Denise Fenzi's Blog, page 10

What was THAT cookie for?

If you are doing behavior work with your dog you need to consider why you give your dog treats – you may want to stop handing over food for no particular reason as a lifestyle choice. How much will your dog value special treats in the presence of some trigger when you are feeding him all the time for 100 reasons?

Some people use different values of food to get around this. So the dog eats treats all day long, but when the trigger comes out? The great food shows up!

That could work. Some dogs can figure that out for sure, but… why? Why are you feeding your dog all day long?   Most dogs do not require this past the basic puppy/early training phase.  Expectations should be set!  Basic manners should be a habit!  Once your dog is trained, cookies should be reinforcing specific things that you are asking for or they can be a part of structured training sessions, but sitting at your side and breathing does not rise to the level of earning a cookie.   Dogs can sit quietly at your side and breathe as a function of being a dog. They don’t need your help with that.

When you offer rewards for absolutely everything you are devaluing those cookies that actually matter – the ones you really want your dog to notice.  Think of it like this – if you have an employer that gives you a $100 bill a few times a year – you’ll notice it for sure. If you have an employer that randomly hands you hundred dollar bills throughout the day, every day…maybe not so much. Don’t water down your ability to reinforce by overusing it.

The same is true for classical conditioning.  If your dog is eating cookies before, during and after your session – it becomes challenging for any real associations to be made, whether conscious or not. Eating becomes the baseline. And not eating becomes…a punisher?  Interesting question.

I use food for a reason. If I’m doing a decent job, my dog can figure out exactly what every cookie is for.  That means that when I give my dogs a cookie it has value; they notice the cookie because it is clearly different from their baseline expectation.   Those cookies could be because we are working on something new, training behavior chains, unusual behavior expectations in public,  or management of something I’m not up to training.   But they are not random.   I can tell you for every cookie I hand over, “that cookie was for….”

I’ve been working on Brito’s reactivity for the last four months. We are at the point where he can quietly pass by chickens, horses, and random dogs without any reaction at all. I am super happy with his behavior! Good behavior is now becoming an expectation rather than a point of celebration.

I opted to train through his reactivity using the circle method rather than using food   My goal was to ensure that he was focused on the triggers (and his feelings about that), rather than eating (and his feelings about that). The last time I took him for a walk in a heavily dog populated area? He got exactly one cookie and it had nothing to do with his behavior around dogs. We were in a challenging off leash area, I called him, and he came instantly. I gave him a cookie to reinforce his lovely recall! I would imagine that cookie was memorable because it was the only one he got on the entire walk.

He received no cookies for passing 30 or 40 dogs –  it is the basic expectation.   The fact that he is out on a walk in the woods should be enough of a positive association with the presence of other dogs.  So while I could have been handing him cookies for not much of anything throughout our walk, it would have watered down the value of cookie that he truly did earn –  for the excellent recall.

My point in this article is not whether you choose to use food in behavior work.   Lots of methods work, and I don’t argue with success if the method is kind. But if you are using food, whether for behavior or for training, be aware that the sheer quantity of cookies your dog receives is going to impact the value of each one. So consider how you want your dog to perceive each cookie, and proceed accordingly.

You should be able to easily answer the question, “What was that cookie for?” for every cookie you hand over.  The goal is not to be stingy; there is no value in that. But mindless feeding is not the opposite of stingy! Mindless feeding is simply devaluing your reinforcer.    A very high rate of reinforcement when the dog earns each and every one? That’s just fine too. It depends what you’re doing.

Give some thought to why you give your dog cookies.   Are you teaching specific behaviors? Be generous! Are you classically conditioning an association with a very specific thing? Be generous in the presence of that thing and only at that time! Or are you simply feeding your dog because it’s become a habit, and you don’t have an alternative way to interact?

Rethink that.

On another note – cool stuff happening at FDSA!  Registration opens today for the August term and my leadership webinar runs on Thursday, August 1st.  If you struggle with how to handle your dog’s behavior in a variety of circumstances, from regular life to the dog show, I hope you’ll join that webinar and get some directions for your team. Here’s a short video trailer to give you a sense of the presentation.

 

 

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Recording of “Ask Me Anything” Webinar

Last week I did a free “Ask Me Anything” webinar for anyone who wanted to show up!

The questions covered include barking or noise during work, focus in heeling, pivots and pocket hand, teaching handler scent discrimination/articles, loose leash walking via the circle method, developing a working relationship, dealing with lack of (human) motivation, building duration for heelwork, and more!!

