Clicker Training Archives - Page 29 of 46

How To Deal With a Stubborn Dog

June 2, 2010

“My dog is so stubborn!” “He knows better, he’s just hard-headed.”

Usually, the owner who says these words is frustrated with his dog because the dog’s not listening. In my 15 years of training, I’ve not yet run into a stubborn or hard-headed dog. And I don’t think that’s because I’ve figured out how to screen the stubborn or hard-headed dogs out. I don’t think there are any out there.

What could people mean, then, when they say their dog is stubborn?

I think they think their dog is stubborn, but what they’re really seeing is an untrained dog.

They’ll say things like “He knows I asked him to sit. He’s just being stubborn because visitors are here.”Nope, he’s not being stubborn – he’s too distracted. The environment is filled with lots more exciting things, sitting’s the last thing on the dog’s mind. That doesn’t mean he’s stubborn, that means you haven’t done your training. Yep, I’m putting this one squarely on the owner, not the dog.

Look, if it were that easy for the dog to sit, he’d go ahead and sit! It’s not like sitting is difficult or time consuming. It’s pretty darn easy for a dog to do. So why wouldn’t the dog sit? Not hard-headedness, not stubbornness – it’s lack of training.

When I say lack of training, what I really mean is lack of training in the face of distractions. That’s usually what trips most dogs up, what gives them the label of stubborn and hard-headed.

Take my own dog, Nemo, as an example. He’s a puller on walks. He likes to go now, go fast, and go far. Logically, it would be much easier and more pleasant for him to walk on a slack leash. A tight leash is (1) a lot of work for the dog – he’s constantly pulling and (2) pretty uncomfortable – the leash is pushing against his trachea and neck muscles. Wouldn’t it be more comfortable for Nemo to slow down a bit and have a nice, enjoyable loose-leash walk? Well, yes, it probably would. So why, then, would Nemo still pull?

Must be because he’s stubborn. Wrong. He’s excited. He’s over-threshold. He can’t wait to find out what scent the next blade of grass holds. He wants to know which dog peed on the neighbor’s mailbox. He can’t wait to add his own scent. In short, he’s awfully excited to be out on a walk.

He’s far from stubborn or hard-headed. He’s flat out excited. Plain and simple.

But it’s much easier for me to blame Nemo, rather than put the blame where it belongs: on me. I need to spend a lot more time teaching Nemo that a slack leash is the way to get to that next blade of grass or to the neighbor’s mailbox.

What do you do if you think you have a stubborn dog?

Teach him! If you’ve got a stubborn dog who pulls on the leash, get some really good treats (chicken, steak, hot dogs, etc.) and cut them into pea-sized pieces.

Take your clicker and these treats with you on your walk.
When you step out the front door, wait for your dog to look back at you. Don’t say anything to him, just wait.
The instant he looks in your direction, click and give him a goodie.
Take another few steps and stop. Wait for him to look in your direction, click, and treat.
Next, take several steps and when the leash gets tight, stop. Just wait for your dog to turn to look in your direction before you click, treat, and begin to walk again.

Your dog will get the message that the walk will continue when he looks at you. He’ll start to look at you a lot and you’ll then click and treat a lot. When he’s looking at you, he’s probably not pulling on the leash. Voila – you’ve just taught you dog to walk nicely on a leash!

Now you’ve got to add in small distractions.

Make a list of the things that really interest your dog. For Nemo, it’s the smells that really draw him in. He loves to smell the ground, the bushes, the road. Those are Nemo’s distractions – your dog could really notice other dogs, kids on bicycles, joggers, whatever.

The key to success is to start where your dog notices the distraction, but isn’t consumed by it.

If you need to walk 100 yards away from the distraction, that’s ok. You’re the teacher – you set up the environment so your dog can succeed. Click and treat every second your dog doesn’t react to the distraction.

If your dog has a problem with, say jumping on guests, put your dog on a leash before your visitors arrive. You can then prevent the dog from jumping by simply keeping him away from the guests and by asking him to sit.

