Joop Snijder/Dreamstime.com
LEAVE IT (or OFF)
GOAL: Our goal is to have a reliable command to guide our dogs in what they can and can’t put in their mouths.
WHY: We want to be able to keep our dogs safe from putting the wrong thing in their mouths, such as trash, other dogs, or US!
HOW:
1. Give your pup a few treats from your open hand.
2. Take a treat, keep it in your CLOSED FIST, and say the words “Leave it” or “Off”.
3. Wait for the pup to back away from your hand. At first the dog will lick, mouth, and fuss at your hand. DON’T GIVE IN! BE PATIENT. IT MAY TAKE A WHILE.
4. The minute the pup’s nose/mouth isn’t touching your hand, give your dog a different (and maybe better treat) from your other hand.
5. Repeat several times, gradually leading up to longer and longer “Leave it”s.
6. As your dog begins to understand the command, start asking your dog to “Look at me” and give the treat only when your dog is looking at your face (not the treat).
ADVANCED TRAINING:
1. When you have a VERY reliable response to the words “Leave it” when the treat is in your hand, try having the treat on the ground (where you can reach it faster than the dog) and saying “Leave it”.
2. If the dog goes for the treat, cover it quickly!
3. When the dog pulls away from the treat say, “Take it” and let the dog either have the treat or hand a better treat to the dog.
HINTS:
Always remember to say “Take it” whenever you give your dog something. Say “Take it” at dinnertime, treat time, and toy time, - anytime you want your dog to put something in his/her mouth.
Recall (come)
Joshua Rainey / Dreamstime.com
RECALL
GOAL: Our goal is for our dog to come to the front of our body and sit when we call its name followed by the word “Come”.
WHY: A reliable recall can save your dog’s life (to say nothing of making yours much easier). You can call your dog away from danger. You can take your dog to the park and be comfortable that you will leave, with your dog, when you want to.
HOW:
1. Begin indoors with no distractions.
2. Have your lure ready.
3. Call your dog’s name.
4. When s/he looks at you, lure your dog towards you by backing away from your dog in an animated manner while saying happy sound. DO NOT SAY “COME” yet. Praise the entire time your dog is moving towards you!
5. Just before your dog reaches you, and you are absolutely certain that your dog is actually coming to you, then say the word “COME” once!“
6. When your dog reaches you, feed you dog the treat against your body, not at arms length.
7. After your dog is used to coming very close to you then begin to lure him/her into a sit as s/he gets to you and touch her collar while you give him/her the treat and lots of praise.
8. Slowly build up distance and distractions by moving out to safe outdoor place.
· HINTS
Do not use your official recall command at any time when you cannot reinforce it.
Example: Fluffy is at the park. Fluffy has never, in its whole life, come to its owner at the park until Fluffy was good and ready. Fluffy’s owner calls Fluffy and Fluffy continues to play with Beelzebub-the-Thugdog. What has Fluffy learned? Fluffy has learned that the official recall command does not apply at the park.
Build up to the park. Start in the hallway on leash, then a light long-line, then to the backyard on leash, then a light long-line, then to the front yard on leash, then on a light long-line, then to the sidewalk, etc. The dog park is a long way down the road. NEVER PRACTICE OFF LEASH WHERE THERE IS ANY DANGER THAT YOUR DOG MIGHT GET HURT!!! Practice in fenced, safe areas.
Does this mean that you and your canine can’t go to dog park for the next year?
No, you can make your own decision about that, but it does mean that the word you use for “Come to me right now” needs to be a different word than the word your use for “Come to me even though the odds are a million to one that you will do so”.
Do not change the command “Come” into the oft-heard command “comecomecomecomeCOME”.
Never call your dog to you and then do ANYTHING even mildly unpleasant to it. If Fluffy needs a bath get up and get Fluffy. Do not call her to you and then wash her up. “Come” needs to be associated with wonderful goodies to be reliable and trusted by both you and your pet.
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GOAL: Our goal is to get our dogs to focus on a particular
point.
WHY: This is a wonderful way to control our dogs. Where a
dog looks is frequently where a dog follows. With a good targeting command you
can cause a successful “Heel” and “Recall”.
HOW: Choose an object on which you wish your dog to focus on
command. We will your hand. You could also use a stick, wooden spoon, or pen.
1. Have a treat ready in your right hand out of your dog’s
sight.
2. While your dog is standing, hold out your left hand with
two fingers extended slightly above your dog’s nose.
3. Your dog may immediately hit your fingers with its nose.
If so praise and give a treat.
4. If not, hold the treat behind your left hand as a lure
and when your dog hits your left hand fingers give the treat.
5. Repeat LOTS!
6. Increase distance with no distractions.
7. Increase distractions with no distance
8. Increase distance with distractions.
9. Repeat LOTS!!!!!
10. Add the concept of touch to objects. Use a pen, stick or
pointer in place of your fingers. If your dog is small you might even start
this way so you don’t have to get so low to the ground.
