Q:Could you explain the differences between the Look at That (LAT) and Watch Me games? My understanding is that the "watch" command is to increase focus on you as you're marking when the dog looks away from the distraction and the "look" command is to decrease reactivity to the distraction as you're marking quiet looking at the distraction. Is this correct or am I missing something? I only recently heard of the LAT game but have had success with Watch. Can they be used together?

jeffaudio

There’s actually a lot of overlap between capturing focus and playing LAT, and advanced stages of LAT actually become a focus exercise. In LAT, you reward the dog the instant they look at a trigger.* This causes the trigger to eventually become a visual cue to reorient to you, the handler. In the case of LAT, you’re reframing the stimulus from being a trigger (“That is a scary thing I must watch to make sure it doesn’t hurt me!”) into a desirable cue (“Yay, that thing appearing means I look at daddy and he’ll give me cookies!”). By rewarding your dog for looking at potential triggers, you’re removing the conflict of interests you’d get from using focus games exclusively. In focus games, the dog still wants to look at the trigger, but they know looking at you is usually more rewarding. In LAT, the dog gets to look at the trigger AND look at you; so if you have a very salient trigger (or a boring reward), your dog can still pay some attention to you and less attention to the trigger. It’s the best of both worlds!

There’s also some very recent research that shows that desensitization (being exposed to a trigger at low levels without alternative reinforcements) may work better than counterconditioning (offering tangible rewards during exposure to a trigger) for reducing fear responses. Grisha Steward makes similar observations in her book, Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT), and proposes it may be because tangible rewards (like treats and toys) distract from the trigger. It certainly makes sense that if the dog can’t pay much attention to the trigger, they’ll struggle to learn those triggers are actually safe, like kids can’t learn clowns aren’t scary if they always cover their eyes when the clowns appear.

*You mark the instant your dog look at the trigger, and your marker should be enough that they reorient to you to get their reward. (If they can’t reorient, you’re too close to the trigger.) Very experienced or calm dogs will try to make the smallest indication possible towards the trigger (an ear flick or weight shift, for example) so they don’t have to break eye-contact with you. You can choose to reward that or insist the dog takes a proper glance to earn their reward.

Obedience School, Night #2

gypsycowgirl:

Cause I know y’all are on the edge of your seats. (But really, why do y’all follow me? Lol)

  • Boots heels on his leash like a champ. Bam, DONE.
  • He learned to sit every time I stop moving tonight. We’ll keep working on that. 
  • We worked on recall tonight, which has been my biggest challenge with Boots the entire 2 years that I’ve owned him. The trainer asked who in particular has trouble with that command, so I raised my hand high. She used him as the example, and he was hardheaded, but he was getting it. We’ll keep working on it. 
  • Everyone loved him. Everyone in the class thought he was so cute! 
  • There’s one lady in class that is gonna slowly make everyone crazy. You can tell she makes the trainer crazy with all her “this won’t work for my dog, my dog is stressed, blah blah blah.” She has a problem with not being able to assert dominance over her dog, but I don’t think she realizes it. The trainer obviously realizes it. I doubt she’ll get anything out of the hundred dollars she paid for this training course, cause if you can’t assert dominance, not even your dog will listen to you. 
  • After reading “Pack of Two” by Caroline Knapp, I’ve started to really watch the way that people and their dogs interact, I find it so interesting!
  • I need a skinnier leash for Boots. 
  • I’m dying to ask the trainer for a job but I’m too big of a chicken to do it. 
  • Something in or outside of obedience class gave me exactly 2 hives. Which is odd. 

But seriously, why do y’all follow me? Anyway, Boots and I send our love!

Actually, the “crazy lady” in your class has a very valid point. When an animal is stressed or nervous, they struggle to concentrate. It’s because the stress hormone, cortisol, causes activation in the sympathetic nervous system which causes the animal to become hypervigilant. (That is, stressed animals feel a stronger urge than calm animals to focus on their environment, which makes learning difficult.) Use of force or intimidation on a nervous animal will exacerbate the problem; they’ll feel more stressed and become even less capable of learning.

