positive reinforcement dog training Archives - Page 3 of 9

Stairs are hard for dogs

Stairs are hard for dogs. They may mimic many human actions, but stairs don’t translate well from two legs to four. We can’t help them coordinate their motion. But we can teach our dogs to climb and descend stairs safely.

Stairs are common in houses, apartments, and most human living situations. But they don’t occur in nature, and they’re not something dogs inherently know how to navigate. Is your dog afraid or unwilling to climb or descend stairs? It’s only natural – all mammals, including humans, have an innate fear of falling. Dogs don’t understand the engineering behind stairs. They don’t know it’s the “easy” way to get where they want to go.

Look at the situation from your dog’s perspective. How would you feel if you had to climb an obstacle multiple-times your height? What if you had to do it several times a day? If it were something you’d never seen before? And you didn’t really understand the purpose?

Start at the very end

We’ve always had small dogs, so stairs are something that must be taught. Contrary to almost everything else in dog training, you don’t start teaching puppies or dogs stairs from the first step. Instead, you take the smallest chunk and teach your dog from there.

For teaching “up” the stairs, start at the first step from the top. Carry your dog to the top step. If you’re alone, stay behind the dog so there’s no chance they can go backwards – either by accident or on purpose. With another person available, have one behind the dog and one in front. Use the treats your dog values most for this training. Hold the treat above the top step, make sure the dog knows it’s there, and encourage him/her to climb that step. This is a behavior that can be lured.

If your dog is truly terrified of climbing up, reward for the slightest motion in that direction. Touching the upper step with one paw, two paws. Even looking at it, if it’s been a real issue. The point is to reward all progress in the right direction.

Lately we’ve noticed that many people in our classes asking too much of their dogs. They ask for something like “Come!” and rather than rewarding the dog for a speedy response, they pile on more stuff for the dog to do. Every single thing your dog does because you asked them to should be rewarded in some way. Even if all you do is say “Good dog!” please acknowledge their good effort. Stairs are hard for dogs and if you take your dog’s good behavior for granted, they may not bother.

Step by step

When your dog is comfortable with climbing one step, carry him to the second-from-the-top. Rinse and repeat, for as many steps as necessary. Once the dog catches on, they may not need a lesson for every step. That’s fine – you’ve achieved the objective.

Keep in mind that things people don’t really notice can be weird, different, and wrong to dogs. In our house, the steps take a 90 degree turn at the last four steps. Those are wedge-shaped, and not rectangular. To us, it’s just a little wider step at one end. To the dogs, it’s not the same as the rectangular ones above. If you can’t figure out why your dog hesitates at a certain point, look around and see how it’s different. It could be different because of shape, surroundings, floor covering, lighting, etc. And train it like it’s brand new. For your dog, it is.

Going down

By now you’ve probably figured out that the key to teaching dogs to go down steps is the same – one at a time. Because all animals fear falling, take your time and let your dog get comfortable. Carry them down to the first step from the floor so they only have one stair to go down. Reward when they do. When they’re okay with it, move to the second-from-bottom step. Rinse and repeat.

What brought stairs learning to the fore right now is having to start almost from scratch with Torque. Since he lost his eye, he also lost his confidence on the stairs. It’s the one area that seems to be hardest hit by the change.

Once again, his familiarity with the 2-Minute-Trainer program saved the day. In just a couple of sessions with single-step training, he was back to zooming up and down the stairs. Of course it helps that our training area is downstairs and it’s his favorite place in the world.

It’s okay to fib to your dog

It’s never okay to lie to your dog. It’s really difficult to regain their trust once broken. However, there are circumstances when it’s okay to fib to your dog. We know. We’ve been living through it this week.

But really, never lie. If you click, your dog gets a cookie. Every single time. Otherwise you chance breaking a behavior you spent time and effort teaching. Keep every promise you make to your dog. If you’re always honest, and your dog can always trust you, they’re much more likely to do what you want when you want.

Being honest with your dog includes never calling them to you for things they don’t like, like a bath. It’s a dirty, rotten betrayal to yell “Dog, come get a cookie!” and when they come, shove them in the tub. Every time you call your dog it should be for something good, or yummy, or fun. That way they’ll come every time. We talked about this most recently in an article relating to dog care behavior – with a cute picture of Simon checking out his toothbrush.