The following is the recorded webinar. Enjoy, and feel free to share with anyone who might benefit.

 

 

 

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Free webinar “Ask me Anything” with Denise tonight

In honor of our first day of instruction at the new FDSA-PPP Program (Fenzi Dog Sports Academy Pet Professionals Program) I will offer an informal “Ask me anything” webinar tonight (Sunday) at 6pm PT.   If you have a video that you’d like me to look at and it is on a topic that you think I might know something about –  I’ll take a look.  Think: A minute long or so.  We’ll hang out together for about an hour, and I’ll do what I can in that time. You can also ask me general training questions without video.

I hope to see some of you there!  If you cannot make it live you may still want to register, because we often record these informal webinars and make them available after the fact. We can’t notify you unless you are registered!

Register for free webinar

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Balance! Strive for balance!

If you have followed this blog over time you may have noticed themes that might feel contradictory.

On one end of the scale I talk about emotions and relationships. Developing warm and playful interactions with your dog. Creating a relationship so that your learner wants to interact and engage with you.  Encouraging your learner to rely on you as a valuable resource.  Seeing the big picture of training –  the wide-angle view.  Reading body language as a function of your learners joy. Flexibility. Letting go of expectations.   Celebrating time spent with your dog over specific accomplishments achieved. Having your own doggy friend!

And on the other end of the scale I talk about very specific details of good training.  Things like breaking your training down into small pieces and focusing narrowly on a task. Setting up a well designed environment so your learner can win and build confidence in themselves.   Focused intent.  Crisp training.  Goals and progress. Structure.  Getting behavior!  So much for your doggy friend.

Where you are focusing at any given time is likely to be more on one end, the softer and more playful side, or on the other end, the crisper and more defined side. And the fact is, you need to fluidly flip back and forth according to what is happening in front of you – what your dog needs at that moment to bring out his or her best self.  The more experience you develop the easier it is to blend these concepts, presumably because you no longer consciously think about the process.

My goal for trainers is joyful engaged training within a goal driven structure.  So how do we get there?

Here’s my best solution: Videotape your work.

When you watch your video, ask yourself if it would be fun to be trained by you (Thank you, Julie Daniels!).  Would you stay engaged because it was interesting, regardless of the motivators available?  Do you feel warmth and enthusiasm coming from your trainer?  Is your trainer smiling at you?   Is a sense of mental awareness and “puzzling through” adequately present to give you the sense of playing a game together?

Now let’s look at that video again. What would you accomplish if you were being trained by you?  Could you easily decipher a goal for the session?  Is the setting such that you can focus on what your trainer wants you to learn?  Is your trainer’s communication about what they want clear?   Are there elements in the training set-up that make it hard for you to focus on training or to progress?

All good questions to ask yourself!

Regardless of where you are weak or strong as a trainer today, training dogs is the way to improve. If you don’t train then you’ll get nowhere – that is one thing I can virtually guarantee. Thinking about training does not improve your skills nor does setting up sessions in your head. You really do have to do it, and then look consider the result.  It’s better to practice something – even if you’re a little too heavy on one end of the scale or the other, than to fret about it and therefore do nothing at all.

We are fortunate in that dogs are hugely forgiving learners, so while you learn to blend these these varied skills, it’s extremely likely that your learner will hang in there with you.     Just keep in mind your goal; balance and fluid change over your session. If you keep at it, someday you will naturally provide a balance of warmth and engagement while holding a high standard for progress and crispness within your training sessions.

Enjoy your training, regardless of where you are in your journey.

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Crispness and anxiety: Is there a relationship?

I’m on a roll with this crispness topic!

I have talked about the importance of being crisp in training.  Crispness provides clarity to our dogs which in turn reduces frustration and allows our dogs to feel confident in their situation.   I want my dogs to know when they are working, when they are relaxing and about to work, and when they are not working at all -at which point I want to see them sleeping.

Sleeping in public?  Yes, dogs sleep in public perfectly well – if they know that is expected!   And how does one communicate when it is time to sleep? When dogs know nothing else is going to happen and when they are crated with reduced stimulation (covered) then sleep comes naturally, because that’s what dogs do when nothing is happening!

Crispness in training allows dogs to conserve their energy.  It naturally teaches them to sleep when the time is right for sleeping.