APPLICATIONS:
1. Your dog has your watch. Your show your left hand, your
dog runs to your hand and leaves the watch.
2. You’re teaching the recall: Lots of time is saved by
simply holding out your hand
3. You’re teaching heeling: Hold your hand at your left
side, palm side down, and your dog “auto-heels”.
4. Weave poles: your dog will follow your fingers or target
stick through the poles.
"© Sonya Etchison | Dreamstime.com"
GOAL: Our goal is for our dog to stay near us while we walk together.
WHY: It is annoying to walk with a pulling dog. It is harder to get the attention of a dog that is ahead of us.
DOG TALK:
Dogs pull because they can. They think they’re the leader (the BIG DOG) by being in front. This is not good. You need to be the BIG DOG; you need to control the walk. You have the bigger brain! The MAIN IDEA HERE IS: WHEN THE DOG PULLS IT DOESN’T GET ANYWHERE. It won’t take long for the dog to understand and stop pulling.
HOW:
1. Begin with no distractions.
2. Have a treats handy (in your right hand to start).
3. Use a 6-foot leather leash (leather won’t hurt your hands as nylon will).
4. Use a collar appropriate to your dog’s size, age, and temperament (ask Kate for help with this choice if you wish).
5. Put most of the leash in your right hand and grasp the leash close to the collar with your left hand. Your left hand will be the control. Try really hard not to wrap your hand up in the leash. You need to be more mobile than that allows
6. Most dogs respond with to a good combination of Method 1 and Method 2
METHOD #1 “BAITED TO YOUR SIDE”
In this exercise you will BAIT (coax) and pay your dog to walk at your left side.
1. Say dog’s name and “LET’S GO”, “CLOSE”
2. Use your left hand and waggle a treat near your dog’s nose. Bring the treat near your left side (be sure your hand is actually touching your leg). Allow the dog to have some, but not all of the treat.
3. Keep your left hand on the leash near the dog’s collar for control, but try very hard not to nag or drag.
4. Click and treat ONLY WHEN THE DOG IS BY YOUR SIDE!
5. Practice only a few steps at a time.
6. After you have your dog nibble/walking at your side, begin to bring your hand up near your shoulder for one step. Build SLOWLY to 5 steps. Build SLOWLY to half a block, then a whole block. Go back to baby steps when you add distractions.
It is unreasonable to ask your dog to walk at heel for an entire leisure walk. Your dog would like to sniff, pee and enjoy his walk. Method 2 is for that looser kind of walk.
METHOD #2 “BE A ROCK”
1. Say dog’s name and “LET’S GO”.
2. If the dog is at your left side, praise and give a bit of the treat on your left side near your left leg.
3. The minute your dog pulls, stand utterly still holding the leash close to your body.
4. As soon as your dog ceases to pull, take a step ahead. Don’t talk!
5. The minute your dog pulls, stand still again.
6. If your dog actually comes back to your side THROW A PARTY! Let the dog know how pleased you are, give treats, chest rubs, toy throws.
Be quiet while doing this (except for the party part). Let your dog figure this out without distractions.
PRACTICE: Every time you go for a walk; the minute the dog pulls STOP! If you truly do this EVERY SINGLE TIME your dog pulls you’ll only have to do it for a week or two. If you allow your dog to pull successfully occasionally then you may very well be standing still for a very long time.
REMEMBER: Treat and praise when your dog is at your side. BAIT your dog to your side!
The most important idea is: DO NOT LET YOUR DOG GET WHAT IT WANTS BY PULLING. Letting the dog get ahead by pulling only trains it to pull. The dog doesn’t get to pull you to a tree, car, or other dogs. It is just not acceptable.
PULLING = STOP.
Greetings
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GOAL: Our goal is for our dog to greet us, and others, with all four of his/her paws on the ground.
WHY: A dog that leaps onto you can ruin clothes, knock over some folks, and occasionally be perceived as dangerous.
Method one:
HOW: Teach your dog to sit/stay (refer to week one and two) no matter what the distraction.
A sitting dog cannot be a jumping dog.
PRACTICE:
1. Have your dog greet a variety of people and other dogs while sitting. Be sure that he/she only gets attention when s/he is sitting. The guest should ignore the dog when it breaks its sit and wait until the dog is sitting to pay any attention to it.
2. Put the dog in its crate in a quiet place anytime you cannot ask guest to participate in this training. Remember that anytime a dog gets what it wants by jumping (interaction) it is being TRAINED TO JUMP.
3. If you are on a walk and some one wishes to greet your pup and you don’t want to explain the above technique to this person just ask you dog to sit then HOLD your dog in that sit while the stranger greets the puppy.
