Denise Fenzi's Blog, page 14

Come and get a cookie….I won’t hurt you….

My quiz on “Fear in Dogs” has provided me with SO MUCH educational fodder!  Let’s take a look at the following question:

“If your dog is afraid of something, use a piece of food to lure the dog closer to it. Over time, the dog will learn not to be afraid.”

True or false?

I can tell you that is something I would not do — EVER.  Here’s why:

Let’s say your dog is afraid of new people — a very common fear.  Your solution is to use a cookie to lure the dog in close or hand the cookie directly to the other person. You instruct the other person to hold out the cookie, and …

Now the dog has to make a choice.

Remember, the dog is afraid, but the stranger is holding a cookie and the dog wants it. So the dog can either screw up his courage and snag the cookie or opt out altogether.

Let’s consider the dog’s emotions when he is at his absolute closest point to the person. When he is within inches of the cookie because he has crept all the way up to snag it. Is he feeling better or worse as he gets closer to the person/cookie?  Well,  if a giant hairy monster were holding your child and you had to creep up and try to grab your child back, would you be feeling better or worse as you got closer?

I would argue that the dog is at the greatest point of discomfort when he is closest to the person and trying to grab the cookie. Based on my experiences watching people apply this method, most dogs snatch the cookie at the point of maximum fear and then try to get out of there lickety-split — which should tell you something right there. They didn’t get more comfortable close to the person; they dealt with it so they could get the food. But did they enjoy that experience? Maybe not so much.

Let’s consider a few other scenarios.

In the first scenario, the person you want your dog to visit is mellow, the dog’s fear is very mild, and the dog’s interest in food is also mild — the dog can take it if he wants it or leave it if he feels pressure. That might be the equivalent of a quiet person holding out a $1 bill to a shy child — not that important to the child, but maybe … maybe … worth going up to take.

Now the dog makes a choice. The dog eventually decides to go up and take the food from the stranger and then wanders away.

In that scenario, it’s very likely that this method would help! The reason is the dog isn’t really afraid — just a bit unsure of the novelty. Nothing bad is going to happen because the person is handing over a cookie and isn’t interacting at all — the whole thing is over in a few seconds and then everyone moves on. Because the dog’s interest in food is low, the dog is able to make a conscious choice about whether or not he really wants to get it.

Now let’s consider a middle scenario. The dog’s fear is a little greater, the person you want your dog to visit is likely to try to reach out and pet the dog after he comes close, and your dog’s interest in food is medium. How does this one end?  That might be like a nervous child looking at a strange-looking person who is holding a box full of every kind of candy imaginable — and this kid loves candy!

Now things start to get more problematic. If the dog is hungry or really wants that cookie, then he is likely to walk in even as he is extremely uncomfortable. It’s not making the dog feel better about the person holding the food; it just means the dog is working to focus on the cookie and overwhelming his own fear.  But wait, there’s more! When the dog is at his greatest and most nervous moment, when he is close enough to grab the food, the person reaches out to pet the dog! That’s the dog’s worst nightmare come true! Remember, that’s what the dog was worried about in the first place, that the person would try to interact. And he did!

Over time, with a dog like this, the dog may or may not approach to get the cookies, but he’s not becoming more comfortable with the person. He’s simply dealing with it so he can get what he wants.

And that child?  That would be equivalent of the child deciding to deal with this strange-looking person, getting close enough to snag his favorite candies, and then the person reaches out and tries to touch him!  Yikes!

And now let’s look at the worst-case scenario. The person has every intention of interacting with the dog when he’s close and he’s not going to take no for an answer. The dog is quite fearful and the dog is quite interested in the cookie, or very hungry! To the point that the dog feels he has no choice; he must approach the person, even though he’s terrorized, to get that cookie. Some dogs are like this!  The human equivalent would be a child who has been lost in the forest for several days. By luck, the child stumbles upon a person with plates of food. And while the child is terrified of the person, he wants the food so he won’t starve to death.

Now, what happens? The dog creeps in; everything in the dog’s body language reveals misery. As the dog is attempting to snag the cookie and back out as quickly as possible, the enthusiastic person suddenly reaches out quickly with the other hand to try to pet the dog. As the dog backs up, he takes a few more steps forward and is reaching out towards the dog! Now the puppy can growl, bark, bite, pee lunge, etc., and one of those may work; the person may back off! Or not.  And the human child? I think you can figure it out.  It’s not too good.

When it comes to dogs, people seem to reason that once the dog has taken the cookie, the dog now “gets” to experience a wonderful opportunity for petting! So now I’ll pet him and he will love it even though his behavior shows he is trying to escape. And he will love me forevermore!