Make sure he’s really good at sitting, though, without the distractions of the guests!When no one’s at the door, ask him to sit, then open the door. Can your dog sit even when you open the door? If he can’t do it when no one’s there, he won’t be able to do it with actual guests on the front porch. He’s not stubborn, he just doesn’t know how to do it.

The next time you’re tempted to call your dog hard-headed or stubborn, stop and think: did you really teach your dog how to do the behavior? With distractions?

Thankfully, it’s easy to teach the dog how to deal with distractions, it just takes some practice, some good reinforcers, and your trusty clicker.

Talk back!

The science is coming in fast and furious! Lots of research is being done in this area and the results are fascinating. Let me know what you think: If you think your dog is stubborn, what’s in it for your dog to be stubborn?

Let Them Look

May 13, 2010

I talk a lot about socialization on this blog. Talos is over a year now and I'm still socializing him. You've heard the mantra: the critical period for socialization is up to age 20 weeks. Here's the important part: socialization never stops!

This morning was filled with errands. I took Talos with me, of course, and he learned a lot today. Our first stop was a networking meeting at 7:00a. He doesn't normally get out of bed until 9:00a, so he was quite the sleepy-head (which means he was quiet and well-behaved).

As the morning wore on, the activity ramped up: Walmart, the bank, and Costco, he livened up a bit as his brain got used to being awake.

We were in Walmart when a loud, wobbly cart came through the aisle. It was one of those huge carts – the big plastic ones where the kid sits inside like it's a train car (or something like that). Talos noticed the noise before I did and peeked out into the main aisle to investigate. I know his body language – this wasn't an "I wanna go see that," it was more of "What the heck is that noise? And will it hurt me?"

Ah, perfect teaching moment for a dog. I quietly reassured him (put my hand on his back) and allowed him enough leash so he could get a good view of the source of the noise. He backed up a few paces as it got closer to us, but as it passed he stretched his neck to see if he could get any more information from it's scent. He didn't try to bolt, he didn't growl or bark, he just wanted to gather more information.

From my perspective, that's a really good thing. Talos is with a puppy raiser to learn all about the world. The scary noises, the funny looking carts, the weird smells in the parking lots, and the list goes on.

I could have demanded that he ignore the noise. I could have insisted that he pay attention to me. I could have assumed he was blowing me off or blocking me out. But that not only would have been wrong, it would have also been stupid. Instead of focusing on me, I focused on Talos – what's the best thing for him? Certainly giving him more information so he could determine the situation was safe was the right answer — for both of us.

The same goes for you, too, if you're socializing your puppy (or continuing to socialize your dog). If your dog isn't paying attention to you or following your requests, it's your job to find out why. Is the situation overwhelming? Are the noises too loud? Is your dog surrounded by too many kids? Are too many hands reaching in to pet him? Are five different people talking to him? Does he need time to investigate and gather more information?

Your job, whether you're a puppy raiser for service dogs or you're raising your own pet dog, is to give your dog the tools and information he needs. Your job is to educate. Keep your eyes peeled for opportunities to give your dog more information. You'll have a well-adjusted, easy-going dog as a result. And here's the bonus: you'll be much better at noticing and and reading your dog's signals, too!

MINE! How to Deal With A Selfish Dog

May 5, 2010

It happened in a flash. Tango was trying to go from the kitchen into the dining room. I didn’t know it, but Talos was hiding a rawhide in there and he bit Tango before I knew what happened. All I heard was a big growl, a surprised yipe, and then I yelled “Hey!” (That’s my standard interrupter for disagreements.)

I could tell there was damage, I just didn’t know how much or how severe. A quick check revealed a big hole in Tango’s ear. And lots of blood. All’s well now, Tango’s ear will have a notch missing, but he’ll be fine. This month’s newsletter will look at resource guarding (RG): what it is, how to recognize it, and things you can do to help reduce it.