I read in your profile that you’re interested in animal science, so I’m going to very briefly discuss modern animal behaviour science. It sounds like your trainer’s methodology and beliefs are extremely outdated, and I think they’re really doing you and your dog a huge disservice. Dominance theory has been entirely disproved; neither dogs nor wolves have a strict social hierarchy where all the dogs obey a central leader. (Not to mention that dogs behave much differently towards humans than other dogs, indicating that they know humans are not dogs.) Modern training methods are instead based on learning theory which is applicable to all known animals including dogs and humans. The basic two basic principles of modern learning theory are: 1. Behaviours with a favourable outcome are more likely to be repeated, and 2. Behaviours with an unfavourable outcome are less likely to be repeated.

These two principles can be broken down into four quadrants or contexts that are easy to observe and manipulate in training: 1. Positive reinforcement, 2. Negative Reinforcement, 3. Positive punishment, and 4. Negative punishment. In this context, “positive” means something is added, “negative” means something is taken away, “reinforcement” means that the behaviour being reinforced is more likely to occur in the future, and “punishment” means the behaviour is less likely to occur in the future.

Learning theory explains why leash jerking works: The dog makes a motion undesired by their handler, the handler jerks the leash which causes the dog discomfort, so to avoid that discomfort in the future the dog avoids making that particular motion again. This is an example of positive punishment (“positive” because something (discomfort) is being added, and “punishment” because it causes a behaviour to decrease (the undesired motion)).

It also explains why clicker training works: The dog makes a motion desired by the handler; the handler marks the behaviour and offers a cookie, toy, or whatever else the dog enjoys; and the dog becomes more likely to make that motion again to earn another reward. This is an example of positive reinforcement (“positive” because a reward is added, and “reinforcement” because the dog is more likely to perform the desired behaviour).

That’s the very bare bones of learning theory, but there are many, many studies that demonstrate that positive reinforcement creates more reliable obedience in dogs than traditional training (traditional training is based on negative reinforcement (removing something aversive as the reward) and positive punishment). Dogs taught with positive reinforcement are also less likely to become aggressive, and positive reinforcement is more effective than traditional training methods at rehabilitating fearful or aggressive dogs. It also works especially well on “stubborn” dogs that don’t care very much about being punished, so you might find it an especially good fit for your guy. :P

If you’re interested in learning more, I’d love to discuss dog training and learning theory with you! If you’d rather read about it, I highly recommend Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor and pretty much anything ever written by Patricia McConnell (but maybe start with For the Love of a Dog and The Other End of the Leash).

Also, if you’re looking for a great trainer to apprentice with, try to find an APDT certified trainer in your area. All APDT certified trainers are required to pass a fairly rigorous exam every few years to ensure they’re up-to-date with current learning theory.

And because this is getting book-like, I’m going to stop here. But I’d also be happy to pass on some techniques for teaching a super speedy, enthusiastic recall even if you’re not interested in discussing learning theory. Please just let me know if you’re interested!

Life of a Failed Slacker: angerinyourbones: workingwithjayne: thatsnotthehardcoreway: Does...

angerinyourbones:

angerinyourbones:

workingwithjayne:

thatsnotthehardcoreway:

Does anyone know of a good brand of training treats?

So far all I’m liking is Cloud Star, which I actually have their chewy treats right now.

I used Cloud Star a bit when training Jayne. I love them, they’re the…

Also I forgot to say Natural Balance food rolls cut into tiny squares are my main staple treat!

Peanut butter in a squeeze tube, Goldfish crackers, cheese, and homemade “tuna fudge” made with oat or chickpea flower instead of wheat flour. Sorry, not technically brands, but those are our staples.

-EDIT- Oh, duh, and Orijen freeze dried treats for our highest value treats.

Source: thatsnotthehardcoreway

Q:I got a puppy 3 months old (boy) and my uncle has an unfixed female dog who's nine and she does not like the puppy. Whenever he gets near her she either growls or snaps at him or lunges at him. She will not take her eyes off him either when he's walking around. Sometimes they both get really tense and stare at one another before I pick the puppy up to stop anything from happening. Is there a way to make their relationship better?

Anonymous

For the time being, you’ll need to crate and rotate them to keep them away from each other. (You don’t necessarily have to use crates; just use doors, gates, or leashes to keep them at least a room apart.) Both for safety and training, it’s best if your older dog doesn’t get to practice snapping at your puppy.