But there’s more to it. In addition to giving you a crisper performance when you are working and helping dogs sleep when there’s no reason to be awake, crispness provides huge emotional benefits as well. Specifically, crispness allows a dog to be mentally calm – clarity provides that.  And the opposite of mentally calm?

Anxiety.

I believe we create anxious behavior in our dogs by feeding them randomly and not providing clarity about when they are or are not able to earn reinforcement.  So how might this work?

Well, let’s say you want something.  A lot.  Money! And the person who has the money gives it to you on occasion.  Sometimes you get money for clear and specific behaviors. It is obvious to you! Let’s say you are learning the task of filing.  Every time you file something correctly, you are handed money. Yay!  Your filing skills improve and everyone is happy.

But there’s another thing.  Sometimes you get money when you are waiting at your desk for your turn to file. You look over at your instructor, she smiles, and then she walks over and hands you a dollar. Yay!  So… does that mean that looking at the instructor gets you dollars?!   Maybe, yes!  or…maybe No?   Because often, looking at your instructor does nothing at all.

Being a clever learner, you conclude that it’s more complicated than that. So you start trying stuff out to figure out what causes what.

What happens if you look at your instructor and shift in your chair? Does that earn you a dollar? No! How about if you look at your instructor and then look down at your desk? Does that get you a dollar? Yes! It did. On this occasion.

Okay fine, so now you think looking at the instructor and then down at your desk gets your a dollar. But it doesn’t. You try it out and this time, nothing happens. So you sigh in frustration, mostly because you haven’t decided what to do next and, voilà! A dollar shows up.

So is it looking at the instructor?  Sighing?  Something else? You really want those dollars – you are highly motivated to get them!  And yet, you have absolutely no idea what to do and because you are so motivated, it doesn’t occur to you to take a nap.  You have a puzzle to solve!   And yet, the solution to the puzzle doesn’t exist. It’s random.   But you don’t know that, so your brain works overtime trying to solve it.

The one thing you are not doing is relaxing. Resting. You can’t because you want those dollars and you do not have any clarity about how to get them. And anxious behavior?  Motivation plus lack of clarity creates anxiety.  Or at least contributes greatly in those who are already prone.  Obviously, erratic behavior with our dogs does not always cause anxiety but it sure isn’t going to help in a fragile individual.

Does that describe your dog?   If you have a dog that loves to work, never seems to know he’s “off”, demand barks and offers behaviors at all random times, cannot sleep in a working space and shows anxious behaviors like panting, circling, whining, demand barking, or throwing behaviors within the context of work (crating, working spaces, etc.)  do your dog a kindness and figure out if you’re contributing. Fix it, and see if it allows your dog to relax.

So does this mean all anxiety is caused by our training choices? Of course not. Anxiety has many roots and in some cases, nothing short of medication and serious behavior modification will make a difference, presumably because the dog’s wiring is such that anxiety is the default.  However, kind and supportive structure can be exactly what is needed to prevent problems from showing themselves altogether in an “at risk” individual.

Structure is a good thing. It tells your dog what to expect and when to expect it. It is a kindness and it is highly compatible with choice – which you choose depends on the time and the context and the needs of the dog.

But what if you don’t have a problem?   Your dog works well when you want, rests nicely on a mat, and sleeps in a crate.   Then you can ignore this. You’re doing great!

Give it a shot and let me know what happens.

I’ll teach my “Redefining Leadership” webinar again on August 1.  While not specifically about crispness, you can certainly learn quite a bit about my perspective on the matter.   The webinar will describe structure, choice, and evaluating the correct option for your dog under different circumstances. And yes, crispness is a piece of this puzzle.

Hopefully I’ll see some of you there.  If you want to be notified when it is available for sale, consider signing up for our FDSA newsletter.

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Free. New. Worth your while. Why not?

It is common for individuals to struggle in the space between basic manners for a dog and understanding the underlying science and more sophisticated training concepts required of both professional trainers and sport dog enthusiasts.   FDSA-PPP is trying to help with that.

Here is an e-book for you. It’s free!   Initially, we designed it to be a six week long class of FDSA, complete with photos, videos, and lecture. But we decided that the information was sufficiently important that we should simply give it away to anyone who wanted it.

If you’d like to further education, take a look. You can read it online or you can download it to your computer. Your choice.  Share with those who might benefit – they have nothing to lose either.

