Early Puppy Education
One area of Bonnie’s research involved puppies, paralleling her Master’s work in Early Childhood Education. Her staff and students began training pups earlier and earlier peaking at 3-3.5 weeks of age. Her research found that this early learning not only teaches a pup how to learn but that it makes lasting behavioral impressions in the mind of the adult dog. One pup, taught to turn on the light at seven weeks, then given no exposure to this task for six months, upon request immediately turned on the light at eight months. A similar study, a two-year period with no intervening practice, resulted in the same response. Early puppy training is now an integral part of all Institute dog training classes.
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Famous quotes containing the words early, puppy and/or education:
“The shift from the perception of the child as innocent to the perception of the child as competent has greatly increased the demands on contemporary children for maturity, for participating in competitive sports, for early academic achievement, and for protecting themselves against adults who might do them harm. While children might be able to cope with any one of those demands taken singly, taken together they often exceed children’s adaptive capacity.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“Why does not the kitten betray some of the attributes common to the adult puss? A puppy is but a dog, plus high spirits, and minus common sense. We never hear our friends say they love puppies, but cannot bear dogs. A kitten is a thing apart; and many people who lack the discriminating enthusiasm for cats, who regard these beautiful beasts with aversion and mistrust, are won over easily, and cajoled out of their prejudices, by the deceitful wiles of kittenhood.”
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“As long as learning is connected with earning, as long as certain jobs can only be reached through exams, so long must we take this examination system seriously. If another ladder to employment was contrived, much so-called education would disappear, and no one would be a penny the stupider.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)