Initially, it’s usually best to start introductions outside or in neutral space. Have one dog stay stationary in a designated space and, with the other dog on leash, allow them to approach from a distance. You can either click and reward the dog as soon as they notice the other dog at a distance and before they can react (LAT); OR you can allow them to notice the other dog, wait for an appropriate response (sniffing the ground, looking away, yawning, etc.), click, and move away (BAT). If you have an assistant, you can use LAT with the stationary dog (if you don’t have an assistant, try giving the stationary dog a high-value chew toy, like a bully stick, to keep them calm as you approach) and BAT with the approaching dog. You should also switch tasks once in a while so one dog isn’t always being approached. LAT will teach the stationary dog to be calm when approached by the other dog, and BAT will teach the approaching dog appropriate ways to disengage from the stationary dog. With a bit of practice, your puppy should learn to behave calmly around your older dog and your older dog should learn polite ways to ask for space.

Once both of your dogs are greeting each other calmly and disengaging outside, you can start practising inside. Once your dogs are familiar with LAT and BAT, they should progress pretty quickly. When your dogs are ready to be together inside, have your puppy drag his leash for the first few weeks. If he’s rude, this will make it easier for you to catch him and lead him away from your older dog.

You might also find it helpful to designate a few puppy-free areas just for your older dog. Giving her a chance to escape from the puppy’s energy will probably help her feel safer.

Q:Do you think petting a fearful dog enforces the fearful behavior?

Anonymous

Well, if the dog is afraid of being patted, then petting them could put them over threshold and cause a fear response. But for pretty much any other fear, no.

Fear isn’t a behaviour, it’s an emotion. You can’t reinforce emotions, you can only create associations between actions and emotions. (For example, if your dog only goes into the bathroom to take a bath, going into the bathroom may become associated with the fear of taking a bath.) You can reinforce behaviours associated with fear, but it’s very unlikely to happen when the dog is actually afraid.*

What sometimes happens with dogs with known phobias is that their handlers will start comforting them BEFORE they’re showing signs of fear, and that comforting can act as a cue letting the dog know they should be afraid. When these dogs experience the frightening situation by themselves or with a stranger present who doesn’t know to comfort them, the dog will often show a decreased fear response or no response at all. This makes it look like the dog is just pretending to be afraid, but it’s actually that the dog is taking their handler’s behaviour as a cue to act afraid. An example of this is some leash reactive dogs. When their handlers walk them past another dog, they’ll tighten the leash to keep their dogs close. Pressure on the leash makes the dog feel their handler is also nervous so the incoming dog must be a real threat, and the reactive dog barks and lunges. If this same dog were walked by someone who kept the leash loose and behaved calmly, the dog is more likely to behave calmly themselves.**

The take-home message is: If you have a fearful dog, absolutely comfort them. It might help them overcome their fears with enough exposure. If you are comforting your dog, try to be calm about it; two people panicking is much worse than one!

*Could you learn calculus while having a panic attack? Probably not. Likewise, your dog isn’t in a learning frame of mind when they’re panicking.

**Dogs are great social learners, so the dog in this case may be thinking, “Hey, this human is pretty relaxed! That must mean this dog is okay and we’re safe. I don’t need to drive them away.” This also depends on how afraid is the dog in the first place. A terrified dog is going to react if pushed too far no matter how you behave.

paintbrushdrive:

Our rat terrier mix (she’s 1 years old now!) randomly barks every night, and she has this loud shrill bark. Sometimes she’ll bark b/c she hears the dog next door barking or voices (neighbors) walking by our house (it’s a townhouse community, so people are everywhere). 

She’ll also bark for now apparent reason (she probably hears something that we don’t). 

It wakes us up every time.

I take her out for a walk before bed. We don’t tie her up at night b/c she’s usually tied up during the day, and we don’t crate her (tried the crate training but she hates crates).

I’ve read about a few strategies of training dogs to not bark during the day, but it’s night time that’s more of an issue. Any ideas on how to train her out of this behavior?

