What positive training is not

I haven't done a ranty post about training methods for a while - so here is one
All too often I am hearing people who train using punishment tools saying they have to for certain behaviours because (real examples) 'How safe would it be for me to be trying to bribe with cookies when my dog is playing in the traffic' or 'wagging chicken in-front of his face when he is attacking another dog is not going to work'

The problem with the thinking of punishment based trainers is they have to see the behaviour and then punish it
So they think positive training would be the same - see the 'bad' behaviour and then bribe the dog with food or toys in the hope they would learn to not do those things

And of course the problem is in some cases that is what they might see positive trainers doing - except at that point they are not training
For example imagine the case of positive and punishment trainers walking along a path with an untrained dog. One day there is an unexpected hole in the fence that the dog sees before the trainer and darts into the road

Of course as the dog is untrained he has no recal

A punishment trainers course of action may be to yell for the dog to come back, which of course will not work, then have to run into the traffic to try and grab the dog - and possibly even punish the dog when they reach them - which by that point the dog does not realise they are being punished for going tru the gap in the fence.
Later that trainer may walk to path beside the fence and punish the dog any time they start to move towards the hole
Or train a recall by punishing the dog while they are away from them and stopping the punishment when they choose to come back

A positive trainer may try to get the dogs attention with some food or a toy so they can grab the dog and get them to safety - THEN knowing about a problem they will work on training the dog a behaviour they do want
So most likely a whiplash recall in lots of different locations
and a nice heel command so the dog can walk nicely with them past a danger
AND clip the dog on the lead while they pass this point on the walk so the dog is kept safe and does not get to practise the unwanted behaviour.

So if you look at the above both for positive and punishment trainers the first point of the dog running into the road is not actually training - it is the trainers seeing that there is a training problem/opportunity
'bribing' with something nice is just a way to hopefully deal with the immediate danger and get the dog to safety.
Actually giving a cookie to the dog for running into the traffic would not work as training - if you did it often enough then your dog may learn to run into traffic to get a cookie.

Positive training is NOT letting a dog do the wrong thing then bribing them with food
Get the dog safe (manage the situation at hand) THEN realise you have a gap in your training and work on fixing it

Mias new trick

Just started a new trick for the dogs

Mia is really getting the hang of it - wrapping her paws around the pole. She can do left paw, right paw or even both paws

I haven't got any of it on verbal command yet but it is very cute

Bless Ben!!

He hasn't quite got it yet!

It took quite a while of getting him used to the pole for me to even get him to be anywhere close to the pole - which is interesting because if we are weaving or circling the pole Ben gets overexcited and headbuts the thing

So far he has got the idea that I want something to do with his paws, but it just makes no sense to him (check the face out)

I know I know - dogs should not play with sticks

But I didn't have the heart to tell Mia

I had a whole sackful of toys with me, even a ball with REAL rabbit skin stitched onto the end like a tail

But no the lady doesn't like any of them

and she was so happy with her stick!

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 - 4. Capturing

Many of the behaviours you would like to train your dog to do they already do naturally.
Capturing just means rewarding/naming the behaviour as it happens naturally. Over time your dog will begin to associate the word with the action or will begin to offer the action more.

Often this is how we toilet train a puppy, wait till they are doing the toilet outside and then praising and rewarding them for going to the toilet in the correct place.
It can also teach a really strong recall behaviour if you call your dog when they are already running back towards you full pelt.

As dogs (and people and all animals) are more likely to repeat something that has been rewarding to them if you pick the behaviour you are wanting to train - say the down - and then reward every time your dog is lying down then you will find your dog offers lying down to you more often and you can add a command word to the behaviour.

You can also use this method to teach your dog to calm down in stressful situations. If every time your dog is totally chilled you say 'calm' to them then eventually they will become calm just by you saying the word.

It is important to remember this when we are interacting with our dogs.
It is very common for people to yell 'QUIET' at dogs when they are barking, the dog does not know the word quiet but if said often enough when the dog is barking and they will eventually learn to bark when you say 'quiet'
Better to say 'quiet' when your dog is actually being quiet!

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

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

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

Poor Ben

Yesterday was a lovely frosty winters day.

I took the dogs for a great long walk. It was lovely the dogs were perfectly behaved, we did lots of playing together, trick training and the dogs sniffing and zooming about.

Perfectly lovely walk, until..

5 min before home I see Bens paw is bright red. No yelp, no limping no crying his paw is just bleeding.

I get him home and clean it up and its stopped bleeding but there is a big cut there

So we had a long wait in the vets and now he is sporting a lovely lamphade, and his skinny wee leg is shaved.

Poor wee guy - he must have been feeling left out with all the vets attention Mia was getting.

On the great point for the day tho - I got word back that the venue I was looking at is fine for me to run training classes. Initially for Mia and some of her friends but if they go OK I might be taking my first steps into becoming a behaviourist

(well the 2nd steps - just one more essay to go on this module for my diploma!)

What to say, when to say it?

Today in the park I was watching a whole load of people train their dogs to do the exact opposite of what they wanted.

One dog running off was called to come back when his recall wasn't good enough and the other dog more interesting, another being told to be quiet when it was barking.

As I have already covered, dogs don't speak English, although we like to think they do and then assume they are being bad when they don't do what we ask.

Dogs learn associations with things.

Person says 'sit' I put my bum on the floor person is happy, person says 'Fido come' that seems to mean when I get close to them they will shout at me and put the lead on.

The way a dog will learn best is to ask it to do the thing when it is already doing it.

