August 2023 - 2 Minute Trainer

Dog Training “D’s” aren’t grades

D is for dog. It’s also for the three things that can torpedo any behavior, trick, or exercise. The three dog training “d’s” are Distance, Duration, and Distraction.

You need all three if you want to be successful in any dog sport or performance event. They matter for household obedience, too. But you can’t “work” on all of them at once. Pick one at a time. There are games you can play for each one, but only one per 2-Minute session.

Distance is hard

If you’re teaching your dog “Stay!” the three “d’s” are crucial components of the behavior. Whether you’re letting the plumber in the house, carrying a pasta pot, or hosting Great Aunt Gertrude for afternoon tea, there are times you’d appreciate it if your dog would just not move. A reliable “Stay!” is worth the effort it takes to achieve.

Don’t ever consider a “Stay!” anything but hard work. The last thing most dogs want is to sit back and observe. They want to be part of the action, in the thick of it. To teach your dog to “Stay!” choose a spot that’s very quiet, away from any commotion. If there’s no such thing, pick a place where the dog can see what’s going on without moving.

You can work on the distance “D” by having your dog sit in the middle of a room so that you can move all the way around them. Tell them to stay and start moving. Picture your dog as the hub of a wheel, and you move back and forth between the hub and the rim – be the spokes. Vary the distance you move every time – sometimes take a single step, middle distance, as far as you can get. Then go directly back to your dog and reward them for staying every time you finish a “spoke.” Move at an even pace, but keep moving all the time.

If your dog gets up, or lies down, don’t fix it. Use your non-reward marker and move your dog to a different position and start over. Out and back to your dog. Make it speedy at first. You can slow down your motion as your dog becomes more familiar with the exercise and starts to understand what’s expected. The faster you move, the more times you get back to your dog, the more rewards your dog gets for staying in place.

Duration is harder

When you work on the duration aspect of the stay, don’t leave your dog. Stand there right next to, or in front of, your dog. The first time you practice “duration” keep the reward rate high and steady. Try not to test the limits of your dog’s patience at first. Watch your dog for signs of movement, as mentioned in teaching the “Stay!,” the only things the dog’s allowed to move are his/her head or tail. Any paw movement isn’t a “Stay!” If you see it, start over again in a different spot. You don’t have to move far, but you should reset and try again.

You may find that your dog thinks they’re finished as soon as they get a treat. This is “one and done” syndrome and it’s fairly common. The fix is to have a second reward ready to pop into your dog’s mouth as soon as they swallow the first one.

Because of the many, many treats dogs can consume for this exercise, it’s a good one for hand-feeding a meal, or a portion of a meal. Another “kitchen game” to play with your dog.

As your dog starts to understand, increase the interval between rewards, and practice the “Stay!” in all positions – Sit, Stand, and Down.

Distraction is hardest of all

When we first started training in Obedience, one of our instructors took distraction to the maximum. With the dogs at one side of the room, and the handlers at the other, she would send a moving toy down the middle, between the dogs and handlers. The radio-controlled car, the toy monkey with cymbals, and the walking elephant toy were favorites. The most difficult for the dogs was the tennis ball she rolled down the center.

Those are all extreme distractions, not to be used until your dog is well-versed in the “Stay!” At first you can ask someone to bang a pot in the other room. Or call your phone. If there’s no one else around, you can turn up your phone’s volume and play any sound you think your dog would find distracting. A doorbell sound is the bane of many a dog owner – whether it’s in real life or on TV.

Put the Ds together

When your dog is doing okay in each of the three “D’s” – put them together. As long as your dog is showing you they know what’s expected of them, gradually increase the difficulty of the exercise. In the Canine Good Citizen test, the most difficult part for the dog is staying with a stranger while their person leaves the room. Technically, the dog doesn’t have to “Stay!” – they just have to be calm and not fuss too much. Teaching your dog the three “D’s” will help.

Think about those “D’s” whenever you’re training your dog. Does your dog “Sit!” from across the room? Can she maintain a “Stand!” for the length of a veterinary visit? Will your dog ignore the bicyclist zooming by on your walk? These are all situations that use those “D’s.”

Dog Bowling Game

The Dog Bowling Game came together from two separate bits of life. The first was another trainer who always called Hope’s French Bulldogs “Bowling Ball.” The other part was Torque’s love of knocking things over. It’s a match made in heaven.

Our game is contrary to the maze videos where pets wind their way through a forest of bottles they’re not supposed to knock down. The objective is to knock them all down, just like a real bowling game.

