Competition obedience training is difficult, especially when done properly. Dogs do not naturally walk around with their undivided attention on you, all while staying perfectly straight in heel position. They do not naturally retrieve an object while doing a perfectly straight front, with their head up and their eyes on you.
We’ve all heard the statement “make the right thing easy and wrong thing difficult”. But what happens in our world of competition obedience, when the right thing is already hard? You will hear me talk a lot about effort. If the dog does not put forth enough effort during training, I immediately stop working on what I’m doing and go back and work effort. I put a lot of myself into my training, and I expect my dog to do the same. My dog quickly learns that if he would have done the exercise correctly the first time, it would be a lot easier. This doesn’t mean my definition of “correctly”, is without effort, it just means that if he doesn’t do it correctly, he’s going to have to work MUCH harder.
Let me give you a few examples...
1) I send my dog to the article pile. He finds the correct article, picks it up and trots back. “Oops, good find it, but you didn’t ‘hurry’!” I require that my dog runs back to me in practice, every time if possible. At this time, I may require that he do a couple of hand touches or bounces, something to give me extra effort. I then set up and do it again. If he runs on the next article, I may break off during his run back and give him some cookies. Notice, that I said I break off “during his run back”. Why not wait until he got to front? Because I want to reward the RUNNING. How does he know which part I’m rewarding if I wait for him to get to front. Worse yet, say his front isn’t perfect and I have to ask him to work harder on his front. I’ve now lost the opportunity to reward the run entirely!
2) My dog adjusts the glove in his mouth when he’s coming back to me on the Directed Retrieve and the glove falls out of his mouth. I say “Oops!” and I quickly walk out to get the glove. I hold my dog’s buckle collar with one hand, while my other hand holds the glove. I tell him to “get it”, as I’m keeping the glove just out of his reach (picture me spinning in a circle). Only when he’s really driving to get to the glove, do I let him jump up and get it. I do not force fetch him to the glove, that’s an “easy” correction in my opinion. Anyone can force a dog’s nose down to the glove and make him pick it up, but YOU are doing all the work. My correction gets the DOG to give the effort. The only way he is going to stop chasing the glove around in circles is if he really runs to get it. As soon as he grabs the glove, I praise heavily and tell him how smart he is.
3) During heeling, my dog is crabbing slightly or not working his rear on left turns. If that left turn is too difficult for him to put in effort, my dog will now be required to do left about turns, left 270 turns, he will be asked to spin in the middle of his left turn, etc. Anything that requires more effort.
Don’t fall into a habit of simply “correcting” your dog for an error. What are you teaching your dog? Not much, except for maybe how to avoid a collar correction. Instead, step back and think about how you can require more effort from your dog. Trust me, after a bunch of left about turns, that 90 degree left turn will be much easier for your dog.
Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Food as a crutch
When I first start training a dog to heel as a young puppy, I always use food. Actually, I use food for quite a while to develop muscle memory for a desired head position. But everyone knows that the food has to go away eventually. You may still reward with food, but the food can no longer be visible to the dog as a lure.
In times of pressure or stress, if you continually bring the cookie back out, the dog will never be able heel properly.
Examples:
In times of pressure or stress, if you continually bring the cookie back out, the dog will never be able heel properly.
Examples:
- Your dog is off of a cookie lure, and while at a match, the dog gets stressed. You immediately pull the cookie out of your pocket and put it on your dog’s nose.
- During a training class, your dog starts to give you less effort than you would like, so you pull out the cookie and put it in your hand.
- You are getting ready to go into the show ring and you HAVE to keep cookies in your hand before going into the ring. Your thought process is that you need to keep your dog’s attitude up while waiting your turn.
If you continue to pull out a cookie when your dog (or you) starts to wilt under pressure or stress, you have turned that piece of food into a crutch.
Teach your dog to work through their stressors without bringing a cookie back out. This is only masking the underlying problem....a lack of confidence, a lack of commitment or a lack of understanding. Work on building and maintaining drive in all types of conditions. Reward the dog profusely when he gives you effort during difficult situations, even if the overall look is not what you want for the ring. Your reward should be something that your dog finds valuable, whether it be a toy, food or hands on praise. Better yet, teach your dog that all three things are high value rewards.
Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon
Saturday, July 5, 2014
You can’t solve a problem by avoiding it....
