2-minute tip Archives - Page 24 of 28

Actually, your dog doesn’t know better

Ceilidh looks like she's feeling guilty about something. — Ceilidh looks guilty, but…

We hear it all the time.

“My dog peed on the bed to spite me.”

“Fifi knows better – she did it because she was mad at me.”

“Phydeaux is so stubborn – he just ignores me when I tell him something.”

“Rover is so defiant. He knows he’s not supposed to do that!”

Actually – no. That’s not how dogs think. If your dog is sitting there staring at you after you’ve told her to do something, either she’s confused or she doesn’t know what you want. And, chances are, she’s afraid of making the wrong decision.

Dogs don’t think the way we do. They truly live in the moment, without comprehension of “cause and effect.” We know that, for many dogs, eating grass will result in vomiting. Dogs don’t know that. The “eating grass” is far enough removed (even if it’s minutes later) from the “vomiting” that the dog is incapable of making the connection. Even though Spot throws up EVERY SINGLE TIME he eats grass, he will never connect the two (causation) and develop a dislike of eating grass.

We humans make that connection so easily that it takes some doing to “think like a dog.” Trying to adjust your thinking, see things from your dog’s perspective, will help you communicate better with your dog.

Causation vs. correlation

Dogs learning with positive-reinforcement games are willing to try and keep trying. The worst consequences of “getting it wrong” for our dogs is lack of reward.

That’s part of the difference in thinking. Dogs are good at connecting the dots – if I do good “stuff,” I get a treat, or I get to play. They excel at association, or correlation, especially if the things (behavior and reward) are close in time. Dogs see the relationship between the two events (correlation).

It’s why the “clicker,” which is a “bridge” to the reward is such a valuable tool. It lets the dog know that, right now, I was a good doggo. Even if the reward is delayed, the dog knows it’s coming.

If, however, a dog is punished or negatively reinforced for incorrect behavior, he may develop a fear of doing the wrong thing. The consequence can be that the dog either does nothing (stares at you), or, since he can never “win,” gives up and does whatever he feels like doing (defies authority).

It’s not easy to adjust your thinking. People are always in “if this” then “that” mode. From the time we’re infants we’re taught to think of the consequences of our actions and to plan for the future. Dogs’ brains don’t work that way.

We can learn a lot from our dogs about how to be “in the moment” and enjoy every day as it comes. It can be frustrating at times, like when you see your dog eating grass again. And it can be joyful as every single toss of the ball is as much fun as the first one.

Picture the result you want

If you don’t know where you’re going, how are you going to get there?

When training your dog, picture the result that you want. Define it for yourself in your mind’s eye. See your dog doing whatever it is that you’re aiming for. Then it’s time to figure out how to get there.

Polite greeting

Let’s say that one of your dog’s most annoying habits is going nuts when the doorbell rings. It hasn’t worked to repeat “sit, sit, sit, sit, sit” at him. It hasn’t worked to grab his collar and try to wrestle him away from the door. So far, we have a picture of the problem, but not the solution.

As we’ve discussed umpteen qazillion times, dogs do what they find most rewarding. It’s fun to lose your mind and bark at the doorbell. It gets everybody paying attention to you. It amps up the noise and “fun” in the house. And, if the dog pays for it later with any sort of punishment, it doesn’t take away the fun that came before.

That’s one of the biggest differences between dogs and people. People, even young children, understand cause and effect. Little kids get that “if I do this, I will pay for it later.” Dogs don’t.

Back in the day, people would say to “rub their dog’s nose” in housebreaking accidents. Because the accident happened an unknown time earlier, dogs didn’t understand they were being punished for producing the accident. They thought they were being punished for their owner finding the accident. So they learned to urinate and defecate where the owner wouldn’t find it.

Think like a dog

Going back to our doorbell example – think about the classic Pavlovian experiment. Pavlov rang a bell and dogs got food. Eventually, dogs salivated when the bell rang. Classic stimulus/response conditioning. We can put it to excellent use to re-train your dog to “go to bed” when the doorbell rings.