When we give this example to our in-person students, someone invariably asks “So how do you get them in the tub?” The answer’s simple. You go get the dog and bring it to the bathroom. Don’t make your dog choose in that situation.

So when can we fib?

It’s okay to fib to your dog to convince them everything’s okay. That you’re in charge, and they’re just fine. It’s okay to fib to reassure your dog that things are normal.

We’re doing it this week. Hope’s French Bulldog Torque had emergency surgery to remove his right eye that ruptured. He came home right after surgery, a bit drugged up, but pretty functional.

The best thing we can do for Torque now is pretend that everything’s okay. Nothing’s changed as far as he’s concerned. Even in the few days since the surgery, he’s adjusting. He moves his head so he can see what’s going on.

The hardest thing for us is carrying on like nothing’s happened. If we let him know that he’s changed, or even defective in some way, he’ll act like it. So as far as Torque’s concerned, it’s business as usual.

Calming consistency

Keeping to our regular routine is key. Our habit is to start every day with 2-Minute training games with our dogs. Each dog has a turn while the others are in their crates nearby. We usually train in age order.

This week Torque must wear a cone to protect his eye. He’s also supposed to stay calm and do nothing to raise his blood pressure while he heals. So heeling it is. It’s something we practice regularly. He doesn’t have to pick anything up that may contact his face. And it can also give his brain a workout without being too strenuous.

There’s all kinds of ways to make heel work challenging for you and your dog. Working on side-stepping, heeling backwards, changing directions, straight “fronts,” finishes (both left and right), are all little things that are useful, especially in Rally, and keep something as simple as walking more interesting.

Adjusting to the change

Torque is already adapting to his new circumstances. He’s turning his head more so he can see Hope when he’s in heel position. He had a little trouble aiming for the treats at first, but he’s got that one covered. He’s also gotten into the habit of bashing his cone into our legs to let us know he’s there. The bruises will heal, just like Torque will.

As we pretend that everything’s normal and okay, it becomes the truth. When you don’t quite know what to do to make everything alright, you fib like it already is. It’s not even a little white lie. It’s making it happen.

Treat your dog’s symptoms

Treat your dog’s symptoms. You can’t know the cause.

It’s a harsh truth all dog owners must face. You’ll never know why your dog does some stuff they do. They’ll never tell. Even if you’ve known your dog since they were born, you can’t know what they’re thinking so you have to treat your dog’s symptoms.

Most of us get pretty good at reading our dogs’ unique signs and patterns. The good, the bad, and the silly. We’re pretty convinced that potty-training dogs is a combination of teaching the dog and starting to recognize your dog’s signs that urgent action is required.

Since you can’t know the “why,” you’re left to deal with treating the symptoms of your dog’s quirks.

Some don’t matter. We have no idea why Simon, Fran’s six-year-old Boston Terrier, thinks he can dry himself on the hardwood floors. He runs around rubbing himself on the floors as if there were moisture-wicking properties in wood. He does it every time he comes inside from the rain. It’s weird. But it’s harmless. We ignore it, other than to watch him, thinking how strange it is.

Not so benign

Other behaviors aren’t so benign. The dog of a training student of ours started growling and showing teeth to her 13-year-old son. The dog was only recently adopted as an almost-two-year-old. She’ll never be able to tell us why she was feeling threatened by that son, one of four in the family. But she was, so we developed a plan to treat the symptom. That son now hand-feeds the dog her dinner, plays training games with her, and always interacts positively with her.

In this case, sharp observation also helped. The owner noticed that this son was the only one who constantly wears a hoodie with the hood pulled over his head. When the son didn’t have the hood up, the dog was fine. Why is the dog threatened by people in hoodies? We’ll never know. And she’ll never tell us. We treat the symptom and gradually let the dog learn that hoodie-wearing people are okay.

Deal with the quirks

Some people think dogs are dogs. That dogs are interchangeable. We recently spoke to someone who called about classes. She urgently needs help training her 13-month old Bernese Mountain Dog / Poodle cross breed dog. In the conversation, she mentioned that her current dog isn’t anything like the dog she lost, a Labrador Retriever. Of course not. They’re completely different kinds of dogs. She said she’d thought a dog was a dog. As if only the color, size, and fur differed among dogs.

