Level 2 - Week 2

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for a lovely class last night.

Could you please bring a long lasting chewie for your pups each week whilst they are on their mats. It's really important for your pups to learn how to be calm around other pups, and these chewies will really help. It'll also help with being able to hear what's going on :-)

This is Susan Garrett, a famous American Dog Trainer showing the 'On the mat' training. She calls is hotzone, because it can be used for lots of other training situations as well. We'll just start with Visitor Training for now. Please remember that we use "OKAY" as a release, not 'find'.

POPPING A BEHAVIOUR ON CUE

There is different ways of teaching a behaviour. In the next few weeks I will show you a couple that we will teach by using 'free shaping'. Most behaviours are easiest taught with a lure. This type of training simply involves using a food reward to guide the dog into the desired position or behaviour.

We have done this in class for the Sit, Down and Stand. Now, obviously we don't want to have a dog that will only perform those behaviours if we have a treat at their nose. So, we quickly need to get rid of the lure and introduce the cue. As soon as your pup performs the behaviour reliably, you start using the same hand movements as before, but there is no treat in the hand. You then mark the right behaviour with your YES and bring a treat out to reward. Your pup will learn there doesn't need to be a lure at its nose because the reward comes anyways. Once this behaviour is reliable you add the cue, so the word 'sit' or 'down' or 'stand' in this case. You say the cue before the routine of making the hand movement and then YES and reward. You repeat this until you see that your puppy starts going into the desired position without you doing the hand movement. You can now start raising your body in order to eventually stand up completely straight. Keep the routine up of saying the cue and showing the hand movement. We want the pup to know both as a cue, the verbal and the body language.

DO I HAVE TO KEEP GIVING MY PUPPY TREATS FOR EVERY TIME THEY DO AS I ASK THEM TO?

Treats are great to use when teaching a new behaviour! You want to start with a Continuous Reinforcement schedule which means EVERY TIME your pup responds correctly they get a reward. Once the behaviour is offered in a timely and consistent manner in response to the cue, you need to change the Reinforcement Schedule. Continuous reinforcement allows a high rate of reinforcers to be presented which keeps the pup highly interested and the frustration level low. Continuous reinforcement makes the newly learned behaviour resistant to change, however, if you continue to use the continuous reinforcement for too long, the behaviour will become less precise and timely. Therefore, we need to introduce a different reinforcement schedule once the pup is fluent in the behaviour (8 out of 10 correct responses). You can start rewarding just the best responses (criteria could be speed or preciseness for example), BUT you need to make sure your standards are right. Be aware that if you do not maintain a high enough rate of reinforcement for the majority of the time, the behaviour will cease to be offered by the dog. So, make sure to raise your standards slowly. Find out what your pup finds rewarding. At the end of the day, that doesn't just have to be treats. Toys are my favourite and I hope you work on getting your pup super duper keen. But pats and praise also cut it for some pups in certain situations. The higher the distractions, the higher value the reward needs to be. It is recommended to keep the reinforcement for the Recall, your 'COME' cue, incredibly high!

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT DISTRACTIONS

This video shows beautifully why we need to practise in easy environments first and very gradually make it harder. We can't go from our living room into a busy park and expect our dogs to be good. That is setting them and ourselves up to fail.

ADD DISTRACTION AND DIFFERENT SETTINGS

When you begin training your dog to do something new, you usually start off in an area that's fairly quiet with very low distraction. Once your dog is able to respond quickly to a command in this setting, it is time to add some distractions and new settings. Do this slowly, and work on adding one new thing at a time.

Let's look then at how you would proof a "down." Practice the down until your dog is able to respond to the down command fairly quickly. Then begin to slowly add new things. You can start by adding some distraction. Have another family member come into the room. Practice several times, and then turn on the television while you practice the down. Slowly add more distracting things to his environment, like other dogs, running children, and loud noises. Do all this while practicing the down.

Once your dog is able to lie down quickly on command with some distraction, begin practicing in different places, such as another room, the backyard, and the neighbor's house. Keep each training session to about 10 minutes, and stay upbeat. If your dog begins making mistakes, go back to the last time he was responding quickly to the command.

After you have practiced a behavior with different amounts of distraction and in a variety of locations, your dog should have a really good grasp of the behavior.

He should now be able to perform the behavior as well at the dog park as he does it in your living room. Once you've gotten to this point, the behavior is proofed!

Some broadly helpful tips for all training if your dog is struggling to keep up include:

  • Increase the value of their rewards so they have something exciting to spur them on
  • Practice consistently, yet at a pace your dog is happy with
  • Treat training like playtime – act bright, cheerful enthusiastic and offer plenty of encouragement at all times.

Here are some more specific tips for proofing that you could also try out:

  • Before moving to a new environment, practice the behavior in the environment your dog initially learned it. This will ensure that the cue and the behavior are at the forefront of their mind
  • When you do move to a new environment, lower the standard at which you expect the behavior to be performed at – offer praise and reward if they offer the correct behavior, regardless of sloppiness
  • Play attention games first to ensure your dog is in the right frame of mind and thinking fast.

Looking forward to seeing you next week.

Sit Happens