Sponsored by California Cat Center, Inc. and Mullen's Mobile Veterinary Hospital

LETS GET STARTED …

The first of an instructional series on Dog Training the MY BEST FRIEND OBEDIENCE way!

BY KAREN TAYLOR, My Best Friend Obedience

To start a training program for your dog you must first open up the lines of communication by laying some “ground work.”  Since dogs generally communicate through body language and humans generally communicate verbally, we already have a problem!  Since we all know dogs are more trainable than humans … we will teach them to respond to auditory cues, but we will use body language your dog will understand to teach it!  So as Jeff said in his previous Valley Pet News article called, “Translating English into Bark,”  we’ll start by teaching your dog to understand a few basic words with which he or she will be taught all other commands.

We begin by assuming that your dog does not know any human language at all.  I am sure some of you have already taught your dog a few commands like “sit” and “come,” but in an effort to be consistent, I suggest eventually retraining those commands using this technique.  Most of us played the game “hot and cold” as children.  The goal is for the person who is “it” to perform a task chosen by the rest of the players, but without being told what that task is.  The only clues the “it” person gets are the words “you’re getting warmer” or “you’re getting colder.” These cues mark the action the person is doing at that moment so they can base their next move on the last clue given, and ultimately get closer to main goal.  Once the “it” person figures out what to do, everyone cheers and “it” chooses the next player.  This is easy with people because just playing the game and being cheered for their accomplishment is a fun reward.  Being able to figure out the task and choose who goes next is a reward, as is watching a person trying to figure out their task!  Even being a good “cue” giver is fun.  So how do we get your dog to play the game?  Right, offer him something he enjoys as a reward!

You can find out what rewards to use by simply paying attention and testing out a few different things.  Most dogs get really excited about their favorite treats, so this would be an obvious first choice.  Some prefer toys, such as a tennis ball, favorite squeaky or lambs wool toy.  Some are extremely attention hungry, in which case praise and petting may do the trick!  One of my dogs loves French fries and another loves the rope toy!  Once you have figured out their favorite reward then you can begin to work down from there.  For example, one of my dogs loves tennis balls almost as much as rope toys, but I discovered he likes stuffed animals that make noise the best of all, so now I know his favorites in order of importance to him.  Food oriented dogs have favorites too.  Mine would prefer fries to everything but would still go for a piece of chicken or beef, however he really doesn’t care at all about dry dog food or cat food, or vegetables of any kind.  The funny thing about rewards is that if you get them all the time they lose their effectiveness as a reinforcer.  If your dog simply doesn’t value things because she gets them all time, then don’t give them all the time!  Sounds simple, but if you are using attention/praise than you must dole out the praise for good performance only, not just because your dog is cute.  The same applies to treats and play.  If your dog pesters you incessantly until you finally play, what are you reinforcing?  Encourage play sessions when your dog is behaving, not bugging you.  If your dog begins chewing the furniture and you go get him a chewy toy, what are you reinforcing?  The trick would be to make sure you give the chewy toy before he chews on the furniture!  If your dog jumps up in excitement to greet you when you come home and you pet and greet him back, what are you reinforcing?  Instead, wait until your dog finally settles down to pet and greet him in return, each time he will settle down faster!  In these examples all these things your dog “wants” (play, greeting, a chew toy) are rewards.  Rewards are now going to be given only for appropriate behaviors, behaviors we can mark (or click)!

The first word or sound your dog must understand is a marker that means they are “on the right track” or “getting warmer.”  You may choose any word you like, but make sure it is unique.  We suggest using “Yes” or, even better, a clicker.[1]  Many people like to use “good” but since we often say “good” to our dogs for things other than just as a training cue, it is not the ideal choice.  If you use a “word” instead of a clicker it should be a short, one syllable, word.  You will soon discover that timing in everything in this style of training and you only have a split second to mark a behavior!

Now that we have our reward and our marker (I will use a clicker for this explanation) we are ready to begin.  The first part is easy, just Click the clicker and give your dog a Treat.  We will have your dog salivating at the sound of the clicker in no time.  If your dog is into the rope, click the clicker and play tug… or click the clicker and toss the ball (only a few feet please)… and so on!  Every time you present the reward you click the clicker prior to giving it to your dog!  For those who like proper terminology you are conditioning a reinforcer.  Timing is extremely important, you must make sure there is no more than a split second between the click and the treat so please don’t click unless the reward is already in your other hand.  Sometimes it is easier to do this with your dog on a leash at first.  Stand on the leash to keep the dog in the general vicinity and so they don’t take off after the family cat, or the kids running past, during the exercise!

Watch what your dog is doing at the moment … is he looking at you (i.e. paying attention to you)?  If he is click and treat!  Is your dog on a leash?  If so, is she at the end of the leash, or is the leash slack?  If the leash is slack (i.e. not pulling), click and treat.  Is your dog jumping up on you?  If so stop looking at him.  Did he stop jumping?  If so, click and treat!  Once you have decided which behavior you will be reinforcing at this moment, whether it is not jumping up (i.e. anything other than jumping up), not pulling on the leash (i.e. slack leash), or paying attention (i.e. getting your dog to look at you), stick to it … keep a clear goal in your mind.  Don’t be surprised if you have to wait 3-5 minutes for your dog to offer you the desired behavior again, after the first click.  For example, if you are clicking not jumping up, they may get excited about the reward after this first click and jump up again, but if you ignore them (no eye contact) they will eventually calm down enough for you to do the second and third click.  Patience is the key.  You simply WAIT for your dog to do the behavior again then click and treat.  The fourth and fifth clicks should come quicker!  Work on that behavior for at least 5 clicks, that means he successfully completed the designated task at least five times.  You will not be telling your dog what to do (or what not to do) at this stage of the training.  You will only be letting your dog know when he is doing what you want.  Please click and treat only one behavior at a time.  We don’t want to confuse your dog by trying to click and treat more than one behavior at a time.  You are using body language because you are interacting (giving attention) only when your dog does what you want, and ignoring when your dog does anything other than the desired behavior!  After your dog has offered the desired behavior at least 5 times, get really excited and give your dog lots of praise, hugs and kisses, and take a break with your dog.  Maybe go at for a walk or have a game of throw the ball.  This will become a secondary reinforcer (for those of you who like fancy words)… but more on that later!