Every dog, like every person, is a unique individual. Unlike people, we have no way of communicating in words with our dogs. We can never get explanations of why they do what they do. We can only deal with and train the symptoms.

Watch for when

If your dog has a behavior that needs to be turned around, notice when it happens. And where. What’s going on that might have triggered it? You may not hit the nail on the head right away. But knowing how to play training games has given you the ability to break things down into small chunks. Experiment with the circumstances that trigger your dog’s unwanted behavior. When you hit on something that may be a factor, you’ll know where to start training.

In the case of the dog fearing the hoodie, they’ll start with a sweatshirt by itself. Let the dog check it out. Sniff it. Paw at it. When she no longer reacts at this stage, the son can put it on (without the hood up), sit quietly, and give her treats for being close. When she’s okay with that, he can fold up the hood a bit at a time. Step by step, treating the symptom.

We had another student whose Great Dane puppy wouldn’t go for walks without their older dog. He stopped dead in the driveway and refused to move. We’ll never know why solo walks were scary. Treat the symptom. Start even with the older dog and gradually let him (and the person walking him) lag behind. Over time, the distance will increase to the point that they’re not walking together at all. Treat the symptom.

Dog biting pants? Why it happens and how to stop it

Most first time puppy owners have identical wardrobe malfunctions.There are holes in the bottoms of their pants. Sometimes also in their legs. So your dog biting pants legs is a common malady.

So why do dogs, and especially puppies, grab onto your pants when you’re walking? And what can you do to make them stop?

The simple answer is that dogs are predators and designed to see and chase motion. Their vision may not be as acute or colorful as ours, but they’re aces at seeing movement.

Pouncing on prey

Dogs still have most, if not all, of the instincts of their wild canine ancestors. We’ve heard domestic dogs described as perpetual juveniles. They’re practicing their hunting behaviors; chasing, pouncing, and shaking.

Of course your dog or puppy has no intention to hurt you at all. That hole in your ankle where a tooth snagged was purely accidental. But it also means it’s a behavior you have to stop. It’s only cute the first time you imitate Frankenstein’s monster’s walk, dragging one foot with a puppy attached.

What to do about your ankle biter

Now that you know what’s going on, you need a plan to stop it. Since your dog is actually inviting you to play, the first option would be to have a tug toy you “trade” for your pants.

It may be a bit of a pain to have a toy stuffed in your pocket to whip out whenever your dog is “chasing” you, but it’s better than trying to mend another pair of pants.

You don’t have to play for long, and it should be a tugging game. Remember to tug side-to-side, never up and down, to avoid damaging your dog’s neck.

In time, your dog will associate your movement with playing with a toy and will get one for the game. You can encourage this by naming the toy when you toss it and tell your dog to fetch it – “Get the tuggy!”

What if there’s no toy?

If you forgot to carry a toy, the way to stop the pants-biting is to stop all resistance to the tugging. This is the same technique you use to get your dog to drop something. If there’s no tension on the object (or pants), there’s nothing to tug.

Stop moving and pulling away from your dog. If you’re incredibly agile and your balance is amazing, you can move when your dog moves, hopping to keep tension off your pants leg. We don’t know anyone who could actually do this, but it paints a funny mental picture, doesn’t it?

Another way is to walk out of your pants and leave them with your dog. If you’re not in them, they’re not interesting.

Not cute anymore

Unfortunately, pants biting isn’t a puppy behavior that dogs grow out of. They have no reason to. They get your full attention, a fun game, and you used to laugh when they did it. So your dog biting pants is not something the dog is motivated to stop.

You can get them to stop, if you take away the fun of the game. Think about what your dog is getting out of it, and remove it from the equation. If there’s a particular place in your house where your dog does it, change the way you walk there. Walk backwards (facing your dog), or remove your pants before you go there. Or arm yourself with a tug toy to have a minute of fun with your dog.

With clicker dog training, every “click” is a promise

Clicker training is a fast, simple way to communicate clearly to your dog. Every click says “good dog!” and every click is a promise of reward.

