Our last week of Yellow Dog Club for this month and our boys did awesome practising their loose lead walking, recalls and platform training around each other! Even practising head to head approaches, and being in low light around each other. What good lads. 💛 We are taking bookings now for our November Yellow Dog Club for dog reactive dogs at the link below!
https://BriarDunnDogTraining.as.me/?appointmentType=69666453
Our voice is a valuable tool in training, but sometimes using it too much can be a sign of holes in our training! 👄
👄Repeating cues ➡️this is often for handler reassurance, but needing to repeat cues constantly to maintain a behaviour suggests the dog doesn't actually understand what the cue means in terms of duration, distance and distraction. And can also create problems with dogs learning to only respond when a cue is repeated be side they've accidentally been taught 'sitsitsitsitsit' means 'sit.'
👄Verbal encouragement ➡️some dogs really benefit from verbal encouragement, but using vague verbal encouragement (such as repeating 'good boy' constantly) instead of clear marker words or release cues, for example, is very unclear communication and makes things harder for the dog. You can't complain they got up at you saying 'good boy' if you've given them a reward after them getting up after it in other contexts!
👄Micromanagement ➡️needing to constantly cue behaviours- such as a heel, whether that is for competition or loose lead walking- is inconvenient for real life, where you can't be constantly telling your dog to heel everywhere you walk- and not allowed in many competitive sports after a certain level! We need to teach our dogs to make good choices, not to need to micromanage them constantly, to have a good relationship and enjoy our time out and about with them without constantly nagging. And many dogs start to tune our nagging speech out, meaning they are more likely to miss genuinely important verbal cues.
👀 Attention cues can be great, but if you always have to ask your dog for their attention or to keep it, you might get stuck with a lifetime of micromanaging and nagging them! And I will confess, I very rarely use attention cues with my own dogs, and 2 don't have one at all! Instead I teach them to offer focus as a default.
🐾 Teach your dog that every time they offer eye contact or engagement with you- sometimes referred to as 'checking in'- that this gets rewarded. Your dog will quickly start choosing to give you attention without you asking, and this will help them too with learning to disengage from distractions by themselves.
🦮 Here Walk and Train Bowie is spending some time watching the world go by- great for getting used to busier environments and building her confidence there- and being rewarded for offering me eye contact. As a future assistance, her being able to relax and watch the environment, but disengage from distractions to offer focus on her handler, is a super important skill!
Test your dog's listening skills!
How well does your dog listen to verbal cues? 👂 Do they guess what you're saying, or rely on visual cues from you? Games like this are great for testing verbal cue differentiation once your dog understands multiple verbal cues! Dogs often learn patterns of behaviours, so it's important to make sure they understand each behaviour on its own cue, and they don't just pattern a sequence they've learnt.
This game offered Bramble 6 different behaviour options, on verbal cues, from my fixed position- 3 positions (left heel, centre, right heel), 1 transition (back up) and 2 accessible rewards (tug on puller ring, and his ball), testing his listening to respond to the correct cue with minimal help from me visually, and to respond to reward specific markers ("strike" meaning tug the toy I'm holding to the front or side, and "ahead" to run out ready to chase the toy I will throw), and not trying to access a reward without being cued. He listened well, not being fooled by me cuing him back to "close" twice in a row!
I was focusing on response to cues, rather than accuracy, so still rewarded the attempt at the right heel position despite Bramble not coming in straight, as this is a position he's less experienced with only on a verbal cue. I focused on rewarding the effort first, and focus on precision later!
Did you know that just because your dog takes a treat from your hand, it doesn't mean they find it reinforcing? They might eat the food, but you could be missing out on lots of added value. As well as considering what you're rewarding with, how you deliver it is super important for how effect a reinforcer it is! Reward techniques such as food circuits increase the value of the food by capturing your dog's natural instincts to chase prey and to run, and creates a predictable pattern that can be used to improve skills like competitive heelwork, recall and engagement in distracting environments. When it comes to food rewards, don't be afraid to chuck it!
Pet obedience is about developing skills and behaviours needed and helpful for real life in the real world! And for this, behaviours need to be functional. For example, "stay" historically was taught to pet owners by many trainers with the handler in a set position- normally with the arm outstretched and the hand making a stop sign- and quite often accompanied by a chain of repeated "stays." But this doesn't produce a functional skill for real life, where the reality is, having a dog that will stay whilst you put other dogs or bags into the car, or whilst you answer the front door, is super useful. And that means staying on the first cue, regardless of your position and movement, until released. Which is why I focus on teaching "stay" with movement distraction first, not counting steps or seconds. If your dog can 'stay' whilst you put your hands in your pockets, pass food between your hands or bend over, you've got a much more functional skill than with a dog that can stay for 30 seconds 5 metres away as long as you're still, staring and repeating cues!
What the T?! Training rounds in competitive dog sports, part 1!
You may have heard of training rounds, or have even done one, but do you know what they're actually for, how to actually work a GOOD training round, and the huge advantages of doing them on your dog's future performance? Across the week I will share a series of videos on this!
Lilly and Milo enjoyed letting their ears down after working hard in Rally class at Doggy Cool Strelley Village tonight!
When you're enjoying the sunset at Doggy Cool Strelley Village but you get photo bombed. 🤣
Today was Freddie's 3rd session working on his dog reactivity and his first in public, and he's progressing fabulously and aced his session today working at the park around both a stooge dog and other dog visitors in the park! 👏 Freddie's reactions are fueled by fear, so by helping him to feel safe and relaxed around other dogs, this leads to changes in his behaviour. He became so relaxed he even almost fell asleep at the park next to Tigger! 💤
The wind picked up tonight so we took the opportunity to proof stays with fallen leaves- poor Lily though seemed to be a magnet for them! 🤣
