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Positive Reinforcement
Here at Love My Dog Training, we believe positive reinforcement is the best method to train and bond with your dog. Our training emphasizes teaching our dogs what we want them to do and rewarding the behaviors we like. By positively reinforcing the behaviors we do like, our dogs will start to offer those more often. By default, the behaviors we don’t like will decrease. We do not generally see the need for physical force. If we can guide the dog to do what we want without using physical force, the dog will generally learn much faster and enjoy the process more. This also helps the dog to build trust in you.
For most cues we teach, our dogs already know how to perform the action. They just need to learn to perform it on our cue. For example, your dog spends much of his day in a “down” position. He already knows how to lie down on his own. We need to show him that the word “down” means “lie down on the floor.” We are simply teaching him to perform an action when we specifically ask for it.
Treats & Rewards
Our training generally starts by using treats or toys to lure, shape or capture the behavior we want and reward the dog. As soon as possible, we wean the dog off treats and implement other types of rewards. However, for teaching initial behaviors, treats usually work best for getting a quick reward to the dog.
If your dog is not highly food motivated, we look at our alternatives. Quite often, it is not that the dog is not motivated by food, but that he is simply not motivated by the particular food you are offering him. If he is not a good eater, we might need to consider some changes to his diet. We also find that once dogs are working for their food, they enjoy it more.
If your dog is truly not highly food motivated, then we find other rewards to use. Toys, bones, novel items, or other options can be explored. The key is to find something that motivates your dog. Food is generally the easiest reward to start using, but it is by no means the only reward we can or do use.
There are many things you can use for treat rewards. When working with your dog at home, I highly recommend using your dog’s regular dry food instead of treats. Save the treats for more difficult or more important tasks, such as coming when called or working on cues out on your walk. Rather than feeding your dog’s meal entirely from the food bowl, take a handful of food before meal time and see if you can get him to work for some of his meal.
For training sessions or when we need something better than dry food, I recommend using small, soft and smelly treats. Small, because we don’t want the dogs filling up too quickly or filling up on treats. Soft, because it’s easiest to swallow these quickly and move on to the next task. Crunchy treats tend to break into many pieces and take time for the dog to clean up. This wastes valuable training time. And smelly, because dogs love stinky, smelly things! If they can easily smell the treats, it is much easier to keep their attention focused on the treat and what they are doing.
Possible treats are limited only by your dog’s digestive system and your imagination! You should have a few different kinds of treats available. What works for one particular situation or time will not necessarily work everywhere all the time. For example, your dog might work for pieces of his kibble before dinner, in the house, and there are no other distractions around. However, you might need some roast beef or dried liver to get him to respond (initially) in the park on Saturday afternoon during a kids’ soccer game.
What should you use for treats? Your dog’s food is the first choice. When you need higher value treats, look for healthy options. Dogs love junk food just as much as humans do, but try to limit the unhealthy stuff as much as possible. There are so many healthy options out there now, that using the junky treats is really not necessary.
One option is moist Dog Food Rolls. These products are sold in pet food stores or online pet supply places. Natural Balance and Pet Botanics are two brand names. They are shaped like sausages and come in different size rolls. They are actually dog food, but most dogs think they are treats! They are a much healthier alternative to some of the other options. However, be careful to read the ingredients. Natural Balance now lists SUGAR as the third ingredient. That’s too much sugar if you ask me, and it’s unnecessary. Find options without so much sugar.
Additional treat ideas include: the canned (moist) version of your dog’s dry food, another brand of high quality kibble/dog food than your dog normally eats, high quality healthy dog treats such as jerky treats or freeze dried liver; liver, chicken, roast beef, string cheese, peanut butter, cheerios, goldfish crackers, fruits, and veggies. You may also use the regular dog treats you can buy in any pet supply store, but look carefully at the ingredients. Although made for dogs, many of these are really not very good for your dog. Try to find products that are not full of sugar, salt, additives, preservatives, food coloring, and animal by-products. Also, if you calculate the price per pound, some of these treats are pretty expensive. You might be able to find meat in the deli for less that is actually healthier for your dog! (A sampling of the treats that work for me in my training are listed in the recommended products under the Treats and Food Products section.)
If your dog loves his kibble/dry dog food and is willing to work for it, great! To make it more enticing – or anything else more enticing – try putting some kibble or other less valuable treats in a container with more valuable treats. (Hot dogs work great for this, but be sure they are eating very few of the actual hot dogs compared to their much healthier food.) Shake up the container to mix them up, and then put them in the refrigerator for a few hours. The less valuable kibble or other treats will take on some of the flavor of the other more valuable treats. Then slip in one of the really good treats every now and then!
A word of warning: Most of us are well aware that chocolate is not good for your dog – and in large enough amounts can be fatal – but did you also know that grapes, raisins, onion powder and even garlic in excessive amounts can be harmful to your pet? Please do not include these items on your list of possible treats. If you have any concerns about these or any other items, please discuss with your vet.
