dog training Archives - Smart Dog University

Two Dog People Get on an Airport Shuttle…

June 15, 2016

I was on a rental car shuttle bus, just making my way back home from a working weekend.

The shuttle driver throws out a question to the two women on the shuttle (of which I am one).

“So who is the dog show judge?”

I don’t say a word. I’m wondering how he knows I’m into dogs. I mean, he got the title wrong, but yes, I’m here to teach dog training.

So I’m quiet as a church mouse, keeping my head down, hoping to avoid detection, when — to my surprise — the other woman says “Oh, that’s me! How did you know I was an AKC judge?” Huh, two dog people randomly on the same airport shuttle — what are the chances.

Apparently she wears her passion on her luggage, because the guy said her luggage gave her away (I didn’t even look, hoping to avoid detection).

I’m feverishly surfing my phone, attempting to stay under the radar, out of the conversation. The two talked dogs, breeds, mixes, etc. I’m an extrovert, it’s hard for me to shut up anyway, let alone talk about DOGS.

But I’ve learned my lesson. The hard way. Let a stranger find out you’re a dog trainer and you’re their best friend for however long you’re in their vicinity. It’s not that I don’t like talking about dogs. I love talking dogs — especially with dog people! It’s the debate over training methods that causes me angst. Dog training is a lot like religion and politics: best not to talk about it in mixed company.

I was tight lipped, engrossed in my phone.

Until.

Until the AKC judge looked at me and saw my shirt. She recognized Karen Pryor’s name (I was running a KPA dog training workshop in St. Louis that weekend) and was wearing a KPA logo shirt.

Asked if I was Karen (hahahahahah, I wish) and then declared “I really like clicker training, but it didn’t work for us.”

To which I wanted to respond “Yes, I get it. Gravity sounds nice, but it just doesn’t seem to work for me.”

I laugh when I hear people say things like that. To be fair, many of them follow up with “I know it was me, not the dog, but I just couldn’t get it to work for me.”

To those people, I am thankful. They understand that it was the application of the science, not the science itself that was faulty. I’m the first to admit, clicker training isn’t always presented simply. There’s some (totally false) mysticism surrounding clicker training that I work to dispel every day.

When it was clear that both of us were heavily into dogs, the inevitable question from the “who’s the dog judge” guy was “So what do you guys think of the Dog Whisperer?”

It’s taken me a few years to hone my expressionless face. But I have it nailed down pretty good now. Dog Judge Lady looks at me, rolls her eyes, and sighs. I say to the guy “He’s entertaining!” as I smile broadly.

Dog Judge Lady laughs.

I continue “It’s kind of like the HGTV shows that show the house renovations in 60-minutes. You KNOW it took way more than 60 minutes and that the guys hosting the show did almost none of the work. But man, was it entertaining and did it look good!”

Dog Judge Lady laughs again and says “Yeah, entertainment. That’s a good way to describe it.”

The two of us didn’t agree on clicker training, but man did we bond over reality tv dog training. It was gratifying to know that people from opposite sides of the fence could find something on which we could agree and then used that as a springboard to talk about other topics within the dog world.

Dog Training 801: Fluency Continued. Better Behavior, Here’s How

February 4, 2015

In last month’s article, we introduced fluency. It’s what most people really need to teach their dog. It’s what people mean when they say “My dog knows it, he just won’t do it.” If you work on fluency of each behavior that needs improvement, your dog will easily be able – and willing – to do what you’ve asked. This month, we’re digging in deep. Here’s exactly how to improve fluency.

First, here’s a quick review of fluency. There are six pieces of fluency relating to your dog’s ability to “do” a behavior:

Precision – does the behavior look perfect (you get to define what perfect looks like)
Latency – does the dog start doing the behavior as soon as you ask
Speed – once the dog starts the behavior, does it happen quickly enough for your needs?
Distraction – can the dog do the behavior no matter what’s going on around him?
Duration – does the behavior last as long as you need it to?
Distance – can the dog do the behavior away from you?