Talos’ behavior is classic example of RG. Talos guards things he classifies as “high value:” a rawhide or a meaty bone. RG is a normal behavior, but it’s rarely appropriate behavior. What’s the difference, you ask? Well, it’s normal because it’s what dogs had to do throughout the course of time to survive. If a dog came across a deer carcass, he had to guard it from other predators or else he’d go hungry. That’s normal and appropriate. If the dog didn’t guard the carcass, he’d lose it. RG is inappropriate when there’s no real threat of losing something or when the resource isn’t valuable to the other party (be it person or dog).

A guarder usually hunkers down over his object, gives a hard stare to anyone who looks at or comes toward the object, he’ll growl, he might bare his teeth, and he may lunge and/or bite. If the dog is guarding a location, say the couch or the bed, he may lower his head, stiffen, growl, and then, if those other warning signals are ignored, bite.

Most people do the wrong things when they notice a RG problem. While it may make sense to tell the dog “No!” when he growls, that’s the worst thing to do. By telling the dog not to growl, you’re merely eliminating a warning sign without addressing the real problem.

If you notice your dog developing a RG problem, the first thing to do is manage the problem. This means feeding the guarder separately if he’s guarding his food bowl. Or giving him a rawhide in his crate or in a different room (and blocking access to that room). Or by just eliminating rawhides or other high value items from your RG dog. You’re preventing the guarder from practicing his inappropriate guarding, and that keeps the behavior from becoming a habit.

If the dog guards space, don’t allow the dog into that space. If he guards the couch, then he’s no longer allowed on the couch. For safety, let the dog drag a leash when you’re home so you can remove the dog from the couch without putting your hands on the dog.

Avoid physical confrontation at all costs. Physical force or intimidation is never a good strategy when working with resource guarding (or any problem!) and this can make the problem worse.

Management is often the optimal tool for food, rawhide, and toy guarders – it’s usually much easier to simply separate the dogs when eating or enjoying a rawhide. If the dog is also aggressive toward people in the presence of food or rawhides, then feeding in the crate is the only safe way for the dog to eat or enjoy rawhides. A qualified positive reinforcement trainer or veterinary behaviorist is necessary in cases of aggressive RG.

If the dog guards space, simply teaching the dog a “touch” or targeting behavior can be enough to diffuse the situation. Teaching the dog to touch his nose to your hand is called targeting and comes in handy for space guarders: If the dog is on the couch, it’s very simple to give the “touch” cue and the dog will then jump off the sofa to touch your hand. A click and a treat is all that’s necessary, the dog is now safely on the floor, and you can enjoy the sofa.

Puppy owners can do a few things to ensure their dog doesn’t become a RG. First: don’t take the dog’s bowl away “just to show him you can.” That’s a great way for the pup to learn that when you approach, his food disappears – you can actually create a guarding dog this way. Instead, sit with the pup while he’s eating and drop a pea-sized piece of chicken into his bowl every few seconds. Make sure everyone in the house participates, even children. Be sure to supervise closely the interactions between the child and the dog during this training. They shouldn’t play in the food bowl or pet the dog. Simply drop the chicken in and wait a few seconds before dropping another piece in.

As the pup learns that good things happen when hands approach his food bowl, begin to walk up to the food bowl to drop the chicken in. After you drop the chicken in, take a few steps past the bowl, turn around, approach again and drop another piece of chicken in. When the pup is wagging his tail expectantly every time you approach is food bowl, you can then pick up the food bowl, put the chicken in, and give the food bowl immediately back to the pup. Never tease the pup with the food bowl.

It’s important to teach your dog to nicely give up items he has in his mouth. Too often, resource guarding is created when owners only approach the dog to take away something the dog has. The dog learns very quickly to dread the owner’s approach, particularly if he has something in his mouth.

The same protocol can be used for this as was used for the food bowl. When your dog has a toy, approach him with happy voice and offer him a pea-sized piece of chicken. He’ll probably drop his toy to take the treat. Pick up the toy while he’s eating the chicken and offer it to him immediately. Continue to exchange chicken for toy randomly throughout the day. You can start to put a name on it like “thank you,” or “give.”