But it doesn’t work that way. I mean, I don’t like random strangers touching me and I don’t like it more if they hand me money first.  That’s sort of the textbook definition of prostitution, and I don’t see people lining up for that job.

The problem with the food lure method is that the dog is at his greatest point of discomfort at the same time that he is able to get the food, which happens to be when he is closest to the fear-inducing thing. That’s a problem! We want our dogs more comfortable when they are near the fear-inducing thing.  If the dog’s fear is very mild in the first place then the lure method can work fine, but as soon as the fear is slightly more pronounced then it’s quite risky, especially if the dog’s high interest in food masks the logical reaction to fear: to move away and gather information from a distance until one feels safe enough to approach out of curiosity rather than an internally driven need for food.

But wait, there’s even more! This approach can be outright dangerous because it teaches puppies to approach people even when they’re afraid. For example, when a random person reaches out her hand for the dog to sniff — a common way we teach people to approach dogs they don’t know (which makes no sense but that’s a story for another day) — the dog thinks she has food! It’s an easy misunderstanding.  So the dog walks up to get a piece of food, but now the person who is being approached directly thinks the dog wants to say hello.  Why else would the dog be approaching? She doesn’t know the dog’s prior experiences with strangers is snagging cookies in a heightened state of fear. So she does what most normal people do when friendly dogs approach; she looks directly at the approaching dog, smiles wide, says hello in an enthusiastic tone of voice, steps forward, and reaches out to pet the dog.  And then all hell breaks loose.  And everyone says, “I don’t get it! He walked right up to the person! And then he went crazy barking and lunging!”

And that, in a nutshell, is why you don’t give strangers food and lure the dog forward.

Now, if the thing you are luring the dog towards is an inanimate object that isn’t about to respond to the dog, this method has a lot less risk. So if your dog is nervous about a rock on the ground, and you toss some goodies in the direction of the rock, you’re probably not going to do much harm. I actually think there are better ways to do this, but that’s not important for right now.

Just remember, don’t lure dogs towards things that might respond and, since all human beings might respond, they are off the table as a category.

If you plan on continuing with this method regardless of what I say, then consider both the dog’s level of fear and his interest in food. The higher these two factors are, the more risk there is with the method.  So the idea of using very high-value treats to overwhelm the dog fear? Yeah, no. I would not do that.

So what should you do if you have a dog who is fearful of people? In my opinion, fearful dogs require professional handling if the dog is moderately or severely fearful and if simple management isn’t enough to keep the dog comfortable and the world safe.  Reading a book or a blog is awesome for helping you understand what might be going on with your dog and how a dog trainer might address the issues, but when there is risk of a dog bite or a dog having panic attacks or severe anxiety over the training, that’s just not the place to go it alone.  Work with someone who can help you.

Good luck.

If you missed the fear quiz, you can take it here:  Fear quiz

On another note, registration for 36 dog sports classes at FDSA opened yesterday on our BRAND NEW WEBSITE!  Plenty of great classes to choose from so take a look at the schedule and make your selections!  I’ll be teaching Relationship Building Through Play and I have a webinar coming up on December 6th on Redefining Leadership, so come join me if you’re interested in either of those topics!

I’m scared. I need you right now.

You’re walking on the beach with a trusted friend.  In the distance, you notice something coming towards you. You’re not sure what it is, but you can feel your adrenaline rising. As it comes closer, you realize that it has six legs, is furry, and has just turned to look right at you with glowing purple eyes.  It’s absolutely alive and it’s heading directly for you!

You quickly turn to your friend behind you, but she’s busy looking at something else.   Finally, she notices your distress, looks at you, and then she just stands there.  She doesn’t seem to see the six-legged, glowing-eyed, furry thing!  You start backing up as fast as you can, but unfortunately, you are attached to your friend by a leash.  You’re trapped, and she’s doing nothing but watching you panic as you try to escape.

That’s just about what happens when your dog is placed in a situation where they are afraid,  they cannot escape because you have them on the leash, and you refuse to back up or comfort them because you don’t want to reinforce their fear because you believe that you will “train” them to be afraid if you back up or provide reassurance.

Now let’s repeat the above scenario, but this time when you turn to your friend and gesticulate wildly at the thing approaching, your friend walks directly up to you, talks in a calm, reassuring tone of voice, and puts her arm around your shoulders. As the thing continues to approach, she allows you to back up at will.  She keeps her arm around your shoulder and continues talking in a calm voice, but you’re still really upset at the continuing approach!

Then, as if by magic, she yells out some foreign words to the thing – and it stops!  You back up a little further until you’re comfortable, with your friend still by your side each step of the way. As you stand there at your safe distance, you start to feel calmer. You take a step forward to get a better look. And then you back up again. The whole time your friend talks in a soothing tone of voice, allowing you to back away and move forward at will. The thing is no longer approaching.  It’s not even looking at you anymore.  Indeed, it’s sitting on the ground, looking away altogether.