4. If your dog is shy the sit can give the dog some comfort because your dog will know what is safe. You might ask the stranger to give your pup a treat. If your dog is extremely shy you might ask the stranger to avoid looking into your dog’s face as the greeting is given.
Method two:
You’re coming home from work. There’s no one to hold a leash to control your pet.
What do you do?
HOW: Have a treat ready but out of sight.
1. Come inside.
2. Let dog out of his/her crate (Of course you all have a crate right? It’s The dog version of a Winnebago,)
3. Ask the dog to sit.
4. If the dog does sit then greet the dog and give a treat.
5. If the dog jumps up, block the dog with your body keeping your hands out of sight (in pocket, behind back etc.) or turn your side towards the dog.
6. When the dog does sits THEN greet the dog.
If your dog is loose in your house when you come home, open the door and ask the dog to sit. If the dog doesn’t sit simply close the door for a minute. Try again. Greet the dog only when it sits. Ignore it when it is bouncing around.
PRACTICE: Have your dog greet a variety of people, making sure the only time the dog gets any attention is when the dog has all four paws on the ground.
HINT: These methods will work only if you praise when the dog does not jump up. If you scold lots and forget to praise then you are paying attention to the dog at the wrong time and the dog will not learn what you want it to learn (it will learn that one guaranteed way to get your attention is to jump up).
"© Anke Van Wyk | Dreamstime.com"
Even if you take your dog to a professional groomer for baths and trimming you still need to brush him/her regularly and to be able to handle all parts of your dog. This also a nice time to bond with your dog.
The following exercises are designed to make life easier for you and your dog as well as easier for veterinarians and groomers everywhere.
1. BRUSH YOUR PUPPY just a little bit every day. If your puppy fusses give a food treat while you brush with one hand. Work up to being able to touch every part of your dog’s body.
2. BRUSH YOUR PUPPY’S TEETH just a little bit every day. Use a dog “finger brush” or just a soft human brush. Your dog’s teeth will last much longer and be much healthier. If you want to use a toothpaste, use a dog toothpaste (human tooth paste foams more than Tide in a dog’s mouth). Praise and treat while you’re brushing. Work up to longer sessions. Consult your veterinarian as to when you should have your dog’s teeth cleaned. Just like humans, your dog’s overall health can be affected by tooth health.
3. HANDLE YOUR PUPPY’S FEET every day. Dogs are very protective of their feet and, without proper training, will strongly object to having their feet handled. Even if you never plan to clip a toenail you need to do this exercise as stones and stickers are just waiting to bug your pup. Hold a paw while you give a treat. Clip a nail while you give a treat. This is best done with two people initially but if you’ve run out of friends (this typically happens to puppy owners after about 3 months) you can smear a bit of peanut butter or cheese whiz on a slick surface (refrigerator works well) and your puppy will be distracted by that as you fiddle with the paws.
4. PRACTICE WITH “FAKE “ NAIL TRIMS. Many of us feel fear when trimming nails. If you can’t bring yourself to actually remove any nail, just clip the air near your puppy’s feet. The “quick” recedes as nails are slowly trimmed to be in line with the pads. Dogs whose nails go a long time between trimmings will bleed and be sore because their quick has extended along with their long nails. Trim just a little bit every week and there is little danger of yipping and bleeding. On pink nails you can see much better but with practice you can trim even black nails with confidence.
HANDLE YOUR PUPPY’S EARS every day. Pick up an earflap and give a cookie. Gently stick your finger in your puppy’s ear and give a cookie. It is very important to get your dog used to having its ears invaded before that first ear infection strikes (and it will strike).
Biting and Chewing
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Dogs bite. Puppies bite lots.
The program outlined below is for puppies. Adult dogs that mouth inappropriately need a more personalized program.
GOAL: Our goal is to have an adult dog that is unlikely to ever bite a human.
HOW: When playing with your puppy be aware of her/his biting. When you experience any pain, YIP loudly, get up and ignore the pup. Return soon for more play.
1. Play
2. Any pain - YIP and remove yourself
3. Play
As the dog grows older, begin yipping at the slightest pressure, then cease play.
As this begins to sink in, meaning your puppy begins to think: “Good heavens, these human are delicate critters”, you should start to see gentler mouthing and less chewing of your flesh. You can now give it a name (a command), and only allow the dog to put his mouth on you on command. This is a ways down the road.
Remember that dogs must chew! Giving good, tough, safe chew toys is essential. You can trade your sock (“wrong, off”) for a chew toy (“take it, good take it”). Be sure to ask for a positive behavior (sit, down) in-between the “bad chewing” and the giving of a toy.
Any time you see, or feel, inappropriate chewing, give a gentle correction, ask for a sit or down and substitute a chew toy. Remember, Fido can’t tell the difference between the old shoe that you don’t care about, and the new ones that Nordstrom just delivered. Give him DOG TOYS, not old shoes, sock, or human toys. HINTS: There are several products on the market to deter animals from chewing chosen objects. Many of them work, some work for some and not for others. I personally use Tiger Balm for the “chew-this-and-you-will-die” objects (electric cords in particular). I don’t think it’s the healthiest deterrent but electrocution is rather unhealthy as well.
