A some 1-1 training with Fergus and Clare tonight- both did a great job (and well done for braving the horrible weather 🌧⛈️🌬)
Fergus is a very quick learner and picks things up quickly!
So proud of Team Max - absolutely acing their loose lead walking skills tonight on our Training Walk!
We have started to introduce Max and Katelin to the concept of "Life Rewards" (such as being released to mark a tree) so we can utilise the environment to reward Max for making the right choices on his walks, and start to fade his food rewards.
Katelin has done a great job putting in the foundation work with Max, and the results are showing 👌
🎬 SHOWCASE ON........"Team Gus"
Gus started in our first round of Boxer Only Adult Foundation Classes with owner Lionel. When we first met Gus he was a very Bouncy Boxer (Boxer-roo? 🦘) who could get quite distracted and excited.
Fast forward 2 months and Gus is absolutely acing all his classes! He is now in our Intermediate class and Gus's focus under distraction, calmness, work ethic and trust in his owner Lionel is clear to see.
Well done to Gus and his owners Lionel and Kylin who have done the training and put in the effort. We are so proud of you 👏
We had some pretty horrendous weather last night and a huge down pour. Grateful to have an undercover area to work.
Check out Gus, Baylee and Juno just chilling on their boundaries whilst we worked some of the other dogs Recalls. They did well to maintain calm and boundaries with the very noisy sudden downpour!
Bayley demonstrating the "Disengagement Game"
In this game we build the dogs ability to disengage with exciting things in the environment, we start out teaching it with treats, and then generalise it to other things such as people, dogs, toys, wildlife! I have seen this game transform dogs from dogs who would fixate and stare intensely, to dogs which see a trigger in the environment and automatically orient back to their owner! In this game we aren't calling or nagging the dog back- we wait for them to make the right choice, and then reward them for it, and then release them to the thing they want (treat). This game uses the Premack Principle to teach the dogs to "ask permission" to access to things they want.
1. Have dog on lead. Throw treat out infront of you, about a metre or 2, let dog go towards it but have Leash short enough that they can't quote get it.
2. Wait the dog out. The instant they look back at you, or turn away from the food, say "Yes" and bring them back to you, around your back and feed, then say "Ok" and race them to the treat on the floor!
3. As you repeat, the dogs should start to turn away from the treat quicker, and rush back to you straight away.
Once they are doing this game well with food, you can start to apply it to other distractions.
Some snippets from Boxer classes. So proud of how these dogs are progressing
A bit of "Magic Hand" game ✋️🪄
A foundation heelwork game which builds value in being close to left leg, and also helps with some typical bouncy boxer behaviour 🙃 Treats are dropped down to the dog in heelwork position for remaining on the ground and not bouncing up to the hand with the food (which is tempting!) - prerequisite for this game is the ability to catch - which can be a challenge in itself 😄
Private Training Consult with Harvey and his family today. Working on Training him to remain calm in the presence of distractions and other dogs.
This video was our first session with Harvey and he did amazing!! He made the right choice, looking calmly at Turbo and even chose to disengage. He was rewarded with a treat to chase, and pressure release of going in other direction.
Looking forward to working more with Harvey and his wonderful family 🥰 Have left some follow up homework to work on until I see them next time🤓
The inaugural Boxers Only Easter Egg & Spoon Race 🐰🥚
Well done to Freddie winning the race and taking home the "ugly bunny"
Our next BOXERS ONLY Puppy class is filling up quick! Starts 28 April.
Don't miss out!🐾
Celebrating a moment of calm in between exercises last night at Boxers Only Training!
Most of the owners in this class mentioned Reactivity as one of their struggles with their dogs- so to have 12 boxers together in one highly distracting environment and achieve such calm was just such a great moment!
They have all been doing so well each week, working around each other and handling the distractions of the environment. Committed to doing set homework and follow up exercises- couldn't be prouder of this group!
Some lovely work from Freddie and his mum last night at Boxers Only Training class.
Doing some Circle work, Freddie made all the right choices in a highly distracting environment(11 other boxers around!), choosing to return to his mum, offer some lovely heelwork and was rewarded by some treat chasing! 🌟 First time playing this game and they were superstars!
Boxers Only classes start this Thursday! Fully booked, next course commences 28th April.
This week I'm talking Clicker Training. Clicker training is a type of positive reinforcement training that uses a "clicker" to mark the precise time a desired behaviour is performed, before rewarding with a treat.
If you don't have a clicker, you can use the same principals but use a marker word (I use YES) instead of a clicker. Benefits of the clicker is it sounds the same every time, and your timing will be more accurate. In this video I talk briefly about the main types of clicker training:
- Capturing - Means capturing the dog doing desired behaviour and mark and treat. E.g. laying calmly on their bed. The more a behaviour is reinforced the more likely it is to be repeated.
- Luring - Having a dog follow a lure (E.g. food - but you can also train them to follow a target) to coax them into certain positions/behaviours. e.g. holding a treat above a dogs nose to prompt their bottom to move into the sit position.
- Shaping - Shaping is by far my preferred method of clicker training. It involves marking increments of effort towards a particular behavior and gradually building it into the end behaviour. (e.g to shape a dog to lay on a mat I would first mark and reward any interest in the mat, then increase my criteria to only reward standing on the mat, then sitting on the mat, and then finally laying on the mat)
I enjoy "free-shaping" with my dogs, which is a type of shaping game where most efforts and behaviors are reinforced. The dog has a chance to offer behaviours and be creative. This builds confidence in the dog, and in my opinion makes a dog easier to train as they are willing to offer new behaviours. Once the dog understands the concepts of clicker training and is freely offering behaviours we call them "opperant".
This video runs through some basics of clicker training, but I will do some more videos on specific behaviours which can be trained, and how to add a cue to them over the next few weeks.
Video features:
Booker - Ch. Taswest Thats the Spirit RN TDX
Put in the work and the results speak for themselves 🙌💛 #performanceboxers #firstplace #obedience #results
Boxer Puppy (up to 8months) classes start in 2 weeks! Thursday 17th March. PM for more info!
Positions: Drop to Sit.
BLISS ❤
Love her enthusiasm in all she does.
📦 Shaping "On your Bed" with Turbo.
I like to use a method called shaping to teach new behaviours. This involves rewarding increments towards the finished behaviour, and gradually building up to the desired behaviour. Once the dog is reliably offering the behaviour (being operant), I can add the cue ("on your mat")
Tips:
🪙 Reward for small steps towards the behaviour.
🪙 If your dog gets "stuck", go back a step and make it easier
🪙 If you don't use a Clicker, use a marker word such as "Yes" to tell your dog they were right.
🪙 Feed in position (on the bed), and then throw a piece of food off the bed to give the dog an opportunity to offer the behaviour again
🪙 Add the cue "On your bed" once the dog is reliably doing the behaviour. This will create a stronger response to the cue, as if you add it too early it is just white noise to the dog.
🪙 Vary your rewards, sometimes reward lots on the bed, sometimes only once, sometimes (when the behaviour is strong) not at all (the reward will become working with you and being given an opportunity to work for reward
🪙Always use a release cue (such as "ok") to tell the dog they can move off the bed.
🪙 Raised beds or beds with hard sides work best for this, as the dog can't hang half on/half off, so the criteria is much clearer for the dog.
Have fun shaping some new behaviours with your dog! You can start simple like this,and build to very complex behaviour chains!
