A walk on the black isle

New camera for Christmas with some fab features - and a stunning afternoon - I have to share the foto

Dog training 101 - The quadrants

In the last post I discussed Reinforcements and Punishments, today we are going to learn
the four quadrants of operant conditioning.

For this we need to define positive and negative

Positive - something is ADDED
Negative - something is REMOVED

So this leads us to the four quadrants

Positive reinforcement - Something is ADDED to makes the dogs behaviour MORE likely to happen
Positive punishment - Something is ADDED to make the dogs behaviour LESS likely to happen
Negative reinforcement - something is REMOVED to make the dogs behaviour MORE likely to happen
Negative punishment - Something is REMOVED to make the dogs behaviour LESS likely to happen

So what does that really mean?

Positive reinforcement
If the dog does something we like we give them something they like - for example when the dog sits nicely we give them a treat and that makes them more likely to want to do that again.

Positive punishment
For example when a dog moves out of the heel position a jerk on a prong collar makes them less likely to want to move out of heel position again

Negative reinforcement
When a dog starts to recal back to you you the e-collar stops zapping the dog so he is more likely to want to recal to you

Negative punishment
When a dog jumps all over you for attention when you come into the house so you ignore them while they are bouncing - he is less likely to want to jump over you for attention in the future.

One other thing to consider
Reinforcing behaviours makes dogs not only repeat the behaviour you reinforced but it also makes them more confident to try new things and use their brains to problem solve so actually helps make your dog smarter, more confident and happier

Punishing makes a dog not only less likely to repeat the behaviour you punished but also makes them less confident to try new things, less likely to try and use their brians to solve problems and can actually make them less smart, less confident and less happy

Of course in the real world punishments happen but when your dog presents you with a training challenge it is always best to try and fix it using as much positive reinforcement  as possible, a limited use of negative punishment where needed and to try and avoid positive punishment and negative reward

Old Mill Beginners homework week 3 - front crosses on the flat

This one is way easier to see than to explain!!
You start with your dog on the left hand side focusing on you
Then you rotate anticlockwise 180 degrees keeping your dogs attention by bringing in your right hand with a treat in it. Reward when you are facing the opposite direction with your dog on the opposite side from where you started
Repeat the other way

Keep practising the flat work as well and you can add the front cross into this to change the side your dog is on

The Secret Life of the Dog (Part 1_6)

This was on the BBC a little while ago and it is very interesting

In this clip they discover that dogs actually read humans faces in a different way from how they read other dogs faces, and it is actually the same way as humans read other humans faces

Kiss the dog - the website is live

Finaly I have started work on the website for my dog training classes.

I have a fantastic venue for classes but for the summer I have decided to be more European and run outside classes. This means dogs and handlers can have more space from each other, but it adds real life distractions.

I have only got a few pages up so far but please let me know what you think - cick on the log to get there

Car manners

Sorry I have been lazy posting for a while!!

I have solved Mias stress problems when I am driving!! After months of driving her places and rewarding her for being calm around cows, horses, dogs, sheep she was progressing, just very sloooowly
But I got a new car. Its big enough for her to be crated in the boot and not see out.
Result - very calm car rides and a much calmer Mia when we get where we are going.

As this is a totally new situation for the dogs and it would be very dangerous for the dogs to just race out of the car when I open the boot I have done some training on getting them to stay in the car till released




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDbZZ6Exa-w

The only commands I am using is for the dogs to get into the car and then the release word. I dont want to have to keep telling them to stay, I expect them to stay until released.

I have done lots of stays in place and impulse control work with my dogs. If your dogs want to bounce out the car then you are not rewarding them enough. They cant jump out of the car while you are rapid fire treating, then you can slowly build up pauses between the treats and slowly build up you moving away from the dogs.
The more you treat at the start the easier it is for the dogs to understand what you want them to do and the happier and more confident they become.
If at any point the dog jumps out of the car you have asked too much, take smaller steps or reduce the time and reward more. Dont tell the dog off just calmly put them back and start rewarding again.

