• This casual Q&A is free and open to anyone.
• Bring your friendly dog, or come stag.
• Event is from 1:00pm to 3:00pm
• There’s no “question cap” so bring as many questions as you’ve got!
• Local animal professionals are welcome to stop by and meet & greet or catch up.
• Receive a $10 off training coupon for participating.

I’m adding the finishing touches on my seminar for this Saturday, “Practical Solutions for Practical People.”  And as I created this presentation I remember all the clients I have helped over the years and even milestones I have overcome with my own dogs.  It’s pretty cool to share this information with a roomful of people.  (You can register for our seminars HERE.)  It makes me realize reinforcement is in the eye of the beholder.  You see, I actually like public speaking.  I look forward to it.  I feel all giddy and think, “this information could touch the lives of so many people and help so many dogs!”  And the simple fact of getting positive reinforcement training methods to the public that can solve so many common problems just makes me smile. I look forward to seeing you on Saturday, and I’d love to hear any comments.

So how does clicker training work?  Unfortunately, just because it has a button doesn’t mean it’s a “good dog” remote control.  (And FYI, holding it out pointing it at your dog is rude.)  The sound the clicker makes is the important part.  The sound of the click is a precise, clear, pin point communication that translates in the dog’s brain “reward!”  When a dog hears the click, the dog literally hears, “That’s It!  You just did the thing I want and now I am going to reward you!”  So chances are the dog will want to repeat what he just did.  A little hand eye coordination is all it takes to click exactly what you want and train just about anything.

Take a moment and play this capture the sheep game.  Go ahead, I’ll wait…

So how did you do?  Bobbing bobcat?  Sluggish snail?  Turbo-charged cheetah?  It’s a great way to measure your reaction time.  And trust me, if you can play this game, at any level, you can time a clicker with no worries.

First thing to do is to load the clicker.  Then decide on something you want to teach your dog.  Here is an example of using the clicker to train a dog with a jumping problem.

See “Don’t Jump, It Won’t Work” directly on YouTube HERE

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWJ7nl3mTno[/youtube]

Casey owns Rewarding Behaviors Dog Training in Endicott, New York.  Casey specializes in helping dogs and their people live more joyfully together, teaching schools, communities and professionals to live safely and responsibly with their canine residents, and instructing pet professionals on ways to grow their business through a better understanding of their two and four-legged clients.  Casey is an award-winning published author on the topic of dog training, and has contributed articles and other behavior and training content for www.clickertraining.com (Karen Pryor Clicker Training), www.dogster.com, www.catster.com, www.dogstardaily.com, www.petexpertise.com The APDT Chronicle of the Dog, and Tails Pet Media Group.  Casey is also the 2009 winner of the Association of Pet Dog Trainer’s Dogwise John Fisher essay contest.

For one week I will be discussing barking issues on her forum.  Why dogs do it, how to live with or without it, how people accidentally increase it, teaching a “quiet” cue, and personal Q&As.  You’ll want to sign up for this!

Click HERE to go to Rewarding Behaviors Dog Training forum and the barking discussion.

So why do people hurt their dog in the name of training?  Look up the Milgram Experiment. Obedience to authority figures, even if their advice conflicts with your conscience is (strangely enough) usually followed.  In the 1960s Stanley Milgram conducted a series of social psychology experiments at Yale University.  These were marketed as a memory experiment.  People would sign up and were randomly selected as the teacher or the learner.  Little did they know it was rigged and they were always selected as a teacher and the learner was a paid actor.  The electric shock the learner received for each wrong answer was also fake.  (If you are interested in watching some original footage scroll to the bottom of this post or click here.)  Believe it or not, an average of 60% – 65% of people administered the final shock.

So don’t beat yourself up if you’ve given your dog a leash correction or slapped on an electric shock collar because the animal professional told you to.  Know you have the power to say no.  You need to speak up for your dog, because he can’t (well actually dog’s are quite clear when they “speak up.”  It’s called aggression).  If it seems wrong, don’t do it.  Move forward.  Change methods. Many trainers that I know are “crossover” trainers.  Meaning they crossed over from the dark side of training into the positive style.  The method of training WILL affect your relationship between you and your dog.  So even if the animal professional says to (insert punishment of choice here), say no.  Know this: you never “have to.”  There are always many options to get to a final result.  That’s a cop out for the lack of intelligence to modify behavior.  Whether you realize it or not, whenever something decreases, something else increases and vice versa.  Dogs don’t get out the human handbook flip the page and read, “Human wants you to sit for attention.  Jumping won’t work.”  So why not just heavily reward what you want until it’s second nature.  It’s far less guess work for the dog, and the bad behavior will fade in time naturally.