Create the sequence in your mind: the doorbell rings, your dog runs to his bed in view of the door, your dog stays in the bed while you open the door and greet the newcomer, dog is released to a sit to say “hello.”

There’s a lot going on in that simple sequence. Each step of it has to be taught on its own before you can put it together.

The first step is teaching the dog that the bed has value. It doesn’t matter that it’s your dog’s favorite bed. We’re asking him to do something new and different, even if the furniture is the same. Move the bed or mat to a location where he can see the door and stand there, treats in your hand. When the dog shows any interest in the bed, drop a treat into the bed. The steps for building value for sitting in the bed include:

Looks at the bed
Sniffs it
Puts a paw on it
Steps in it
Puts multiple paws in it
Sits in it

Every single one of those steps has to be rewarded at least three times before asking for the next step. And your dog has to be performing it correctly at least 80 percent of the time before you move on. We’re building a pattern of value for particular behavior, in terms your dog can understand.

Sit on it

When the dog is reliably sitting on the bed, have someone ring the doorbell. If your dog dashes off to see what’s going on, just wait. Don’t react, don’t call your dog. If you’ve built up enough value for sitting in the bed, he’ll see you standing by it and dash back to sit in the bed. When he does, reward and release!

Then do it again. Over and over. Until you’re sure that your dog understands that, when he hears the bell ring, he should go sit in the bed.

Go overboard

Be incredibly lavish in your rewards. Give treats, praise, and pets. Doing the “right” thing has to be as much fun, as rewarding, as being “naughty” was. If you ignore your dog’s good behavior, he has no reason to do it again. Naughtiness always gets your attention. Angelic behavior deserves even more.

Laugh at your own risk

You and your dog share a connection. Dogs are particularly sensitive to our emotions – they seem to just know when we’re sick, upset, angry, or happy.

Dogs are attuned to our emotions

They’re so attuned to us that our laughter makes them happy, too.

An unforeseen consequence can show up in training. It happened recently with Simon, Fran’s 1-year-old Boston Terrier. She was teaching him to “roll over” and, when he got it right, she would giggle. Every single time. Because it was adorable. And because he’d mastered it, both ways, in very little time.

In no time flat, it became Simon’s “go to” offered behavior. Whenever he didn’t “get” what Fran was asking, he would default to “roll over.” And she laughed – every single time.

Normally, it’s not a problem to have your dog do something cute whenever you look at him. Cute tricks are one of the great joys of dog training. It’s entertaining and enriching for everybody – human and dog.

But when it matters, we really want our dogs to listen to what we’re asking them to do. We do have “freestyle” sessions where they offer behaviors, come up with new things, try anything they like, and it’s all rewarded. But when we’re working on a particular behavior or sequence, our dogs need to pay attention.

We know that Simon’s “roll over” was his way of letting us know that he was unsure. He didn’t know what Fran wanted, so he did something that always seems to make her happy. He was letting us know that he didn’t “get it.”

Past rewards = current behavior

When your dog seems to offer random behaviors rather than “paying attention” and “doing what you want,” he’s letting you know he’s unsure. And he wants you to be happy, both with what he’s doing and with him. So he’s doing something that’s gotten him rewarded in the past.

We found that we were going a bit too fast for Simon with a behavior that has lots of steps. Every dog has his own learning pace, and we need to recognize where our dogs are in each step. And just because a dog takes a while to learn one particular piece doesn’t mean he’s slow. Another part could be “no problem, I got this!”

Every dog has his own learning timetable

Just like people, dogs are individuals who learn differently. Hope is a terrific baker, but a so/so cook. It’s not that she’s terrible at it, just not particularly talented. She does fine with a recipe, followed step by step, but has a more difficult time improvising a good savory dish. Her brain just doesn’t work that way. Fortunately, there are lots of recipes available.

Just like the recipe for dog training success. If your dog is having a more difficult time with a particular behavior or piece of it, take a step back, reinforce what he does know, break down the next step even further. And move at your own team’s pace. There isn’t any timetable – there’s a lifetime of fun to enjoy together.