My evil, little laugh escaped this morning. I couldn’t help it. Every time someone tells me “I can’t make him do it in practice”, it just comes out. Maybe it shouldn’t...maybe it’s not politically correct...but since when have I worried about being politically correct?
It is not that I want the dog to screw up in practice, but for me to be able to tell my dog he’s doing something incorrectly, first he has to DO it incorrectly. And, my definition of “incorrect” may not be the same as your definition of “incorrect”. Clear as mud? Let me explain. My definition of heel position means straight, in line with my left leg, head up, eyes on me, and focused attention. One word (“Close” to my dog) means all of those things. If my dog meets four of those requirements, but not the fifth, he is incorrect. How I respond may vary, depending on what thing is incorrect, but I WILL respond.
The dog in question is doing a couple of different things - laying down on the Novice sit stay and not coming into front position straight enough on the recall. It was actually the sit stay issue that brought out the evil laugh, when the owner said the dog NEVER fails in practice. The evil laugh escaped and I said “I bet I can make him fail.”
But, the topic of this post is more in relation to the second one...the fronting on the recall. She said the dog comes in too fast and couldn’t get his front. She had been trying to slow the dog down on the recall, to make it easier for him to find front position. Well, maybe, but the “problem” is that the dog can’t find front position, not that he is going too fast. So, instead of trying to slow the dog down, work on helping the dog find front position when he is coming in fast. Make sure the dog understands what and where front position is, instead of just assuming he understands. Now, in doing some of this work, the speed may taper off slightly on the recall, but it is because the dog is thinking about his next job of finding his front position, not because we are trying to slow him down.
When I was showing my German Shepherd years ago, she had the opposite problem. She was low drive and sometimes didn’t put forth enough effort to get back to me. I listened to everyone’s advice, which included never doing any fronts, running away from her when she was coming in, and throwing a treat or a toy. I did all of those things, and you know what? My problem got worse. She knew I wasn’t going to move in the ring. She knew I wasn’t going to throw a toy or a cookie. I was AVOIDING the problem. After one trial where she walked the entire way back to me on a dumbbell retrieve, I decided to address it head on. If she couldn’t trot 30’, she was going to have to trot 5’. So, I went back and worked on short fronts. In the beginning, she worked exclusively on a training collar and a flexi lead. Later, we dropped the flexi, but left a pull tab attached. I would leave her on a sit, walk 5-10’ away and call her to front. If she walked, she got a little bounce forward (basically a failure to come correction) and I’d release her to try again. It only took a few corrections and she never walked in on another exercise in the ring again...although it is a drill that was practiced often.
As an instructor, I often hear people using avoidance as a training tool. If your dog auto finishes, never do finishes in practice. If your dog lags during off lead heeling, never heel off lead. If your dog likes to go and visit people in the ring, don’t ever give them the opportunity to leave your side. Well, I look at it a little bit differently. You can’t fix what doesn’t happen. Let your dog anticipate things. Let your dog try to auto finish. Let your dog start to lag on heeling. Let your dog think that the steward probably needs to be checked for cookies. But, as soon as they do it, FIX IT!! Help your dog understand what they are supposed to be doing. If they make the decision to do the exercise perfectly, then reward them profusely!! Have a party! Show them they made the correct choice and that they are the smartest dog in the world.
Just don’t think that the problem is going to magically disappear if you micromanage your dog so the problem never happens. I hate to burst your bubble, but you can’t micromanage everything.
Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon
P.S. If you are wondering about the dog who NEVER broke his sit stay in practice...I nicely asked the dog to lie down during the sit stay. He didn’t even think twice. Down he went. :)
It is not that I want the dog to screw up in practice, but for me to be able to tell my dog he’s doing something incorrectly, first he has to DO it incorrectly. And, my definition of “incorrect” may not be the same as your definition of “incorrect”. Clear as mud? Let me explain. My definition of heel position means straight, in line with my left leg, head up, eyes on me, and focused attention. One word (“Close” to my dog) means all of those things. If my dog meets four of those requirements, but not the fifth, he is incorrect. How I respond may vary, depending on what thing is incorrect, but I WILL respond.