Crate training
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CRATE: A crate is a chew-proof, safe place to keep your puppy/dog.
It helps:
· to control chewing
· to keep your pup calm
· to house-train your pup
COMMON OBJECTIONS:
It’s cruel.
No, it’s not. A puppy needs the security that a small, dark space can provide. Chewing, barking, and digging are all stress behaviors. In the wild, the adult dogs keep the puppies in their den (crate) except for structured, supervised play/exercise sessions.
HOW:
1. Start by feeding the pup in the crate at meal times. Leave the door open.
2. Occasionally toss a treat into the crate. Shut the door for just a moment. LET THE PUP OUT BEFORE S/HE WHINES OR BARKS!
3. As the pup becomes more comfortable, shut the door for longer periods of time. Give a treat just as you shut the door.
4. Build up time. Try covering all openings with a towel. When the puppy whines or fusses, ignore it. Let the pup out only when s/he is quiet.
Puppies can only tolerate an hour or so at a time at first. Most dogs and puppies can make it all night after the first few weeks. During the day your dog should be crate for no more than 4 hours at a time if at all possible.
DO’s and DON’TS:
§ Do get the puppy some good play exercise before crate time.
§ Do pick the pup up and place it in the crate.
§ Do give the puppy some boring time to pee before crate time.
§ Do let the dog out when it is quiet
§ Do not call the dog and then put it in the crate.
§ Do not let the dog out while it is making noise.
§ . Do not ask the dog to stay in a crate 8 hours solid while you’re at work. That is cruel. If you must be gone long time periods, ask some one to come let her/him out to pee and play. S/he can stay 8 hours at night when all is quiet and every one is sleeping.
HINT: Place a stuffed “Kong” in the crate with the dog for a fine chewing distraction.
House training
Willeecole / Dreamstime.com
HOUSE TRAINING (A.K.A. “PEE HERE, NOT THERE”)
GOAL: Our
goal is to never have to wipe up dog urine or poop in the house.
HOW:
Rephrase the statement: “I don’t want the dog to pee or poop in the house” to:
“I want the dog to pee and poop outside” and even better “I want the dog to pee
and poop outside right here on this specific area”.
Pick out the perfect puppy pee and poop area (from here on
known as the PP&P spot). Chose somewhere close enough to a door so it
may be gotten to quickly. Make it somewhere easy to clean (grass or
gravel is good). A cement pad is a little confusing for the pup; paper is
a poor choice, unless you really want your dog to pee on newspapers (and
reports and letters and drawings, etc.) the rest of her/his life.
EVERY SINGLE TIME YOUR PUP WAKES UP (every single time,
every time, yup, every time) pick her/him up, grab a treat, and RUN to the
PP&P spot.
Put the pup down at the PP&P spot and wait.
Wait.
Keep waiting.
When the anticipated event happens, give a “cue” (“do your
business”, “go pee”, whatever), and give quiet praise. Give the treat
with lots of praise upon completion. WHEE! SUCCESS!
ACCIDENTS:
Accidents happen but you, gentle human,
should have been paying better attention to your bit of fur.
If you catch
Fido in the act, make a loud startling noise (shock those little muscles into
stopping), grab pup and treats, and race to the PP&P spot. If you find out
after the fact, give yourself a little shake, put the pup out of sight, and
clean it up well. Scolding the dog after the fact does NO GOOD AT ALL, except
perhaps teaches the dog to pee behind the couch where you never notice.
"© Nicole Weiss | Dreamstime.com"
GOAL: Upon hearing the word “Sit” once, your dog will put its rump on the ground until you give a release word.
WHY: A sitting dog can’t run into traffic. A dog can’t sit and jump up at the same time. A good solid response to the word “sit” is the basic building block for many future behaviors.
HOW:
1. Have a small treat in your hand.
2. Slowly place your hand holding the treat near your dog’s nose.
3. Slowly raise your hand thereby leading your dog’s nose up. This will usually guide the dog to sit. Do not press on the dog’s rump.
4. Give your dog that treat and praise only when your dog actually is sitting quietly.
5. Wait a brief moment, then release your dog using your release word. Remember to have your dog looking at you when you give your release word.
6. Repeat these actions several times. When you’re certain the dog will sit with this hand signal, go to step 6.
7. Now add the dog’s name and the command “sit”. Remember to always release your dog using your release word after your dog has sat.
8. As your dog fully understands the command “Sit” (a week or two) begin to fade the food. Do this by putting the food in your left hand. Signal “Sit” with your right hand (with no food). When your dog sits, give your reinforcement word and pop the treat into your dog’s mouth with your left hand.