This second scenario could end several ways. Maybe you’re a particularly brave person and you end up walking right up and examining the thing. Or maybe you choose to leave instead – that’s enough novelty for one day!  Or maybe, because you enjoy being with this friend and feel safe with her, you come back and walk with her in the future on this beach.  You actually see this thing several more times, each time feeling less concern. After you’ve seen it 5 or 10 or 20 times, you stop worrying when it shows up.

And the first scenario; how might that end?  Maybe you’re particularly brave, so as the thing is allowed to approach you, you desperately fight back and scream at it to stay away – which might work (reinforcing your behavior!) – or might not (it keeps approaching while you try new tactic of shutting down and not moving at all). Or maybe, as the thing is allowed to approach, you stop moving, stare at the ground, and hope you won’t die. Which you don’t!

But what is going to happen the next time your friend asks you if you want to go out?  Maybe you’ll go. Maybe not. You now associate that friend with having an incredibly frightening experience and she wasn’t much use.  Indeed, she caused you to be trapped in that situation, which you’re not likely to forget that easily.  Because you were trapped, and because she was unwilling to provide any reassurance, you know that you’ll have to take matters into your own hands if it happens again.

Note that you and your friend do not speak the same language. In the first scenario, she’s useless and is now associated with not only being useless but putting you in a terribly fear-inducing situation.  And in the second scenario?  Through her body language and her reassuring touch, you learn that you can trust her. She is communicating to you that she has your back.

Compare these two possibilities. In the first scenario, you can’t get away and friend refuses to allow you to escape. She refuses to reassure you physically or emotionally because somewhere along the line, someone told her that that reassuring you would reinforce your fear and make you worse! That the way to make you brave was to make you face your fears.  By yourself. With no escape possible.

Don’t confuse the world of behavior (where we discuss reinforcers and punishers and where a dog is making choices) with the world of emotions, which are operating on a different scale altogether (where dogs experience their feelings but do not make choices about increasing or decreasing them).

The way you handle a fearful dog is exactly how you would want to be handled as a fearful human. You would want to be in the presence of someone who communicated confidence and used their physical touch and voice to communicate to you, even if you did not speak the same language, that everything is okay.

When your dog is afraid, your job is to reassure them. Allow them to back up. Stop the fear-inducing thing from approaching. Allow the dog the comfort of your presence, your touch, and your calm, reassuring voice.  Your voice should reflect what you know; that the thing will cause them no harm. Your touch should be reassuring and firm; the goal is to communicate safety – to allow your positive presence to build up their positive feelings while reducing their fearful ones. This is how you build trust and your dog learns to rely on you as a source of comfort and information about the world. This is how your dog comes to understand that when you say everything is okay, it really is okay.

You cannot reinforce the emotion of fear by providing physical comfort and reassurance because behaviors are reinforced, not emotions.  It is a myth that reassuring a fearful dog will make them more fearful. Get them out of the fear-inducing situation until they feel better. Let them control their own process of coming to terms with their emotions. While they do so, be there and communicate that everything is okay.  Do not put them in a situation where they could start to panic because that makes you become part of the problem – someone not to be trusted to keep them feeling safe.

If you’d like to learn more about this, you have options. I will be teaching a webinar on the topic of leadership on December 6th for Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. And while my topic of Leadership is not specifically about fear, it will certainly address some of these issues, such as how to carry yourself so that your dog learns that you are a source of comfort rather than distress.

In addition, we teach classes at FDSA that will absolutely help you learn to understand fear, emotions, and how to make your dog handle the world better. Dr. Amy Cook’s class, Dealing with the Bogeyman, is exactly what you need if you are focused on helping your fearful dog to feel better. That class starts on December 1st.

But the important thing to remember right now? Comforting your fearful dog will not make them worse any more than a person comforting you when you are afraid would make you feel worse.

If you’d like to test your knowledge of fear, go ahead and take this short quiz that I did on the topic. Here’s a tip: the question about comforting a fearful animal is the second most missed question! Hopefully, this blog provides some clarity around the issue.

 

 

 

Facebook Live: High Drive dogs

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about high drive dogs called ” why did he chew off his tail and break his teeth?”  I was asked several follow-up questions on Facebook, and I agreed to do a Facebook live (which you will find here) to discuss some of the following questions:

OCD Vs. Obsessive Compulsive Behaviors; Drives; what that means to different people; Breeding for drive vs. breeding for anxiety and movement; Movement versus stillness in relation to drives; Responses to punishment regarding stressing up and stressing down for working bred dogs versus the general pet population.

