One of the aspects of training that I find myself highlighting the most is breaking down your goals into steps. As dog owners, we tend to see the end result in our heads as we set about the task of teaching our dog something new and immediately work at getting that end result. When in reality, we should break that goal down into steps and do one step at a time.
In fact, it's not a bad idea to sit down with a paper and pen before you EVER look at your dog. At the top of the paper, write your goal. Beside your goal come up with set criteria for said goal. You should have a clear idea in your head of what EXACTLY you want from your dog before you try to get them to do it. Below that break it down into several steps, even if they seem miniscule (see example below). Then you should decide (and write down) how YOU will communicate to your dog what you would like (be specific!). Finally, get your dog out and go about each step one at a time. Below is an example of a command that some dogs pick up on in a flash, and some take weeks to get the hang of, broken down into steps. Even, if your dog performs the first step without a problem one time, it is a good idea to repeat it several times to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. Your dog should be performing current step with at least 80% accuracy before you even think about moving to the next step.
GOAL: (what do I want my dog to do?): My dog will lie down
CRITERIA: (what does it look like?):"Down" is when my dog has both its front end and back end on the ground, back feet under him, front feet in front of him and he maintains this position until I release him by saying "That'll Do"
PREREQUISITE: My dog has a reliable "Sit". His butt will not come up off the ground until I release him.
STEP ONE:My dog lowers his head to the ground while leaving his butt on the ground
(how? I will lure him with a treat to get him to lower his head, when he does, he gets the treat)
STEP TWO: My dog keeps his butt and head down AND will bring one foot forward
(how? I will lure him to bring his head down, then pull the treat slightly forward and at a diagonal away from the foot we want to come forward)
STEP THREE: My dog keeps his butt down, head down, foot forward, then brings the other foot forward
(how? I will lure him to bring his head down, one foot forward, then pull the treat slightly forward on a diagonal away from the second foot)
STEP FOUR: My dog keeps his butt down, head down, feet forward, and assumes a "Down" Position
(how? I will lure him with a treat to bring head down, both feet forward and then bring the treat just slightly back toward him to get him to rest his chest on the floor)
STEP FIVE: Once my dog is assuming a "down" position, I will then add the release word before he gets up.
(how? Once I have lured him into a down, I will keep that treat in the same spot until I say his release word and then I will say "That'll Do" and move the treat so he has to get up to get it, therefore teaching him his release means he can get up)
STEP SIX: I will begin varying when I say the release word and correct him when he gets up before saying the release word
(how? I will move the treat BEFORE saying the release word and correct him back into a down anytime he gets up before I say the word "That'll Do").
STEP SEVEN: GOAL MET!!
Wow! That is a lot of work! Seven steps to teach a beginner level down! Am I crazy?!
No, I just want to spend more time being successful than being unsuccessful. When you first begin teaching a dog something new, your goal should be 100% success rate. Since the dog doesn't know what you want, it is up to you to set up the situation and break down the goal into small enough steps that your dog is successful in each repetition. The way I see it, you have two choices:
1. Go into it flying by the seat of your pants and taking a chance that your dog will "accidentally" learn it.
2. Perform the exercise above, and be fully prepared to break the GOAL down into tiny steps.
What is more likely to happen with the first choice is that, out of the first 10 repetitions, your dog may get it right twice. So, you just spent 8 repetitions teaching what it ISN'T and 2 repetitions of teaching what it IS. Not only is this very inefficient, it will usually break down the dog's confidence and they will end up quitting because you have convinced them that they aren't good at this "training thing".
Additionally, I believe your dog will learn that you are not very good at this "teaching thing", and not be as responsive to you even when you try to teach them another command entirely! Many of my clients say I get a "magical response" from their dogs that they cannot achieve. Some say it's because of my delicious treats (although a lot of the time I am using the same treats as the owner!). I believe it is because I try very hard to set the dog (and me!) up to be successful in everything I do so that they do not lose faith in my ability to communicate to them how to get rewarded.
The second choice is the clear winner, even if your dog learns "Down" very easily. Let's say you do all the prep work above, you get ready to work with your dog, and as you lure his head down toward the floor, he lays down on the first try! You may kick yourself for writing an essay on how to teach down when it came so easily to your dog but isn't it better to be safe than sorry? Besides, if you are more realistic about how many steps it could take, and they do it in fewer steps, you will be proud of how smart your pooch is and isn't that a great thing?