It’s much easier to prevent RG than it is to treat it, so even if your dog hasn’t shown any signs of trouble, it’s easy to teach your dog that your approach is a good thing. Have fun training!

6 Feet or Shorter

April 30, 2010

I was visiting a veterinary hospital earlier this week and a woman was at the counter with her little Dachshund. The dog was on a retractable leash and unfortunately his owner wasn't paying any attention to him. I was carrying my lunch with me and the little wiener-dog wanted some. He was jumping on me before the owner knew what happened.

She apologized and went back to writing her check. The dog again ran over to me and jumped up for some of my lunch.

I don't like retractable leashes for many reasons, but the main reason is not actually the leash itself, but the people at the other end of the leash. They're not paying attention to where their dog is or what he's doing. Lots of bad things can happen when you're not watching your dog. He could jump on people, try to steal their food, eat something harmful, say Hi to a dog who's not friendly…the possibilities are endless.

Unless you're out in a field, your dog doesn't need to be more than six feet away from you. And if you're in a store, on the sidewalk or at your vet office, your dog should be within two feet of you!

The closer your dog is to you, the more quickly you can reinforce good behaviors. Click and drop the treat and boom! the dog is instantly rewarded for keeping a loose leash, for looking at you, for sitting, for whatever. If he's 16' away, he's too far away to reinforce efficiently. And worse – he's far enough away that you can't control his behavior or give him a clue as to what you'd like him to do. So more often than not, you're apologizing for his behavior after the fact, not teaching and managing your dog's behavior.

Another reason I don't like retractable leashes: there's constant pressure on the dog's neck. You're teaching your dog to pull if you use a retractable leash – the only way the dog can get more leash is to pull into the collar. More pressure = more leash. You're setting yourself up to have a dedicated puller if you use a retractable leash.

If I'm going to be out in a field and at least 50' from other people and dogs, my favorite leash is a 20' or 30' plain cotton web leash. The dog has plenty of room to run, there's no tension on the neck, the leashes are pretty inexpensive and hardy.

If you're anywhere where you might run into other people, leave the long leash at home. No one wants to dodge a dog and leash on the trail, in the vet office, or at the park. Carry your clicker and treats and you'll be able to quickly and easily reward your dog for good behavior. Before you know it, that six-foot leash and your attention will produce a more attentive and better behaved dog!

All the Right Info, None of the Right Answers

April 27, 2010

Last week I switched from a PC to a Mac. I had to reset my wireless internet router or modem or whatever. It was a mini-disaster.

I am not technically literate. I don't know the difference between RAM and ROM, memory or hard drive. I can't tell a gig from a meg.

I did, however, have all kinds of information. Really useful information such as:

Gateway login, network key, network name, lots of usernames and passwords, and other things about which I have no clue.

One might think that because I had all that information right there at my fingertips that setting up the wireless internet connection on the new computer would be but a breeze.

Nay nay, says I.

Oh I had all the information alright. I just didn't know when and where to put it all. So what's a good technically incompetent user to do — why I just started plugging information in anywhere I could put it.

I ran into a lot of walls. A lot of "Access Denied," "No Such User Name Exists," and "Incorrect Password." I had all this information and couldn't do anything with it.

Clearly, I eventually got it all figured out. It took me some time, but I somehow figured out the right combination of information to input. But don't ask me to do it again – I haven't the slightest idea how I did it. I couldn't reproduce it if I tried.

Which got me to thinking about dogs and how we teach them. How frustrating must it be for our dogs who don't know what we want, but that it must be one of the 15 tricks they know. So they just start guessing. Is it a sit? A rollover? A speak? A down? A high-five?

We all laugh when our dogs go through "the routine." After my wireless internet experience, I don't laugh at my dogs anymore. It's rough not knowing what to do or when to do it. It's really hard to figure out what works when you're grasping at straws.