For any of these treat ideas or other options, please start with a small amount and keep an eye on your dog to see how he/she reacts to particular treats. If you find your dog’s digestive system does not react well to dairy products, please do not use cheese as a treat option!
Also keep in mind the health of your dog. If your dog is active, healthy and not overweight, fattening items like cheese are probably fine – in moderation. However, if your dog is overweight or has other medical issues, please choose treats carefully. Ask your vet if there are any specific concerns about your dog. Also keep in mind that you might need to reduce the amount you feed your dog at meal times if they are getting a lot of calories during training on any particular day.
Clicker Training
We conduct training with or without a clicker. For those who are willing to give it a try, it can be a great tool for training your dog. The clicker is used in conjunction with treats for positive reinforcement training and is simply a marker to let the dog know a treat is coming. For many of us, it can help tremendously with our communication and timing. Timing is very important when teaching our dogs. If the consequence of an action happens more than three seconds after the behavior occurs, the dog will have a very difficult time associating it with that behavior. Clicking the instant that behavior occurs makes it possible to take a few extra seconds to get a treat to the dog. It also helps the dog to better understand what we want the dog to do. Since the clicker is used only during training with your dog, he quickly understands this is for him. I find that dogs trained with the clicker often pick up on training faster than those not using a clicker.
Training with a clicker does NOT mean that you will need to carry a clicker with you for the rest of the dog’s life. The clicker is used for teaching initial behaviors and is used in conjunction with treats. As we wean off the treats, we wean off the clicker. We can then use the clicker for teaching new behaviors or improving upon previously learned behaviors. Or, if you have taught your dog everything you want him to know, you can set it aside and use it with your next dog!
Remember that once you start this, you have made a contract with your dog. You promise your dog that each time he hears a click, he gets a treat. So, if you click accidentally, you should still give a treat. That’s the deal you made – don’t break it.
During this first phase of “charging” the clicker, try to catch your dog doing things you like, such as sitting nicely, chewing on his own toys, or looking up at you. Click and reward those behaviors. If he is being rewarded for these things, it’s very likely he will start to offer these behaviors more often in the hopes of being rewarded. In these cases, we are not asking our dogs for anything specific, just rewarding him for behaviors he does on his own that we like. This helps you practice your timing and coordination with the clicker before we move on to the next step. In addition, he will learn to offer these behaviors on cue much more quickly if he is already being rewarded for doing them on his own. Next, we can start to use the clicker to teach behaviors on cue.
As mentioned previously, we train with or without the clicker. For those who have trouble managing the clicker along with everything else, we can use a verbal marker instead. You might say “Super” or “Bravo” or “Yes” or something similar to mark the instant the behavior occurs. Although not as distinctive as the clicker sound, the verbal marker can also be a useful tool for our training.
Punishment and Corrections
In our training, we do not use harsh punishments or corrections. If you are trying to build trust and bond with your dog, there really is no place for harsh punishments in your training. Keep in mind that “punishment” or “corrections” are different to different dogs. For one dog, saying “No” in a firm voice might mean nothing. For another dog, a firm “No” can be a harsh correction. You really need to get to know your dog well before you consider using punishments or corrections.
In initial training, the emphasis should be on teaching our dogs what we do want. If we use punishments and corrections for behaviors we don’t like, we are usually punishing the dog for doing something that he had no way of knowing you didn’t want him to do. After all, you haven’t taught him what you do want yet, so is it fair to punish him now? Punishment or corrections really don’t teach the dog what you want. They tell the dog what you don’t want. You can keep telling him when he’s not doing what you want, but unless you can show him what you DO want, he’s not going to learn. We prefer to set up a dog for success by giving him as much information as we can about what we want him to do.
Quite often, the mistake is on our part, so we do not want to punish the dog for our mistake. Perhaps he does not yet understand what we are asking for or was momentarily distracted and did not catch the cue we gave. Although you might think your dog knows the verbal cue “sit”, it’s quite possible that he is picking up non-verbal cues from you – a hand signal, for example – that he knows means sit and hasn’t really associated the word itself with the action. In that case, it is not fair to punish the dog for not doing something that he does not understand.
Harsh physical punishment or corrections can backfire on us. This simply teaches the dog that you are unpredictable and untrustworthy. Will you still be able to train your dog to do what you want? Probably. But do you really want a dog who obeys you out of fear? Or one who obeys because he sees you as a trustworthy and reliable leader? You don’t gain the respect of your dog by using harsh physical punishments. This is how bullies get what they want, not good leaders.
If you have an insecure or submissive dog, you can make him more fearful. He can become afraid to try anything for fear of being punished and might even shut down entirely. This is not very conducive to training. Or, he could end up biting because he starts to fear for his own safety. We want to foster a healthy relationship of mutual respect and trust with your dog, not one of obedience through fear of physical punishment.
If you have a very confident dog or dog with any aggressive tendencies, you could end up being bitten also. Bites are quite often avoidable, and we use methods that minimize that possibility. While it’s often our fault for pushing the dog too far beyond his comfort level, it is the dog who ultimately pays the price.
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