PROBLEM SOLVING:
Your dog won’t sit.
Check to be sure that you are keeping your treat interesting enough (waggle it a bit) and that you’re holding the treat high enough.
Your dog jumps up.
You may be holding your treat too high. Keep the treat closer to the dog’s nose height.
Your dog sits and then stands up.
Give the treat in tiny nibbles until the dog is released. Give lots of praise while the dog is sitting. Be very sure to always use a release word.
HINTS:
Praise while your dog is sitting.
Always give a release command.
REMEMBER:
Visual trumps audio. If you’re having a hard time with your dog not hearing you, add the hand signal.
PRACTICE: having your dog sit to say “please”.
Sitting as dinner is served = “Please give me my dinner.”
Sitting before being petted = “Please pet me.”
Sitting at the doorway = “Please, let’s go out.
”Avoid changing the command to the often heard “sitsitsitsitsitSIT” or “sssssssssit”.
Down
© Davide Fiorenzo De Conti | Dreamstime.com"
GOAL: Our goal is to have our dogs place their whole bodies on the ground when given the command “down” and to stay there until given a release word.
WHY: The “Down” is a very stable position for a dog to remain in for a long period of time. With a reliable “Down” we can sit with our dogs at our feet and watch TV or read in peace (a laudable goal). Reliable “Down” is one of the building blocks for many future behaviors.
HOW:
1. Have a small treat in your hand. Have the dog standing with his/her side toward you.
2. Slowly place your hand holding the treat near your dog’s nose. Move your hand down to the floor luring your dog’s nose, and eventually the dog’s whole body, will follow.
3. If your dog began from a standing position, bring the treat to the floor slightly back and between the dog’s front legs.
4. Give the dog the treat and praise only when s/he is actually down.
5. Repeat these actions several times, and then add the dog’s name and the command “down”. Release your dog, using your release word, after the dog has completed the down.
Strive to get your dog to “down” from a stand so your dog doesn’t have to sit before lying down. This will also help your dog understand the difference between “Sit” and “Down”. If, however, your dog began from a sitting position, bring the treat to the floor between the dog’s front legs and then slide the treat forward away from the dog until s/he is down.
PROBLEM SOLVING:
Your dog won’t go into the down position.
Try sitting on the floor with one knee bent off the ground. Lure your dog under your leg so that your dog has to lie down and crawl under your leg to get to the treat. Give the treat and praise when the dog does actually lie down.
You can also use a piece of furniture to be the “low bridge” if that is more convenient or comfortable.
Your dog bounces up after lying down briefly.
Give the treat in tiny nibbles until the dog is released. Give lots of praise while the dog is down. Be very sure to always use a release word.
HINTS:
Praise while your dog is in the down position. Always give a release command, Practice in a variety of environments.
Stay
If you have been a properly attentive human and consistently used a release command with your dog this exercise is almost redundant.
GOAL: Our goal is to keep our dog in a body position or place until it is released.
WHY: This behavior is the basis for future behavior. It increases the safety of our pet if it will stay in place while sitting at corners or meeting others.
HOW:
1. Sit your dog. Use a food lure if needed.
2. Give a clear hand signal with your palm open near, but not on, your dog’s nose (similar to the universal “Stop” signal) and say the word “Stay” clearly and friendly. Keep your left hand holding the leash a bit behind the dog so that you can keep the dog in the sit position. Gently praise while the dog is sitting. Give treats intermittently and praise. As your dog grows to understand the command you can add time between the treats.
3. Release your dog and IGNORE IT. I believe the attention should come while the dog is in position and not afterward.
4. Repeat LOTS!
5. Resist the temptation to rush going away from your dog and calling it to you. You can end up with a very unreliable sit and having to scold your dog for coming to you. Bad, Bad human.
Phase 2. Adding movement and position changes.
1. Sit your dog at your left side. Use a food lure in your left hand next to your left leg if needed.
2. Rotate in front of your dog in a toe-to-toe position. Give treats intermittently and praise.
3. Rotate back to your dog’s side, and give a treat and praise if the dog remained in position.
4. Release your dog and IGNORE IT.
5. Slowly build up distractions.
Phase 3. Adding distance and more distractions.
1 Sit your dog.
2. Give the stay command with the hand signal.
3. Walk away from your dog.
4. Come back and give a treat.
5. Wait a few counts, then release.
6. Don’t go very far. Lay a strong foundation before you add any distractions or distance you can follow the above method with some obvious modification for the “Down”.
PROBLEM SOLVING:
Dog sits and then stands up.
Let the dog nibble one treat from your hand during the “stay”. Do not give the whole treat all at once. Build up time between nibbles.
Dog downs during sit stay.
Gently jolly him/her back up into the sit position. Be aware that some dogs are doing this out of submission if they get too stressed or think you are angry. Check your tone of voice and body position if you suspect this is the case.