Enjoy.  Beyond the Basics

 

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Twenty to One

I give food to my dogs for all sorts of reasons.   I use food to teach or maintain behaviors. I use food to address emotional issues. I give food because I have some, we are interacting in a pleasant way, and I like to share! I use a lot of food in training.

So what do I not do?

I do not give cookies for months or years on end simply for being alive in a working space. Instead I place them in a crate or use an endurance behavior that they understand and perform easily. Part of enjoying a trained dog is the fact that they are trained.  If I cannot do anything else when my dog is in the vicinity because I have to keep feeding my dog, then the training is not working.

I do not give my dog twenty cookies for being quiet in their crate and then expect them to work enthusiastically for one cookie when it’s their turn. If food flows fast and free for behaviors that should be an expectation before being used practically, and then handlers show stinginess when asking their dogs to focus and work hard, then it should come as no particular surprise when the dog checks out in training. Hey, if your dog is lucky, you’ll put them back in the crate, and the food will start raining in again!  It should be obviously better for your dog when working than when doing nothing.   Switch up that Twenty to One ratio!   How about one cookie when doing nothing, and twenty when working?

I do not give my dogs cookies when I am setting up for another exercise. I don’t think asking a dog to perform a one minute down stay is too much while I do other things. Is that a reasonable goal for a dog? To hold a one minute down stay while you talk to your instructor, move equipment, or decide what you want to work on next? I think so.  I am not rewarding that down stay, because when I get the dog up and ask them to think and work hard, I want them to look forward to that! To be able to tell the difference.  The reward for the down stay is an opportunity to work again. And if they get up? I put them back. And if they get up again? I put them in their crate; their behavior tells me they are not ready.  I need to work on that down stay; probably in an easier environment first.  Since dogs tend to prefer a down stay to going back to their crate, it works fine.

This is all a part of crispness is in training. If you’re not sure what I mean by crisp, search back in this blog and you will find a couple of recent blogs to get you on your way.

If you use food as a constant management tool and you look suspiciously like a Pez dispenser, and if your dog is struggling to give you what you want within work, or if you feel like your dog cannot manage the most simple management or endurance behaviors without constant feeding, it’s time to rethink what you are doing. You can train your dog and have expectations! If it matters to you, address it. If you don’t care, well… I don’t care either! Just be sure you don’t care.

Every time you hand over a cookie ask yourself, exactly what is this cookie for? What is the unit of effort your dog is putting out to earn it? My dogs only get cookies when they put out a unit of effort unless I am managing a specific situation.

Good training assumes raising criteria so your dog expects to give a “full unit of effort” for a reinforcer.   If you have been at the same criteria for weeks or months or years, I guarantee you your dog is not putting out a unit of effort. Or if they are, your training needs to be reconsidered because it is not working.

If you decide to incorporate these ideas or make changes to your training, let me know in the comments!

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Inevitable versus management versus training – oh dear

Building on my last post, which nuisance behaviors do I treat with management, or training, or the inevitability of stopping the behavior?

It’s actually impossible to fully tease these apart, because there’s no way to determine exactly where management ends and training begins. For example, house training.  Is house training really training, or is it management that eventually trains the dog by developing a habit?  I consider it management that leads to a trained dog – but I call it training.

I still use the words (management, training and inevitability) because I find them helpful in reflecting my mindset. In general, if I say training, I have a plan in place that I’m hoping will eventually lead to the dog doing (or feeling!) a very specific thing under a specific circumstance or when I give a specific cue.  In general, when I say management,  I mean that I am going to do something to stop a behavior from being a problem for me with an expectation that the behavior might immediately revert if I don’t keep it up.  And if I say it’s inevitable? The only thing I care about is stopping a given behavior; the dog has a full range of options in terms of what they do instead – it is training, because I expect it to become a permanent change.

I am also aware of the dog’s needs and accommodate those, to the best of my ability.  I mean, if a dog is barking in the crate because he’s not getting out enough, it makes a lot more sense to let the dog out of the crate and meet his needs than it does to cover the crate.

And the law of inevitability? Because I was questioned on this, I took some time to think about which behaviors fall in this category.  I would put them down as encompassing the following: going places you are not allowed (like up on the couch, possibly certain rooms in the house and onto my countertops, or jumping out of the car/crate without permission),  or barking at me as a form of communication – go ahead and communicate but not that way.  I can also think of other behaviors that fall in this realm that I might care about at certain points in my life but not in others. For example, jumping on people (if it’s a safely issue or I have a reason to care), pulling on a leash (a combination of training, management and the inevitable result of pulling will all come into play), etc. Those depend on my situation at the time.