I have clients who I have had this discussion with several times and they still have trouble expecting too much, too soon. So why do we fight this "break it down small" idea? Well I am much more qualified to tell you why a DOG does what it does than a human, but I will give it a shot!
I think one reason is that it is human nature to believe everyone thinks the same way you do. Imagine I gave you the task of teaching another human to lay down on command in a language they didn't understand. You would probably assume that it would be easy for them to guess what you were wanting them to do (hey, it's easy when you have all the answers!). You would probably strive for the end result instead of steps toward the end result.
The second reason is one of my soapboxes so get ready for my humble opinion on today's society! We live in an instant gratification world. Not only do we get what we want at a touch of a button (wait, we don't even have buttons anymore, we have touch screens!), but our technology automatically does what we ask of it, at least most of the time. But don't forget there are geniuses behind the scenes that developed a language for us to communicate with that technology so we didn't have to actually learn the computer language ourselves. So, in a way we have a constant interpreter for our gadgets. Because of this technology, or maybe human nature in general, we are frustrated when:
1. We cannot control something (how many of you had wished you had an "Undo"
button in real life?)
2. We don't get results immediately.
It's because of this control/instant gratification that many times we push our dogs to pick up on things faster than they can possibly learn. We wait until we are fed up with their behavior and need them to learn our commands immediately, not gradually. The funny thing is, a lot of the time being in a hurry actually makes the learning process take longer because we have to go back and fill in the gaps we skimmed over while hurrying through the training process.
Unfortunately, this also works against what our end goal should be: A thinking dog.
A dog who looks at a situation and tries to figure out what behavior from him would please you (and possibly earn him a reward). My training has always gone further than just dogs who simply respond to your commands, I want a dog who offers me behaviors he thinks I will like. In order to achieve this, you have to convince him he is good at this skill. Expecting immediate results is a recipe for lowering confidence not building it.
So do me a favor, (and your dog!), anytime you want to teach your dog something new, take a minute to do the prep work, not only will it make your dog happy, it will make your training more efficient!
Spend more time teaching what it IS, instead of what it ISN'T!
Kelli Bausch
Camo Cross Dog Training
"Unlocking the Potential in Your Best Friend"
785.408.6127
www.camocrossdogtraining.com
In fact, it's not a bad idea to sit down with a paper and pen before you EVER look at your dog. At the top of the paper, write your goal. Beside your goal come up with set criteria for said goal. You should have a clear idea in your head of what EXACTLY you want from your dog before you try to get them to do it. Below that break it down into several steps, even if they seem miniscule (see example below). Then you should decide (and write down) how YOU will communicate to your dog what you would like (be specific!). Finally, get your dog out and go about each step one at a time. Below is an example of a command that some dogs pick up on in a flash, and some take weeks to get the hang of, broken down into steps. Even, if your dog performs the first step without a problem one time, it is a good idea to repeat it several times to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. Your dog should be performing current step with at least 80% accuracy before you even think about moving to the next step.
GOAL: (what do I want my dog to do?): My dog will lie down
CRITERIA: (what does it look like?):"Down" is when my dog has both its front end and back end on the ground, back feet under him, front feet in front of him and he maintains this position until I release him by saying "That'll Do"
PREREQUISITE: My dog has a reliable "Sit". His butt will not come up off the ground until I release him.
STEP ONE:My dog lowers his head to the ground while leaving his butt on the ground
(how? I will lure him with a treat to get him to lower his head, when he does, he gets the treat)
STEP TWO: My dog keeps his butt and head down AND will bring one foot forward
(how? I will lure him to bring his head down, then pull the treat slightly forward and at a diagonal away from the foot we want to come forward)
STEP THREE: My dog keeps his butt down, head down, foot forward, then brings the other foot forward
(how? I will lure him to bring his head down, one foot forward, then pull the treat slightly forward on a diagonal away from the second foot)
STEP FOUR: My dog keeps his butt down, head down, feet forward, and assumes a "Down" Position
(how? I will lure him with a treat to bring head down, both feet forward and then bring the treat just slightly back toward him to get him to rest his chest on the floor)
STEP FIVE: Once my dog is assuming a "down" position, I will then add the release word before he gets up.