Many people seem reluctant to embark on clicker training their dogs. We get it. The timing and mechanics take a while to smooth out. But it’s worth it. As fluency increases, it gives you more flexibility in training your dog. Every “click” is a promise to your dog. It’s an affirmation dogs love (you’re doing good!) and a pledge that their good work will be rewarded.

Everybody’s clumsy at first

Whether you hold the clicker in your hand or have it on a wrist strap doesn’t matter. There are times it’s not where you need it to be. Or you drop it, or it twirled around your arm and isn’t where it should be.

It doesn’t matter. Your dog doesn’t care and won’t tell anybody that you may have messed up. Your training class teacher has been there, done that. It’s worth sticking with it to be able to use this great training tool.

Nobody has enough hands to manipulate leash, clicker, and treats at the same time. The whole concept of the clicker is its use as a bridge between the behavior and the reward. It lets your dog know “Yes! You’re doing it right!”

Clicker familiarization

Dogs catch on really quickly to clicker training. Most dogs get it after a single session: Have 10 treats in a bowl. Click and give your dog a treat. 10 times. That’s it. You’re on your way to having your dog love the sound of the clicker.

At first you absolutely have to give your dog a reward every single time you click. Even if you click by accident. Even if the clicker hit the ground and clicked. Remember that dogs don’t understand “sometimes” or “maybe.” The value of the reward transfers to the sound of the click. Done consistently, it will always make your dog happy. If you don’t follow through, you diminish the value and your dog won’t care about the click.

Better than “Yes!”

There are a couple of reasons that a vocal marker like “Yes!” doesn’t have the same impact as the clicker. It takes longer to talk than click. Once you become used to using the clicker, it’s almost automatic; you see something you like and you click. If you use a vocal, you have to think about it. It has to process through your brain rather than going right to your reflexes.

The clicker is also a sharper sound, more distinguishable in a noisy or distracting environment. Even in a clicker training class, the dogs can tell when it’s “their” clicker that made the sound. We’re not sure how they know, when everybody has the same equipment, but they do.

Give it some time

If you’ve dismissed the idea of clicker dog training, or at some point decided it wasn’t for you, give it another try. You certainly don’t have to use it all the time, or for every behavior. But there are some games where it’s priceless. It gives you the freedom to lock your eyes on your dog and mark the action you want precisely. When Hope’s French Bulldog Torque is playing his “Bowling” game, he knocks down all 10 pins, hears a click as each one goes down, and then runs back for his reward. It started with one pin, one knock-down, and one click. Games can grow click by click.

Help! We broke our dogs!

We broke our dogs! Hope’s Torque is broken. So is Fran’s Booker.

Not physically. But some training games have apparently been erased from memory. Absolute rock-solid training games have been corrupted or are missing entirely.

Not to worry – when you train step-by-step, you can always recover what was lost. You just go back to the beginning, step-by-step, and see where the behavior falls apart. And take it from there.

Similar and different

It’s just coincidental that both of our dogs are broken at the same time. We play training games with the dogs individually, so there isn’t any cross-contamination. And the circumstances are different, too.

In the case of Fran’s Booker, it’s his Ring-Stacking game that’s gone with the wind. He’s always been a special dog. If he were human, he’d be tested for where he falls on the spectrum. Being an 11-year-old dog, we pretty much stand back, assess what he’s up to, shrug and say “Bless his heart.”

Booker discovered that stealing the rings, sticking his cute little butt in the air and chewing on them was more fun than carrying them to the post and stacking them. He’s okay for the first one, but then it’s like his brain glitches.

Fran’s taken it back to the start. Heavily rewarding him for picking up the ring, carrying the ring, taking it over to the post, and putting it on. Each step is deliberate. And she’s no longer tossing a dozen rings out for the game. One at a time. Heavily rewarding for each step of success.

We don’t know if Booker will ever play a full Ring Stacking game again. It doesn’t really matter. He has fun. Every dog in your life teaches you something. Booker has been expanding Fran’s capacity for patience for years.

Hope busted Torque herself

Hope’s always pushing the limits of what she asks Torque to do. One of her recent ideas backfired – big time.

At the end of Torque’s Bowling Game, Hope decided that he could help “clean up” the bowling pins. She asked him to “get it,” a behavior he already knows. He did, and even brought it over to the basket where the little plastic bowling pins are stored.