Video of Simon’s “Roll-over”

Watch quick or you’ll miss it!

All behaviors are equal

In our little morning training session today, Torque reminded Hope that all behaviors should be treated equal.

Most rewarding

Torque reminded Hope that all behaviors should be treated equally.

All dogs will, pretty reliably, do what’s most rewarding to them. They’re excellent at acting in their own best interests. Whatever got them the most valuable feedback (treats, toys, praise, pets, games) is probably what they’ll do again.

Lately, Hope and Torque have been focusing on his “bow” behavior. Mostly because he’s stuck in a “cone of shame” while his corneal ulcer heals and there are lots of things he can’t do in a cone. Also because it’s fun to teach and learn new “stuff.” And because Torque had started anticipating positions in practice, so it was time to mix it up.

One of Torque and Hope’s favorite behaviors is what the AKC calls the “Command Discrimination,” where the person asks the dog to either Sit, Stand, and Down. In the higher levels, it can be done in any order.

When we practice, we try to mix it up so the dog actually listens, instead of just performing a learned pattern. Dogs love routine and patterns, so if you always do things in the same order, your dog will learn that and do it automatically, rather than actually paying attention. Changing the order teaches the dog to listen and watch, rather than performing a memorized routine.

Difference in a nutshell

And that, in a single sentence, is the difference between old-school dog training and the science-based, positive training we teach. We’re teaching dogs to listen, understand, learn, and act. This way our dogs know what they’re doing, can do it in any order, always have fun doing it, and love playing training games with us.

Hope found herself in a bit of a pickle. With only three commands to discriminate among, Torque had a 50 percent chance of getting the next one right, so he’d gamble and “help” Hope decide on the next call. Which resulted in him getting rewarded about half the time if his timing was spot on. He wasn’t waiting to hear what Hope asked for, he was guessing. And he’s a really good guesser.

Bowing to the inevitable

So Hope introduced the “bow” as another command to choose. It’s not part of the competition, so it’s only for practice, but it’s also really, really cute.

It was only last week that Torque showed he understood what “bow” was – front legs flat on the ground, butt in the air. And Hope rewarded it enthusiastically. Torque and Hope were both smiling and proud of him.

So today, when Hope was playing the Command Discrimination game, Torque started “bowing” every time she opened her mouth to say anything. He was performing the behavior that, most recently, was most rewarded. Which was a perfect reminder to treat all behaviors equally – reward everything you like. Ignore what you don’t.

More of what you want

Fran and her 1-year-old Simon have been working on the “Stand” part, both for the Command Discrimination and the Novice “Stand for Examination.” Same thing – Stand has been heavily rewarded recently, so Simon was choosing it, regardless of what Fran asked for.

Every time we play training games with our dogs they show us what they’ve been learning. Whether or not it’s what we meant to teach them – it’s the information we need to do a better job of communicating with them.

What do you want to do?

Everybody has the conversation with friends or family: “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. What do you want to do?”

“I dunno.”

What do you want to do? Ask that in dog training too. Go with the most fun.

So nothing gets done. Or you wind up doing something that nobody’s really enthusiastic about. Or, worst case scenario, you do something you don’t really want to, because somebody else overpowered your inclination.

It’s a good idea to figure out what you want from your dog. And from training. As you learn more about dog training, your objectives and ambitions may change. It’s fine to shift gears and change your focus. It’s the way real progress is made.

We had a conversation today with a woman who got her dog from a breeder with the condition that she trained her dog to compete and succeed in performance events. Many breeders who build their reputations on the soundness and intelligence of their dogs have similar stipulations. We know one person who refunds a portion of the price paid for a puppy for every title earned.

The woman we spoke to was torn. She really enjoys “fun” stuff with her dog. They’ve earned some trick titles and enjoy training. But the breeder wasn’t impressed with that and is pressuring her to dive into competition obedience. She called us asking whether obedience or rally obedience would be a better fit.

You choose

After explaining the differences between the two, Hope invited the woman to observe our obedience club’s classes and make her decision after seeing what each is about. She and her dog should enroll in the class that she wants, that she feels is most suited to her training style, preferences, and dog’s ability. The one they’ll have the most fun with!