You can find that FB live here.  You may also wish to follow me on Facebook or follow the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy Facebook page if you’d like to see more live video presentations.

If you’re struggling with arousal and a High Drive dog, check out this class for next term: Optimal Arousal; Consent and the Working Dog

Fear: Just a little bit closer….

You’re not too fond of spiders, especially the big, hairy ones!   Not to the point of phobia or panic, but they make you uncomfortable, and you do not want to see them in your house. And yet there it is, on your bedroom wall.  What do you do next?

A typical reaction is paradoxical from what we would logically expect.   A high percentage of people will slowly creep in… studying that spider from different angles…just a little closer…whew; that’s a big one! Very black and hairy too! You go around to the other side and take a better look at it. Yep, it’s a spider. Which you knew all along.

And as you creep closer, what might happen if it suddenly scurried across the wall?

Odds are pretty good you would leap back and scream! Which begs the question, why did you put yourself in that situation in the first place, getting closer to the critter that upsets and frightens you?

Dogs do exactly the same thing.

Dogs who have fear issues often get closer as if inexplicably drawn in.  So what happens when the human responds by looking directly at the dog, approaches, and says a cheerful hello?

The dog hysterically backpedals, WOOWOOWOO’ing the whole way.  The spider just scurried across the wall!

And people are taken off guard every single time.

My best guess as to why people and dogs do this to ourselves is that we want to gather information about things that frighten us. We want to be absolutely certain about what we are seeing. There may be more to it, but that’s my guess.

However, for the purposes of this blog? The important thing is not so much why we approach or look at things that upset us as to understand that we do indeed do this, as do our dogs.

Never assume that a dog approaching something or someone means that they are comfortable with it. Indeed, it can be quite the reverse and if the person responds, that is exactly what could cause the dog to panic. Most dogs run away when they panic, but some, especially if they feel trapped, may lunge or bite.  I mean, when the spider jumps AT you rather than scurrying across the wall?  Well, you may well fight back!  Same with your dog – when a hand reaches out or a person approaches enthusiastically, panic could cause a range of possible reactions, including a bite.  Don’t put yourself, or your dog, in that situation!

If a dog approaches you directly, staring right up in your face? Avert your gaze, shift your posture to less frontal, and see what happens next.  And if the dog approaches you but appears to be going backwards and forwards, sort of creeping in, as if ready to escape? Same thing! Don’t coax them closer. Ignore the dog. Let the natural process of acclimating to new people help the dog make the decision about whether you are, indeed, safe for interaction.

The most commonly missed question on my recent quiz about fear asked if fearful dogs approach things they are afraid of. One in three people believed that no, a fearful dog would not approach something they were afraid of. Hence, this blog!  If you’d like to take the quiz you can find it here and test your own knowledge about fearful dogs:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MKRGNQW

The important point is that dogs will absolutely approach things they are afraid of. How you read and respond to that dog, whether your own or someone else’s, could make an enormous difference in that dog’s well being,

So now you know.  Sometimes behavior is more than a little confusing.

 

“Choice” in training for dog sports

If “choice” and “consent” are the future, what might that look like when applied to dog training for dog sports?

The following videos show Brito choosing his motivators, choosing his work and Denise combining them in various forms for distraction training. But wait, there’s more!  Sometimes Brito is choosing and sometimes Denise. 

One of the coolest things is that Brito is not at all consistent about his choices. Some days he favors working on position changes or going around the cone for his choice of work and on another day he might favor his ball over a tug toy for the motivator.

But the coolest thing of all? He has a way to tell me. What I do with that information is up to me; it’s one of the benefits of being the human. I do care about his opinion, and I want to make sure he has ways of expressing those opinions that I can understand.

A special thank you to Leslie McDevitt for giving me the idea to teach Brito to choose his motivators and to Alla Podkopaeva for giving me the idea to let Brito choose his work as well.

There is no rhyme or reason to the following videos or the choices I made. I wasn’t trying to accomplish anything in particular, I was simply playing around with what is possible. Over time, I would imagine that patterns might develop, and then I might become more strategic about how I use that information with my training but for now, I’m training for understanding; to explore the possibilities.

Choosing his work:

Choosing motivators and adding work:

Alternating who chooses:

Do you know about different dog sports? A crossword puzzle – just for fun

A little entertainment – find the answers at the bottom of this blog (so don’t scroll down until you’re done!)

Note:  If you want to have your email added to the FDSA mailing list then fill in your name and address at the end of the puzzle and include a comment asking to be added (we do not want you to be added if you do not want to be there).

If that is not your interest, then simply close out the window and come over here to check your answers – no need to submit them :).

I

Answers to the puzzle – Don’t peek until you’re done!

