Two thoughts I had going in. First, that deliberately giving control of those decisions to my dog feels good to me, but seems to go against a certain amount of general dog training advice. Second, I was pretty sure this would be a little overwhelming for Maya, especially at the beginning.
On the first issue, my motivation stems largely from a lack of satisfaction over certain elements of the relationship Maya and I share. I know a lot of people have strong feelings about dog-human relationships and how to characterize them -- are we pets and owners? companions and guardians? fur-children and faux-parents? teammates? partners? -- and I have my own preconceptions and preferences. Maya is her own person and also my property, she is my companion and perhaps someday my partner. But she isn't my partner now: we do not make decisions, or take action, equally.
For me, there's no issue with thinking of pets as property (in a very real sense, they are), but I don't think of my pets as my children. I realize that doing do is a way to encompass a very important idea about pets as dependent members of the family, and I don't have an issue with people who find the characterization apt. But thinking of dogs as children consigns them to a juvenile status that simply doesn't suit me; I want Maya to be an adult member of her own species, not a juvenile member of mine.
Maya is just on the cusp of adulthood, and hasn't quite crossed over yet. When I first got her, she was younger than I thought (the shelter said a year or more, the vet said about seven months old), and I knew almost nothing about dog development anyway. I was honestly unprepared for the sheer youth of the dog I was adopting, and she was completely unprepared for life among humans.
I needed Maya to accept my version of the world ("it is safe"), and could not listen to or give credence to hers ("everything is very dangerous, bark bark bark"). I deliberately stripped her of all decision-making abilities, narrowed her life down to predictable situations, and refused to listen to her when she got over-excited.
Her behavior improved, but I wasn't happy with where this put our relationship. I want her to grow up, and I want communication between us to be a two-way street. So, this winter, I decided to start giving her back control over her own life.
The question of whether Maya is capable of dealing with this remains open. I started by teaching a very simple cue (she stands or sits, quietly, and rests her head on the arm of my chair, or with her nose touching my elbow) for her to signal a need to go outside. It took about three seconds for Maya to realize she now had a way to signal "give me attention!!" She promptly started signaling for attention all the time. After some thought, I responded by getting up the first time and opening the back door, and then ignoring all subsequent attempts for about half an hour afterward. So far, I am not certain she is getting the message.
Then I taught her that she could give the same signal, followed by a sit with eye contact, to obtain dinner anytime after 6 pm (she was previously on a fixed 8am & 8pm meal schedule). Other than a few obvious attempts to signal for dinner at 6, 6:15, 6:30, and 6:45, that went a lot more smoothly. Maya is used to the routine of a single evening meal, so I don't think she was really expecting unlimited food access.
I know Maya enjoys the new signals, though she mis-uses them constantly...obviously, she has not read the same dog training books I have. I think we are slowly narrowing in on a precise meaning for each cue, and that she's figuring out how to maximize her rewards with each (signaling for dinner works just once, signaling to go outside works only occasionally). Because we're still ironing out the kinks, I'm not sure whether I've really given Maya more control over her life or just used my control to give her some new behavior options. Either way, I think we both enjoy the training game!
And this is Maya's face right before we went on a walk. The last words out of my mouth were, "Only good dogs get to go on this walk." Clearly, she is skeptical.
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