Dog creeps towards you.
You’ve gone a bit too far a bit too fast. Go back to toe-to-toe. Be sure to place the dog back where /she started.
"© Olena Adamenko | Dreamstime.com"
GOAL: Our goal is to be able to have your dog go to a spot, lie down, and stay there.
HOW:
This task uses shaping as the instruction technique. We set the scene so the dog does what we want. The moment the dog goes in the correct direction (initially, any step in the correct direction will earn reward) the dog gets a bridge sound (yes, good, c lick) and a treat.
1. Lay a towel down on the floor infront of you. Have your dog on a leash with you. Have a pocket full of treats.
2. Stare very dramatically at the center of the towel. DO NOT TALK
3. The second the dog moves toward the towel click and toss a treat onto the towel. (This is really important. We want the towel to be rewarding so the treat needs to be on the towel)
4. Lead the dog off the towel and repeat steps 2 and 3.
5. Raise the criteria very slowly. Start with requiring a paw on the towel building to a sit on the towel and finally a down on the towel. This may take several days.
6. Now pick the towel up and flop it down. Your dog should run to the towel and flop down.
POSITION VARIATIONS
Put the towel at your side. Does your dog go to it? The dog may have been going to the front of you out of habit, not targeting to the towel. If this is so repeat steps 2 and 3 but with the towel at your side.
Move the towel around the space. You will know your dog really understands when the dog runs to the towel no matter where it is placed.
ADD A CUE: When you are positive the dog will go to the towel: Say “Towel” or “Bed” (or cue of your choice) as you flop the towel onto the ground.
STAYING ON THE TOWEL: continue to dribble treats onto the towel as along as the dog stays on the towel. Ignore the dog when s/he gets off the towel. Pay lots of attention when the dog is on the towel. Increase distractions slowly.
STAND
Goal:
Our goal is
to have our dog stand still on all fours when given the command “Stand until we
give our release word.”
WHY: The
“Stand” command is very helpful during veterinarian examinations. It is a
useful command if you need to examine your dogs feet, place a backpack on your
dog, or even apply a Halloween costume (you don’t have a Halloween costume for
your dog?!).
HOW:
1.
Waggle a treat in front of your dog at your
dog’s nose level.
2.
Say the word “Stand” and move the treat forward
a bit until your dog is standing.
3.
Say “Good” (Click/treat) and let the dog nibble
the treat.
4.
Give the dog the rest of the treat and release
the dog.
5.
Repeat.
Wait until
your dog REALLY understands all the previous commands (sit, down) before you introduce
this command.
PROBLEM
SOLVING:
Your dog
sits instead of stands.
Try holding
the treat a little lower so that the dog’s nose isn’t tipped up at all.
Your dog
stands at first then sits or downs
Try placing
your hand under your dog’s chest and stomach and gently stroking. Be certain
that you aren’t looming over the dog.
LEARNING THEORY
Basic Learning Theory
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OH NO! IT’S LEARNING THEORY!
I’m sorry but it’s true. To be really good in this class you probably do need to know just a bit of the Learning Theory that we are going to use. The most important concept is:
Behavior is governed by its consequences.
Some of the terms that are helpful to know are below.
When we use the word Punishment we mean: Decreases Behavior
Positive Punishment (+P): Involves applying an unpleasant stimulus in order to decrease the likelihood of a behavior. Example: dog barks, you spray water at her, barking (probably) stops
Negative Punishment (-P): involves removing a pleasant stimulus in order to decrease behavior, Example: puppy nips, you get up and leave, puppy learns that it looses its fun thing if it bites it.
When we use the word Reinforcement we mean: Increases the Behavior
Positive Reinforcement (+R): involves applying a pleasant consequence after a desired behavior in order to increase behavior. Example: your dog is sitting next to you, you praise it, and it is more likely to sit next to you in the future.
Negative Reinforcement (-R): involves removing something unpleasant when a desired behavior occurs in order to increase behavior. Example: you pinch a dog’s ear until the dog sits (ick and yes people do this). .
Positive in this context means to add something: Food, slap, praise, correction. Negative in this context means to take something away: Food, slap, praise, correction.
Reinforcement should increase a behavior, Punishment is meant to decrease a behavior.
Add
Remove
Pleasant
+R
-P
Unpleasant
+P
-R
In this class we will use mostly Positive Reinforcement. Occasionally will we use Negative Punishment (usually in the form of removing either attention or food.)
Operant conditioning (OC): Focuses on the consequences as the controlling factor of behavior. The dog operates on the environment and certain consequences occur. The kind of consequence (pleasant or unpleasant) determines how likely it is that the behavior will be repeated. Example: you go to work and your boss yells at you each time you suggest a new idea. This would decrease the behavior of suggesting (and possibly even thinking of them).
If on the other hand, you were given a $20.00 bill every time you suggested something new, you would probably suggest new ideas much more often. The consequences have influenced your future behavior.
