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That poor dog will be perpetually disappointed. You should hide some sausage there every once in a while before your walks.

• mikestew 2y ago
  Reminds me of the search and rescue dogs used for finding people in collapsed buildings after, say, an earthquake. Apparently the dogs get depressed after finding nothing but dead people, so the humans seed the rubble once in a while with a live human for the dogs to find. https://allcreatureslargeandsmall.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/tribute-and-memorial-to-the-search-and-rescue-dogs-of-9-11-words-and-images/ https://allcreatureslargeandsmall.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/t... "As time passes without survivors found, search-and-rescue dogs — especially those trained to find living people — experience increased stress and depression. One way this is mitigated is for handlers and trainers to stage mock “finds” so that the dogs can feel successful."
  • TomK32 2y ago
    Just like me when I fix a bug within a minute by pure chance... I need those easy wins.
    • nomoreusernames 2y ago
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    • ericmcer 2y ago
      Ha yeah seriously. That makes me think of a managerial strategy that involves feeding a low performing employee softball tasks and praising them for completing them. Once they are convinced they are highly competent slowly start ramping up the complexity.
      • SmellTheGlove 2y ago
        I do this with new people. Being new somewhere is a skill a lot of people I’ve hired don’t have. I toss them some meatballs so they can get a couple of quick, visible wins. You figure you hired them because they know what they’re doing, so help them establish their confidence early on. I highly recommend doing this.
  • 082349872349872 2y ago
    The way I've heard avalanche dogs are trained here is that they are rewarded for accurate information, so in principle they ought to be as satisfied with their job after finding "no people" or "dead person" as well as "live person".
    • dmurray 2y ago
      But in their training they find living people. During real disasters, there might not be time to focus on rewarding the dog.
    • wizzwizz4 2y ago
      Dogs are social creatures. These dogs are well aware of humans as fellow social creatures. Constantly finding dead people might be inherently distressing, in the same way it'd be distressing to constantly find dead dogs.
      • gradschoolfail 2y ago
        wizzwizz4 seems to be one of those salvated ex-losers* (in the world of Rao’s Gervais Principle), thus he may or may not engage, but here goes anyways (Shalom lakh Miryam!) in deference to 082349872349872’s curiosity, human beings can, in principle, train dogs (in this very limited context) to walk the fine line between bad faith (not exhibiting distress) and good faith (exhibiting distress). Can they, in reality? *or, maybe like Athena, born fully salvated from a crack in Zeus (athenogenesis)
        • 082349872349872 2y ago
          I think[0] there are two distinct axes here, so ideally how we'd like our avalanche dogs to feel about their job would be: "Sometimes you find live people, which is sweet, and sometimes you find dead people[1], which is a bummer, but I am a good boi no matter which because I search thoroughly and report immediately." [0] take the above with a grain of salt; almost all my canine experience is second-hand, with scent and herding breeds, so that "ideal" is a cross between a short conversation with a neighbour who trained avalanche dogs and a friend who is a ski instructor, and believes: "Sometimes it's sunny and the clients are talented and resilient, which is sweet, and sometimes it's snowing hard and the clients have no talent and no nerves, which is a bummer, but I am a good ski instructor no matter which because I bring them to at least 80% of the improvements which could have been possible given the conditions and clients of that particular session." [1] unsolicited moralising: there are weather reports. use them. there are beacon/pole/shovel avalanche sets. buy them. there are guides. hire them. So many of the deaths reported in the local papers are because people are not good bois: they go off piste, without a guide, without self-rescue equipment, on days when there were already avalanche warnings given in the morning.
  • sph 2y ago
    I am half serious and wondering if they do the same for drug-sniffing dogs.
    • oldman_peter 2y ago
      When I'm banging my head against a problem too long I'll do a small task to have a small success. Same thing I guess.
• nomoreusernames 2y ago
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