Every dog needs a solid foundation to understand what it is that humans want it to do. All too often, I see how basic skill sets are glossed over. The process of learning is rushed to achieve an end result that is not as consistent because of the lack of understanding on the human side of the leash. By fully understanding not only how to train for a specific command, but why it works, a handler can strengthen their own handling skills and improve the communication overall with their dog. This paves the way for future successful learning, which we know happens throughout entire lifetimes.
 |
| Grace, Brutus and Riley |
Three of the most basic training methods in the positive reinforcement category (and every dog should start in this quadrant of Operant Conditioning) are Luring, Catching, and Shaping. If you have taught your dog any basic commands (such as "sit", "down" or "come") you have had to use at least one of these! If your timing is consistent with the reward, your dog can perform the behaviors.
Luring is exactly what it sounds like. You are presenting a tasty (and hopefully healthy) reward and using it to guide the dog to where you would like them to be, or where you would like the body to be (such as bringing the food above the nose for "sit"). When the dog is in the correct place/position, the treat and praise are earned! Seems simple, yes? It can be, if it is repeated often enough for the dog to associate the correct result- otherwise, the dog has simply learned to follow food held in your hands (which is also a helpful skill, but not always the desired result). If your handling skills are not fully developed, you may have difficulty getting your dog to the correct position consistently. Practice makes perfect, but this is one instance where there is a definite advantage to having an experienced handler to help you.
Catching a behavior is solely dependent on the handler's attention and timing. Any behavior your pet performs naturally can become a command using this method, if you can "catch" and reward them doing it often enough. I always train for a default "Down" in my dogs. When I do not tell them to do anything, I would prefer for them to lie down and relax. To train for this, every time I see them lying down, I give a treat (in my case, it is kibble, but they think of their food as treats), name the behavior, and praise. When Brutus was young and we were just beginning with the "Default Down", as he began to understand the behavior I was rewarding, he would follow me from room to room and lie down and pretend to sleep to get a piece of food. Now it is less obvious (he no longer collapses in front of my feet), but he still will lie quietly inside until I tell him otherwise (he is now 7 and 1/2 years old)
Shaping is considered the most difficult by some because it requires more patience. To shape a behavior is to reward something that is close to what you want, and then gradually change when you are rewarding to encourage different elements in the behavior originally rewarded for. Often, luring and catching are used while shaping a behavior. An example would be to teach your dog "Paw" or "High Five", you may initially reward for the dog just having the paw in the air and allowing you to touch the foot, but you gradually make the dog put the paw in/on your hand by withholding the reward for slightly longer periods of time.
For the last two methods (Catching and Shaping) many people use a "Clicker". A clicker is a small box with a thin sheet of metal that makes a soft popping noise (or click) when pressed. I personally choose to use my voice. Not only is it one less thing to hold, but I can change the tone, volume or emphasis in my word of praise to really communicate how happy I am to the dog I am working with.
The clip above is me with a rescue dog "Peanut", who did very very learning the basics! I used catching to teach the "sit", and added a hand signal. The "Down" is still being learned, and I lured to get him in the position. And lastly, I was shaping the "Wait" command to add more distance away from him.
The most common pitfall I see students struggle with is thinking they are "done" teaching a command too soon. After a few repetitions, the human adds another command or two. The next day, another few commands. The handler is so excited that they fail to realize they are still having to lure entirely, and the dog is probably mixing the commands up and randomly guessing what position may hold a reward each time. If the foundation of your training experience with your pup consists of almost constant confusion on the dog's part, it makes more forward progress much less likely.
Please take time to build a solid foundation with your fur-friend! For additional help, leave a comment and I would be glad to assist you.
Happy Training!
No comments:
Post a Comment