The dog in question is doing a couple of different things - laying down on the Novice sit stay and not coming into front position straight enough on the recall. It was actually the sit stay issue that brought out the evil laugh, when the owner said the dog NEVER fails in practice. The evil laugh escaped and I said “I bet I can make him fail.”
But, the topic of this post is more in relation to the second one...the fronting on the recall. She said the dog comes in too fast and couldn’t get his front. She had been trying to slow the dog down on the recall, to make it easier for him to find front position. Well, maybe, but the “problem” is that the dog can’t find front position, not that he is going too fast. So, instead of trying to slow the dog down, work on helping the dog find front position when he is coming in fast. Make sure the dog understands what and where front position is, instead of just assuming he understands. Now, in doing some of this work, the speed may taper off slightly on the recall, but it is because the dog is thinking about his next job of finding his front position, not because we are trying to slow him down.
When I was showing my German Shepherd years ago, she had the opposite problem. She was low drive and sometimes didn’t put forth enough effort to get back to me. I listened to everyone’s advice, which included never doing any fronts, running away from her when she was coming in, and throwing a treat or a toy. I did all of those things, and you know what? My problem got worse. She knew I wasn’t going to move in the ring. She knew I wasn’t going to throw a toy or a cookie. I was AVOIDING the problem. After one trial where she walked the entire way back to me on a dumbbell retrieve, I decided to address it head on. If she couldn’t trot 30’, she was going to have to trot 5’. So, I went back and worked on short fronts. In the beginning, she worked exclusively on a training collar and a flexi lead. Later, we dropped the flexi, but left a pull tab attached. I would leave her on a sit, walk 5-10’ away and call her to front. If she walked, she got a little bounce forward (basically a failure to come correction) and I’d release her to try again. It only took a few corrections and she never walked in on another exercise in the ring again...although it is a drill that was practiced often.
As an instructor, I often hear people using avoidance as a training tool. If your dog auto finishes, never do finishes in practice. If your dog lags during off lead heeling, never heel off lead. If your dog likes to go and visit people in the ring, don’t ever give them the opportunity to leave your side. Well, I look at it a little bit differently. You can’t fix what doesn’t happen. Let your dog anticipate things. Let your dog try to auto finish. Let your dog start to lag on heeling. Let your dog think that the steward probably needs to be checked for cookies. But, as soon as they do it, FIX IT!! Help your dog understand what they are supposed to be doing. If they make the decision to do the exercise perfectly, then reward them profusely!! Have a party! Show them they made the correct choice and that they are the smartest dog in the world.
Just don’t think that the problem is going to magically disappear if you micromanage your dog so the problem never happens. I hate to burst your bubble, but you can’t micromanage everything.
Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon
P.S. If you are wondering about the dog who NEVER broke his sit stay in practice...I nicely asked the dog to lie down during the sit stay. He didn’t even think twice. Down he went. :)
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Week of the trial...
I trained with a great group of ladies this morning, most of whom are working on their Utility titles with their dogs. Green handlers with greener dogs. :) We are all headed to a dog show this weekend, three trials over two days. Nerves are coming into play for some, as Utility is the most difficult class to pass.
One of the handlers was warming up her dog and I asked her what she wanted to do in the ring. She didn’t answer right away and I commented, “You are not doing a run through. Pick 2 or 3 exercises to work on.” Her response was “What?!? I can’t do a run through?” No....2 or 3 things, that’s it.
Let me explain my reasoning. Everyone knows that trials are where we “prove” our training. During our normal training sessions, we work hard on keeping our dogs happy and pushy. We work through issues. We proof our dogs to increase their understanding of what is expected. We polish all of the little pieces of each exercise. We reward a lot, with food, toys or play. But, when a trial is looming around the corner, some people change. They decide to make it more serious, more “ring-like”. They decide that they need to do every exercise, every time they walk into the ring. They don’t want to carry any cookies or toys on their body. All of a sudden, the dogs see a different person standing next to them. The fun, upbeat person has turned into a nervous, silent stranger. There is nothing more boring, for dog or handler, than doing run through after run through. It may make the handler feel better, but they are not helping their dog.
So, this morning, this particular team came into the ring and did gloves, articles and directed jumping. The dog did everything perfectly and both dog and handler left the ring happy and encouraged. Later, they came back in and did the signal and moving stand exercises. Again, nice work from the dog, and the handler left training a lot more encouraged (I think) about the upcoming weekend.