(how? Once I have lured him into a down, I will keep that treat in the same spot until I say his release word and then I will say "That'll Do" and move the treat so he has to get up to get it, therefore teaching him his release means he can get up)
STEP SIX: I will begin varying when I say the release word and correct him when he gets up before saying the release word
(how? I will move the treat BEFORE saying the release word and correct him back into a down anytime he gets up before I say the word "That'll Do").
STEP SEVEN: GOAL MET!!
Wow! That is a lot of work! Seven steps to teach a beginner level down! Am I crazy?!
No, I just want to spend more time being successful than being unsuccessful. When you first begin teaching a dog something new, your goal should be 100% success rate. Since the dog doesn't know what you want, it is up to you to set up the situation and break down the goal into small enough steps that your dog is successful in each repetition. The way I see it, you have two choices:
1. Go into it flying by the seat of your pants and taking a chance that your dog will "accidentally" learn it.
2. Perform the exercise above, and be fully prepared to break the GOAL down into tiny steps.
What is more likely to happen with the first choice is that, out of the first 10 repetitions, your dog may get it right twice. So, you just spent 8 repetitions teaching what it ISN'T and 2 repetitions of teaching what it IS. Not only is this very inefficient, it will usually break down the dog's confidence and they will end up quitting because you have convinced them that they aren't good at this "training thing".
Additionally, I believe your dog will learn that you are not very good at this "teaching thing", and not be as responsive to you even when you try to teach them another command entirely! Many of my clients say I get a "magical response" from their dogs that they cannot achieve. Some say it's because of my delicious treats (although a lot of the time I am using the same treats as the owner!). I believe it is because I try very hard to set the dog (and me!) up to be successful in everything I do so that they do not lose faith in my ability to communicate to them how to get rewarded.
The second choice is the clear winner, even if your dog learns "Down" very easily. Let's say you do all the prep work above, you get ready to work with your dog, and as you lure his head down toward the floor, he lays down on the first try! You may kick yourself for writing an essay on how to teach down when it came so easily to your dog but isn't it better to be safe than sorry? Besides, if you are more realistic about how many steps it could take, and they do it in fewer steps, you will be proud of how smart your pooch is and isn't that a great thing?
I have clients who I have had this discussion with several times and they still have trouble expecting too much, too soon. So why do we fight this "break it down small" idea? Well I am much more qualified to tell you why a DOG does what it does than a human, but I will give it a shot!
I think one reason is that it is human nature to believe everyone thinks the same way you do. Imagine I gave you the task of teaching another human to lay down on command in a language they didn't understand. You would probably assume that it would be easy for them to guess what you were wanting them to do (hey, it's easy when you have all the answers!). You would probably strive for the end result instead of steps toward the end result.
The second reason is one of my soapboxes so get ready for my humble opinion on today's society! We live in an instant gratification world. Not only do we get what we want at a touch of a button (wait, we don't even have buttons anymore, we have touch screens!), but our technology automatically does what we ask of it, at least most of the time. But don't forget there are geniuses behind the scenes that developed a language for us to communicate with that technology so we didn't have to actually learn the computer language ourselves. So, in a way we have a constant interpreter for our gadgets. Because of this technology, or maybe human nature in general, we are frustrated when:
1. We cannot control something (how many of you had wished you had an "Undo"
button in real life?)
2. We don't get results immediately.
It's because of this control/instant gratification that many times we push our dogs to pick up on things faster than they can possibly learn. We wait until we are fed up with their behavior and need them to learn our commands immediately, not gradually. The funny thing is, a lot of the time being in a hurry actually makes the learning process take longer because we have to go back and fill in the gaps we skimmed over while hurrying through the training process.
Unfortunately, this also works against what our end goal should be: A thinking dog.
A dog who looks at a situation and tries to figure out what behavior from him would please you (and possibly earn him a reward). My training has always gone further than just dogs who simply respond to your commands, I want a dog who offers me behaviors he thinks I will like. In order to achieve this, you have to convince him he is good at this skill. Expecting immediate results is a recipe for lowering confidence not building it.
So do me a favor, (and your dog!), anytime you want to teach your dog something new, take a minute to do the prep work, not only will it make your dog happy, it will make your training more efficient!
Spend more time teaching what it IS, instead of what it ISN'T!
Kelli Bausch
Camo Cross Dog Training
"Unlocking the Potential in Your Best Friend"
785.408.6127
www.camocrossdogtraining.com
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