…….
…….
Are you peeking?
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Here we go:

ARTICLES
CONSENT
DECOY
FOOD
FRONTCROSS
HEEL
HELPER
OUT
SCENTPAD
SIGNS
SIT
STEWARD
WRAPS
YOUR

 

Why did he chew off his tail and break his teeth?

Are you familiar with serious working dogs? The ones who will play ball until they drop of heat stroke? Hang onto a bite suit in spite of intense and repeated external punishment to make them let go? Complete the retrieve of a shot bird even though they broke their leg on the way back? Chew their tails off and break their teeth on their kennel door when another dog gets a turn before they do?

These are true stories. Some of you know all about these dogs. Dogs like that? I love them the best of all, but if you’re not paying attention you’re going to be in over your head very quickly because “this hurts” doesn’t work very well to change their behavior. If it did then the dog wouldn’t self-mutilate since one presumes that chewing off your own tail off when you got left in the kennel is pretty extreme “this hurts” behavior. And yet, the dog will do it again and again in the same scenario unless something external happens to intervene and prevent it.

High drive dogs are bred to obsessive-compulsive tendencies and as a result, the basic rule of operant learning that dogs will do more of what works for them and will avoid things that are unpleasant runs into a fatal flaw: emotions trump reason. Operant training assumes a rational learner. What is a rational learner?

One who is able to 1) recognize their own behavior 2) make the connection between that behavior and what happens next 3) change their behavior to maximize their self-interest. But what happens if the dog is so emotionally wired up that he is unable to do all of these things? Then learning will not occur at all or will occur extremely slowly.

Here’s a human example. I tend to “rock” when I talk. I am not aware that I do it; it’s an unconscious habit that I only learned about when I saw one of my live presentations on video after the fact. If you didn’t like it and you yelled at me (or worse) each time I did it, then I still wouldn’t have changed my behavior – I cannot choose to change behavior that I am not aware of. If you got me to the point of being so afraid and shut down that I stopped doing anything at all and therefore stopping rocking – you might think I had learned – made a choice. Of course, the opposite result is equally possible – I become so afraid that I move even more hysterically; I stress up. And then you’ll think I did not care enough to change so then what? Increase the aggression towards me?

The same fear and desire to avoid distress but two ways of responding from the learner. Sound like any dogs you know? Could you be the handler, increasing aggression when you don’t get what you want?

Training dogs who are “over threshold” (too excited, angry or worried to recognize their own behavior) is painfully slow because the dog cannot make the necessary connections to learn in a conscious fashion.

But what if the learner is perfectly aware of the relationship between their behavior and the end result, yet still does not change to maximize their apparent interests? What might be the explanation there? Maybe they do not change their behavior because of their brain wiring. A person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who washes their hands 50 times a day knows perfectly well why their hands are bloody and infected. But that’s not the point; they cannot stop. The brain wiring is off. It’s not a lack of understanding of consequence; it’s an inability to apply that knowledge because of other (often unidentified) factors, such as physical or mental pain or disability.

If you don’t think dogs can have obsessive-compulsive behavior then you haven’t watched enough working dogs.

What’s the point?

Dogs have an optimal place where they can learn. Too low in arousal and you’ll get nowhere. Too high and frantic and you’ll get nowhere. You need a learner who is conscious of consequences and with reasonable brain wiring and sound health. This may be hard to understand if you never experienced a dog who will self-mutilate to the point of requiring surgery because it was not his turn to work; apparently, his emotional distress was significantly more powerful than the painful chewing that should have alerted the brain to change direction.

I talk more about emotions in training than anything else. Now you know why. You need an emotionally stable learner who is in a place to learn.

Not progressing in training? Check your dog’s overall arousal. If he can’t stop moving you have a problem. If he’s screaming and whining and cannot relax you have a problem. If he’d rather nap on the couch you have a problem.

What should you do? You can try all sorts of things – from increasing your reinforcement to training calm behavior to adding choice to your training to recognizing signs of mental illness and physical discomfort, but I can tell you what does not work for sure:

More of the same.

 

 

 

The future of progressive dog training

In the not so distant past, most of us considered pressure to be physical, in particular in relation to our dogs but also in relation to our children.  Dog won’t sit on cue?  Push the dog’s rear end down and pull up on the collar.  Dog doesn’t come when called?  Drag the dog in by the leash or push the button on a remote collar.  The externally applied, physical punisher could be painful (shock collar) or annoying (push down on the dog’s butt) but in all cases the expectation was to provide a physical, external consequence that the learner would work to avoid. And with kids?  Spare the rod and spoil the child.  Same thing.