I try to train my dog with the “train like you show” mantra in my head. I’m not over the top, but I’m not dragging around the ring either. I’m liberal with food (not much toy drive for my current dog) and I’m even more liberal with praise. I work exercises fairly silently, but I acknowledge good effort and correct lack of effort. I break from exercises mid-stride often and rarely do an exercise from start to end. The way I train doesn’t really change, whether we have a trial next weekend or we don’t have a trial for two months. My dog knows all of the exercises, so right now, I consider all work to be maintenance or if I’m working on a new problem. Training dogs is the easy part....maintaining it is something else entirely. This is why a dog who is trained on one end of the spectrum (either a lot of compulsion or reward only) can go into a ring and earn titles, but yet they can not maintain it long term. Dogs are smart. They learn very quickly their handler can not correct them in the ring and they also learn that there aren’t going to be any cookies.
The week of a trial, I do very little, if any, proofing. I want the dog to get it right EVERY time. I don’t make things easier, I just don’t make them more difficult. Why would I risk damaging the dog’s confidence immediately before a show? Every time I train, I have cookies on me or in the ring. I don’t let the dog see me put the rewards around the ring or the cookies in my mouth, but they are always there. I will often break and run to one of the containers in the ring or I will let him chase a cookie that I take from my pocket or mouth. The number of days or times of day I train will not change. If I normally only train 2 or 3 days a week, I will not train every day the week of a trial.
Does this mean I never do a run through? No, but they are very rare. If a handler has not been in the ring very often, they should do run throughs once and awhile. But, this is more for them to understand the judge’s commands, proper protocol, and how to move from exercise to exercise, not just to get “ring time”. If your dog can work (not play, but work) for 5-8 minutes during training without any cookies, why does it matter what they are doing? It is irrelevant if they do every single Utility exercise, if they do a little bit of everything, or if they concentrate on a couple of different exercises.
And don’t forget, you are able to praise in the ring. Teach your dog that praise MEANS something. But, make sure the praise you give your dog is genuine. Show it in your voice, your face and your hands.
Remember, this is a sport we do for fun with our dogs. The training that we do in the months and years before a trial is A LOT more important than what we do the week of a trial. The attitude that we so carefully build and cultivate can be ruined by a well-intended handler who tries to cram in “just one more” training session the week of a show.
Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon
One of the handlers was warming up her dog and I asked her what she wanted to do in the ring. She didn’t answer right away and I commented, “You are not doing a run through. Pick 2 or 3 exercises to work on.” Her response was “What?!? I can’t do a run through?” No....2 or 3 things, that’s it.
Let me explain my reasoning. Everyone knows that trials are where we “prove” our training. During our normal training sessions, we work hard on keeping our dogs happy and pushy. We work through issues. We proof our dogs to increase their understanding of what is expected. We polish all of the little pieces of each exercise. We reward a lot, with food, toys or play. But, when a trial is looming around the corner, some people change. They decide to make it more serious, more “ring-like”. They decide that they need to do every exercise, every time they walk into the ring. They don’t want to carry any cookies or toys on their body. All of a sudden, the dogs see a different person standing next to them. The fun, upbeat person has turned into a nervous, silent stranger. There is nothing more boring, for dog or handler, than doing run through after run through. It may make the handler feel better, but they are not helping their dog.
So, this morning, this particular team came into the ring and did gloves, articles and directed jumping. The dog did everything perfectly and both dog and handler left the ring happy and encouraged. Later, they came back in and did the signal and moving stand exercises. Again, nice work from the dog, and the handler left training a lot more encouraged (I think) about the upcoming weekend.
I try to train my dog with the “train like you show” mantra in my head. I’m not over the top, but I’m not dragging around the ring either. I’m liberal with food (not much toy drive for my current dog) and I’m even more liberal with praise. I work exercises fairly silently, but I acknowledge good effort and correct lack of effort. I break from exercises mid-stride often and rarely do an exercise from start to end. The way I train doesn’t really change, whether we have a trial next weekend or we don’t have a trial for two months. My dog knows all of the exercises, so right now, I consider all work to be maintenance or if I’m working on a new problem. Training dogs is the easy part....maintaining it is something else entirely. This is why a dog who is trained on one end of the spectrum (either a lot of compulsion or reward only) can go into a ring and earn titles, but yet they can not maintain it long term. Dogs are smart. They learn very quickly their handler can not correct them in the ring and they also learn that there aren’t going to be any cookies.