And that’s the whole point of continuing to train with your dog. Every single day we get to play with our dogs, grow their brains, build our bond, and develop a better relationship with the family and life in general. Dogs who are well-balanced, curious, know how to adapt and grow, will know how to get along in our human world.

What do you want?

Once you’ve developed the skill and tools to play training games with your dog, you may find yourself at a crossroads. The manners you hoped to teach your pup are well on their way.

Once you’ve solved the problems, are you going to forego the games?

You shouldn’t! You now know you can teach your dog anything you want. Your dog is even coming up with new behaviors just to have fun and make you laugh.

The woman we spoke to today said her dog, now two years old, even knows how to tell time. She’s been in the habit of taking him through his trick repertoire every day at the same time. When that time gets close, she can see his excitement grow. He starts prancing around, letting her know he’s ready to have some fun.

Keep having fun with your dog! It may lead you to explore the dog sports venues, or not. Whether or not you choose to pursue dog training for a hobby, continuing to play training games with your dog will enrich your lives, keep your dog sharp, and remind both of you that there’s time, every day, to have some fun.

No need for a happy ending

Torque got ribbons that day in agility. But there were lots of sessions that did not go according to plan, nor did they have a happy ending! — There were plenty of training sessions leading up to those ribbons – and not all of them ended well!

Some days your training sessions will go great. You and your dog are in synch, you’re both happy, everything’s “clicking” just the way you dreamed it would. And then there are other 2-Minute sessions that are unmitigated disasters. It’s like you and your dog are not only on different pages, you’re reading from different books, written in different languages. But there’s no need for a happy ending to every session.

Enjoy the great ones.

Call it a day on the bad ones – there’s always tomorrow.

But the vast majority of your training sessions will fall somewhere in between. Some stuff goes really well, some almost gets there, other stuff is just not working.

It’s all okay.

The advantage of training in short sessions is that there’s always another coming up. No single 2-Minute Training session is going to “make or break” your relationship with your dog or your progress toward your goals. There’s always later, or tomorrow.

Which means that it’s okay to end a session without success. It’s a myth that you always have to end on a positive. No, you don’t.

Sometimes it even helps to just stop when things aren’t going well and leave it for another time. It stops your frustration, it lets your dog process the information she’s gotten from you.

It’s all information

Every interaction with your dog gives both of you information.

The most common exchange is “I love you,” which flows back and forth between you.

In a session that isn’t going well, there are lots of things your dog could be telling you:

I don’t understand
I don’t feel well
I’m distracted by “xxx”
I’m not comfortable
I’m just not that into training today

Equally, your tone and body language could be telling your dog:

I’m just not that into training today
You kept me up all night and I’m tired
I’m really under stress and you’re another obligation
I don’t feel well
Why can’t you just do what I tell you?

Is it worth it?

There are days when dog training is frustrating, for whatever reason. If you start a session and come to realize that no one’s having a good time, and you’re not accomplishing anything, just end it. There’s no point in continuing.

You don’t always have to “end on a positive.” This session wasn’t positive. That’s okay. If you give yourself permission to stop when it’s not fun, then all of your dog training can be fun. Some things in life should always be fun – dog training is one of them!

Set your dog up for success

An obedience student came up to Hope after class Tuesday to ask for help.

“How do I get R.J. (her 2-year-old Portuguese Water Dog) to stop counter surfing?”

“Tell me what happened, please.”

“We had some people over on Sunday and it was just embarrassing. I put the appetizers on the kitchen table and when I came back he’d eaten almost all of them.”

“Where were you?”

“In the other room with our guests.”

Hope’s student is doing great in her competition obedience class. But she hasn’t learned to transfer what R.J. is learning to everyday life. She did nothing to help her dog understand the rules of the house. R.J. isn’t the problem, his “mom,” Mary is.

What are some of the things Mary could have done to help R.J. understand how to be a good boy?

