This Is a Post About Modelling Behaviour + Dog Poop!

Dear Moxieologists,

NB: this is actually a post about observational learning, but we are going to get to it by talking about dog poop, as you do!

This is one of those weird experiences in life you have to tell people about in the hope that they will go ‘Really! No Way! Wow!’ instead of looking at you as if you’ve just landed on earth.

So I’ll start by saying I have the most talented dog in the world, you know how some think their kids are the smartest, prettiest, funniest, most intelligent and they let everyone know about it, well I’m owning all that above and applying it to Inca the dog … er … because I can.

She has a few issues that she needs to take time for herself and work on, she isn’t perfect: she raids the bin, throws up on your lap, puts holes in your socks, and the worst is her rather embarrassing licking habit. 

Want to stretch your comfort zone?

Come, borrow and walk Inca: don’t worry she’ll always go with you, she goes with everyone, she’s that not fussed who takes her to the world beyond the front door.

At some stage on your walk she’ll pass a stranger and before you even remember the last time it happened, she’ll have given the unprepared souls bottom area a quick sniff and a couple of licks.

Comfort zone? I swear having to apologise to a complete stranger for your dog having a sniff and lick of, I’m sorry, what can only be a whiffy bottom, is a major act of courage and confidence, comfort zones stretched in a second.

There was a lovely lady once who said, ‘Oh, don’t worry, it was quite pleasant actually!’  

(She does the lick to my friend Matt’s bottom, but that’s acceptable, she knows him and is used to his smells. Not that he smells, she just has a supersonic doggy nose.)

Got a picture of Inca? Excellent.

Now the Poop

Living with cats (oops cat now, no plural, *sigh*) and dogs it’s pretty much guaranteed that poop is a big part of your life.

Whether trying to find it in the cat litter tray or wanting to look as cool as Jay-Z having a cry while at the same time picking up the doggy droppings with a nappy sack, holding onto a ball thrower, your keys, a phone, pretending that the scoop-that-poop performance is something you dig yo, is a challenge.

Anyhoo, the other day I thought that Storm (she’s the remaining cat *another sigh*) had some serious bowel issues going on.

Going in for the Cat Litter Tray Swoop Manoeuvre (a quick dive before the smell hits and you keel over), faced with what I saw, I did think for a second, ‘Geez, that cat has lost her inners!’.

On a second observation however I recognised the poop as Inca’s.

Ah, not a doglet owner? Well, poop identification is not some weird poop fetish thing, we dog owners (after a while) can recognise our own dogs shite. That could be a new reality TV show? Mmm, a field, a hundred dogs, winner of most collected poop from own dog gets …

Anyway.

Be Prepared to Be Dazzled

And this is the talented part, Inca had done her business inside the cat litter tray.

You can think ‘WOW. Really. No-Way’ now.

Go on.

I’ll wait.

Soak up her talent.

Or you may think ‘Dawn that is really no big deal’. And I would have to stop you there … you … you … unimpressed one, and remind you that Inca is a collie dog, she’s fairly big and the cat has a teeny weeny toilet. And this poop was in the middle. Inca had backed herself strategically in to make a deposit.

On my discovery I took a breath in and I was about to call her name with the get-here-you-little-bugger tone, when she came bounding up, tail wagging and totally pleased with herself. Bless. So all I could manage was, ‘Who’s a good girl then. Who’s a gooood giiiiiirl?’  What else could I say?

And if you’re a doggy trainer or Cesar Milan yes, yes, yes, I know it was the worst thing to do. But come on, this is clever stuff, she wasn’t taught, she didn’t have a little potty trainer stool from Ikea bought for her as a puppy, she eats toilet paper and thinks cat poop are flavoured biscuits most days.  So, how? How can she have known.

I think (which is probably not the reason but I want to believe it is), remember I told you about taking Tipsy to the loo when he broke his back? She was there. Inca, being a typical collie, needs to know where all humans and other four legged things are at all times. And she watches. She is observing and making her next move constantly, she can’t help it, it’s the breed.

She has taught herself! She’s modelled the cats!

You can say ‘Wow’ again now! Don’t resist it. Go on.

You could say, ‘it’s the smells’, but she has never done this ever before in the house. “She needed out?” Nope, I was in and she knows the routine (usually).