The week of a trial, I do very little, if any, proofing. I want the dog to get it right EVERY time. I don’t make things easier, I just don’t make them more difficult. Why would I risk damaging the dog’s confidence immediately before a show? Every time I train, I have cookies on me or in the ring. I don’t let the dog see me put the rewards around the ring or the cookies in my mouth, but they are always there. I will often break and run to one of the containers in the ring or I will let him chase a cookie that I take from my pocket or mouth. The number of days or times of day I train will not change. If I normally only train 2 or 3 days a week, I will not train every day the week of a trial.
Does this mean I never do a run through? No, but they are very rare. If a handler has not been in the ring very often, they should do run throughs once and awhile. But, this is more for them to understand the judge’s commands, proper protocol, and how to move from exercise to exercise, not just to get “ring time”. If your dog can work (not play, but work) for 5-8 minutes during training without any cookies, why does it matter what they are doing? It is irrelevant if they do every single Utility exercise, if they do a little bit of everything, or if they concentrate on a couple of different exercises.
And don’t forget, you are able to praise in the ring. Teach your dog that praise MEANS something. But, make sure the praise you give your dog is genuine. Show it in your voice, your face and your hands.
Remember, this is a sport we do for fun with our dogs. The training that we do in the months and years before a trial is A LOT more important than what we do the week of a trial. The attitude that we so carefully build and cultivate can be ruined by a well-intended handler who tries to cram in “just one more” training session the week of a show.
Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Training 24/7
I often get asked how often I train my competition dog. My answer...“24/7”. This usually elicits a laugh and a “No really, how often do you train?”.
I am always training. I’m either training my dog how to behave in the house properly, how to relax when I need him to, how to properly go through doorways, how to behave around my other dogs and, oh yeah, how to perform on high-level obedience exercises. ;) I want as many experiences to be as positive as possible for my dog. This doesn’t mean I hesitate reaching for his collar when he behaves improperly in the house. If he jumps at one of my other dogs, I take him by the collar, drop my voice and tell him to “stop”. But, in the end, I want the positives to FAR outweigh the negatives.
Every interaction with your dog is an opportunity to train. And, in the meantime, you are building your relationship. I once went to a top breed handler’s seminar. He talked about keeping the dogs in kennels until they were jumping up and down every time he approached...just begging to be worked with. Inwardly, I cringed. You take a social creature, isolate him from the ‘pack’ and expect to have a good relationship with you. It’s impossible. Instead, I want my dog to look at me like I hung the moon. I want to build so much drive to work with me, that he is willing to jump through fire just to look into my eyes. If you have never had a dog that was this devoted to working with you, I hope you one day do, as there is no better feeling in the world.
Training a high level competition dog requires a change in your mindset. You need to look at everything as training. Lets look at the simple act of going to my dog club to train.....
I am always training. I’m either training my dog how to behave in the house properly, how to relax when I need him to, how to properly go through doorways, how to behave around my other dogs and, oh yeah, how to perform on high-level obedience exercises. ;) I want as many experiences to be as positive as possible for my dog. This doesn’t mean I hesitate reaching for his collar when he behaves improperly in the house. If he jumps at one of my other dogs, I take him by the collar, drop my voice and tell him to “stop”. But, in the end, I want the positives to FAR outweigh the negatives.
Every interaction with your dog is an opportunity to train. And, in the meantime, you are building your relationship. I once went to a top breed handler’s seminar. He talked about keeping the dogs in kennels until they were jumping up and down every time he approached...just begging to be worked with. Inwardly, I cringed. You take a social creature, isolate him from the ‘pack’ and expect to have a good relationship with you. It’s impossible. Instead, I want my dog to look at me like I hung the moon. I want to build so much drive to work with me, that he is willing to jump through fire just to look into my eyes. If you have never had a dog that was this devoted to working with you, I hope you one day do, as there is no better feeling in the world.
Training a high level competition dog requires a change in your mindset. You need to look at everything as training. Lets look at the simple act of going to my dog club to train.....
- As I’m packing up to leave, I want my dog following me through the house, making sure that I don’t leave without him. Or, at minimum, he needs to be watching my actions from somewhere. I do not want him running to another room or hiding (huge red flag!)