And then…change!  Next up?  Food and toys and…emotional pressure.   A novice trainer working well beyond their capacity to apply and understand concepts, inadvertently training through withholding reinforcement rather than teaching desired behaviors. A frustrated, stressed and unhappy trainer, pushing past the dog’s interest or capacity to learn or retain new information, repeating the same techniques over and over even as the dog does not progress.  Negative markers that ensure the learner’s failure is duly noted and commented on.   The worst that is done to the dog?  Loss of a cookie and the disappointment of the teacher. The worst!

So which is worse? A smack on the butt or a deep sigh from a frustrated trainer? Or maybe both at the same time to really make your point.

As with all things, which is worse depends on the learner and what happens over time– maybe tomorrow or maybe in six months but the moment that the pressure is applied reveals only the tip of the iceberg.  Some dogs (and people) are extremely sensitive to emotional pressure and shut down completely, whereas other dogs (and people) appear oblivious.  Make an error? Take the consequence and go at it again, regardless of what form the pressure comes in or for how long it is applied.  These flexible, forgiving and pressure tolerant dogs make excellent competitors.  They are often prized for their apparent capacity to learn rather than for this innate quality of temperament. It is rare that anyone asks the question: Did this dog succeed because of our training method or in spite of it? We’re just happy that something worked and even happier to take credit for the final result.

The underlying assumptions about who retains control over the training event- the application of pressure and reinforcers – has remained the same, even as we have changed our methods. We have retained this right as the teacher. Indeed, until relatively recently no one was asking the learner if they wanted to participate at all, not to mention when that training might occur or for how long it might take place.  Of course they want to participate!  Food! Toys!  Games! We’re having so much fun!

And yet we all see dogs who have never bought into the program.  The food, the toys, and the games?  Whatever.  Given a choice, they walk away from training, and the owner calls them back. If training is so awesome, a veritable doggy Disneyland, why do we need to call them back?  We have not relinquished control – just changed the tools.

That reality is changing and, in my opinion, will have some significant and widespread effects on training (humans, dogs and otherwise) in the near future.

I believe the future involves more than just allowing the learner to opt in and to opt out (though that’s pretty cool, it has been around for a while). The future includes asking for the learner’s active permission to start, and to continue, with training. To direct the choices that are made about what is trained, for how long and under what circumstances.  The future weaves choice and consent through all aspects of training, behavior work and competition.  The future includes using active consent as a reinforcer in and of itself – the right to walk away as a significant part of the reinforcement package and the right to continue as a valued reinforcer – in and of itself. Reinforced by the choice to participate in the activity – kind of amazing really.

Until rather recently, we have neglected the power of choice and self-determination as reinforcers that can be used throughout an entire training session. Animals of all types will work harder, longer and with more effort if their opinion is both requested and respected as training progresses.

What does this look like?

Engagement training to reduce food or toy reinforcers in highly trained dogs.  The dog decides when training starts and as engagement training progresses, the dog is asked if they want training to continue INSTEAD of handing over a cookie or toy as the “go-to” reinforcer.  The end result?  Dogs that work very hard, often for relatively little payout or under challenging conditions. All dogs?  Of course not – it’s perfectly possible that your dog may not particularly like what you have to offer in the way of choice of work (obedience? agility?), choice of motivator (food? toys? Play?), and choice of conditions (stressful? Emotional triggers nearby?) But the obvious improvement in the majority of dogs makes this approach hard to dismiss out of hand.

Consent (Start button) behaviors.  The dog clearly indicates to the handler – yes, you can start!  Yes, you can continue!  I am willing to do this with you! Consent behaviors which give the dog an instant start and stop option for communication –  a cornerstone of modern and thoughtful cooperative and veterinary care and currently working its way into various aspects of competition dog training from teaching to proofing to competition.

Counter conditioning with buy-in.  The dog lets the handler know…. I’m ready.  That scary guy can approach.  I can handle this building.  I want to do this with you – I want to play this game. And more!  The dog can also say, ‘Stop; I need a break”.  Amazing. Effective. As Leslie McDevitt stresses in her upcoming book, training is a conversation with our dogs; fluid and ever-changing as circumstances change around us.

In all cases, the dog chooses and the handler listens. The handler asks again and again; “is this okay with you?” and the conversation flows. The learner has taken control and directs the process when that is possible, resulting in more effective training sessions with less stress, and the teacher has an opportunity to identify, often on a second by second basis, what is influencing their dog and their decisions.  What an amazing way to grow our skills!

For those of you who have worked with choice and consent in your training, you know how well it works; it is the missing piece for so many animals.  For those of you who have not explored these concepts, this whole discussion may sound ridiculous.  Maybe as ridiculous as training dogs with cookies rather than corrections sounded thirty years ago.  I mean, what happens if the dog opts out? Where are the consequences?