Just say no to punishment.  Use positive reinforcement training methods.  Because I said so.

[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2836209818734920853[/googlevideo]

1. Remember you are watching television. That means, at the very least, that you’re not seeing training and results in real time. Any ill responses can be edited out. What looks in the program like it took mere minutes may actually have been edited down from hours of real time. Events may even be shown in an order other than what occurred in real life. Some of this may be done simply to meet time constraints, but other reasons could be less benign – to make the star of the show look better, to imply that the technique being shown is faster/easier than it actually is, to omit anything producers would prefer viewers not see. Always keep in mind that television presents a skewed view of reality, partly from necessity and partly from motives of one sort or another.

2. Give some thought to any disclaimers or warnings the show may contain. Yes, we live in a litigious society and producers want to protect themselves, but if a dog training program is broadcast with the caveat “do not attempt this at home, then it isn’t serving any real educational purpose. It’s either nothing more than pure entertainment, or it’s a purely commercial message masquerading as a regular show. Think about it — if you aren’t supposed to use the techniques being shown, what are you meant to get out of the show?

3. Turn off the sound so you don’t hear what the trainer or the voiceover may be saying, and watch the body language of the dog. Make up your own mind about if the dog is enjoying the experience, if the dog is stressed, what you think the dog might be learning. Most programs repeat regularly, or you can tivo it. So watch the first time with the sound off, make note of your observations, then watch again with the volume up, and see how the show’s version of what is happening agrees or disagrees with what you saw. Don’t just assume that the trainer is right and you are wrong.

4. Ask yourself “Is this something I want to do/would enjoy doing with my dog?” Unless your dog has serious behavioral issues (in which case you need face-to-face help from a behavior specialist), training should be enjoyable for both of you. If you don’t like what you’re doing, odds are you won’t do it as often or as wholeheartedly as you should. Training works best in frequent short sessions, so you need to do it often. If you don’t like what you’re doing, that’s not likely.

5. Don’t be swayed by the physical appearance, voice, or “presence” of the show host. You may enjoy listening to him or watching her, but that has little to do with the effectiveness of the training. Watch the dog or, if the camera angle permits, watch the face of the owner as training is done to her or his dog. Do they look like they’re enjoying the experience, or are they apprehensive or alarmed? Show hosts are chosen because producers expect the audience to like them and tune in to see them. That doesn’t make them reputable experts.

6. Look for any follow-up information. Does the show go back and check in on how the dogs and owners are doing? Are the owners given any instructions for how to continue their training? Don’t just assume that whay may have looked like it worked in the show continued working working indefinitely. Training is a fluid process that often requires ongoing adjustment. This is just a half dozen techniques for assessing what you’re seeing.

If you watch just to watch, it doesn’t matter, but if you’re thinking of applying anything you see on tv to your interactions with your own dog, please take the time to give it some serious thought. (Originally appeared on the IAABC website at www.iaabc.org/articles, slightly modified by Cheryl Smith http://www.writedog.com/)

• enjoyment history
• relief history
• attention history
• fear of loss

Enjoyment History is the fun factor reinforcement history the dog has with a particular item.  Some dogs have a favorite toy and are reluctant to share.

Relief History is another reinforcement history because chewing helps relieve painful teething, stressful anxiety, boredom in life, etc.  It’s like smoking for dogs.

Attention History is when a dog grabs something knowing full well you’ll react with a catch me if you can game, and the longer he holds it, the longer the game will continue.

Fear Of Loss is why dogs guard.

So how are you supposed to create a dog who happily gives up what he has?  The trick to successful training with “Drop It” is teach it as non-threatening and rewarding as possible.  If you come at this with a completely different point of view and think, “what could I offer the dog that he wants, that will make him open his mouth and drop what he has, even if it’s just temporary?”  That is the key!