Put his collar and leash on and hold the leash
Have him “help” greet guests with a lovely sit (which he’s fully capable of)
Crated him away from the chaos
Not put food within reach
Not walk away, leaving the food within reach

We do understand that a gathering isn’t the best time or place to train your dog. That’s why we play training games every day – so when a scenario arises, our dogs have the tools to understand what we ask of them in any circumstances.

In Mary’s case, just crating R.J. away from the party may have been the best solution. They hadn’t prepared for the party and Mary wouldn’t have been able to do anything but pay attention to R.J.’s behavior. At two years old, R.J. is the equivalent of a human teenager who has no manners and no impulse control.

It turns out that R.J. practices the same bad behavior every single day. Mary said that she puts her coffee on the breakfast table, then goes to get her toast. When she comes back, R.J. is slurping away at the coffee.

Mary’s fault, all the way. Take the opportunity to give your dog a job, especially in a case like this where you are in a familiar environment, doing a routine task that doesn’t require all of your attention. R.J. knows how to sit and stay. Use that tiny interval to practice it! Have some rewards at hand and, when he succeeds, give him something better than coffee.

This is a classic case of the dog behaving in a way that gets him what he wants most. He likes coffee, knows he’s free to get it, and he gets to play a fun game of “keep away” when his mom catches him at it. Because you know she yelled at him and chased him off the table.

Dogs don’t really distinguish between “good attention” and “bad attention.” R.J. knows his “mom” is interacting with him and that’s the best thing in his world. It probably doesn’t matter that she’s yelling at him – she’s paying attention and playing with him.

Will he like it even better when “mom” learns to control the situation and he truly is being good? Absolutely! How about having R.J.’s favorite toy close at hand and rewarding his beautiful sit/stay with a game of tug? Much better! Or having him “help” you get your coffee with a beautiful “heel,” followed by top-notch treats for a reward? Wonderful.

Dogs do what’s most rewarding to them. What does your dog find most rewarding? Food? Toys? Pets? Yodeling with you? Whatever it is, make sure the best rewards are given for best behavior choices.

Face time isn’t necessary

Face time with your dog isn't always necessary. For your dog to get full understanding, vary your location, your position, your distance.

Your dog’s face is adorable. But you don’t have to look at it all the time. In fact, when you’re training, “face time” should be half or less.

When dogs first join the family, training starts right away. The first behavior most people start with is “sit.” You stand, facing your dog and say “sit!” You may even use a lure, holding it over the dog’s head and moving it so the dog naturally moves into sit position. You praise your good dog – “Good sit, Fido! Good sit!”

Context is everything to a dog

After a few sessions doing this, most people believe their dogs know “sit.” Perhaps – as long as those exact conditions are repeated. As we’ve discussed before, dogs learn in context. Fido knows sit, as long as a treat is held over his head, you’re standing in front of him for face time, and the lure is moved in exactly the same way.

It’s the same situation for any behavior. Down is one we see often – the dog does it as long as the owner is standing facing the dog, bends over, holding a treat, lowers the treat to the floor while saying “down.”

Change any one of those contextual cues, and the dog may look at you as if she’s never heard the word “sit” or “down” before. It can be frustrating for owners – they absolutely know their dog “knows” it. He just did it a little while ago at home.

Fix face time – fast!

Fortunately, the “cure” is simple. It doesn’t take long, and it’s easy to do. Start by changing your position. Stand next to your dog, instead of in front, and see what response you get. If your dog is still performing “sit,” that’s great! Try sitting yourself and telling your dog to sit. Still knows it? Fantastic!

Training note: Regardless of your position, your reward should always be delivered to your dog’s front. Even if you’re behind your dog, reach forward and deliver the treat to the “front.” This teaches the dog that he doesn’t have to “help” you – he can stay in place and still be rewarded for good choices.

Just start over – someplace else

If, however, your dog is giving you a blank stare, start at the beginning. If you’ve used a lure to teach it in the past, use the exact same sequence, just from a different angle. Expand your range – do it from any position around your dog; to his left, to his right, even behind. As long as the treat is delivered to his face, in a short time you should be able to walk completely around your dog, while she maintains position.

