TRAINING YOUR DOG WITH THE RIGHT REINFORCER FOR THEM

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A reinforcer is pretty much anything that will make a learner understand that they did well, that they understood, that communication was successful.

With puppies and inexperienced dogs in particular food is a great choice because food is inherently good because it is a primary need (meaning it is necessary to sustain life and therefore is difficult to misunderstand).

In scientific terms a reinforcer will act to make a behavior stronger in the future. The consequence of a reinforcer usually is a feel good about yourself emotion that will encourage the animal (including a human animal) to repeat the behavior that has paid off in such a great way.

When I go work out and afterwards I am in a good mood and my thighs are less jiggly I will be encouraged to go work out again. The workout acted as a reinforcer, a motivator even though the workout might not have been easy. So for me a reinforcer does not have to be food but a great consequence. This is also known as the Premack principle which basically says an unlikely behavior (me working out) is reinforced by a consequence of feeling good and looking good. Knowing that, I am encouraged to work out more often even though I need to be guided through the procedure by my trainer.

Anyway: the reason why I am so excited about expounding these banal morsels of common wisdom is that sometimes it is actually hard to find reinforcers.

I recently was asked to work with a tiny little poodle that was 7 years old and had zero “training”.  She had never been taught anything, not even “sit”. Her human works in an emergency room and discovered that she is able to bring her dog to work with her if the dog had a certain set of skills. I was asked to teach her those skills. Since those are fairly basic I thought: easy! NOT SO FAST!

In her first lesson I realized that she simply had no motivation to even try to understand what I was luring, gesturing, or accepting even in the tiniest increments. I was finally able to get her to go onto her own bed and sit and lie down but she was always looking away from me and she was clearly not happy.

Next lesson 2 days later: She is scared out of her mind. She will not take any of the rather high value treats I brought. She refused to play with her favorite toy. I let her sit in my lap. I stroked her. I tried to give her some scrambled egg which was in her food from breakfast. NOTHING.

I went through a list of potential aversive agents in my mind: Was it the collar and leash I had put on her? I took everything off… just in case. Was it that the door between us and her guardian that had been shut to give us a distraction free environment? I opened the door. She ran in and jumped onto the bed in that room.

I fessed up to her guardian and told her how terrified her little dog was. Too scared to learn anything in the lesson so far. Did anything happen? We went through a list of all possible aversive events: no real reason that we could determine.

Then finally I said: do you have any cheese? Yes,  she had cheese and no she didn’t mind if I tried to teach her on the bed!

BINGO!

LOCATION and CHEESE made the huge difference. She was like a different dog! Almost instantly she gave me voluntary sits, “sit to stand” and “down” and was so proud of herself! She didn’t want to stop. Her guardian was thrilled that I didn’t give up and I was thrilled that we found a way to get her off on a great start after all.

So here is to not giving up! Here is to always trying something different until you have a molecule of function that can be built on. Learning takes place in an environment that provides safety. Think outside the box when it comes to reinforcers!!!!!

This little poodle is certainly the first dog who had a lesson on a beautifully made bed next to her favorite pillows being rewarded with strings of parmesan flakes. But we are all filled with pride and looking forward to the next lesson!

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Elisabeth Weiss is a highly certified, experienced dog trainer in Manhattan, NYC. To learn more about dog training services, contact us by phone at (917) 783-1473 or our contact form.

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Dog Training Tips: The Problem With “STAY”

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Remember the coloring books you had as a child where you needed to try and stay INSIDE the lines?

A long time ago I wrote a blog post discussing “inside out training”. I discussed the idea that people tend to get a behavior by drawing a line in the sand, namely by correcting a bunch or errors (going outside the lines) until the dog performs a behavior that does not “go over the line”. In the meantime that actual behavior that needs to be nurtured and painted in deeper and deeper colors so it becomes joyful and expressive stays “empty”.

When you elicit or teach a behavior though you start with a little dot that gets reinforced and reinforced and painted over and over so that the colored field gets larger and larger and when the behavior is fully “filled out” or “shaped” then you have taught the behavior.

In other words you don’t teach what NOT to do.

Recently a very dear client mentioned her dog has to learn how to stay; she asked me “what is the signal for that? She needs to know STAY.”

I tried to explain that the hand signal or the verbal cue could be anything she wanted it to be, but the process of staying is only associated with the cue after the process is understood. Sure you can use a signal that kind of implies a holding back or staying back but how appealing is that to the dog who wants to be with you naturally?

So again: we have to reinforce the behavior, fill in the painting, grow the nascent behavior into a fully comprehended experience before we can expect a “stay”. Otherwise stay means nothing. Asking a dog to do nothing is very hard. So we have to teach other behaviors which require voluntary stillness on cue for “stay” to have meaning for the dog. If you want a happy and frustration free “stay” you better create a very elaborate association with lots of delicious food, praise, and games that follow. Reward the experience of remaining in one spot by making it very desirable to the learner, otherwise where is the motivation to “stay” in one spot?

I have found that asking the dog to stare at a cookie is really helpful once they understand the concept of “leaving something” or waiting for permission to take something. But again that needs to be taught as a game that pays off.

All duration behaviors need to be taught in short increments which actually could be seen as back chaining the behavior also. Start at the “end” of “stay” in other words just before you are going to release the dog or start playing with the dog when you return to the dog. It is always easier for the dog/puppy to learn that on a geographically defined area, a mat, a platform, even a towel could do sometimes.

Once you have a very solid stillness you can make it harder by increasing distractions, movement/distance away from the still dog and/or adding weird noises.

Once you have that: insert a cue. That, ladies and gentlemen, can be ANYTHING your heart desires from a hand signal to the presence of the mat itself to putting on a hat… really! It is most important to choose something that is the most fun, easiest to remember, and will always make you smile.

I taught Zeldi to do a specific leap when I say the name of a favorite restaurant in Vienna. Granted that is a fun behavior in itself, but naming it Figlmueller makes it automatically hilarious for me too. She will NEVER feel I want her to do something boring and tedious.

The worst thing you can do is make a still behavior a drudgery for both of you. So again, make it a desirable game and you will be much more successful, and success breeds on itself, as we know!

Good luck and let me know how you fared!!

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Elisabeth Weiss is a highly certified, experienced dog trainer in Manhattan, NYC. To learn more about dog training services, contact us by phone at (917) 783-1473 or our contact form.

The post Dog Training Tips: The Problem With “STAY” appeared first on NYC Dog Trainer.

Read More at https://www.dogrelationsnewyorkcity.com/dog-training-tips-the-problem-with-stay/