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Have you ever felt that you have a well rounded pup but just want alittle extra in the problem solving department or maby you want to teach them a specific task? Well I highly recommend SHAPING. There are a ton of benifets to using this method but what I personally love most about it is you can watch your pup get smarter as you progress. This method not only teaches your dog problem solving skills but it also has alot of instant gratification from a trainers/handlers point of view.
Shaping "to the mat". This was a fun technique to learn. What I love most about this method is it demonstrates how to teach or re-direct a behavior with out being forceful in any way. Studies have indicated that by using this method your dog will retain and hold informaton better and longer than if you were to use punitive or adversive methods.
Today we are building up that recall. Having a strong recall is important to me as a dog trainer for a couple reasons one of which is safety. If your dog has ever had one of those squirrel!!! Moments where they bolt off, it can be hart to get them to come back to you. Also a really cool part about recall work is it helps build impulse control. Plus you can get really creative with teaching this.
Working on greetings and jumping. For some, jumping may be considered a "problem behavior" if you have a bigger dog and you are elder or have small children. This behavior can be dangerous causing scratches or other injuries to the human. Because of this it is important to safely manage your dogs behavior and focus on what you want them to do instead of jumping. In this case I am looking for all fours to be on the floor
This morning we are working on shaping. The goal behavior is to get the dog to put her paw on the book. For right now my main criteria is any engagement to the book and trying to build that up. My Increased criteria will be any shoulder or muscle movement that indicates a paw lift on the book. Remember always keep your training sessions fun and positive.
Working on a head nod with winnie. I am using shaping as the training method and am working towards adding a cue "agree" once we are ready. In our first video I do not use a verbal event marker but as we continued on with our training session I found adding a verbal marker along with the clicker gave me the behavioral momentum I was looking for.
Working on building confidence at the door.
Mr. Merlin gets rather reactive when something is at the door. So we made amazing strides in short time with counter conditioning at the front door. Merlin is typically not food motivated but in this situation he seems rather happy about his kibble. By throwing the treats by the door I was tapping into his seeking system (making him serch for the kibble). This is vary enriching for k-9's, it engages his consumatory system and positively reinforces him to not bark at the door.