- Dog has to sit while I put his collar on.
- As I open the door to the garage, I practice a sit stay...VERY hard for my dog who wants to get in the car.
- I walk through the door and I call the dog to heel position. If he doesn’t do it right (straight and with attention), I simply put him back inside the door and try again.
- I leave him sitting on the rug just inside the garage while I go open the back hatch of the car. Another sit stay opportunity!!
- I call him to get into the car. I expect him to come fast and go immediately into his crate.
- Dog relaxes as we drive to the dog club.
- Unload my gear at the club while my dog waits in the car.
- Open my dog’s crate. Dog is required to wait for his lead to be attached and is then given permission to jump down from the car.
- Bring my dog onto the training grounds. He does not have to heel, but he isn’t allowed to pull me around.
- Take him to the potty area. No pulling!
- Unhook his lead. He is NOT allowed to leave me when I unhook the lead. And, I do not tell him to stay with him, it is a required (and trained) behavior. I play with him for a minute (off lead), before I release him with a “go potty”.
- As soon as I call him from the potty area, he’s required to respond promptly and come to me to be put back on lead. If he doesn’t respond, I walk him down and he gets a mild recall correction.
- Dog is placed on a floor mat while I set up the rings. I don’t care what position he stays in on his mat, but he has to stay ON the mat.
Look at all of those opportunities for reward and interaction! And I haven’t even started to train yet!! And, no, I don’t keep treats in my pockets for rewarding around the house. If your dog can’t perform basic skills for praise and petting, this is something you need to work on. As long as the praise is genuine and the physical interaction is something your dog enjoys (back scratches, belly rubs, ear scratches, etc.), the dog does not need a cookie.
There are always going to be some negatives applied during training. A lack of effort on a finish may result in a collar bounce. If he doesn’t respond appropriately when I ask for a hand touch, he may have to run to touch the next hand. But, I want the positives to outweigh the negatives. And, not just in training, in life. Think of it as if you had two buckets. Every time you had to correct your dog or do something negative, you have to put a penny into the “negative bucket”. But, every time you do something positive or are able to reward/praise your dog, you put a penny into your “positive bucket”. Now, when you are finished at the end of the day, all of the pennies in the negative bucket disappear, but all the pennies in your positive bucket go back into your pocket, to be used again and again.
Most people don’t pay attention to all of the little things, until they start to turn into big things. But, now, you will have to use up a lot of your negative pennies to get back on track. And, to clarify, negatives aren’t necessarily corrections. In my mind, withholding a reward is a negative, as is stopping an unwanted behavior. Make the right thing easy, so you can reward it, and make the wrong thing difficult.
So, every minute you share with your dog, you need to consider the interaction that is happening. Which bucket are you dropping a penny into? The negative bucket or the positive bucket?
Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Decision Making
If you correct a dog for “thinking” about making a wrong decision, you have basically taken all decision making away from the dog. Instead, you need to give your dog time to think.
Give him the opportunity to arrive at the desired decision...without your help. If he makes a wrong decision, help him to be correct. When he makes the correct decision by himself, make sure you tell him how wonderful he is. Do not put pressure on him while he’s thinking. Just wait.
Dogs fail in the ring (and in life) because their owners micromanage them. They are never allowed the opportunity to think for themselves and to arrive at the correct conclusion. So, when you are unable to help them, they start to flounder.
Practice putting your dog in positions where he needs to make decisions. In competition, this can be accomplished through proofing. The intent of proofing is to help solidify the correct behavior in your dog under more difficult circumstances. Good proofing will increase your dog’s confidence and his understanding of each exercise. Bad proofing, on the other hand, can destroy a dog’s confidence.
Does this mean that I only proof my dog on what I KNOW he will do correctly? No. While I’m not going to set him to fail, I will make some of my proofing more difficult on purpose. In these scenarios, I will help him make the correct decision before asking him to do it by himself.
It may make you feel better to micromanage every detail of your dog’s life (in and out of the ring), but give them a little credit. Nothing makes me happier than to see my dog actually make a conscious decision to correct his behavior. When you see the little lightbulb come on and the dog shows you that they know what the correct behavior should be. For me, that is one of the true joys of training dogs.
Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon
Give him the opportunity to arrive at the desired decision...without your help. If he makes a wrong decision, help him to be correct. When he makes the correct decision by himself, make sure you tell him how wonderful he is. Do not put pressure on him while he’s thinking. Just wait.
Dogs fail in the ring (and in life) because their owners micromanage them. They are never allowed the opportunity to think for themselves and to arrive at the correct conclusion. So, when you are unable to help them, they start to flounder.
Practice putting your dog in positions where he needs to make decisions. In competition, this can be accomplished through proofing. The intent of proofing is to help solidify the correct behavior in your dog under more difficult circumstances. Good proofing will increase your dog’s confidence and his understanding of each exercise. Bad proofing, on the other hand, can destroy a dog’s confidence.
Does this mean that I only proof my dog on what I KNOW he will do correctly? No. While I’m not going to set him to fail, I will make some of my proofing more difficult on purpose. In these scenarios, I will help him make the correct decision before asking him to do it by himself.
It may make you feel better to micromanage every detail of your dog’s life (in and out of the ring), but give them a little credit. Nothing makes me happier than to see my dog actually make a conscious decision to correct his behavior. When you see the little lightbulb come on and the dog shows you that they know what the correct behavior should be. For me, that is one of the true joys of training dogs.
Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon
Friday, May 2, 2014
Understanding....
There are so many training tools on the market, it is amazing that new dog trainers don’t throw their arms up in confusion. What happened to old fashioned training? Old fashioned work?
Everyone wants immediate results, but no one wants to work at it. Gimmicks and training tools may work, but the result is the same. If the dog does not understand, as soon as the tool goes away, the desired behavior disappears.
The fundamental, core exercise in competition obedience is attention heeling. So, it is no surprise that trainers have developed “tools” to help you. But, is a tool needed? Absolutely not! Is it more work? YES! However, if your dog UNDERSTANDS exactly what is expected of them, they will perform more consistently, under varying conditions. The caveat to this is that YOU as a handler, need to first understand how to teach attention heeling.
There are tons of exceptional trainers out there, who sell a “method”. But, yet, you very rarely see their success duplicated among their students. Why? Because the students do not have the same level of understanding of the method. After awhile, their dog’s heeling doesn’t improve, so they move onto a different method. Unfortunately, the “method” isn’t the problem, it’s the fact that the handler does not know enough about the method to apply it properly. This does not mean the handler doesn’t have a good knowledge of the method or even good training skills, but rather that they do not understand the method well enough to apply it to their own dog. Instead of switching methods, maybe the handler needs to spend more time trying to understand their current method better.
"Knowledge and skill in themselves do not guarantee understanding. People can acquire knowledge and routine skills without understanding their basis or when to use them. And, by and large, knowledge and skills that are not understood do (people) little good!” David Perkins, American Educator: The Professional Journal of the American Federation of Teachers; v17 n3, pp. 8,28-35, Fall 1993.
Now, apply this same reasoning to your dog. If your dog does not “understand” an exercise, you have failed in your training. When our dog performs well, we feel better...about ourself, our dog, and our training ability. So, when we go out and train, especially if someone is watching us, we make sure our dog is successful. There is nothing wrong with failure. Sometimes, we (or our dog) need to fail, in order for us to learn the correct way to do something.
Honestly, when I see someone showing off their dog’s heeling online, my first reaction is to look for a visible cookie or a toy. If the dog is supposedly “trained” and I see one, I stop watching. Granted, if it is a young dog, that is different, but if the dog is TRULY trained and you have a cookie in your hand, you are creating an illusion. An illusion which may look awesome, but it’s still an illusion. Show me a video of your dog’s heeling in competition. Show me a video of your dog working when they KNOW you don’t have a reward on you. The fact that your training partner pulled the toy from behind your back as you were walking into the ring may make you feel better, but really, who are you kidding??
I will pick on my own dog for a moment....my Springer is extremely food driven. His toy drive is fairly low, depending on where we are training. I train with food a lot, regardless of the surroundings. In doing so, I have not done as much proofing with food that I should have. Two weeks ago, while retrieving his dumbbell in competition, he actually set his dumbbell down to check out a leaf that was on the ground (outdoor trial). When he saw it wasn’t food, he quickly picked up the dumbbell and did a beautiful front and finish. Normally, I would NQ myself and give a second command, but I was trying to salvage a UDX leg, so I bit my tongue and let him work it out. But, I knew I would have to address it in practice.