You’ll remember from our last article that you’re going to pick just one piece of fluency to work on at a time. I find it easier to work on fluency in the order I’ve listed them above. Last month’s homework was to make a list of the behaviors and each aspect of fluency you wanted to work on. Pull that out and let’s get ready to get clean, pretty, and reliable behavior!

Gotta know the average

In order to improve, you need to know where you are right now. The way we do this is find the average level of behavior, and then click only the behaviors that are at least at the average or better than the average.

Finding the average

What you need: 10 treats, paper, pencil. To find the average, put 10 treats on the table. Ask your dog to do the behavior you want to improve and click and treat every attempt. After every attempt, write down the number. For instance, if you’re working on latency (how long it takes the dog to start doing the behavior), you’ll silently count the number of seconds it takes for your dog to start to sit after you ask him. Write that number down. After 10 trials, add up those numbers and divide by 10. That number is the average amount of time it takes your dog to start the behavior.

Improving fluency

Now that you know the average, you have everything you need to help improve your dog’s behavior. Back to our sit example above: if the average amount of time it took your dog to start moving to sit was three seconds, then you will click and treat your dog whenever he start to sit in three seconds or less. If it takes him more than three seconds to sit, abort that attempt. You can shuffle your feet and move so your dog is “reset.” Your dog will begin to understand that only the faster responses get clicked and fairly quickly you should have fewer below average responses. Calculate your new average and then begin clicking and treating only those faster responses. Continue to improve the average until you’ve met your goal.

Special Situations

When working with the last three aspects of fluency – distraction, duration, and distance – it’s easier to start from a point where you know the dog can be successful and systematically raise criteria from that point. Using our trusty sit example from earlier, if you were working on distractions for the sit, start in a quiet room, and simply wave your hand while you ask your dog to sit. When working on distraction, for instance, you won’t worry about any of the other aspects of fluency. So it doesn’t matter if it takes your dog 5 seconds to start to sit, as long as your dog is able to sit, she earns a click and a treat. Once you’ve gotten your distractions to an appropriate level, you can then work back up to the previously achieved level of latency

Troubleshooting

If your dog isn’t successful at any point, you may have taken too big of a leap in estimating your dog’s abilities. If your dog can’t get it right within three attempts, reduce the level of difficulty so the dog has a good chance of getting a click and treat.

Remember to work only on one aspect of fluency at a time. It’s easy to think “she’s mastered the distractions, now I’ll add distance.” That’s a sure way to set your dog up to fail. Instead of adding distance, drop out distractions and work only on distance.

Work on one aspect of fluency at a time, keep your training sessions short (5-10 minutes, shorter if your dog zones out more quickly), and most of all, have fun! Improving your dog’s fluency on each behavior will give you that reliable, crisp, impressive dog who responds quickly, enthusiastically, and correctly whenever you ask.

Attention! Get Your Dog to Pay Attention [Video]

November 21, 2013

Getting your dog to pay attention can be a challenge. There are so many interesting things out there! Squirrels! Birds! The wind! Joggers! Dogs! Pee! It hurts to know that pee ranks higher on your dog’s list of interesting things than you do, doesn’t it? The good news is that it doesn’t have to stay that way. You can be more interesting than the wind. Or pee.

This is the first video in a series where you’ll teach your dog to pay attention to you. This is pretty powerful stuff – are you ready for it?!