This exercise is the start of a good “stay” behavior as well as the position sit or down. And it’s useful not just for those who want to play dog sports with their dogs. It’s also useful for visits to the veterinarian, the groomer, or anyplace your dog needs to stay in place.

Why click?

The Clicker is a wonderful training tool

Many people question the use of a clicker in dog training. You don’t absolutely have to have one, or use one, but it’s a useful tool and we think everyone should try it.

In our social media groups about dog sports competition, there are people who are “never-clickers.” Their arguments are that:

I don’t have enough hands
It can’t be used in competition
It’s one more thing I have to “fade” (stop using)
I always have my voice with me

Those are valid points. And if you’re absolutely opposed to the idea, you can do without.

One the other hand, the clicker allows:

Everyone training the dog to “sound” the same
Is instantaneous to mark good stuff
Lets you delay the treat
Improves your timing

The clicker is particularly wonderful if you have a fast-learning, fast-moving dog who loves to do “stuff” with you. By the time you can say “good” or “yes,” Fido’s already doing something else, because your feedback wasn’t fast enough. Think it’s not true? We’ll loan you Hope’s Torque, or Fran’s Simon for a 2-Minute Session. Those boys are hard to keep up with, even with a clicker.

Just this week, Hope decided to add a “bow” to Torque’s repertoire. She thought about how to teach it, figuring to use a small box. She’d reward for putting his hind legs on the box the first session. Later 2-Minute Sessions would add lowering his front end while keeping his rear up in the air.

Torque already knows “back up,” so Hope put down the box and Torque was already moving, backing up onto the box. She clicked as soon as both back feet were on it, signalling immediately to Torque that he was right, right then. If she had waited at all, his front legs would have been on the box as well, and the criteria for the new trick would have been unclear.

When your dog is used to working with a clicker, it’s a clear and immediate signal to him (or her) that he’s a good boy. And he knows (or will soon learn) to repeat the behavior that got the click. And was followed, in short order, by treats!

Once our dogs learn to think, are rewarded for trying, and have fun spending time with you, it becomes easier and easier to develop new tricks, or behaviors. It’s fun and challenging for everyone – dogs and people!

Give your dog a break

Did you know that dogs can suffer burn-out? Just like us? We saw a social media post today in one of our dog sports groups from an experienced trainer whose dog seemed to have “forgotten” how to do even the most basic commands in a recent trial. The advice she got? Give your dog a break!

It’s a great idea. Our dogs are a lot like us in many ways. Do you remember how tedious it was in school to do the same thing, day after day? Didn’t you prefer your classes with creative teachers who “mixed things up” on a regular basis? And didn’t you learn more? And retain it better when you were having fun?

Just like us

Our dogs are just like us. If you “drill” the same behavior every day, in the same way, sooner or later your dog is going to get tired of it. Instead of improving steadily, the behavior you’re working on may deteriorate or even disappear completely. That’s not what we want.

It’s a good idea to switch up the games you play with your dog. We give you several different games in the guides. Try all of them and use different ones on different days. Or work on something else every other day. Our dogs pick up on our energy and enthusiasm, too. Chances are if your interest in a particular game is less, your dog’s will be, too.

Come back stronger after a break

As an example, Hope and Torque have been playing with a toddler’s ring-stacking toy, teach Torque to take the ring, bring it to the post, and drop it on. It’s a complicated behavior, made more difficult by the fact that Torque thought the rings were great chew toys when they started. And he’s not a big fan of giving up his chew toys. He does it, but grumpily.

Hope put the game aside a while ago, since they were getting nowhere fast. Last week she picked it up again, wanting to see what Torque would do.

And it was pretty amazing. Torque picked up a ring, walked over to the post, and plopped it right down. And repeated the behavior with a couple more rings. He didn’t get a “ringer” every time, but he got a couple. Just that little break let the behavior get through. He had time to think about it, let it penetrate, and remembered the next time he saw it.

Memory games

So if you’re ever getting frustrated that your dog isn’t “getting” something, or if he had it and “forgot” it – give him a break. It could be a little break is your answer, too.