The first step for any Drop It training is NOT taking the item away.  I don’t give a rats rump if you exchange it for something.  You’re still taking it away which is a punishing act and can create fear of loss.  Remember how you felt growing up when your parents would say, “Give me the key keys!”

Think about the actual behavior you want.  Be pinpoint precise.  For me the physical action for Drop It is “open mouth.”  That’s it.  Don’t make this hard.  Clicker training makes this incredibly easy to pinpoint the exact moment the dog opens his mouth.

Wait for the dog to be engaged with an object, then from a distance toss a few small treats by his front feet.  Click when the dog opens his mouth (to eat the treats you have tossed on the floor) and toss another treat.  You can do this cycle a few times and stop.  Then walk away! Leave the dog wanting more, so the next practice session he is excited to train again.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither is a solid, life long, on cue, Drop It behavior.  Gradually, and I mean gradually (most people rush this) start to walk toward the dog and do the same as above.  Have a distance goal, like 5 feet toward the dog starting from the other side of the room, and randomly walk that close (2 ft, 5 ft, 1 ft, 3 ft, 2 ft, etc).  Make sure you’re not dramatically increasing any other criteria (like time) when you increase the criteria for distance.  Sooner than you know it, you’ll be next to your dog.

Start to add the cue “drop it” when the dog has made the association that your presence equals offerings; and he freely, willingly, without prompting, drops what he has to see what you have to give him.  As in, cue “drop it” when you’d bet your friend $1000 your dog will drop it.  Then generalize in all the rooms in your house, outside, and with different toys & objects.  You need a powerful positive association and heavy reinforcement history to create a dog who likes to Drop It.

If along the way the dog gets something you would rather him not have, treat it the exact same way!  Remember, the dog is always a good dog no matter what he has, because you are reinforcing the action of dropping it.  I would just suggest you do something really fun to get him away from the no-no bad dog chewie after he does so.  When he drops the no-no bad dog chewie, say something like, “want to go for a walk?”  I’d bet money the dog will forget all about chewing.

If you’re dealing with a resource guarder you’ll also need a behavior where the dog gets away from the item.  Backup or go to bed are my two personal favorites.  Train this before you work on the drop it.  You need a strong backup on cue first.  Once this is trained then train the Drop It, and in the end this will turn into a behavior chain.  When you’re at the step of adding the Drop It cue, as soon as the dog opens his mouth, cue backup (so the timing would be the same as the click) and click the backup behavior & treat.  Training a dog to drop it & back up can help manage the environment for safety reasons.

CYA, ask a qualified behaviorist for training advice for any guarding issues.

Cassie the Collie Dog

One way to train an animal is by a process called “Shaping.”  Shaping is a training technique used to get little bits of behavior one step at a time.  Think of it like walking up a flight of stairs.  You want to get to the end result (the top), but there is a journey you must take to get there.  If we think of something like roll over and simplify each step, it might look like this: 1. be able to get dog’s attention, 2. sit, 3. down, 4. lay sideways flat on floor, 5. roll body upward so tummy faces the ceiling, 6. roll entire body from left to right (or right to left).  And if you think about it, you could break this behavior down into smaller bits.  For those of you who grew up with the game show “Name That Tune,” remember how they would try to name the song in as few notes as possible?  Well, shaping is the exact opposite.  A good trainer will be able to see all the micro-steps it takes to achieve a behavior.  When we don’t teach this way, we increase the criteria too fast and confuse the animal.  This is called “lumping.”  Could you realistically go 5 stairs at a time?  Probably not.  And what happens when you try?  You slip and fall right back to the starting place with a dash of frustration to boot.  Try this same technique a few more times and the desire to get to the top becomes as pleasant as another hole in the head.  Learning a new behavior is no different.  You can’t be a gold metal marathon runner if you’re not in shape.  You can’t be in shape for a marathon unless you know how to run for a duration.  You can’t run for a duration if you never learned how to run.  You can’t run if you never learned to walk… Etc. Etc. Etc.   So why are parents not gathering in droves for the annual Toddler Race down Times Square?  Because that’s ridiculous!  Absolutely ludicrous to think a toddler has the muscle tone and training for a task like that.  So why do we constantly ask this of our pets?  Too often the end goal is the main focus with unrealistic expectations on how to get there, or we skip steps to get a “false positive” end result that doesn’t stick.