Normally, I train things when I have a very specific expectation for what I want the end result to look like.  For example, if I want my dog to go to a mat every time I open the front door and let a guest in, then that would be training -the process of teaching “Go to a mat” is specific and has an end goal with defined criteria.  Now I can use that trained behavior for management – it prevents my dog from bothering the guest. And while I am at it, I am probably going to structure my human guest as well…if they ignore the puppy for a few minutes when they come in, most problems magically disappear.   They can play with the puppy soon enough.

And did I mention the emotional component? If a dog’s behavior results specifically from the fact that they are excited or not getting their needs met then I’m going to deal with that instead of the behavior. For example, puppies that mouth me? I don’t consider that a nuisance behavior. I consider that a function of arousal and youth. I address the underlying issue and ignore the mouthing altogether. Then it magically goes away but I’m aware enough not to say it went away because I trained it. I recognize and credit the tincture of time, where credit is due :-).

Confusing.

The point of my last blog was to suggest that standing around doing nothing, looking confused, endlessly crating a dog or designing a long training plan for every problem is neither necessary nor practical for the majority of households dealing with incredibly common daily behaviors. Spend a little time thinking about the 10 or so random behaviors that you are likely to see in your puppy or young dogs as you raise them and make a few decisions. Feel free to revisit those decisions over time, and tweak away! For example, maybe you initially decided to train your dog not to jump on guests, but eventually you decided it was easier just to manage the situation, and now your dog is in a crate when guests come to the house.

That’s fine. You’re the one who has to live with your dog, so you get to decide.

But do something, even if that thing would not be your dog’s first choice. Stop problematic behaviors when you see them and seriously consider if the dog would be better off told not to do a few specific things (like taking food off your counters) or crated (every time you prepare food and until you clean up).  Because sitting around watching your dog take things off your counters or chewing your couch is a really bad idea if you want a decent pet, and having an adult dog that requires frequent crating to get through life will have ramifications for both of you that go well beyond the actual behavior.

The Inevitable

The best way I know of to prevent common nuisance behaviors around the house is to not let them happen.

How do you do that?

You stop them every time they happen. It is inevitable. And when your dog knows that it is inevitable, it doesn’t take very long before they decide it’s not worth their while to try. Because you will stop them. Every. Single. Time.

Now I have mixed feelings about talking about this, because this is a concept I learned long ago when it was associated with pain, fear, and retaliation. Dog pulled on the leash? You corrected them with a collar correction. Dog jumped up on you? You kneed them in the chest. I could go on and on, but the dog learned two things. If they did something you didn’t like, it would be stopped. That was the good part. The second thing they learned is that you can be scary and erratic and in need of a watchful eye. That’s not good, and there’s no reason for it anyway because you can absolutely separate out the concept of the inevitable from punishment. We do it with kids all the time and it’s not scary at all.  Here’s a dog example.

Your dog gets on your couch and is not allowed there.

You remove them. Within one second of being up there, you remove them. What happens if you remove them two or three times in a row and they still jump up? You remove them from the room. What happens if it’s still an issue? You crate them or put them outside or attach them to you or whatever works for you. Not for a long time – just a few minutes.

You don’t need to scream or yell.  First I tell my dog, ‘eh!’ – that is a warning I will use for life for pretty much anything I want to see stopped.  No response?  I remove them physically by picking them up or by their collar or with a leash.  Back up on the couch?  I remove them from the room. Start making trouble?  Outside. Can’t catch the dog because he avoids you?  Drag a leash in the house.  You get the idea.  You won’t get on the couch.

The thing is, it doesn’t matter that much exactly what you do. You simply need to convince your dog that when they do specific things that you’re not thrilled about, you are going to stop them. Because you said so.

And what happens if you are not consistent?

That will depend on how much the dog benefits from the behavior. If they snag something off your counter and you let them, and if it’s particularly tasty, then you can count on the fact that counter surfing will come back pretty regularly, even if you stop that behavior nine times out of ten.  So maybe you shouldn’t have tasty things on the counter where the dog can get them while they are young and learning, and save both of you some trouble.

But if it’s a behavior that doesn’t bring the dog a lot of value, it may go away even if you’re not consistent. It just depends.

So the second thing, in addition to the rule of inevitability, is that you better have a pretty good idea in your head what behaviors you absolutely never want to see. And then you are going to stop them, without exception.