What happens if the dog opts out?  About the same as dogs who opt out when they recognize that there are no cookies or corrections in the middle of a competition – we’ve never gotten past that pesky detail, have we.  Dogs opt out all the time, and at the most inconvenient times too!  No method has ever generated guarantees when living beings are involved.  Animals, including humans, opt out.  We don’t like to think about that too much but that doesn’t change the facts.

Learners have opted out in times past.  They opt out in current times.  And they will opt out in the future.  What we do next?  That kind of depends on what activity they are opting out of.   Opting out of the jump that you indicated might suggest a different response than opting out of a life-threatening medical procedure that needs to take place RIGHT NOW. If you cannot recognize the difference then you have control issues of your own to think through, never mind the dog.

Cool things are on the horizon.

 

 

 

 

Barking

I recently offered a quiz about “all things Fenzi and FDSA style training” on the FDSA Facebook business page.   I tested general dog knowledge along with training tips that are rather specific to me.  I’d like to talk about one of the questions and the resulting answers. Here it is:

Barking at the handler usually indicates:

a. aggression.

b. frustration or confusion.

c. both of the above.

d. neither of the above.

 

The correct answer to this question is:

B. frustration or confusion.

I see a lot of dogs barking at handlers and I can honestly say I don’t think it’s ever been followed up with aggression towards the handler, nor was this a concern in my mind. When I say aggression, I mean lunging towards the handler, trying to bite, or snapping. Barking is normally a way to increase distance (get the bad guy to leave) OR to communicate with others.  Which doesn’t mean I haven’t seen barking followed up by aggression toward strangers, but a stranger is not a handler.

So what does actual dog aggression and threat towards the handler usually look like? Growling. Hardening of the mouth and face. Slow stiff movements.  Snarling.  Posturing.  If you see those things, you need to de-escalate the situation. Quickly!   But barking?

When you see barking within the context of training, assume distress caused by lack of information! Your dog is talking to you and it’s time to listen, because 99% of the time the dog is expressing frustration. They don’t know how to win! They don’t know what you want!

So what should you do?

Start by having a very clear idea in YOUR head about what you need to see so that the dog can earn reinforcement. It needs to be reasonable, and the dog needs to know the answer.   If the dog does not know the answer or your request is not reasonable, barking is likely to ensue if your dog is prone to this form of communication.

Personally, I love it when dogs talk to me regardless of how they might do so. Some dogs will simply sit and stare. Some dogs will bark or whine. Some dogs will spin. Some dogs will show general agitation or leaping/snapping at my face. These are all forms of communication and not aggression.

When your dog is talking to you and is telling you that they are not happy, stop your training session and figure out why.

Does this mean that a dog barking at the handler could not escalate to biting? Of course not, but it is not typical; it is not the norm. Most of the time the dog is simply asking you to relieve the frustration by making a more clear path. Honor your dog’s request or end the session altogether while you figure out what you want to do next.

If you’d like to take the quiz for yourself, go ahead! You’ll find it here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PTSJ3PG

And on another note, registration for the October term at FDSA wraps up on Monday.  If you’d like to enroll, check the schedule and get registered!

The Power of Habit, Part 2

In my last blog I discussed the role of habit in our dog’s lives.  I focused on habits in relation to house rules and not to performance dog training and that was on purpose.  Now I’m going to switch gears a little because I often want my dog consciously engaged in the process of figuring out what I want rather than relying on habits.

That’s when I’m going to use active training where I engage my dog’s brain – conscious thought rather than habit. I will want my dog thinking about choices, picking the correct ones, and finding that classic reinforcement possibilities (cookies and toys) show up for those choices.  I want my dog to fluidly switch back and forth between training which is a function of habit ( aspects where I want to see no variation over time, such as the weave poles or an automatic sit at heel when I stop walking)  and training which is a function of conscious thought (aspects where I want the dog using me as a resource to guide their choices, usually via cues but not always. Examples might include cue discrimination exercises in obedience or following handling cues in agility)

When I cue “down” I want my dog’s body to fold into a down by habit; no thought required! When I ask my dog to go over a jump and pick up an object? Same thing. I don’t want my dog to do it with conscious thought or variation; simply follow the cue 100% of the time with as little thought as possible.   I want to develop a highly predictable habit.

But how about when specific behaviors are in chains where the dog’s appropriate responses are in flux; quickly directed from one activity to another, like in the handling aspects of agility? Now I want my dog to develop a habit of paying attention to my handling but NOT operating on habit for the work itself! As a result, I’m going to maintain that habit of attention by changing my requests frequently so that my dog remains flexible with the work, and yet always with the habit of attending to me! Sometimes we’ll go left and sometimes right. Sometimes we might pass the tunnel and go to a jump. Sometimes you’ll leave the start line straight ahead, and sometimes I’ll send you to a jump that is behind you.