One thing that gets my goat is only focusing on the end result.  If you want to lose weight, are you going to go to the gym or go anorexic?   Both will give you the same end result.  But one will teach life habits for permanent results while the other is a temporary quick fix that doesn’t last.

Instead of asking for 5 steps at a time, Keep It Simple Stupid!  You might go two or three steps at a time, if your learner makes the connections. But never count on learning jumps as a general rule.  You need each step for clear basic understanding.  Plus when learning seems easy and is taught in baby steps, learning is fun!  The process of learning new behaviors is just as, if not more important than achieving the end result.  And it is SO nice when an animal “learns how to learn.”

So what about Cassie?

Free Shaping a Head Dip

Thankfully Cassie is already a clicker savvy dog with basic manners and self control.  I need to give a shout out to my parents for all the training they have done with her to get her to the point she is at today.  Pet sitting her is a joy, even if I have to “keep the Collie calm.”  And even though Cassie is used to lots of physical activity each day, remember training is exercising the brain and can be just as exhausting.

So I decided to do “free shaping.”  Free shaping is where the learner (your dog) offers any behavior, any movement at all.  The teacher marks which movements get reinforced (I use clicker training.)  And by rewarding consistent movements you can fine tune what you want.  Since Cassie has an injury I thought this would be the best so she could decide what to move.  And low and behold we got a fantastic head dip!  At first she just sat there looking at me.  Then for a brief moment she looked away.  CLICK!  (For the head turn.)  Then she got the picture that moving her head paid.  And in a few minutes she understood to move her head down.  For right now as long as she points her cute pointy nose to the floor I’m happy.  And for right now, as long as Cassie gets to do something, she’s happy.  When she starts to feel better, I’ll work on head dips to the left and right.  Or possibly I’ll change it so she lowers her head but keeps her nose parallel with the floor.  Or maybe I’ll teach her to target her two front paws with her nose.   There’s so much you could do with a simple head dip, and so many stair cases you could climb for so many different end results.

So the next time it’s too cold to exercise your dog, you want to teach your dog something new, or you have to “keep your Collie calm,” try shaping.  Give your dog play by play details to follow.  He’ll thank you for being so easy to understand!

Koos dreaming about dog training

A long time ago in a previous lifetime (in college) I waited tables.  And I can’t tell you how many times I would have nightmares of being “in the weeds” or wake up realizing that I never brought ketchup to table 14.  (For those of you who have ever worked in the restaurant world, you know what I am talking about.)  You live and breath waiting tables so much that you have dreams (read: nightmares) about it.  And of course on the flip side, when something fun and exciting has your life immersed you often dream of that too.  The third time I was in France I actually spoke the language and tried to dive head first into the culture.  And what happened?  My friends told me I was talking in French in my sleep.  So my question is, are dogs (or any other animals) any different?  Not that there are French speaking, sleep walking dogs, but if a dog missed the chance to chase the squirrel in the yard earlier, is that why he’s running in his sleep?

Animal behavior is something that has always fascinated me.  And my personal opinion is people don’t give animals enough credit for their intelligence, emotions, or learning ability.  With advances such as clicker training and positive reinforcement methods, training has become so much more humane than previous years.  Although, not everyone uses this style (yet), many, many people have seen just how easy, fast, and fun clicker training can be.  I have personally trained dogs, cats, ferrets, guinea pigs, rabbits, and fish; and have professionally worked with an array of other small animals, reptiles, amphibians,  and insects.  And if I’m going to be totally honest here, I didn’t give half the animals I have worked with the credit they deserved when I first started working with them. Thankfully, I had my eyes opened and was able to see each of their personalities over time.

So today I invite you to think about your pet’s little quirks that makes him who he is.  What makes him special?  What sets him apart from the others?  I know my dog loves training.  And I’d like to believe he dreams about it.  He wags his tail, twitches his body, and acts like he’s eating something (a treat maybe?).

My name is Jules Nye, and I’ll be your host.  (Since I own this blog.)  So until next time, sweet dreams!

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