What she didn’t figure on was how much Torque would enjoy fetching and squishing the bowling pins.

When Hope says his “Go Strike!” command, he runs to the pins, knocks over a couple, then starts grabbing them and squishing them. Oopsy.

Fortunately, he drops them when told. He even puts them in the basket. But for the moment, his “Go Strike!” is striking out. So sad that we broke our dogs.

The action plan is to go back to the beginning and use incredibly high-value treats to reward Torque for just knocking the pins down. We’ll start one at a time, and discontinue the clean-up part for now. He just needs to remember what this game is about. So even though we broke our dogs, we’ll get them back.

Does it matter?

Yes and no. No, we really don’t care if our dogs are whizzes at Ring Stacking or Bowling. What does matter is that we all agree on the rules of the games we play.

Dog training is a constant give-and-take bargaining with your dog. They get what they want (your attention, treats, praise) when you get what you want (good choices).

You get to define the rules for every single game you play with your dogs. Your dog, your game, your rules. The secret to success is keeping those rules crystal clear for your dog.

Your Dog Decides The Reward Value

You choose just about everything in your dog’s life. The entire schedule is yours. So is everything your dog has, is allowed, and does. There is one thing you can’t decide for your dog. Your dog decides the reward value. You can’t make your dog love cheese.

All dog owners know that dogs definitely have preferences: which toy is best, what food is tastiest, which bed is most comfortable. And they absolutely have a treat pyramid, from the golden, most cherished choice on top, to their everyday food at the bottom.

For some dogs, the kibble at the bottom is still worth jumping through fire. Others can easily walk away. The first type of dog is easier to train – you know they’ll be motivated by any tidbit. The second kind of dog, the one who doesn’t care, is more difficult.

It may not be food

You don’t get to pick the reward that’s most valuable to your dog. Sometimes it takes trial and error to figure out what’s at the pinnacle. It may not be food. Or a toy. It could be something odd, like one of our dogs who adored celery.

In the case of one dog, it’s being entirely avoided.

This week in our Rally class there was a dog who suddenly became afraid of the world. According to her owner, who’s a friend and Obedience mentor, it happened about a year ago. There wasn’t any incident, nothing bad happened to this dog. She just shut down.

Slowly, the dog is starting to open back up. But she was clearly nervous and anxious in class, although she did do the exercises with her owner. She gave any other person a very wide berth. Strangers trigger her fear.

Try something out of the box

Working with her owner, we came up with the idea of rewarding this dog by backing off. In competition Rally or Obedience, there is a judge in the ring with the team. Some judges follow the handler and dog closely, others allow more distance. There isn’t any rule about it, it’s just the judge’s preference. So a dog destined to compete in performance sports should be comfortable with another person in the ring, however close or far.

We decided to work on the “Front!” exercise with Hope acting as the “judge” in the vicinity. In this chunk of training, you’re heeling with your dog, then stop and call the dog to “Front!” The dog’s supposed to come around to face you and sit squarely in front of you.

When they began the exercise, Hope was about six or seven feet away. Close, but not hovering. When the dog performed the exercise, even shying away from the “judge,” Hope backed off. This dog’s reward was the scary person going away.

Try a few times, then stop

We repeated the sequence about three or four times, then quit. Even though the dog was doing better with each repetition, you don’t want to flood the dog with too much too soon. We don’t believe you have to stop on an “up” note. You stop before your dog signals stress, frustration, or anxiety. Give your dog time to process the session.

Your dog probably wouldn’t consider being ignored a reward. This dog does. In time, dogs transfer the value of the reward to the behavior that triggered the pay-off. This dog will associate “Front!” with good things happening.

That’s how most, if not all, dog behavior works. Dogs always do what’s most rewarding to them. It’s not always easy to figure out exactly what that is. Through trial and error, creative thinking, and observation, you’ll hit on the right stuff for your dog.

Teach your dog care behavior

It’s good sense and good dog guardianship to teach your dog care behavior procedures, like eye drops, ear cleaning, tooth brushing, even nail trimming.

If your dog is resistant to their face, ears, eyes, or mouth being handled, go slow. Since you’re preparing for the future, you don’t need to push your dog past his/her comfort level.