If you punish your dog for breaking his stay they become less confident, staying in the crate becomes a stressful place and they will often creep towards you for reassurance.

My next steps are to release each dog one at a time and leave the other in the car.

Dog training methods - 2. Luring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19SZTwQkpEw

The next step for most trainers to a more hands off type of training is to lure the dog into the behaviour using some food or a toy.

Examples of this

Sit

Hold a treat in front of the dogs nose then slowly raise it above his head. As the dogs head goes up its bum should go down

Down

Take the treat from the dogs nose slowly down between the dogs paws then sweeping forwards along the floor

Recall

Hold treat or ball out for the dog to see.

This methods is fantastic to motivate the dog, it knows what it is going to get if it does the right thing.

Some people dont like the idea of bribing their dog to work, but sometimes we need a little boost to know what the point is

When you are at a job interview do you ask what the pay is going to be or do you just do the job in the hope the pay will be worth it??

The problems with this methods can be

The dog dosent work if he dosent see the food - this is usually a trainer error, if you ONLY give the dog a treat when you lure him and then dont ever give a treat when you dont lure him then they learn pretty quick there is no point unless you have a treat

The video above explains how to prevent that happening, getting the behaviour then quickly fading out having the lure in your hand, then fading out the hand signal.

If it is already a problem then the best thing to do is for a short while always have treats on you, then if your dog does something amazing for you you can immediately whip out a fantastic reward (no point running to the kitchen - he needs to have the reward right away) then he learns that there is always a chance of a treat and so he tries harder to get that magical treat.

People also complain that the dog learns to look to you too much with this method. This does not have to be the case. With Ben teaching the weaves I lured him, but I noticed at the end of the weave he was always looking to me for his treat

Easily sorted. As he passed the last pole I chuck the treat, then after a short while I hold back with the treat, he naturally drives ahead out of the weave looking for his treat, and I chuck it. He learns to run ahead coming out of the weave

Simples :D

This is a foundation method many trainers use, often along with other methods. It is pretty fast, it makes sense to both the human and the dog, and it makes for a happy focused dog who enjoys training times.

Dog training methods - 1. Compulsive/manipulation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqCXBjkmzBk

The more traditional methods of training a dog is by manipulation, physically putting the dog in position.
Examples of this

Sit
Push the dogs bum till he sits
Down
Push on the dogs shoulders till he lies down
Paw
Pick up the dogs paw
Stop
Stop dog with lead
Recall
Reel dog in on lead

In the video above you can see the guy tugs down on the dogs lead to make her lie down.
This is the way many animals in the past have been trained and it does work for some animals.
It is fairly simple for the human to understand, put the animal in the position you want enough times and it will slowly learn to go into the position.

There are several problems with this method.

Firstly it is actually using punishment to train the dog, the shoving is something slightly unpleasant for the dog (I know its not like beating it) so he learns to avoid being shoved to get into the position. Often the dog can even look happy once they have figured this out and the trainer thinks they have a dog who works for no rewards and is so motivated they love to work for you.
Sorry to burst your bubble, if you train with punishments then for your dog its reward is the avoidance of the punishment, your dog is happy because he isn't getting shoved or yanked.

Also it is not natural to go where you are shoved.
Try it on someone, if you push then gently then to remain upright they push back a little. You can see in the clip even with a 'trained' dog when he is pulling on the lead she is resisting and being dragged down.
Over time you could injure growing joints with a battle to push your resisting puppy to the ground until they understand they have to go the way you are shoving.



You can get around that by teaching your dog to respond to pressure. A good way is to have your dog on the lead and stand behind them and give very slight pressure on the lead. Wait. When the dog turns to face you click and treat. The dog will learn that pressure on the lead means to go where the lead directs.