I needed to pull out his errors, which proved to me the lack of “understanding”. Does he know the basics of the job? Yes, he does...he has his OTCH for heaven’s sake. But, he didn’t understand that the same rule applied when the visible cookie was on the floor directly in front of him. We worked through the issue this morning and will probably need to continually revisit the topic.
So, when you are training or learning something new, strive for understanding, not just knowledge. Ask questions. Challenge yourself and your dog. Instead of training for a certain “picture”, train your dog to think on his feet and to work through problems. And, above all, put in the work.
Work hard. Play harder.
Shannon
Everyone wants immediate results, but no one wants to work at it. Gimmicks and training tools may work, but the result is the same. If the dog does not understand, as soon as the tool goes away, the desired behavior disappears.
The fundamental, core exercise in competition obedience is attention heeling. So, it is no surprise that trainers have developed “tools” to help you. But, is a tool needed? Absolutely not! Is it more work? YES! However, if your dog UNDERSTANDS exactly what is expected of them, they will perform more consistently, under varying conditions. The caveat to this is that YOU as a handler, need to first understand how to teach attention heeling.
There are tons of exceptional trainers out there, who sell a “method”. But, yet, you very rarely see their success duplicated among their students. Why? Because the students do not have the same level of understanding of the method. After awhile, their dog’s heeling doesn’t improve, so they move onto a different method. Unfortunately, the “method” isn’t the problem, it’s the fact that the handler does not know enough about the method to apply it properly. This does not mean the handler doesn’t have a good knowledge of the method or even good training skills, but rather that they do not understand the method well enough to apply it to their own dog. Instead of switching methods, maybe the handler needs to spend more time trying to understand their current method better.
"Knowledge and skill in themselves do not guarantee understanding. People can acquire knowledge and routine skills without understanding their basis or when to use them. And, by and large, knowledge and skills that are not understood do (people) little good!” David Perkins, American Educator: The Professional Journal of the American Federation of Teachers; v17 n3, pp. 8,28-35, Fall 1993.
Now, apply this same reasoning to your dog. If your dog does not “understand” an exercise, you have failed in your training. When our dog performs well, we feel better...about ourself, our dog, and our training ability. So, when we go out and train, especially if someone is watching us, we make sure our dog is successful. There is nothing wrong with failure. Sometimes, we (or our dog) need to fail, in order for us to learn the correct way to do something.
Honestly, when I see someone showing off their dog’s heeling online, my first reaction is to look for a visible cookie or a toy. If the dog is supposedly “trained” and I see one, I stop watching. Granted, if it is a young dog, that is different, but if the dog is TRULY trained and you have a cookie in your hand, you are creating an illusion. An illusion which may look awesome, but it’s still an illusion. Show me a video of your dog’s heeling in competition. Show me a video of your dog working when they KNOW you don’t have a reward on you. The fact that your training partner pulled the toy from behind your back as you were walking into the ring may make you feel better, but really, who are you kidding??
I will pick on my own dog for a moment....my Springer is extremely food driven. His toy drive is fairly low, depending on where we are training. I train with food a lot, regardless of the surroundings. In doing so, I have not done as much proofing with food that I should have. Two weeks ago, while retrieving his dumbbell in competition, he actually set his dumbbell down to check out a leaf that was on the ground (outdoor trial). When he saw it wasn’t food, he quickly picked up the dumbbell and did a beautiful front and finish. Normally, I would NQ myself and give a second command, but I was trying to salvage a UDX leg, so I bit my tongue and let him work it out. But, I knew I would have to address it in practice.
I needed to pull out his errors, which proved to me the lack of “understanding”. Does he know the basics of the job? Yes, he does...he has his OTCH for heaven’s sake. But, he didn’t understand that the same rule applied when the visible cookie was on the floor directly in front of him. We worked through the issue this morning and will probably need to continually revisit the topic.
So, when you are training or learning something new, strive for understanding, not just knowledge. Ask questions. Challenge yourself and your dog. Instead of training for a certain “picture”, train your dog to think on his feet and to work through problems. And, above all, put in the work.
Work hard. Play harder.
Shannon
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