I know this is hard. We have other things to worry about in our lives, like phones ringing and children crying and jobs to do. But here’s a rule of reality: you’re going to get what you allow, plus what you train for. And the purpose of this blog is not to talk about training, it’s to talk about things you didn’t train for, or cannot train for, or will not train for.  Training is good!  but when it comes to basic house rules, I tend to use the inevitable more than training. Inevitability is a fine management strategy that leads to understanding – training, I suppose.

Manage misbehavior at the exact moment it happens – before the dog even knows it’s misbehavior!

You can run out the door and visit guests, but that’s it. Then you need to come back in. If you go wandering off? I’m going to bring you back in. It is inevitable.

You cannot sleep on my couch. You jumped up there anyway? I will remove you within one second. It is inevitable.

You cannot bark hysterically at me when you want something. If you do that, I will stop your barking by telling you to stop.  Still barking?  I will putting my hand through your collar and hold you still. If you continue to bark after my clear communication to stop then I will remove you. It is inevitable.

At the same time, I’m pretty sympathetic to the reality of puppies and dogs, and I accept that they have needs too. So if I remove the dog from the couch I like to make sure they have another soft place to sleep. And I’m not going to make my dog go hours and hours between meals when I know they are young and hungry and then expect them not to eye the leftovers on the table. I’m going to give them things to eat and chew!  (and not leave leftovers on the table to keep an eye on). And I don’t expect my dog to know to come when called until after I train it, so I’m not going to let my dog run out the front door if they are too young to understand a recall cue. I will prevent that too.

But for now?  For this blog? The thing I want you to focus on is the inevitable.

Sometimes people say things to me that I find it a little confusing. They tell me that their dog pulls on a leash or runs around barking at them or makes trouble in their house and I get the feeling it is allowed to continue.  Why is that?  I keep thinking, why don’t you tell them to stop?  And if they don’t, why don’t you stop them?

Presumably sometimes the handler doesn’t actually know how to stop the dog, or it’s been going on for so long that the process of stopping the dog is not going to be trivial.

So maybe start there.   Make a mental list of the things your dog does that you find irritating around the house, and set up a plan for the inevitable.

First a verbal warning.  Then back it up physically if necessary – there is no reason for this to be painful, but it should be inevitable.  Still no go?  Remove the dog altogether if you haven’t made your point. Your dog may need to drag a leash around the house for awhile or have one attached before critical points when you know the beahvior will soon occur – that’s fine.

What if you’re afraid of your dog? What if you approach your dog to remove them from the couch and he is growling at you?

Then you have bigger fish to fry, and you need to get hold of a professional. I won’t give advice on aggression over the Internet without seeing what’s happening.

The earlier your puppy learns the rules of inevitability, the easier your life is going to be.

Remember. Inevitable.  Tell me your plan in the comments.

Like this kind of content?  I put a ton of content from a variety of sources on the FDSA business page and Instagram too:  @fdsapetprofessionals

The spaces in between: What SHOULD your dog be doing?

In my last blog, I asked you to think about what your dog does when you are not actively working with them. I suggested that if your dog was offering random behaviors when you were not working, or if your dog does not come back to work with enthusiasm, or if your dog doesn’t seem to know when they should be working with you or when they should be interacting with the environment, then you need to rethink your training plan – the part that focuses on the spaces in between.  Many of you also suggested that you need some help! So let’s look at the question now:  How does one handle the spaces in between?

The first thing I’d like to suggest is that you focus on what you want your dog to do rather than what you don’t want. Several people mentioned that their dogs do things like barking or offering behaviors.  That awareness is okay, but keep in mind these are things we don’t want rather than things we do want. What do you want your dog to do?   The problem with focusing on what you don’t want is that you are being reactive rather than proactive; your dog filled the space because you didn’t.  The dog does a thing, and you respond to it. You might respond by giving your dog cookies, or shushing your dog, or just being annoyed, but no matter how you look at it you are being reactive.

It’s time to be proactive!

What do you want?   Here are my preferred options,  in order from least training and sophistication required to the most:

Place your dog in a covered crate or closed car. If your dog is too young or inexperienced to manage themselves between exercises then the solution is simple…off to the crate for you! Dogs who are just starting training should not be working for more than a few minutes at a time anyway, so after a five or ten minute session, at the most!, it’s time to go to the crate if training will continue into another round. This is when you can think about what you want to do next, reset equipment, etc. And I’m going to repeat this one more time…if you’re talking about a young puppy or new learner, the total amount of time within a training session, and the total number of sessions within a working period, should be reasonably short and few.  Don’t bore or flood your young learners!  A short and targeted series of sessions is going to be much more productive than a long drawn out day at the club or training with friends.  Think:  Five minutes of training – twenty minutes in the crate – five minutes of training, etc.

