Handler Activation
I thought I’d upload this video for two reasons: 1) look how cute Miso is, and 2) do you notice how attentive and how resolute she is in her quest to get my attention before I’ve even started training?
The second point is something that I’ve begun to take for granted because it happens so effortlessly. It is something I will spend time rewarding now I’ve had the reminder.
What I love is that Miso has offered this attentiveness all because my body language and my intent is that we’re about to do something together. When you’re purposeful and consistent, your body language will become the biggest cue for your dog for what’s coming next.
So, how can you get this with your dog? Spend time rewarding them when they interact with you (without you cuing the attention/interaction) in every day life - this teaches them that they can start the conversation, or it teaches them that they can make you reward them with the simple act of giving you attention, this is what we call handler activation!
Another thing you can do, is get up and move with the intention that you’re going to go play or train your dog, if they come and give you attention, reward your dog! Have a party! Have fun! Your dog will then start to pay attention to your intention and use that as a cue!
Supplementary point - do you see how in my video, the first things I reward when I start the training session is attention? Your competition behaviours are only as good as your foundation allows them to be! Never neglect those foundation skills!!!
Girl, you walk like a bitch 💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻
Reward based training
I haven’t posted on here in a while and I figured I would share something that I’m now able to articulate. I’m not reinventing the wheel or necessarily sharing something new here.
I want to talk about one element of training your dog. We all utilise rewards, in my opinion this is how rewards work and here are some points to consider so that you can maximise the yield of your training!
The dogs execution of the behaviour is the sum of their reinforcement history.
The aforementioned statement goes beyond click treat; it includes the dogs inherent feelings natural or manipulated by you, environmental factors and experiences while performing the behaviour, presence of intrinsic drives etc.
At its most basic level positive reinforcement training relies on the transfer of the value of the reward to the behaviour. This means after consistently rewarding your dog for doing the behaviour, they will begin to associate the behaviour with the reward. The caveat here is consistently reward - the dog will not form the association between reward and behaviour if there is not significant reward history.
Now if we know the dog associates the reward with the behaviour we have to look at how the dog feels about the reward. What I mean by this is how bad do they want the reward, what energy and mental state the presence of the reward triggers. Because what they give you in the presence of the reward, what they will do to get the reward (chase/lunge/leap around etc) is the maximum energy and the mindset that will transfer into the behaviour after consistent reward.
The next point isn’t groundbreaking or anything new, we all do it, but perhaps with varying degrees of intention and purpose. Before you go about training behaviours you have to know how your dogs feel about rewards. What I want to talk about is we have the power to influence performance based on our dogs feelings/energy/mindset that rewards can trigger.
Therefore to get the most out of rewards in trainin
Well balanced adult dogs are the best form of socialisation for your puppy! They model and teach appropriate greetings and interactions.
Meet Mac the 14 week American Staffordshire Terrier my board and train for the next couple of weeks
If your dogs default behaviours are attention and engagement, before long effort will become a default mindset.
I encourage you to spend some time giving your dog the opportunity to figure out that their attention unlocks your engagement through praise, your energy and reward. If you are the one starting the party each and every single time, you’re in big trouble!
If you want to be successful in dog sports, you should be meeting your dog half way, and then you can transition to your dog coming 75% of the way. This is where the magic happens! However it is up to you to create the magic! It’s not your dogs responsibility.
Once upon a time I thought this wouldn’t have been achievable. Only those in my most inner circle know mine and Vodkas journey. I’ll explain why below…
I despise labelling dogs as reactive as I feel the label holds them and you hostage. Because the label is all that you will see, and it is therefore all that they will become because you get so singularly focused. We create a narrative or story in our mind of our dogs, this story loops over and over and is all that we can see.
Unpopular opinion loading… I feel that it’s become some sort of badge of honour to own a reactive dog - I call bullsh*t on most dogs that are labelled. Rather I’d go as far to say they have reactive owners/trainers/handlers that are inept at managing their own emotions and therefore guiding the correct response in their dogs. It’s easier to blame the dog than to take accountability for your training. Because whether you like to admit it or not, your dog is largely the sum of your training and lifestyle with them. Genetics play a large role, don’t get me wrong, however blaming the dog and labelling them is so limiting!