I'm generally pretty good at teaching my dogs the names of their behaviors and only paying them for those behaviors when I ask the dog to do it. So my dogs don't guess a whole lot. They know it's easier to wait for me to ask them to do something than to run through all the things they know how to do.

If your dog is guessing — running through his entire repertoire until he gets to the right one — have some sympathy for your pooch and teach him the names of those behaviors. You'll save him a lot of time (and frustration) and take all the guesswork out. Here's how to do it:

Let's use sit as the example. Immediately before your dog sits, say the word "sit." Click and treat each time your dog sits. If he doesn't sit, don't click and treat. Don't repeat your word. Just wait a few seconds and turn away if he doesn't sit. Once you've paired the word "sit" together 15 or 20 times with the action of the dog sitting, try to say the word "sit" about a second before your dog begins to put his rump down. What you're trying to do is create some distance (in time) between when you say the word and when the dog does the behavior.

Once you're saying the word a second or two before the dog does the behavior, you'll now only pay for the behavior when you ask for it. So say the word "sit," then click and treat when your dog does the behavior. Repeat that process. The next time, delay saying the word sit. If your dog hesitates, even for a second, say the word sit and then click and treat. So if your dog delays sitting, reward him by giving him the cue to sit. And then click and treat the correct response. You're teaching your dog to wait for you to say the word.

You can also do it this way, as well: Ask your dog to sit, then click and treat when he does. Repeat. The third time, ask your dog for a different behavior and click and treat for doing the correct behavior. If your dog sits, he gets no click and treat.

From here on out, you'll only pay for those behaviors you've asked for. Don't click and treat for a sit if you didn't ask for it. Feel free to say "good dog," though, as a sitting dog rarely gets in trouble, but we only want to pay (click and treat) for those behaviors we ask for.

If you continue to teach (or re-teach) your dog new behaviors this way, you'll save your dog a lot of frustration and guesswork. Your dog will be able to know exactly which behavior you're looking for and he won't need to run through the entire list of behaviors in order to find the right one.

Believe me – running through everything you know is not only time-consuming, but it's ridiculously frustrating and irritating. By teaching your dog to listen to you instead of running willy-nilly through every behavior in their repertoire, you're making life much simpler for you and for your dog. Happy Training!

A Surprising Look at Balanced Training

April 22, 2010

Since childhood, we’ve heard “Everything in moderation.”

Or “eat a balanced diet.”We’ve been told how beneficial it is to have a “good balance” between work and home. Dog training hasn’t been overlooked – balanced training has become a buzzword in the industry. It sounds good, it makes intuitive sense. But does a balanced trainer get better results?

Generally, a balanced dog trainer uses both corrections (punishment) and reinforcement (rewards) to teach dogs. As a society, we encounter this every day in our school systems, work environment, and everyday lives and we rely more heavily on corrections than on rewards in all those scenarios. For instance, at school kids lose points if they don’t turn in their homework (punishment). At work, if you’re late, your paycheck will be docked (punishment). And if you speed, you’ll get a ticket
(punishment). Rare is the teacher who gives points to on-time assignments; a boss who pats you on the back when you arrive on-time for a week; the police officer who writes an “atta boy” citation for obeying the law.

So while it makes perfect sense to us to use both punishment and reward in training, it doesn’t actually translate to stellar results in your dog. Why? Let’s take a look at balanced training and see why what makes sense doesn’t actually work…

Old-fashioned trainers relied heavily on punishment in the early years of dog-training.

Either the dog learned what he needed to learn, or he suffered the consequences. Consequences included physically punishing the dog (hitting, kicking, kneeing, shocking, hanging, etc.), as well as implied punishment (yelling, raising a hand or fist, etc.). Dogs learned quickly to do what they were told. Or else. So when push came to shove, the training actually worked – dogs did what people wanted. At least most of the time. Slowly, praise made its way into training. Dogs got verbal “atta boys” when they did something right. They still got punished if they did something wrong, however.

