In this episode, recorded on November 6th, I recap some of the weird moments having to do with pets and other animals in the run up to the election, from Peanut the Squirrel to Kristi Noem shooting her puppy, several stories about people eating dogs and beyond. But the apex of the weirdness came to me in in a speech where Carlson Tucker starts off talking about how American’s are too nice to dogs, and then devolves into talking about how those on the left need to be, well… spanked.
As a positive reinforcement trainer, I cannot help but reflect on the Trump’s win through the lens of animal behavior, as I’ve come to understanding it through working with dogs. This leads me to wonder what would happen if political governance wasn’t rooted in punishment? Is it possible that helping people to better understanding and applying positive reinforcement in dog training could have broader implications for society? Maybe? Maybe. Maybe if we all spent more time training, we’d at least spend less time doomscrolling…
This episode includes parts from the last two chapters of my new book, How To Train Your Dog With Love + Science, one about studies that have been done on spanking kids and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior’s recommendations on using punishment with dogs, and the other on BF Skinner’s suggestion for change people’s behavior on a societal level without force.
An audiobook version of the book has just been released from Tantor Press, narrated by Eunice Wong. If you’d like a review copy of the audiobook, I have a handful of download codes I can share to the first few people who email me to ask! Put audiobook in the subject.
Ruff timeline:
00:00 Reflecting on the Election Through a Behavioral Lens
00:52 Donald Trump's Childhood and Authoritarianism
02:01 Weird Moments in the Presidential Campaign
Note: I edited both the Carlson and Noem clips here for length but without changing the meaning. I felt that playing the clips in full was just too inhumane.
05:54 Tucker Carlson's “Daddy’s Home” Speech
07:05 The Role of Punishment in Behavior
08:19 Positive Reinforcement in Dog Training
11:28 The Importance of Good Dog Trainers
13:02 Book Excerpt
Links:
Boston Globe article I wrote about Romney and his dog in 2012
Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough
Youtube: Dog Bonking
Audio montage clips:
Kristi Noem reads from her book
"Daddy's Home, and He's Pissed": What Bad Dog Training Can Teach Us About Authoritarianism