Primary reinforcer: Something that is intrinsically rewarding to the dog. For most dogs it is food, but sometimes a toy or chase might be “The Thing”
Conditioned (secondary) reinforcer (CR): This is something that signals the arrival of the Primary reinforcer. We will try to pair these two closely and often enough that our dogs will respond to the CR as if it were the OC. We will do this thru Click and treat. An excellent example of a CR for humans is MONEY. It has no value at all as food, but it can BUY food. (And lots of goodies) The conditioned reinforcer must occur AFTER the behavior for the conditioned reinforcer to be relevant. This is why you never pay the building contractor all the money until the remodel is FINISHED.
Click and Treat: We will make a pinpoint sound and then give a treat. The sound is an “Event Marker” so that the dog knows exactly what it did to get the food. We will have to “condition” this reinforcer so that it has meaning. We will do this by clicking and treating until our dogs show us the click is important to the dog.
Luring: something the dog will follow, often smelly food. A lure could also be thought of as “Bait” or even a bribe. Luring can be a short cut to teaching a behavior. It can also be a difficult crutch to abandon. It is easier to get rid of the bribe if you make sure that your LURE is different from your REWARD. Lure with liver, reward with chicken.
Shaping: This is a way to mold a behavior. You reward steps bit by bit until you get the end result that you want. This way of teaching may take a bit longer but the behavior tends to be more solid and encourages the dog to figure it out.
Praise is a word or sound that tells your dog it is doing something right. To be most effective in training it should be a consistent sound or word. Pairing this sound with a food treat makes it that much clearer to the dog. It also makes it much easier to wean the dog off food treats later.
Pairing food and word: (aka “charging up the word”)
1. Pick a one syllable word. (Good, Whee, Wow, Mazel or tov but not Mazeltov)
2 Get a handful of treats.
3. Have your dog in front of you.
4. Say the chosen word.
5. Give the treat.
6. Repeat until you run out of treats.
How does this work in training a behavior?
1. Say the word "Sit".
2. The minute the dog sits say your chosen word.
3. For now, produce the treat at the same time or shortly after saying the word. Further along in training you can space the treats out further and give the occasional jackpot for the best sit.
Corrections
Rather than always correcting a dog we should try to reinforce the best behavior and train that behavior in.
Example: If your dog jumps up on people, train in a strong sit rather than punishing for jumping up. Pay attention to the dog when it sits.
Corrections are inappropriate in training until the dog completely understands the meaning of a command and even then should be avoided if at all possible. Even then they should be used very sparingly. When you do need to correct a dog use a sharp "Grrr" or "Ehhrr" rather than the word "no" which your puppy very likely has learned to ignore.
Everyday life
Ok, so even the best dog has to be corrected sometime. Here are some basic guidelines:
1. Never hit your dog with any part of your body. Never, really, never.
2. Never call your dog to you and then punish it. You destroy your recall by doing this.
3. Never use your dog’s name as a curse.
4. Try to develop corrections that appear to your dog as if the environment corrected him and that you had NOTHING to do with it.
Example:
Sumo the Akita really loves the trash can. Sumo’s owners took three juice cans, taped several pennies in the cans, rubbed the cans with Tiger Balm (Sumo puts everything in his mouth), and then taped a long thread on each can.
Without Sumo seeing them, Sumo’s owners balanced the cans above the trash and taped the thread to some tasty trash tidbits, and then to the trash can top.
Sumo trotted to the trash can, stuck his big old head in there and, as far as Sumo could determine, the sky fell on him. Mom gave a lot of sympathy making this an even more tragic incident in Sumo’s doggie mind. When Sumo went to investigate the juice cans Mom pretended to be terrified and kept Sumo away from the cans.
Most importantly, Sumo’s parents were very careful to never let Sumo see them set up or clean up the can booby trap.
This method can work on couches, doorways, tops of fences, etc...
1. Set up the trap out of sight of the dog.
2. When the trap is sprung, pretend to be just a startled as the dog (this usually isn’t hard as the noise IS pretty startling).
3. Try not to spring the trap on yourself. (Yeah, sure you won’t.)
4. Put the dog out of earshot, or eyesight, to clean up the trap.
Use that larger brain of yours and those outstanding opposable thumbs to develop ways to structure your dog’s environment so that bad habits are either corrected or, better yet, are never even begun.
Luring Behavior
This class is based on “Luring“ your dog into the correct behavior and “Rewarding” your dog when it responds to commands correctly.
What is a lure?
A lure is any physical object that your dog likes, and is easily moved, to guide your dog in the first stages of training. Some lures might be: a squeaky toy, a piece of hot dog, a favorite ball.
What is a reward?
