Dog training culture, terminology and concepts that should be apart of every dog owner/trainers regular standard vernacular and standard practice.
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT: Focusing on the behaviors you want from your dog and consistently rewarding them for the positive choices they make greatly increases the chances that those choices and behaviors are repeated. If you find yourself using a lot of correction and generalized no's in your relationship with your dog, you will benefit by increasing your awareness of "reward based training". Create what you want, show your dog what you want, consistently and heavily reward those things. Turn no's into yes's and feel the power of positive reinforcement.
REWARDS: Dogs come into this world with one primary objective. To get "stuff". As much good stuff as possible. Your dog always wants something. As a dog owner/dog trainer your job is to know what it is "my dog wants at any given moment" and use that to reinforce desired behaviors. A reward can be anything that your dog loves. It can be food, toys, or affection. It can be your tone of voice and it can be a life reward like going for a walk, a ride in the car, or visiting another dog. Even a "release" for freedom is a powerful reward but typically there are no better rewards for a dog than food.
TIMING: Dog’s Live in the moment- Good timing speeds up the training process and aids in communication with your dog so that he can easily understand what you require of him. Remember your dog lives in the moment. Taking longer than 2 seconds to reward or correct an action, or behavior can leave you rewarding or correcting something other than the behavior you initially wanted to mark. Having your treats in a treat pouch will ensure quick access.
MARKER WORDS AND CLICKERS: A marker word is a word used to let your dog know that they either did something well or that a mistake was made. We "mark" desired behaviors by saying "good!" and create a positive association with the word "good" by coupling it with a primary reinforcement (“stuff a dog”).
[Stuff a dog]- Giving your dog continuous treats while repeating their name or your marker word
over and over again helping to create a positive association with them.
Negative Verbal Marker. No is the most over used word in the history of human- dog relationship and it’s much too harsh of a word to use in training our dogs. Constant and generalized use of “NO” causes confusion and often leads to fear and a lack of confidence in our dogs. Correction, when used correctly, is an important part in training and managing our dogs’ behavior but well associated negative verbal markers like Ooops! Whoops! And Uh-Oh! are more effective and less startling to friend’s family and neighbors.
Extremely high levels of response-reliability may be achieved simply by using our voice.
Corrections indicate where you are in your training progress. Too many corrections mean not enough training. Ultimately our goal is to turn no’s into yes's.
CAPTURING: Dogs, not unlike children, need to be taught the meaning of the words that you use with them. “Capturing” a behavior is the act of rewarding a behavior or action and speaking the command associated with the behavior at the same time your dog voluntarily offers it. This also helps Increase the all important success rate
SUCCESSFUL REPETITIONS: “Repetition is the mother of skill.” Know that It takes at least 80 successful repetitions before you can be sure your dog fully understands a word or command. Generalization and competing motivation must be accounted for. Focus on a high success rate when you’re teaching your dog something new or reinforcing a command. (This is especially important when you’re calling your dog to you.)
A good practice early on is, if you don’t think your dog can do it don’t ask for it. You will get better at understanding what your dog’s limitations are and how to strengthen those limitations. Capturing is 100% successful. Repeating a command over and over again with no response lowers the success rate. Maintain a success rate of 90+% or higher initially gradually increasing the success rate over time.
UNDERSTANDING COMPETING MOTIVATION, STIMULATION, AND VALUE SCALES: Recognizing your dog’s likes and dislikes and ranking them in value to your dog on a scale from 1-10 is an important part of your training and it's an important part of being a dog owner. The more your dog likes something the higher the value it is to them. Also things and circumstances that stimulate or distract your dog create competition for your dog’s attention. These things should also be thought of on the same value scale. For example: Being inside can be less distracting than being outside. The park may be a 4 to your dog but another dog in the park may bring it to a 6 and multiple dogs in the same park may bring it to an 8. Anything running increases its value for a dog especially any prey animals (Squirrels, Chipmunks, and Deer). Working "under threshold"is a valuable concept for every dog owner but especially with those that have anxious, reactive, fearful, and or aggressive dogs.
INTERMITTENT AND VERIABLE REINFORCEMENT:
PRACTICE: Just like any skill, if we want to be good at it we have to practice. For our dogs it is no different. Often times we expect our dogs to respond to a cue or command when they haven’t had sufficient practice with the command. If your dog is not responding to you, chances are you need more practice teaching the behavior and more practice in that environment.
Work with your puppy 1-3 minutes 3 to 4 times per day. Work with adult dogs up to 1-10 minutes 3 to 4 times per day. Keep practice sessions short initially and always end on a positive note.
GENERALIZING: As well as learning a visual or verbal cue your dog is learning a set of associations surrounding the event. Dogs do not generalize well. If you teach a dog to sit while you are standing they will not necessarily know the meaning of “sit” if it is given while you are in a sitting down position. If you want your dog to understand all the major control cues, practice them in different places, with you in different positions and with varying degrees of distraction. Practice with you sitting in a chair, kneeling or lying on the floor.
PATIENCE: Building and maintaining a relationship can be difficult, especially between two different species. Training your dog is a lifelong process. There are no time limits or deadlines in your dog’s life. They do not respond well to hurried or anxious energy. Moving too quickly or pushing too hard can create a confusing and frustrating experience. Patience is one of the many gifts that we can give to our pets, and ourselves, through the training process. And it’s mandatory for success in your relationship with your dog.
FUN: Dogs learn best in a mental state of play, with stress kept low. Keep your sessions short and if things aren’t going well stop and come back to it again later.
FUN: Dogs learn best in a mental state of play, with stress kept low. Keep your sessions short and if things aren’t going well stop and come back to it again later.
CORNERSTONES TO A SUCCESSFUL TRAINING PROGRAM