Compulsive methods are thought to work more slowly than other methods because the dog does not have to engage its brain.
A good example was my mum trying to teach Ben to give a paw.
He sat nicely, happily let her pick up his paw and then give him a treat. He just seemed v happy, crazy lady picks my foot up then gives me food. It never seemed to occur to him that he could speed up the process by lifting his foot himself.
Using a combination of methods but most of them compulsive it took aver six months for Ben to give a paw, and even then he is slow and not overly confident giving a paw.
Using different methods for Mia to give a paw took less than a minute and she is very happy to show her trick.

I am sure we all at some point use some compulsive methods, take a dogs collar, pull on the lead or something. Many dogs dont mind but it can make a dog shy to have its collar taken and other methods can use your dogs brain more and make them happier to learn and perform their trick

Dog training methods

I love training my dogs, I think training ANYTHING is great for your dogs.

Everything we ask our dogs to do is a trick to them, sitting, coming when called, doing an agility round or dancing on their back legs - its ALL tricks to them.

There are several different ways we can train our dogs tricks

1. Compulsive/manipulation

2. Luring

3. Targeting

4. Capturing

5. Shaping

Over the next few days I would like to spend a little time going into all the methods, looking at what they mean for us and for our dogs, the pros and cons of each method and how we can combine the methods to create quite complex tricks that not only stimulate our dogs but also give our brains a workout as we have to try and out-think our dogs.

If you have any videos of you training your dogs or any methods you would like to share please post them here and I might include some in future posts.

Please remember if you would like to vote for this blog as the top dog blog (and I would love it if you would) you need to sign up for the newsletter at http://www.trainpetdog.com/ and in a couple of days they will ask you to vote for your top dog blog. There will be prizes not only for me but for you lot too if this blog does well in the contest

Size dosent matter!

Small dogs are just not treated the same way as large dogs. I saw several examples of that out and about today.

1. 3 tiny JRT's being walked by one woman. All three dogs were pulling so hard that their paws were scrabbling on the pavement and they where wheezing and panting.
If a large dog pulls people are more likely to deal with it one way or another, because it hurts them and it can be dangerous.
Just because a small dog isnt pulling you with as much force as a large one it is still hurting itself pulling with all its force onto a small collar.

2. A pair of poodles snarling, barking and lunging at passing dogs.
If they were GSD's or something of that size then people would be yelling at the owners to get their dogs under control but with these poodles people laughed and pointed.
No matter what size dogs are dogs, they are still able to cause injury to another dog or person if they choose to attack and even if they can be controlled on the lead the dog is very stressed when they are in this situation. This stress is not good for your dogs health

3. A pack of small dogs charging at other dogs with no control as their owners laughed. Just because the dogs were lucky enough to meet well mannered dogs who put up with their bad manners owners should keep control of their dogs no matter what the size!

4. A small yorkie in a 'princess' fluffy dress being carried and cooed over like she was a toy. Please let your dog be a dog!! If you want a doll but one!!

All seen in one day!! Dogs are dogs regardless of the size, if you wouldnt let a 15 stone dog do something then dont let your 2Kg dog do it.

Punishing is for the lazy

Interesting where you can get inspiration for dog training.

Today on 'The Wright Stuff' on TV this morning I got some amazing advice from Joe Mangle from Neighbours.

They were talking about raising children and how some children are so out of control.

He had a amazing point

It takes time and energy to be consistent, to teach our children (or dogs) that actions have consequences and that we mean what we say.

It is far easier to give in and give the sweetie when the child is chucking a tantrum (or let our dogs pull on the lead because we are in too much of a rush to teach them to walk nicely on the lead)

Then we get angry with their behaviour and yell or punish them. This is confusing, sometimes they get what they want, sometimes they get punished.