Let’s look at this in a human example: your child’s teacher uses both reward and punishment in class. A wrong answer gets your child a punishment (he loses a star for the day) and a correct answer gets a reward (he earns a star for the day). How often do you think your child will raise his (or her) hand in class? How involved in discussion will your child be? Do you think your child will volunteer guesses? Or will be willing to take a chance on a creative answer? Probably not.

Why won’t your child want to participate? The teacher is offering opportunity for reward, right? Yes, but there’s also the opportunity for punishment. And unless your child is 100% confident that his answer is correct, it’s risky for him to participate and volunteer that answer. It’s safer to do nothing than be wrong.

Now let’s take a look at the dog training world. If you put your dog in the same scenario – the correct behavior earns a reward and incorrect behavior earns punishment – he’s likely to do nothing, which according us is wrong and earns punishment.

It looks like this:

You ask your dog to roll over. He’s not 100% sure what “rollover” means and he also knows that guessing is not the best option. So he doesn’t move. And what happens? If you believe in balanced training, you’ll punish the dog for his incorrect response.

A positive reinforcement trainer doesn’t blame or punish the dog for the wrong behavior (or for the absence of a behavior). Instead, a positive reinforcement trainer takes the responsibility for teaching the dog. If the dog isn’t doing what we like, it’s not the fault of the dog, it’s the fault of the teacher. Positive reinforcement trainers try to find a different way to teach the behavior.

Behavior science tells us that behaviors that aren’t reinforced will go away. This is called extinction. Punishment merely suppresses behavior, but it doesn’t extinguish it. Think of this in terms of a fire at your house: do you want to suppress the fire or extinguish it? I want that fire gone, I want it extinguished! If it’s merely suppressed, the fire can (and probably) will come back later. Definitely not what I want!

The following is from a Purdue University website focused on childhood education. These principles also apply directly to our work with our dogs (although I’ve left the human scenarios in because I think it underscores just how much punishment affects us as well as our dogs).

Punishment merely teaches what NOT to do. There are an awful lot of things we DON’T want our dog to do. Teaching your dog in this manner could take a long, long time. It’s more productive to focus on what you want your dog TO DO.

Punishment often causes avoidance behaviors. The recipient of punishment is likely to avoid both (a) the person who administered the punishment, and (b) the situation in which the punishment was administered. Thus, in schools where the assistant principal is the one whose main job seems to be to administer swats to unruly students, students often avoid the assistant principal. Since parents and teachers (and even assistant principals) are interested in teaching children appropriate behaviors, they make their job considerably more difficult if they must first make the children stop avoiding them before they can initiate positive contacts. Likewise, if children are frightened of school or of staying around the house out of fear of being punished, it will be difficult to help them develop adaptive skills.

Punishment often results in a mere suppression of the undesirable behavior. Punishment merely teaches what not to do and therefore the punished person may stop the behavior until it appears that the aversive situation has been successfully avoided, or until a time when the pleasant results outweigh the aversive results. In any event, the behavior is likely to resurface with the right conditions.

Punishment often results in a sort of behavioral constriction. The person who is punished may discover that the safest way to avoid punishment in the future is to avoid doing anything that even remotely resembles the punished action.

These are only a few of the side-effects associated with punishment. While balanced training may look appealing at first glance, deeper investigation shows there isn’t any good reason to be a balanced trainer. You can teach your dog all the things he needs to know without adding punishment.

If it can be done, then why are people still using punishment to teach their dogs?

Unfortunately, I believe it’s because we can. We’re physically larger than our dogs and we’re able to administer punishment. However, just because we can administer punishment doesn’t mean we should. Especially since behavior can be taught more efficiently without it. In this instance, I say throw balance out the window – you’ll get better behavior (and a better attitude) from your dog without it!

If you need more help, please contact a Karen Pryor Certified Training Partner or a certified professional dog trainer that uses positive reinforcement, and dog-friendly training techniques in your area. If you need help locating a trainer, drop me a line, I’d be happy to help you find a qualified trainer in your area.

Menu

Clicker Training