So if you are trying to teach a recall and your dog hasn't really got it yet it doesn't help much to call the dog when it is running away from you, call it back when it has finished what it was doing and is already running back to you at full pelt.

I accidentally got a great emergency recall for Ben that way. In agility I have an 'in' command - it means come in towards me - it was taught when he was sent around a jump and I stood still or turned away he naturally turned in towards me - every time I did that I said 'in' and it became a habit for him.

Also as a pup when I came to a fork in the path and he had gone one way I went they other, just said 'This way' and carried on walking. He lost sight of me and so came running to find me, he learnt 'this way' meant I was about to disappear if he didn't keep his eye on me.

The same goes for barking. When a dog is barking people often tell it to 'shut up' or something. If you haven't taught what the word means then the dog will learn to associate 'shut up' to mean to actually bark.

It is really sad today that people think owning and training a dog is a battle of wills, that if your dog is bad it is because you are not a strong enough pack leader for it. This is simply not true, a dog is not bad, it is just being a dog, your job is to think like a human and figure out how you can train your dog to do what you would like rather than punishing it for either natural behaviour, or worse still behaviour YOU have taught without meaning too.

The walk for the Irish rescue doggies

Just back from the walk.
It was a really lovely day - after the weathermen telling us it was going to rain we had a totaly lovely time.

Mia had a little trouble at the start as we were on a narrow windy path where she didnt have much warning of dogs coming, but then after a couple of miles it opend out and she calmed down lots

When we set off walking we had about £700 pledged and that rose quite a bit by the end of the walk. Currently the total stands at just over £1000!!
Which is just fantastic
I will post the final result when we get it - of course we are still collecting - if you want to sponsor Mia and Ben please paypal me at pamduthie @ hotmail.com - even 50p will help the doggies lots

Here is the group after the walk - Mia is right on the end - but I never would have thought she could be so calm with so many dogs!!


I think about 6 of the dogs on the walk were Irish pound doggies, all happy in their new life and most training to be the agility stars of the future



The girl who organised it for us gave us theses cute certificates at the end


The bottom bit says (and beware - I was blubbing like a girl)

The reason

I would’ve died that day if not for you. I would’ve
given up on life if not for your kind eyes.
I would’ve used my teeth in fear
if not for your gentle hands. I would have left this life believing that all
humans don’t care
Believing there is no such thing as fur that isn’t matted,
skin that isn’t flea bitten,
Good food and enough of it, beds to sleep on,
someone to love me, to show me I deserve love just because I exist.
Your kind
eyes, your loving smile, your gentle hands Your big heart saved me…..
You
saved me from the terror of the pound. Soothing away the memories of my old
life.
You have taught me what it means to be loved. I have seen you do the
same for other dogs like me.
I have heard you ask yourself in times of
despair why you do it when there is no more money, no more room, no more
homes
You open your heart a little bigger, stretch the money a little
tighter, make just a little more room…
To save one more like me. I tell you
with the gratitude and love that shines in my eyes
In the best way I know how
Reminding you why you go on trying.
I am the reason. The dogs before me are
the reason as are the ones who come after.
Our lives would’ve been wasted,
our love never given
We would die if not for you

Sorry there are not more fotos of the walk but working a camera and keeping 2 dogs calm onlead just wasnt easy today

Quick Mia update

Realised I have not actually really updated on Mias progress for a while

Last night at agility was a great example of how far she has come

Entering the barn there is a GSD cross who trains before us, she walked past without even bothering - we were her for WORK!

In the barn there were LOTS of barking outside but she didnt make a sound, a little distracted and her stays not so good but no barking at the dogs

A little hyper when horses went past - but we can work on that.

After class she walked back to the car no problem igoring the one dog that was outside (the other owners keep their dogs in the car till I have put Mia away)

After Bens class I took Mia out of the car to toilet, there was a few dogs about that in the past she has disliked so I kept her screened behind a trailer and she was nice and calm

I let her wonder out so she could see the dogs, she had a look and tensed then calmed down, I called her back behind the trailer and at once she was nice and calm.

Then all these dogs went and stood next to my car!!

I slowly, step at a time walked her over, she only barked once when a strange dog walked past v close, but it wasnt a fit, just a bark, then she calmed quickly.

I got her into the car no problems

Good Girl

Not to say she is perfect yet, she is still very much on the alert in the park out the front of the house - but she has made friends there too

Her recal is pretty good in most places, but in our park if she hears a dog barking aggressivly then she is off

But I dont want to be a dog trainer!!

Often when people ask for advice about their dogs behaviour problems I hear

'but I dont want to be a dog trainer I just want a well behavied dog'

sorry to be blunt but

TOUGH

Dogs are always learning from us - whether we want them to or not

for example

Sitting at the computer Ben comes over and puts his head in my lap

I reach down a stroke his head

Ben has learnt that putting his head in my lap means I stroke his head

Next time he tries that I dont pat his head

Hmmm thinks Ben, mibby she wants me to hold my head here longer??

He does and after a while I stroke his head.

Next time he holds his head for a longer time but still I dont stroke it

Hmmm, mibby she wants me to poke her with my paw?? yelp??

So you can see by me not paying attention at all I am free shaping Ben to bug me for attention

Is he being bad - no of course not

But if I want to stop this behaviour it is gonna get worse before it gets better as he tries to figure out what I want him to do

If you are a dog owner you are a dog trainer, get used to it

and as they are learning anyway isnt it better to teach them how you actually want them to behaive??