It sounds like your dog becomes over-stimulated at night, so she can’t settle down. It’s actually pretty common for dogs to patrol the house at night if they’re given free roam. I think the best way to deal with your night barking issue is crate training. Having a crate will provide a safe space for your dog so she understand she doesn’t have to stand guard, and she can relax at night.

Most dogs don’t naturally like crates, which is why crate training is necessary. If your dog has already had bad experiences with being crated, you’ll need go move slowly at first. If you don’t clicker train, now is a good time to start.* To get started, set up your dog’s crate where you want her to sleep.** First, click and reward your dog for approaching the crate, even just to sniff. Do this several times until she seems comfortable running over to the crate. Once she seems brave around the crate, start only click-treating when she moves a little closer to the door (even just one step closer is worth rewarding). Continue to decrease your dog’s distance from the door until she’s being rewarded for standing directly in front of it. Once she’s happily standing in the doorway of the crate, only click-treat if she puts her nose inside or paw inside the crate. If she puts her nose inside a few times, wait until she places in one paw. Once she’s putting in one paw, only reward when she’s placing two paws inside the crate. Continue until your dog is standing inside the crate. Once she’s comfortable standing inside the crate, you can start building duration by waiting for her to stay inside the crate for 1 second and then 3 seconds and then 10 seconds. If she decides to lay down inside the crate, jackpot her by offering her several treats inside the crate.

This whole process may take one training session or it may take several days. If your dog ever seems unsure or stressed, take a break. You want to teach her that her crate is a safe place, so it should never be associated with stress during training. Over a couple of weeks, gradually increase the amount of time your dog stays inside her crate. Once your dog is happy to stay an hour in her crate, you can try keeping her in there overnight. The first night is usually the hardest. You can make it easier on everyone by giving your dog some extra exercise before bed, and giving her a great, long-lasting treat (like a stuffed, frozen Kong) when you put her to bed.

Crate training usually goes fastest if you can have several short sessions throughout the day. To make it really easy on you, you can start feeding your dog inside her crate. Just close the door while she’s eating, and open it again when she’s finished. You can also start giving her special treats, like bully sticks, exclusively in her crate. At night, you can also try playing soothing music (like the Through a Dog’s Ear series) to cover background noise and relax your dog. You could also try noise training during the day using noise CDs where your dog would be in her crate, you’d play a disturbing noise, and then you’d reward your dog immediately for not reacting.

Anyway, hopefully some of that is useful to you. If you have any questions or if I’ve explained something poorly, please let me know. Good luck!

*You don’t necessarily have to use a clicker. You just need a short, distinct sound you can use as a marker. Many people use the word “Yes!” instead of a clicker.

**Because your dog is already house trained, you might want to get a slightly larger crate than recommended for her size. Many dogs like to spread out a bit at night, while others prefer an even smaller crate to feel cozy.

Doggy Day Job: dog training confessional

spoookyghost:

spoookyghost:

doggydayjob:

spoookyghost:

I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO IMPLEMENT CLICKER TRAINING

OH MY GOD WHY DOESN’T IT MAKE SENSE TO ME

I UNDERSTAND WHY ITS GOOD

I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW DO

TTATT

Clicker training can definitely be pretty tricky until you get the…

Oh my gosh thank you. That is all information I’ve gotten before but no one ever put it in such clear terms. Now I’m all eager to go try this out with my dog. Many of the people I have asked point blank about clicker training didn’t explain how it works with luring and shaping, just capturing and I couldn’t understand how boiling your training opportunities down to only capturing could be that easy/awesome/everything else clicker training is cracked up to be. Thank you again :)))

You’re welcome! Yeah, capturing can be really limited, because you can only use it to get behaviours your dog performs naturally. (It’s fantastic for basic obedience, or capturing natural movements like blinking or leg lifting.) Shaping is the most fun and flexible, imo, because your dog will learn to start throwing out random body movements you can string together into crazy tricks. Of course, shaping starts out as capturing (you have to capture a starting point), so it’s not so black-and-white. Anyway, just do whatever you find most comfortable. As long as you’re having fun with it, it’s absolutely the right method for you.