Where to start

We went all out (on the cheap) and got a toy bowling set. It’s not very expensive, and it’s fun for video. But the “real” thing isn’t necessary. You can certainly start with any empty plastic bottle. There’s a possibility that your dog may put holes in the bottle, so start with an empty.

Before you start playing, decide what your criteria will be for the eventual, complete game. Do you want your dog to knock over the bottles with their nose, paws, or you don’t care? How about the order? Do you want your dog to aim for a showy 7 / 10 split, or you don’t care?

We don’t care: Torque can knock down the pins in any order with any portion of his body. In most of our dog bowling game videos, you’ll see that some of the pins topple when he swipes by with his butt. That’s okay with us, we really don’t care.

After you’ve decided the shape of your Dog Bowling Game, have at it. Be ready with your clicker, your treats, and your empty bottle. Put the bottle down in front of your dog. Stare at the bottle. If your dog is puzzled at first, it’s understandable. Chances are throughout their life, you’ve told them to leave alone any bottles on the floor.

Patience is the key

Just be patient and wait. Any interaction your dog has with the bottle gets a “Click!” and reward. The steps for most dogs will look something like:

Look at the bottle.

Sniff the bottle.

Swipe at the bottle.

For each step your dog achieves, “Click and Reward” three to five times. Then wait for them to try something else. For each training session, you may have to go backwards before you move ahead. It takes a while for behaviors to solidify.

If your dog is like most, they won’t believe how easy and fun this game is. Most dogs love batting stuff around and chasing it. That’s going to be the challenging part. When your dog is running up to that bottle to bash it over, it’s time to add more bottles to the game.

When your dog chases the first rolling bottle around rather than staying with you to continue playing, just ignore it. Turn your back on the dog playing with the bottle and stare at the second bottle. Bend over and admire it up close. Your complete lack of interest in what your dog is doing, and obsession with the other bottle, should motivate your dog to come over and see what you’re so fascinated by. If/when this happens, celebrate! Your dog chose playing with you over getting their jollies by themselves. And remember, what gets rewarded gets repeated. Reward heavily, loudly, and often for decisions you like.

Keep adding on

Keep adding bottles until you’ve reached the number you want to keep in the game. Standard bowling is 10, but you can use as many or as few as you like. Your own patience and the space you have available will determine the answer. Remember that you’re the one who has to reset all those “bowling pins” when you play.

Unless, like Hope, you teach your dog to put away the pins when your dog is done with the game. The problem with that – Torque cronches the plastic pins and Hope has to spend just as much time unsquishing them.

Train your dog to stay

Does your dog “Stay!”? Can you walk around your dog? Most people assume they can and don’t expect any problems with it. Most people would be wrong. But you can train your dog to “Stay!” and take it to the next level with the “Walk Around.”

If you tell your dog to “Sit!, Stay!” and try to walk around her, if she’s like most dogs she’ll either get up when you move or swivel on her butt to follow your motion. Few dogs can stand the idea that they can’t see you and what you’re doing.

When we introduce this in our dog training classes, people kind of say “Huh, that’s interesting. I never noticed before.” But they don’t really see the need to teach their dogs to stay in place. Having tripped over numerous dogs over the years, especially in the kitchen, we know it’s a useful skill to have. Especially when you’re trying to carry a pasta pot from the stove to the sink to drain.

“Stay!” with benefits

The foundation for being able to walk around your dog is the “Stay!” And the key to teaching your dog to “Stay!” is setting the rules and sticking to them. Remember that dogs are binary creatures – off/on, yes/no, black/white. There are no shades of gray, no understanding of “maybe.”

To teach your dog to stay, you must decide what “Stay!” looks like. For us, that means only the dog’s head or tail moves. Paws do not move. Not an inch, not an iota. We stay laser-focused looking at their paws and haunches. As you practice “Stay!” you’ll start to recognize the signs that your dog is about to move. Drag out your non-reward marker and prevent it. Or, if you’re too late and your dog’s already in motion, just start over.

Don’t fix anything in dog training. Ever. The “fix” becomes part of the routine that surrounds whatever it is that you’re doing. If you want your dog to “Stay!” for 30 seconds and they get up at 22 seconds, start again, don’t try to continue where you were. It’s busted, start over. Otherwise, your dog will accept that you rushing over, adjusting them, and leaving again is a normal part of “Stay!” And that’s what they’ll do, because it’s just another mystifying thing you play together.