What I encourage everyone to do is have a good hard look in the mirror and evaluate if you are being the trainer your dog needs and deserves. If not, up skill yourself, reach out to a professional in person or online, reach out to your dogs breeder - you owe it to your dog. It’s your responsibility to give your dogs the best life possible and that includes the best training.
Spend time creating a new story in your mind and look for opportunities to see your dog as brave and confident. Find ways to show your dog that they are brave and confident. Soon enough (with hard work, and plenty of blood, sweat and tears!) you’ll believe it and they will believe you and become that dog that you envision!
It is important to acknowledge what’s going on. It’s important to understand the reason why something is happening. But it should never be used as an excuse
Training dogs is like getting a man to do something… you have to trick them into thinking it was their idea!
This is a clip from mine and Jangos first pet obedience lesson. I am using shaping to get the desired behaviours I want. I use suggestive body language to facilitate success - can anyone pick out what I do to gently guide Jango while still giving him the opportunity to make decisions for himself?
In this session I am focusing on teaching Jango to offer a sit to get attention in place of jumping up. I am also teaching him a passive release, because it’s not always practical to have your dog explode out of position! He cottoned on quickly and it was effortless for both of us. It is amazing what happens when you teach your puppies to think for themselves instead of relying on you to spoon feed them every step! Remember this is his first session - it is easy if you invest some time and just wait!
I am not using a terminal release marker to acknowledge or reward the offered sit (will tidy up the moving in position for reward over time) as I don’t want Jango thinking about an immediate release. Most importantly I don’t want him associating offering a sit for attention with arousal. Because this would not facilitate success! The end goal is that when His family gets home, or Jango meets people he offers a sit for attention instead of jumping.
Good boy Jango!
💙🎓🐺
Does your dog believe you?
Each and every single time I say my terminal release marker “yes”, I want my dog to know that they’re amazing, what they were doing was exactly (or a great approximation of) what I wanted them to do, and that reward (or a jackpot) is imminent.
A good way to test this is to give your marker word while you are playing with your dog - what is your dogs response? Let’s look at V in the clip below, I see her going holy sh*t balls man I’m epic and there’s more reward??? I can’t wait!?!? The fact this highly play motivated dog spits the existing tug out of her mouth supports my observation - at the minimum she believes and knows more reward is imminent.
Another way is to give your dog a position cue (sit, down, stand) and then give your marker word without any body language (stand completely still) - what is your dogs response? Your dog should explode from their position and light up.
If your dog doesn’t light up when you say your terminal release marker - you need to spend some time conditioning your marker word!
Establishing a communication system with your dog should be one of the first things you do! If your dog understands (more importantly believes) your praise and marker words you will better be able to transfer the value of reward and the emotions your dog associates with reward to your chosen “work”.
Vodka is now 6 months of age, where did that time go!?
Here is a snippet of some of the things we’re working on at the moment.
I am beyond proud of this little demon - I’ve put some serious time into her and she is giving it all back to me in bucketloads!
What you put in really is what you’re going to get back! 💜😈
A glimpse into what the Tuesday WOOFers 🐺🌈✨ get up to 🌈🌈🌈
Your dogs recall reveals a lot of information!
Where in the hierarchy of things your dog loves do you sit?
Here was a little test to see where Vodka’s and my relationship was at. I had my partner use her puppy conditioned recall and I was seeing if my recall cue was enough to pull her away.
Success - this means we are tracking on the right path.
What information does your recall with your dog reveal?
A glimpse into what I do with my pack dogs. I focus on communicating to the dogs what I want them to do, rather than trying to tell them what not to do. I keep them busy by interacting with them and engaging them the whole time - it’s a brain work out for all of us!
In the context of this video I am using food scatters to keep arousal levels low, to facilitate clearer minds. Clear minds = better decision making. I am also using distance to create draw. As the dogs look up they see me moving away they are drawn to move into my space. I reward this moment to reinforce their choice of voluntarily checking in with me.
In this video you can see a variety of different temperaments/characteristics. Some are naturally very personable, others love to use their noses, some crave being close to another body, and some are spatially sensitive.
Being aware of who each of my pack walk dogs are and creating engagement games to suit all facilitate successful walks! 🎓💙🐺