My dog has taught herself to use the cat litter tray.

Now, you can tell I’m excited about this because I’m thinking long boat trips without land in sight, a cat litter tray down below for the doggy in a life jacket. I can sail the world with her! Not that I want to do that but if I did we would be sorted in the doggy business department.

Oh, and she isn’t going to be doing again in the future, not on my watch, I mean I’m not going to just let her, what do you take me for?

So there you have it, I have the most intelligent dog in the world.

And now, her owner (me) is sitting here thinking how the hell can I turn that into something more meaningful … I know …

Have you heard of Observational Learning? 

Observational learning or social learning theory is a ‘wow, really, no way’ baby from Psychologist Albert Bandura (that’s Bandura, not bandanna) . Basically (and briefly as it’s a massive topic, I’m not a psychologist or his research assistant, and I won’t do it justice in a blog post) social learning is when an  observer changes her behaviour after observing the behaviour of another, known as the model.

The change or behaviour can be positive and negative, the observer doesn’t need any encouragement or enforcement for the learning to happen, but the extent of the behaviour can be reinforced positively or negatively. 

Got a child who is behaving strangely or not like themselves to you? Chances are they are just modelling what they have observed, if going by social learning theory. (Note: the theory would include you as the model.)

Social learning theory, I think, totally backs up the common statements, ‘Oh, wait until they get to high school, that’s when the trouble starts!‘ that parents make.

No, that’s when the change of behaviour begins because of what they are giving attention to every day.

Example: a child has seen that another gets attention by shouting, they want attention, they shout, their carer/parent shouts at them to tell them not to shout. But the negative behaviour has been reinforced because they got the attention, and shouting was part of it. Negative reinforcement has happened.

Not all observations of models ‘get through’,  just because we pay attention to something does not mean we will learn and change behaviour. The crucial part in all this is the production and what happens when we do, the motivation.

There is a phrase/quote that goes around shelf-help land, Facebook walls and motivational posters with big text along the lines of, ‘You become who you spend most of your time with, choose wisely’. 

But is it accurate? Many think of people in their life when they read that statement. But people aren’t the only models: TV, magazines, music videos, celebrities, reality TV shows, cartoon characters, films, the news’ everything we pay attention to and observe has the potential to be modelled.

What Are You Observing and Paying Attention To?

If you’re in the process of change, I have no doubt you’ve read and watched plenty on pay attention to yourself, to observe your own behaviour, habits and attitudes, to become the watcher of you. I have written, and I believe, it’s something we can all do to help us understand our own motivations better, to go inside.

But, if going by social learning theory, I think we can understand more of who we are by observing and paying attention to what we are choosing to observe on a regular basis on the outside.

So, my question is this: who or what are are you observing?

Next.

What are you giving your attention to? What’s getting through? What is it teaching you? What are you learning from it? Who or what are your models? Are you unhappy with the way things are in your life today? Have you learned inaccurate information from what you modelled?

If you’re not happy with the way things are at present do you need to refocus and observe something else?

Need a couple of examples? Okay …

Example 1#: you have been trying to lose weight for years, you know it’s not working and yet you still pay attention to new fads, diets, celebrities, TV, what would happen if you started paying attention to another model? What if you started to observe fitness instead of weight lose?

Example 2#: you may want to change career, you’ve paid attention to ‘How to Change Career’ books, blogs, your CV has been worked and reworked, you’ve spoken to advisor’s, you’ve taken a course, and still it’s not happened. What if you gave your attention to volunteering instead? What if you read more on being happier and living a fulfilling life?

Look, I’m not saying these will 100% work, but if you’re unhappy and what you’re doing isn’t working, how about paying attention to another model for a while?

I love the fact Inca pooped in the cat tray.

I love the fact that pets teach.

I love the fact that I daily observe and watch how this four-legged fur ball of mischief runs her life and how I change because of her

I think it’s fecking hysterical that I’m sitting next to three book shelves teeming with more titles than Amazon in their personal development section,  but my lessons come from paying attention to dogs popping in cat trays.

What about you? Is there any area of your life that needs a refocus of your attention? Please a comment if you fancy. (And if you have a ‘learned from my pet lesson’ feel free to share because those stories are usually awesome!)