Prepare for some day

There will probably come a day when you have to give your dog eye drops. Especially if you have active dogs, dogs with short snouts, or who sniff, or who play/wrestle with other dogs. It’s almost inevitable, so it’s a good idea to train it before you need it.

Routine dog care chores will also be easier if your dog understands what’s going to happen. And knows what’s expected of them.

Since you and your dog already know how to play training games, breaking down dog care behaviors should be relatively easy.

Ready for eye drops

If you are the only person caring for your dog, you know it can be challenging to give any kind of medicine or drops. Getting your dog to cooperate can be difficult, as well as frustrating.

Most important: Never lie to your dog. If you try to disguise, or fake what you’re doing, you break your dog’s trust. Their part is cooperating. Yours is doing what you’ve said you would. Stick to it.

Don’t try to hide the medicine, toothbrush, cotton swab, gauze, whatever. If your dog wants to sniff the stuff, let them. Keep a firm grip so they can’t steal and eat anything, but show them it’s all benign stuff.

Simon is our wariest and most curious dog. Nothing happens to him unless he checks it out first. You’d think, after five years, that he knows what’s happening when we load a brush with toothpaste and turn to him. He still has to sniff and okay it. Every single time.

That’s okay. By asking him to help in his own care, he gets to choose. Every single time.

Teach the chin rest

The first thing to teach your dog is a chin rest. If your dog already knows “Gimme Your Face,” you’re most of the way there. For eye drops, you’re probably going to need two hands, so your dog should know a chin rest on a towel, mat, or even a small pillow.

Have a bunch of treats in a bowl nearby. If you have a small dog, sit on the floor. Put the towel across your lap and hold a treat in one hand on the towel. When your dog comes over to take the treat, keep feeding as long as their head is over the towel. If they back off, stop feeding. When they come back, keep feeding. Establish the pattern so they’re always rewarded when their head is over the towel.

Moving on

When your dog starts understanding this step, after a couple of treats use your dog’s release word and toss a treat to the side. If they come right back after getting the treat, you know it’s time to move on.

The next step is to wait for your dog to rest his/her chin on the towel. Hold the treat as far down as possible, and as close to you as possible. Feed as long as your dog’s chin is on the towel. As soon as their head comes up at all, stop. When the chin contacts the towel, feed. When it comes off, stop.

Since you will need some duration for care procedures, be sure to practice varying lengths of time that your dog stays with their chin on the towel. And be sure to release him/her before they’re tempted to do it themselves.

Next step

When your dog is staying with chin on towel for a good while, at least five seconds, add touching your dog to the game. At first, just touch them lightly, around the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Again, build up the amount of time, and use your dog’s release word.

The next step is to actually mimic the action of putting drops in your dog’s eyes. Holding the upper eyelid briefly, then letting it go. Both eyes.

If you have an eye dropper, introduce it to your dog and let him/her sniff it. Hold it in one hand while touching the eye lid with the other.

If your dog is comfortable this far, you can go ahead and fill the dropper with sterile saline solution and put a drop in each eye.

Go slow

If your dog is resistant at any step, just go back one or two and build back up. If there’s no urgent need, take the time your dog needs to be comfortable.

It’s probably going to take a lot of treats. Remember you can always use your dog’s food for part of the “trail mix” of treats you use in training.

This kind of dog training is called “cooperative care.” It’s certainly easiest, once learned, to have your dog help take care of themselves.

Teaching your dog to fish

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” We’ve all heard the saying, although no one seems to know its origins. The point is valid, though. What you’re doing with 2-Minute Training is teaching your dog to fish.

Giving a man a single fish is certainly fast and effective. It solves the immediate problem. Teaching someone to fish takes a lot longer and requires more effort by both parties. But it’s a forever solution to the problem. When it comes to dog training, you have the additional barrier of communication. You can tell a person how to do something. If they have questions, they’ll ask. It’s less clear with dogs.

Making your choice

A specific example most dog owners can relate to: when somebody enters your home, the dog jumps on them to say “Hello.”

Single fish answer: Every time someone comes over, you grab your dog’s collar and prevent the jumping. Or tell your dog “Off!” every time they jump.

Fishing answer: Teaching your dog a greeting behavior that’s triggered by a knock or the sound of the doorbell.