A reward is something given to a dog as pay for responding properly to a command. The reward should not be the object you used as a lure except in the very first stages of teaching a behavior the reward should be out of sight and be given on an intermittent reward schedule (think slot-machine jackpot). A reward could be: a piece of hot dog brought from a pocket, playing with another friendly dog, being allowed to sniff a tree.
Why do we use lures and rewards? Because it works!
Yes, you can train a dog without lures or rewards but it takes more time and is considerably less fun. You don’t work very hard without a paycheck and your dog needs to be paid too!
Phasing out lures.
Begin to phase out the lures and introduce a variable reward schedule once your dog appears to understand thoroughly the command in a variety of environments. A variable reward schedule is not giving a treat for every behavior. Up your criteria for well-learned behaviors. Remember to think of yourself as a slot machine!Give rewards on an intermittent basis and reward BIG for the best, quickest response.
BASIC STEPS IN LURING A BEHAVIOR
1. Establish an association between a word and a treat.
Repeat the word while delivering treats. You need to do this until your dog reliably responds to the word. “Good”, or “Yes”, or click = cookie coming! This creates a “bridge” of time between the behavior and the treat delivery. The word or sound must be quick and short.
2. Use a lure (food, toy) to manipulate the dog into a behavior.
Your hand movement will evolve into a hand signal for the behavior. You can add the word for the behavior now or wait until the hand signal causes the response (it’s best to wait so you are only teaching one thing at a time). Say the command ONCE! Repeating the word encourages your dog to ignore the command the first time.
3. Use your word or click to mark the moment when the dog has performed the behavior correctly.
Say “Yes” or click when the dog is in position and deliver the treat. Timing is crucial. Be sure that the dog is in position when you make the noise.
4. Release the dog while the dog is looking at you.
Say “Free dog” (or the release of your choice) while your dog is looking at you. You want your dog to look to you for release rather than be rewarded for not paying attention to you.
5. Change the reward to be different from the lure.
Begin to lure with a treat that is different from your lure. You could lure with a toy and reward with food. You could lure with Pupperoni and reward with liver.
6. Add distractions duration, and distance slowly.
Practice in quiet places at first. Practice while being close to your dog. Slowly build to greater distractions and to greater distance. Add distance, duration, and distractions in separate training sessions. Wait for the dog to perform well in these separate instances before you begin to add two D’s together.
7. Raise your criteria for a treat. Be a slot machine.
After the behavior is well learned begin to reward for only the best or fastest response. Occasionally reward lavishly! This time period changes according to behavior, distractions and distance.
You may not know it but you are now a member of a pack! More than that, you are LEADER OF THE PACK!
Dogs are pack animals and, if left to themselves, would live in social groups with a clear leader at the head. When there is no apparent leader your dog will take that leader position. A dog who thinks s/he is the pack leader will be pushy, a misfit in our urban society, and may even evolve into an aggressive individual.
A dog that has been forced into the leader role is also stressed and unhappy. It is as if you elected a four-year-old child as president (no political slur intended). Eventually no one is happy.
So, how can you avoid this scenario? By being a leader. You can try to tell your dog this: “Bob, I’ve seen the errors of my ways and I’ll take the leader role now”, which will only get you a tipped head now and a growl the next time you push him off the couch.
You need to show your dog that you are the leader in subtle ways by structuring his/her environment so that s/he recognizes your leadership frequently. With a puppy there is seldom much confrontation, but go slowly with an older dog that has some doubts about turning over the reins of power.
Leaders control resources such as:
· Food
· Water
· Toys
· Affection
Food
Feed your puppy for 10-15 minutes at each mealtime. Put the bowl away in between feedings. Feed your dog after your dog has seen you eat your meal (or even pretend to eat your meal). Hand feed your puppy occasionally. Put the bowl in your lap and hand a few kibbles to your puppy. Ask for “Sits” and “Downs”. This is particularly important for the inattentive puppy.
Water
Keep clean water available to your puppy most of the time, but ask your puppy to sit when you put the fresh water down.
Toys
Keep your puppy’s toys in an out of puppy-reach place. Produce them one at a time. Ask for a “Sit” or a “Down” before you give a toy to your puppy. You, the human, need to start and stop all games. If your puppy wants to play, ask for a “Sit” or some other behavior, and then play.
Affection
When your puppy shows that s/he wants affection (noses your hand, etc.) ask for a “Sit” or a “Down” before petting.
Handling
Handle your puppy daily. Make it a pleasurable experience for your dog by feeding it treats while you fiddle with your puppy’s paws, ears, muzzle and mouth.
Nothing is for free
Before any doggie-pleasurable activity ask for a “Sit”, “Down” or other behavior for which you have trained.
“Sit” before getting into the car.
“Down” before playing games with you.
“Sit” before putting on a leash.
“Sit” before you go out the door. This program will gently convince your puppy that you are the pack leader. This will keep your puppy secure and eliminate many behavior problems, making it easier to train your puppy, and more pleasant to live with your puppy.