Let’s get started with some of the most common mistakes I see dog owners make when they try to get their dog’s attention:

Nagging. It sounds like this “Fido. Fido! Hey, Fido, look here! C’mon, Fido! Look at me, would you? Hurry up, you stupid dog. FIDO!” It’s almost like begging your dog to look in your direction. Does your husband, wife, child, boss ever get what they want when they nag you? Probably not. And if you do what they want, it’s probably grudgingly. I want your dog to want to look at you!
Bribing. Almost everyone is guilty of this mistake. Your dog won’t look in your direction, so you wave a treat directly in front of his face. Or maybe you say a favorite word like “treat,” or “go for a walk.” Bribes have no place in dog training. Bribes create sloppy and unreliable behavior from your dog. And you always run the risk of not having a good enough bribe.
Demanding. Some people demand that their dog pay attention. You’ve seen it, I’m sure: they’re at the park and they call their dog’s name. The dog is looking at the dog across the way and doesn’t turn around to his owner. The owner yanks on the leash, forcing the dog to turn his head away from the distraction and toward the owner. If there’s something I like less than bribes, it’s demanding something from your dog.
Being stingy. Occasionally, your dog will turn away from something really interesting and instead of having a party and celebrating this huge success, you ignore their success — or worse: you tell them to do something unappealing (like leave the dog park, for instance).

This video shows how you’re going to right those wrongs and get your dog’s attention quickly and easily.

Start in a quiet location — preferably in your house. Have some really delicious treats. Schooner’s eating cubed cheese and summer sausage. Wait for your dog to look at you.

Remain silent. You’re not doing anything to get your dog to look at you. Your job is to click at exactly the same time your dog looks at you or in your direction. That’s it.

Gradually, your dog will realize that looking at you causes you to click and give him a treat. This is where things get really fun! Your dog will start looking at you to get you to click. You saw on the video how I let the clicker do all the “talking,” and I stayed quiet while waiting for Schooner to look at me.

Before long, your dog will spend more time looking at you than at his surroundings. This is good! You’re making progress! It’ll then be time to add in some distractions. That video will be coming shortly. Until then, keep working on the steps in the video and you’ll be ready for the next installment of teaching your dog to pay attention to you!

Bringing Up Baby…With A Dog In the House

November 2, 2013

I don’t remember what was going on in this picture, but I do remember the dog. That’s Penny, the first dog I ever had.

I don’t remember ever living without a dog. My earliest memories involve dogs. And a cat named Spyder Eyes who would hide and then LEAP onto me as I toddled by.

We don’t have kids, but most of the folks I work with do have children. The wise clients ask for advice on when to bring a dog into their family. The other clients call me after there’s a problem and they’re at wit’s end.

I think it’s wise to involve the children in the raising and training of the family dog as soon as they’re able. Supervision, obviously, is required. It’s not “nice to have” supervision, it’s “CRITICAL to have.”

Naturally, responsibility of dog care and training will increase as the children get older. I remember getting into the gigantic galvanized trash can to get our dogs’ their dinner. It seemed gigantic as a kid and I remember loving the smell of the dog food when the lid was opened. Our dogs lived outside back then and I had to carry water to their water bowls, too. I hated that job: the bucket was heavy and I always got soaked by the sloshing water. There was no getting out of it — the dogs needed their water, and it was one of my assigned duties.

If you have a dog and kids, why not let the kids participate in the care of your dog. Pet360 has some great tips on how to divvy out responsibility based on the age of your kids.

Your turn: Did you have a dog growing up? What were your dog-related chores. Do you have kids and a dog? Do your kids have responsibilities around the care, feeding, and training of the family dog? I’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment.

This post is sponsored by Pet360. I have the chance to be compensated for spreading the word about Pet360.com, but Smart Dog Blog only shares stuff that WE like! [We don’t share just for money or bling, in other words.]

Great Treats Can Help Your Dog Through A Vet Appointment

October 28, 2013

We’re headed to the veterinarian today for a quick look at a ridiculous wart between Schooner’s toes. It’s been bothering him quite a bit — and bleeding if he gets rambunctious. He’s 10 months old, rambunctious happens on a daily basis. And unfortunately, due to the wart, blood on the floor is now also happening on a daily basis. Ew. Ow.

I fully anticipate Schooner to resist a paw examination at the veterinary hospital. I’ve been worrying him all weekend, checking on the wart, looking at it from every angle, and generally poking him constantly.