If you ever get stuck on something, feel free to send me an ask or post under the #dog training tag.

dog training confessional

spoookyghost:

doggydayjob:

spoookyghost:

I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO IMPLEMENT CLICKER TRAINING

OH MY GOD WHY DOESN’T IT MAKE SENSE TO ME

I UNDERSTAND WHY ITS GOOD

I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW DO

TTATT

Clicker training can definitely be pretty tricky until you get the hang of it. Are you having technical problems, like you don’t understand how to use the clicker to teach a behaviour, or are you struggling with using it outside of training sessions (like in real-life situations)?

I guess it boils down to not knowing how to use it to teach a behavior. I understand the click becoming the reward but a lot of times I get the understanding that you phase out verbal commands and that’s where I get lost.

It sounds like you’ve gotten a lot of misinformation, so I’ll try to clear that up for you. (It should make everything more straight-forward for you!)

The click doesn’t replace rewards, it indicates a reward is forthcoming. It’s your way of saying, “The exact behaviour you’re doing at this split second is earning you a reward.” It’s a very precise marker that helps your dog understand exactly what behaviour is being rewarded. Any time you click, you should also provide a reward.*/**

You don’t need to train verbal commands unless you want to; you can stick to gestures instead. However, there’s no reason you can’t use both, and most people find it helpful to have multiple ways to signal their dogs. I think you may actually be misunderstanding the different types of clicker training. Very quickly, they’re: 1. Luring, 2. Capturing, and 3. Shaping.

Luring describes when you use a lure, generally food, to manipulate the dog into a desired position. An example is moving food over your dog’s head and towards his back until he sits. (You’d use your clicker in your other hand to mark the moment his butt touches the floor, so he’d know you’re rewarding butt-on-floor.)

Capturing is when you capture a behaviour your dog naturally offers. An example is watching your dog and marking and rewarding the instant he lays down. In this technique, you’re not manipulating your dog in any way; you’re just letting him know that you’d like him to repeat a certain behaviour he already performs.

Shaping describes rewarding approximations towards a final goal. For example, if you want your dog to go lay in his crate; you’d reward him for standing near his crate, and then you’d only reward him for standing near the door of his crate, and then only reward for putting one paw inside his crate, and then two paws, etc. until he’s willing to go lay down inside his crate as you close the door. You’d never touch your dog or use food to encourage him into the crate; instead you’re using your clicker to hint at what you want him to do.

Clicker purists use only capturing and shaping, because they produce stronger more robust results. (With luring, the dog is often distracted by the lure, so it takes a lot of repetitions to build a strong behaviour.) Personally, I’ll use any or every technique depending on the dog and task I’m working. Luring is usually the easiest to start out with for novice handlers and dogs, but I definitely encourage you to experiment! Remember that if you get frustrated, take a break. Clicker training works best when it’s fun for you and the dog.

I hope that clears some things up for you. If you have any other questions, or you’d like me to clarify something I’ve said here please let me know. Good luck!

*Rewards can be food, toys, petting, conditioned praise (praise which has been paired with food, so the dog knows that praise = very good thing), access to resources (like going outside, sniffing poo, greeting other dogs, etc.), or anything else your dog enjoys.

**If you don’t provide a reward following a click, you’re putting your dog through an extinction trial. Exactly as it sounds, extinction trials cause associations or behaviours to extinguish; so using a clicker without providing a reward will make your dog “forget” the association between clicks and rewards. (The clicker will stop working.)

dog training confessional

spoookyghost:

I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO IMPLEMENT CLICKER TRAINING

OH MY GOD WHY DOESN’T IT MAKE SENSE TO ME

I UNDERSTAND WHY ITS GOOD

I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW DO

TTATT

Clicker training can definitely be pretty tricky until you get the hang of it. Are you having technical problems, like you don’t understand how to use the clicker to teach a behaviour, or are you struggling with using it outside of training sessions (like in real-life situations)?

Q:Do dogs mark territory with their urine?

Anonymous

Probably some of them, yes. Territoriality is so complex and different between, not only breeds, but individual dogs; it’s hard to make concrete statements about it. I’m sure some dogs scent mark in a territorial way. I’ve also seen very shy, non-territorial dogs scent mark extensively. Maybe some dogs just pee all over the place because they enjoy it.