If we are fair and consistent, make sure they know what we want from them, let them know when they are doing the right thing and, when needed, show them the consequences of doing the wrong thing (naughty step, no pudding, dont get to keep walking forwards on lead) then children and dogs will be better behaved, less confused and everyone will be happier

The food bowl

It is very sad that some training methods are not only misguided but they can be dangerous in some cases and spoil our relationship between us and our dogs.
One method that often causes problems is taking food off a dog.
Many people believe that to show the dog who is the boss they should be able to take food from the dog whenever they want to. To implement that they remove the dogs food bowl when the dog is eating.
Lots of dogs are very forgiving and just put up with our rudeness.
But
Some dogs begin to learn that they are not safe when they are eating their food and start to become defensive and aggressive when anyone comes near them.
The owner misreads this as the dog becoming dominant and then punishes the dog. The dog then learns that it was correct, it is not safe when it is eating, bad things happen and it can become even more aggressive.
If you imagine yourself if you are eating something yummy and someone comes and takes it away without saying anything. The first time you may be a little confused but say nothing, the second time you may yell 'HEY' the next time you might be holding onto your dish waiting for them to come.
Its true sometimes you may need to take food away from your dog, but rather than get into a battle it is better to teach him to trust you.
Around the food bowl (If your dog isnt already showing aggression) you could casually toss something really yummy into their bowl. You can teach your dog to 'give' you something in its mouth by swapping it for something even better - and then you can even sometimes give them the original thing back again.
Dogs and wolves do not take food off another dog, even the most alpha wolf will leave a cub that has food in its mouth.
This applies for your household dogs too, if you allow one dog to keep taking food or toys from the other dog then he may learn to guard items from other dogs. Mia was very bad for resource guarding from Ben until she understood the rules of the house, it belongs to whoevers mouth it is in.
No matter how nicely mannered your dog is it is also very important to teach children if they drop something it belongs to the dog. If something needs to be taken away from the dog then it should always be you that does it, not a child

Remember if your dogs behaviour suddenly changes check with your vet that there is nothing wrong and if your dog is showing aggression consult a behaviourist

Bens gone digital

Enchantedmemories on Etsy made me this lovely logo for my dog training business (when I decide to take the plunge)

Its a digital image of Ben with a kiss on his cheek

I think it looks fab!!

Featured Dog website - Silvia Trkman

Silvia is a totally amazing dog trainer with the cutest happiest dogs on the planet.

She is a world champ agility handler and trainer.

She also teaching the most fun tricks and is kind enough to post her method and fantastic you tube videos to inspire us all.

I totally adore her ethics, she does not drill her dogs and on the agility course its all about speed and fun.

Her dogs do not know a cross word and they are so happy and attentive that it is a total inspiration to anyone who want to train dogs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rums2zMvVn0

All her videos are amazing but this latest one with her dogs doing the housework just makes me LOL every time

She has some great tips for training agility, but most importantly I love the way she just focuses on teaching her dogs that learning is fun.

To treat or not to treat??

Lots of people dont treat their dogs - Ben thinks this is really sad.

Arguments against include

'If I treat then he will become too focused on me'

Fantastic!! Your dog is really motivated by food!! Now he just has to learn that he has to earn his treats. Try carrying food in your pocket and surprise your dog when he does something really good, he will learn that treats arrive out of nowhere if he is good.

'he should want to work for me'

None does something for nothing! Even if its only the fuzzy nice feeling it gives you when you do something nice for other people. Some dogs are more motivated than others, some find a pat on the head or a smile from you really rewarding, but still why not have a nice treat for extra special behaviours - its like a bonus at work, it tells them that that thing they did was really great

'I cant always be carrying treats about with me'

Well actually you can - but you dont need to. The amazing thing of training with rewards is the more a behaviour is rewarded then the more the dog actually enjoys just doing the behaviour. Mia gets fed in her crate, she gets lots of treats in her crate, and many times during the day she just goes into her crate because it is a really great place to be. So can be walking to heel, sitting when asked, recall, anything.