In those cases, my goal is to reduce the possibility of a work driven habit and increase the role of conscious thought.

How about the obstacles themselves, like weave poles or dog walks? I want habit! Muscle memory!  I want the dog’s mind and body to hit them and not do any thinking at all – the body should power through while the brain is available to take the handler’s direction for the next obstacle.

When habits form, they create grooves in the brain. The more times a dog and handler do a specific thing in a specific way, the deeper the groove. Your goal, when teaching your dog behaviors that will never vary, is to make an incredibly deep groove in the brain for that behavior.   And your goal, when teaching your dog to attend to your cues that show up in a chain which are likely to be random, is to prevent the development of those deep grooves in the brain – to keep the dog in the realm of conscious thought.

Another way to think about it might be this:  if it’s a foundation behavior that will never vary, for example, the dog’s response to the cue “sit”, then we want the dog in the realm of habit – unconscious thought. But when the dog is waiting for the next possible cue?  Then we want the dog consciously listening and engaged so that they will perform as directed and not predict or operate out of habit.

Let’s consider how this might be applied in your training decisions for a moment.

In obedience, there are exercises where you want a predictable response. For example, the retrieve over the high jump. This exercise is never going to be different so I’m perfectly happy for the dog to have a strong habit.  The dog knows what is going to happen. I cue “fetch” and…the dog should leave me, clear the jump, pick up the dumbbell cleanly, clear the jump on the way back, sit straight in front and hold the dumbbell quietly until I ask for it.  An entire habit driven exercise!

But what happens if the dumbbell goes off center?  Now I need the dog to become conscious of the exercise; to think about how to find the jump on the way back or to sit straight, even though they are not coming directly towards me.

But what if …the dog starts to anticipate? Before I send to fetch, the dog is already fetching!  Now what? One of the problems with habit is that habits allow the dog pay less attention to us.  So what does one do when this happens; when habits cause the dog to stop attending to us at all?

If that happens, I’m going to break the habit.  Instead of sending my dog after throwing the dumbbell over the high jump, I might cue my dog to “spin” before I send.  The proportion of times I ask the dog to spin versus cueing a formal retrieve is in direct proportion to the dog’s temperament and how important it is for the dog to think rather than simply responding to whatever is happening in front of them.

Pesky details like temperament.  Always mucking up training plans.

Now let’s consider the cue discrimination exercise in AKC open obedience, or the directed jumping exercise in Utility. In these exercises, I need the dog paying attention to me with conscious thought every single time.  I don’t want a strong habit for the exercise because it always varies and I need the dog to remain flexible, but I do want a strong habit for the actual cued behaviors, like sit, down or stand.

Give some thought to which exercises or behaviors you want to develop with a strong habit and which ones you want to remain flexible. As a general rule, foundation behaviors are a function of habit, and chains are a function of varying degrees of conscious thought.

It’s also worth considering the temperament of your dog. Is your dog more comfortable doing things exactly the same way each time? If so then take advantage of that. You will do more pattern training with your dog and you won’t vary it very much unless you begin to see anticipation.  And if you notice your dog becoming a little dull with his work, responding fully on autopilot?  Then you need to break some of the habits within those chains and give your dog a reason to pay attention by adding complexity to the work, incorporating games or varying your cues to keep your dog on his toes.  Ask yourself which gives YOUR dog more confidence, speed, and enthusiasm for the task, developing and maintaining habits or conscious thought?

When choosing, remember that habits provide comfort and security and conscious thought creates energy and brings out the “game” aspects of work. Of course, using conscious thought and games assumes that your dog is highly successful via a training plan that encourages self-confidence.  If your dog is low in confidence and you cannot find a way to create sessions that allow your dog to be highly successful the majority of the time, or if you cannot handle your dog’s errors with a cheerful attitude, then spend more of your energy on habit and preserve your dog’s confidence.

And how about you, the handler? Personally, I don’t do well with habit based competition dog training; I like games and variation.  Conversely, I have encountered handlers who have a very strong preference for training with habit; they do each exercise exactly the same way and in the same order every single time.  Which doesn’t mean that dogs and handlers cannot be flexible and leave their preferred approach but it does mean that we show individual tendencies.  Temperament matters.

Spend some time thinking about habit. For a given situation or behavior, do you want to create a deep and predictable groove in the brain?   If you want something performed exactly the same way every single time with no thought whatsoever, you’ll probably want to go with habit.  And what if, for a given behavior chain, you want your dog operating with thought and attention? Then you do not want to develop a habit for that behavior, except for the habit of attending to the handler.

Enjoy your training!

And on an unrelated note…Fenzi Dog Sports Academy is still accepting registrations for the October term.  If you’ve been meaning to sign up, time is running out!