It takes longer and requires more effort to teach the “fishing” answer. It always will. But once learned, it’s there forever and you won’t have to dread the chaos when the doorbell rings.

Pick your battles

Every dog owner has his/her own rules of the house for the dog. Some people don’t want their dogs on furniture. Others don’t want their dogs sleeping on their beds. We know people who don’t want their dogs to precede them through doorways. Everyone chooses what’s most important to them.

Whatever rules you choose as absolutes for your dog, it’s worth taking the time to transform into a training game. Spend a few minutes to break down the behavior. What are the smallest nuggets you can teach your dog?

For instance

If it’s staying off the couch, think about what happens when your dog jumps up on it now. Does it always happen when you’re already sitting there? Does your dog rock back before jumping up? How can you interrupt the action and turn it into something else?

If you’d like your dog to settle in their own bed instead of up on the couch, make sure that bed is in the dog’s path to the couch. When you see your dog getting ready to jump up, they must step on the dog bed first. Use your “place” game and toss a treat into the dog’s bed.

Your dog, your rules

Focus on teaching your dog rules that matter every day. There are some dogs who resist putting on a collar or harness. That’s something that comes into play all the time. It’s worth breaking that down into small pieces:

look at the collar (click & treat)
sniff the collar while you’re holding it (c&t)
touch the collar (c&t)
allow the collar to touch their neck (c&t)
put the collar on (c&t)

Our lives got easier when we taught each of our dogs this simple behavior. They used to get excited and run around like hooligans when we reached for collar and leash. Now they all get excited, run over to us and stay still while we clasp their collars. It’s a small thing but useful many times a day. It was worth it to teach our dogs to fish.

Dogs need your feedback

Do you talk to your dog? If not, why not? Dogs need your feedback especially when you’re playing training games, but other times, too.

Consider this dialog:
Trainer: What day is today?
Student: Tuesday?
Trainer: What day is today?
Student: The seventh?
Trainer: What day is today?
Student:…..

Even if all of the student’s answers are right, by persisting with the same question without feedback, the trainer is causing doubt and frustration. If your dog is struggling to understand what you want, it’s not the dog’s fault. Your role is to encourage your dog to keep trying, offering feedback to keep them in the game. And find a way to clear up any confusion. We’ve encouraged you to talk to your dogs for years, and still our classes can be much too quiet.

Dogs want to play with you

It’s perfectly understandable that you don’t want to look foolish in public. But consider: do you look sillier with high-energy dog training with a responsive, engaged dog? Or with a low-key public session where your dog ignores you?

One of the phrases our students hear most often and are probably sick of is “Be more fun! Be more interesting!” In all honesty, your dog shouldn’t find anything or anybody more interesting than you. You should be your dog’s focal point, because they have more fun with you than anything else on the planet.

When you’re more animated, more enthused, and more focused for those 2-Minute sessions, your dog will be, too. If your dog doesn’t understand what you want, increase your feedback, don’t eliminate it! Give your dog encouragement: “You can do it, I know you can!” “Try something else, buddy. That wasn’t it, but I know you can get there!”

If your dog doesn’t hear good, positive feedback from you – what motivation do they have to keep trying?

Stay engaged

If you’re not feeling it on a particular day, don’t train. It’s really that easy. The session wouldn’t be productive anyway, so just don’t bother. You don’t want to get aggravated, you don’t want to frustrate your dog. So give it a bye. If your mood changes later that day, that’s when you give your dog a couple of minutes. And if it doesn’t, that’s okay, too.

One of the complaints we hear about people’s dogs is that the dogs are more interested in “stuff” in their environment than in their people. It’s not the dog’s job to find you interesting. It’s your job to be interesting to your dog. That doesn’t mean putting on a show. It means paying attention to your dog, not your phone, when you’re out for a walk. And when your dog spots something interesting, engage with them! If it’s something you’d rather they not focus on, redirect their attention with a game or a toy or conversation. If it’s something worth checking out – go do that and be part of the exploration.

That’s the key. Be a part of everything your dog does. Interact, talk to them. Let them know they’re not just a “thing” you take out and play with when it’s convenient. Dogs need your feedback. The more you let your dog know they matter to you, the more you’ll matter to your dog.