weight, but also scold those who have gained weight. For some participants, this works well. Many addictions have an element of superstition. Eating, smoking and drinking starts after a certain signal, such as a phone ringing, or at a certain time of the day, or in a certain setting or place. To get rid of addictions, you need to identify these signals and try not to react to them or change the situation.

In order to eradicate addiction in oneself (and this is exactly the case when a person can become a good trainer for himself), a person must study all 8 methods well, eliminate punishment and try to apply the most effective positive methods.

In conclusion, Karen Prion notes that the idea of ​​positive reinforcement and behavior shaping is gaining popularity, a new generation of trainers accepts it without fear and resistance. She gives examples of the application of this technique in different areas of life.

In team sports such as football, the old traditions still thrive: deprivation, punishment, favoritism, verbal and mental abuse. There has been a real revolution in individual sports. To Karen's surprise, only one of her aerobics instructors adhered to traditional methods and cursed horribly in training to eliminate misbehavior.

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