For a smooth examination, we’re going to need “the big guns” when it comes to treat choices. Only the best is going to do — he’ll already excited to be in a new place, to meet new people, and then we’ll be poking and prodding. He’ll be raring to go and I’ll need him to stand still — for awhile — so the veterinarian can get a good look at his paw.

I’ve chopped up some leftover ham, have some soft cat food ready, and will even bring some cooked bacon to help Schooner through the visit. The food can act as both a distractor “Ooh! Schooner! Look at this bacon up here!” so the vet can get down and look at the foot without having his slobber into her hair. It can also be used as a reward each time he allows her to touch his foot.

Regular dog food won’t work in this situation. Nor will anything crunchy or hard. These treats need to be delicious — think people-food — and easy to swallow (with minimal chewing). The tastier the better!

Bringing food to every veterinary visit is a good idea. We start all our puppies with delish treats when they go to the veterinarian, even if it’s just for a quick hello to meet the technicians and staff. The more positive associations you can create in your dog’s head that correspond with the veterinary hospital, the easier it’ll be for the veterinarian and her technicians to examine and treat your dog.

Your turn: What’s your dog’s favorite “human food?” Do you give your dog a special treat when you take him (her) to the vet? Share your strategies below in the comments!

Service Dog Training: The Things A Dog Trainer Learns from Her Dogs

October 25, 2013

One of the reasons I love dogs is because they’re all different. We’re on service pup #15, Schooner, and oh, the things he’s teaching me!

One might think that dog training consists of the dog trainer teaching the dog. And yes, that’s true for the most part. My job is to help the dog learn. Opening up to learning from the dog, though, is when things get really cool. That’s where I am with Schooner in our training journey.

He’s teaching me. And he’s a pretty darn good teacher.

I’m learning:

to keep training sessions short
that training sessions better be fun
the dog can (and will) quit a training session if it isn’t fun
that not all dogs find chicken delightful and to keep searching and trying new treats until a I find one for which Schooner goes nutty
when I deliver a treat matters — slow is not acceptable (even when my click is perfectly timed)
dog brains develop on their own schedule and I need to modify my training schedule to match the dog’s schedule
keep training, even if it seems like the dog isn’t getting it
don’t be afraid to take a break from training for a few days, though if things feel like they’re not fun anymore
if you’re not smiling when you’re training, definitely take a break
some dogs are bottomless pits, while others walk away when they’re full — and that’s ok
clicker training conquers just about any training issue you throw at it AND the dog loves the solution

Schooner is 10-months old and he’s just now starting to really learn. I won’t lie: I was panicked for a couple of months because his progress was s o s l o w. The Labradors I’ve trained have always been ahead of me in the training game — I couldn’t teach them new things fast enough! Schooner, on the other hand, had a decidedly different path. He’s a “stop and smell the roses” kinda dog when it comes to learning.

His message in a nutshell: Don’t rush him, be patient, and his brains will eventually kick in. When I surrendered my need for progress, progress, progress, and let the dog dictate the pace, I was happily surprised with progress!

That, to me, is what dog training is all about. It’s a journey taken together with a little bit of give-and-take. It’s listening to one another, striving to create the opportunity for learning so that when the dog is ready to learn, I’m ready to teach.

Dog training is not about “making the dog” do anything. It’s not about shutting off behavior (jumping, barking, pulling etc.), it’s about getting lots more behavior and then rewarding only the good stuff that you want to see more of (sitting, chewing a toy, walking politely, etc.). If you hear someone say “just make him do it!” walk away. Quickly. That ain’t what dog training’s about. Not at all.

In the end, Schooner will have learned how to be a top-notch dog who can provide his human partner with the help she needs to get through life every single day. He’ll do it happily. He’ll do it eagerly. And together they’ll be a terrific working team, and — better still — a terrific team…period.

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