Also food isnt the only reward in the world. Anything your dog enjoys is a reward, so you can chuck a ball, pat on the head, play a chase game, send them to play with friends, these are all rewards too

'He will only do something if I have a treat in my hand'

If that is the case that is because you have not faded out the lure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19SZTwQkpEw
Or your dog has learnt that he only ever gets a treat from you if he does something when you have a treat in your hand. Start hiding treats and surprising your dog with them, he will soon start working without the visual cue

'He isnt food motivated'
Yup that possible, but unlikely. Food is important to a dogs survival, if it dosent eat it wont live.
But if food is always lying about (If you free feed) and you just give out treats all the time for no reason then treats are not exciting.
Dogs actually enjoy having a job to do so build the importance of food, only feed at meal times, dont leave food lying about any other times and always ask for something before you feed them.
Get some really really high value treats, roast beef, chicken, cheese, or garlic sausage when your dog is hungry and reward it for simple behaviours, over time your dog will learn to love learning and food.

'I dont want a fat dog'
For me training treats are tiny! 1/2 the size of a fingernail or smaller. Compare that to a dog getting a huge bonio every night. Also you can use some of the dogs food, meals dont always have to come in a bowl! In the wild animals have to work for their food, they enjoy it in captivity.

'He should KNOW how to behave, why should I reward him for that?'

This one saddens me the most. People who assume dogs come fully trained and so anything they dont expect is the dog being bad and is punished
Sure the dog learns that way too - but its not really nice or fair

Dogs dont know how to live in our world, our rules are strange to them. Based on their personalities dogs just do what seems most sensible to them, then they see what happens. If something nice happens then they are more likely to do the thing again, if something bad happens then they are less likely to do it again.
I prefer not to punish as it isnt the dogs fault. But if your dog has been lying calm for 2 hours, playing happily with their toys for a while and you ignore them, then you only pay attention when they go to chew your shoe you have not only missed lots of chances to let your dog do the right thing you have also taught them that grabbing your shoe gets your attention and lying calm or playing with toys is ignored.

Featured dog training book - Control Unleashed

Over the past few years I have been buying lots of dog training books, from the really great to the amazingly rubbish.

This is my fave book out of the lot. I initially got it to help with Mias reactivity, and it has helped lots (and is keeping on helping)

But the more I read it the more I realised it helps with ALL dogs.

The programme is great for Mia, reactive, easily distracted, v smart, high energy with issues with other dogs.

It has taught me great ways to build focus in her using games and behavioural tools, how to deal with her triggers, to realise when she was about to go off on one and how to improve that.

But it has also helped lots with Ben, ideas on how to increase his focus and excitement for working, how rate of reward can really build value in a trick, position or command to make him enjoy doing it more, to understand more his level of arousal so I know whether he needs geed up a bit or calmed down.

Watching other dogs in classes, agility shows and out about in the street I can see how other dogs would benefit from a little Control Unleashed.

I have enjoyed reading and using it so much that I have even sourced a hall to hopefully run a kind of informal class and allow me to work Mia with more distractions.

If you have a great dog but want to understand them more get this book!

If you have a dog with a few issues get this book

If you have a dog with lots of issued get this book - but also contact a behaviourist

If you are thinking of doing agility or are doing agility but could do better GET THIS BOOK!

(can you tell I liked it??)

Featured dog website

The Dog welfare campaign is a great website for any dog lovers

The aim of this web-site is to provide the media and members of the public with
more information about the behaviour of dogs, the possible consequences of using
aversive training techniques, and where to go for appropriate advice on training
and behaviour issues.

It contains some great information and links for finding good dog trainers and behaviourists in the UK.

It explains the problems with using aversive punishment training on dogs and has a list of all the experts and bodies in the UK who are specifically against Cesar Millan, his teachings, his TV show and his tour of the UK.

It is sad that so many experts in the UK voice concerns of the dangers of using these types of confrontational methods and yet he is still coming to the country, his shows still get the airplay on the TV.