This solves the issue of the spaces in between and just as important, it is the start of a training structure for your dog. When we’re not working, we’re in our crate on our own time. This assumes that the dog has been adequately acclimated and exposed to the working space before you even began, but that’s a different conversation and will not be addressed here. (You can search this blog for acclimation if needed)

What’s next?

A leash holder!   If you have a friend nearby who can help you out, you can hand your leash to that person and let them entertain your dog while you do other stuff. Dogs absolutely recognize who is holding the leash and learn quickly to attend to that individual. This teaches your dog that when you hand the leash over to another person, then the other person will now play with the dog, entertain them, whatever, and It frees you up to listen to your instructor or otherwise spend your time preparing to train again before you take your puppy back.

What’s next?

Quiet personal interaction. This is probably the one I do most often when my dog is next to me and I am trying to talk to another person or talk to a video camera. In this example, my attention is actually split, but I’m so comfortable kneeling and playing with my dogs that I can manage low-key petting interaction without looking at them, and in this way I can listen to another person or explain something before going back to work. This is the one I do when the pauses are going to be very short and I won’t really have to concentrate on whatever I am doing.  When I do this I have my hands on my dogs continuously – talking to another person – and when I’m ready to go back to work I stop talking/petting, stand up, and go still until my dog looks up and understands we’re going back to work –  it is usually instantaneous.

Squishing between my legs.   If you search this blog for the word squishing you will find examples, video, and verbal explanation of how to do this. In short, the dog learns that when they are being held against my body or between my legs that something is going to happen soon, but not at that moment, so they are welcome to relax and look around. With a small dog, you can pick the dog up.  This is a trained behavior, so slightly more complicated than quiet personal interaction.

Station training. This is another favorite. In this example, the dog is sent to a place; maybe the back of an open car or a mat nearby or even a towel on the ground. You teach the dog to stay on that place. It is relatively unstructured, because in general we allow the dog to sit, down, stand…whatever they want. But they have to stay there; that is the job.

You can also attach the leash to a wall to start station training – same idea but no training required.

A down stay is the same as a station, except it is more formal and can be done anywhere and without a “thing” to station the dog. In general I prefer a station to a down stay but if my dog has to learn a long stay in a specific position, for example for obedience competition, I would probably use a down-stay simply to kill two birds with one stone.

Can you see how in all of these examples the dog is told what to do rather than what not to do? And because once I train the “in between” behavior I rarely reinforce them nor do I even look at the dog, the dog also looks forward to getting back to work so they can earn their cookies or toys or simply enjoy the time with me!

But if I don’t reinforce these behaviors after they are trained, what do I do if the dog disregards me? What do I do if the dog gets up and leaves?!

The first time I return them to the spot. For example, if I tell my dog to go in the back of the car and they hop out without being cued, then I simply put them back. Immediately.

What if they hop out again? Then I shut the hatch of the car. The dog learns that if they want the freedom to look around at the world with the hatch open, then they need to stay put. Since most dogs prefer looking around to being locked in the closed car, this works fine.

What happens if the dog is sent to the station and doesn’t say there after being returned one time? Then I put them in their crate. The dog is welcome to be on a station, but if they cannot manage that amount of freedom then they go into their crate.

What happens if they bark in their crate?  Then I cover the crate.

What happens if I cover the crate and they continue to bark? Then I put them in the car.

Do you get the idea? The spaces in between are trained. They are not incidental! First you need to spend some time teaching the expectation, then dramatically reducing the rate of reinforcement so the dog understands that it is a waiting period until something more interesting happens, and then you must be consistent!  From the time my dogs are very young, they learn that they’re going to spend time in the car, and the going to spend time in crates in different places, so none of this is new nor upsetting to them. It’s just part of the expectation of being a dog being prepared for competition.

Remember, the dog is actually performing a behavior, bu one that requires little or no effort from the dog. You’re the one on a break, but the dog? They are either working, waiting as a trained event, or they are contained in a crate or a car so that they don’t have to make any choices if they are not ready to do so.

I hope that helps!

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