Remember your dog doesn’t care about any of the games, exercises, behaviors, or dog sports. Your dog only cares about playing with you, and being happy together. They do the “stuff” because we ask them to and it’s fun. From a dog’s point of view, they’d just as soon roll around in a trash pile with you as be your obedience competition partner. As long as it’s fun, and they’re with you, they like doing it.

Teaching “Stay!”

With your dog sitting in front of you, hold a treat at about your eye level and slowly and steadily bring it down to your dog’s mouth. If your dog doesn’t move any part of their body other than head or tail, give them the treat when you get there. Immediately start again with another treat at your eye level. If your dog moved, jerk the treat back up to eye level and start over.

If your dog is having a really hard time staying, move the treat towards them faster. You can slow it down as your dog learns the game and what to expect. And always have a second treat ready to go as soon as you deliver the first one. If you don’t, your dog will be “one and done.” We want to sustain the stay.

That’s really all there is to teaching “stay!”. To be able to walk around your staying dog, add motion one step at a time, always rewarding to your dog’s front. Work a gradually increasing arc until your dog is okay with you circling around her. Deliver rewards to the dog’s front so you don’t pull them out of position accidentally. You’ll know when your dog is truly starting to understand the exercise when you see her head flip from one side to the other to watch you as you go around.

Use what your dog knows

Once your dog knows the “Stay!” and you can walk around them, take advantage of it! Remember to say “Stay!” while you’re carrying that pasta pot across the kitchen. Or when you’re opening the hot oven to turn the batch of cookies. Invariably, when we trip over our dogs, it’s because we’ve neglected to tell them what we want them to do. And if your dog is anything like ours, they always have to be where the action is in the house.

Stay / Walk around your dog is behavior that’s absolutely counter to every instinct your dog has. Their natural inclination is always to be in the middle of the action. Always watching everything that’s going on. Many people don’t understand that “Stay!” is difficult work for a dog. A “Stay!” is never “doing nothing.” It’s active work for your dog, so be sure to appreciate and reward the effort.

Being a good dog boss

In all the ways that count, you actually are the boss of your dog. You decide pretty much everything about your dog’s life – when they eat, sleep, go out; where they go, who they see. Doesn’t it just make sense to want to be a good dog boss?

Think about all the jobs you’ve had and the bosses you enjoyed working for. We’d bet big bucks your favorites weren’t the micro-managers who hovered over your shoulder. It was probably the ones who respected your abilities, left you alone to do your job, while being there for support, clarification, and feedback. Those were the good bosses. Follow their lead and be a good dog boss.

Decisions, decisions

It’s really hard to let go and trust your dog to make good decisions. But the alternative is having to be there every moment. Telling your dog what to do all the time. That works for some people. One Obedience person we know simply can’t find the patience. She’s been competing for decades, and for all those years she’s pretty much told her dog how to spend every moment of every day. She’s used to it, and doesn’t really want to change. We think it sounds exhausting.

Once your dog knows the rules of the house, does it mean they never misbehave? No, of course not. But when you yell “knock it off!” at whoever’s hooliganizing at the moment, it has more effect.

Firm foundation

Your dog craves your attention and approval. Once they know that being “good” comes with approval and treats, that’s what happens. They’re good dogs. Because what gets rewarded, gets repeated. Your dog will become a better-thinking companion when they know you encourage them to use their brains.

Having a well-trained dog leads to a more balanced life for everyone. We know several people whose lives with their dogs are completely off-balance. They can’t have people over, they can’t get deliveries, they can’t take their dogs anywhere, and their rooms have a strict system of gates and doors. These people have let their dogs dictate the rules of the house and have let the dog become boss. As a result, no one’s happy.

At the other extreme, we’ve met a few people who treat their dogs like possessions. These dogs are kept in “storage” away from people, and are allowed limited access to family life. They may not have started out there, but the people may have become overwhelmed by the demands of having a dog. No one’s happy here, either.

We’re not sure why these people have dogs at all.

Big, beautiful life

Every moment you spend training your dog, every training game, pays off in the quality of your life together. The cost / benefit ratio is overwhelmingly in your favor. Just a couple minutes at a time, a couple of times a day, can make a huge impact.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could carry the heavy, hot pan to the table from the oven without worrying about where you step? Answering the doorbell, knowing your dog is safely in their “Place!” is priceless. (Ebook / course #1: Clicker and Place) These little things are quality-of-life moments you can achieve. Taking your dog’s good behavior for granted is the ultimate goal.