If you have a problem with your dogs behaviour please please contact an expert, do not try and follow advice from a TV entertainer

Slowly starting to Kiss the dog

Still planing for this to be the year when I take my first steps to be a dog trainer then a behaviourist.

I have the hall all lined up, just short of funds for a few weeks.

So my friends kindly let me practise on them and their dogs.

A pair of lovely crazy collies.

I was wanting to practise some of the 'control unleashed' stuff I have been doing with Mia, so I kind of used her as a demo dog while at the same time working on her with bigger distractions.

First I did a little focus work, showing them how to build focus in the dog and what to be looking for.

Mia gave a great demo, when I started she was sniffing about paying no heed to me at all and then as I clicked her for any interaction with me she quickly turned from no focus to lots and lots of focus.

The first dog Bu**** (white face in the fotos) is a typical collie with a high work drive so had no problem with focus so we were able to get onto moving a little and the beginnings of circle work

The 2nd dog Bl** is a lot more sensitive. He gets stressed by being asked for commands.

You can see in the first foto (sorry about quality) he is looking very dejected by the clicker being out and him being asked to work.

But within about 5 clicks he realised that he wasnt being asked to do anything he just was getting rewarded for paying attention to mom - then he really started to get it

We ended this bit here but you can see a total change in his body language - focus on mom, tail up, happy looking dog.

We did a little 'go to your place' Bu has been clicker trained and is used to free shaping so got this vv quickly Bl did v well too.

Not sure if I explained the point of this exercise well but hopefully they work on it a little because this would really help with Bu's reactivity when he is watching Bl work.

Finally as a little trick and to teach back end awareness I showed them 'brick work' Both dogs figured out getting their paws on the object so thats a good starts

Next step is getting the back legs moving :D

I talked a little about 'LAT' exercises, default behaviours (Bu showed a lovely default sit) and how to keep a training sesh really short espech for Bl to build motivation.

I had fun although it was a little weird, I hope I didnt do too bad.

Then we let the dogs play a bit and practised some weaves - Mia actually did pretty good and Bu was doing them better with his owner moving a little beside him.

Pretty fun day - and now Mia is crashed out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBS6bEuSlaY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blo6YcFWNtw&feature=channel
At agility lots of people are saying they just dont have the imagination to teach tricks so I was wondering if that may be somewhere to make a start with some classes. I love training tricks, I think its the best way to make the dog think and sitting, doing agility, obedience, not chasing the postman, really they are all tricks for the dog

Clear run agility show

Happy new year everyone. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and New year

Yesterday was our first show of the year

A fun club show in the best venue in the world!

10 min from home, indoor venue with a cafe, bar, shop, restaurant! Fantastic

The weather put lots of people off coming out which was a shame but made it run quickly.

Ben really outdone himself. 4 runs 4 clear rounds!!

The classes are small, medium and large combined so I didnt expect to place at all but in the more difficult agility run we got 2nd place - only beat by a friends dog Aero, who is amazing, nearly lost his paw to a glass injury and has made a fantastic comeback. Of the 4 classed he won all 4!

Kiss the dog, my new venture has a name (and a facebook page)

For ages I have been trying to think of names for dog behaviour training classes.
I am rubbish at names - and I know how important they are.

So thinking about what I wanted the name to say

First - that training should be kind and fair to the dog
Second - that its simple - too many training methods seem to over complicate dog training. Trying to imagine what your dog is thinking and figuring out how he is being bad, disobedient or dominant and then how to assert your authority over the dog.
For example - and this is something I have actually seen
Dog chases children
Problem must be dog is thinking it is too dominant
Solution
Dog cant go on sofa or upstairs and must wait till after owner has eaten before it gets to eat

Too complicated!!
Problem - dog chases children
Solution - teach the dog not to chase children

Simples (OK well there is more to it than that but you get the point)

So thinking of my old days in the world of business I remembered their fave acronym
K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid
and thought that was perfect way to say what I wanted to say

Kiss The Dog, Kind Simple Effective dog behaviour training

What do you all think??