Have a mental picture

I am at my client’s and she is telling me that her little dog did not want to go for a walk last week.

She cannot understand why her dog refuses to walk on lead and basically popped her bottom on the ground in protest.

I am not very familiar with this dog as I have only seen her twice so I cannot immediately shed some light as to why she chooses not to go for a walk.  Is it the collar that she has been recently wearing? As we try to “clear” the aversion she has for the harness my client was using for her.  Perhaps she does not want to go for a walk and potentially meet the neighbor’s large dog that once ran up to them.  At this point it is all a mystery.

I proceed to leash the dog and I encourage her to walk with me in the spacious home. I show my client how to position her body in order to encourage her dog to move forward with her. All this I learned courtesy of TTouch.

Her little dog begins to move along with me.  Initially with slight hesitation but I kept having a mental picture in my mind as to what I wanted the dog to do.

My client can’t believe it.  Her dog is almost trotting along my side delighted in the small treats that I give to her as she approaches me.

Well, I tell her, I have no idea as to why she would not walk at all on lead for her, but here are some of my suggestions.  I tell her that she should have a picture in her mind as to what she wants the dog to do.

I proceed by explaining that having a clear mental picture of what the dog needs to do is helpful in a few ways. First it gives us clarifications as to what exactly we will be reinforcing. In this case, any movement forward on lead which by default precludes the dog placing her butt on the ground and not moving forward.

Secondly, we are focused on the solution, so to speak instead of staying focus on the problem.

I learned of this “technique” from some fantastic horse trainers whose methods of training I admire.  What they can accomplish with their horses is truly out of this world and all of it is trained by using gentle methods, cooperation and never coercion on the horses. My line of thinking was that if these highly skilled trainers were using this technique I could too. Now, it has become part of the natural way of approaching a situation that needs some modification.

We proceed to take the dog outside.  Proof of fire- I tell my client, let’s find out if perhaps there was something out there that concerned her and she wanted to avoid.

As I step into their front patio, I continue to use a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Another proven technique to encourage cooperation. You see, dogs are highly social animals and as such they are constantly taking cues from their environment and us.  If I asked the dog to move along with me without having any hesitation in my mind or tone of voice she then can muster whatever was lacking earlier in her ability to walk forward on the lead.

Once outside, I continue with the same approach as I did in the home and long and behold the pup is keeping up with us now sniffing and almost prancing with delight.

As we turned around to head back home I gave my client the lead as she continues to encourage her dog to move along.

The dog’s reluctant to go for a walk was one mystery I could not resolve. But at least, I had the opportunity to encourage her ever so gentle to walk with me on the lead.  The fact is that there will be many times that we will not know what is behind a particular circumstance or behavior, but we can still use the formula of having a clear picture in our minds as to what we would like that behavior to be instead and from that premise we can come up.

Still Learning

I am working with some clients and their dog in teaching the dog not to pull on leash. They had come to me after a frustrating full-time pulling outing with their dog.

I take the dog’s leash from my client’s hand and we take off walking, the dog was barely pulling and very interested in what I have to offer him.

My clients who are standing nearby can’t believe their powerful dog is not interested in pulling and jokingly (and probably happy to see their dog can learn) tell me that they are not making stuff up… that the dog was really pulling! I tell them that I know they are not “lying” and that I believe that their dog was pulling because most dogs will pull if they have not been taught otherwise.

As I describe to them what I am doing and why the dog is now not pulling, one of my client’s offers that she thinks her dog is walking nicely without pulling because I am assertive. I tell her that it is not so much that I am assertive (which I am but not the main reason for my nice walking on leash “success”) but that the main reasons are:

1. I know what I want the dog to do. In other words I have a clear picture in my head of what walking nicely on leash is. So I can aim for this goal with less work and more rapidly. Similarly to having good directions when not familiar with a destination.
2. I am paying the dog handsomely for tiny success of him remaining semi-close to me or at least walking in front of me with a loose leash - the opposite of a taut one.

I turn to her and I tell her… the “trick is to recognized that Rover is still learning how to walk nicely on a leash." He is in effect in the first of four stages of learning; the Acquisition stage.

When a dog is in this first stage of learning the dog must learn what we want him to do. What exactly will produce a reinforcer. In order for our learner to move into the next stage we must provide ample feedback (read: treats, smiles, praise etc.- any good stuff that will make the dog want to continue learning and working with you).

Fluency is the next stage. In essence the dog becomes capable (or fluent) in his ability to perform the trained behavior as if on “auto-pilot”. At this stage we are seeing more and more correct responses and as the responses go up in number also the number of times the dog is reinforced for “good answers” and because reinforcement increases the behavior that has been reinforced… the number of correct behaviors continues to increase.

Now we can begin stage 3: Generalization. At this stage the dog learns that the new learning has many relevant applications (or context in which it needs to be performed). In our example of walking nicely on leash the dog is now able to walk without pulling not only in a semi-distracting environment. Say, when being walked in front of his home, a familiar location, but in addition, the dog learns that walking on a loose leash when seeing a familiar dog, getting a scent of an interesting smell etc. is the way to go. I know, it sounds almost impossible but it happens all the time!

The final stage is that of Maintenance. At this last stage our learner is consistent in offering the correct behavior in all sorts of instances or environments.

Now, I just described to you what the learner is learning and the process of learning, but what is the role of the “teacher/coach/ trainer/owner" as we teach our dog to engage in desirable behaviors?

There are so many important skills and knowledge base that is needed in order to teach anyone with efficacy and empathy- dog training is no different! And that is in part what makes it so interesting to some of us and such a big challenge to most people.

The one skill I want to focus on is that one of providing feedback to the dog.

One of the biggest misconceptions in training dogs is that the dog learns by the use of a verbal cue (command). In reality dogs learn in two main ways and one of them is by consequences - good and bad.

What I mean by feedback is the use of a reward (reinforcer) as a form of “payment” to the dog but most importantly as a motivator – something the dog wants or would work for, for doing what I want him to do!

There, the big secret is out!

So what I was doing with my leash-pulling friend was reinforcing him for very small successes that kept him wanting to not only pay attention to what was earning him the reinforcer, but also able to continue to work for me for a longer period of time - so learning was taking place. Trainers often hear the following question: How long will I have to continue feeding my dog? The answer is that is depends.

It all depends on the stage of learning your dog is at for that specific behavior. Yes. It is more complex (and fun) than the description above but in essence that is correct. As the dog becomes successful in what we are aiming to teach him we can scale down on reinforcers.

Curiously enough, this in itself will maintain the behavior going strong - under learned circumstances. Once again, the science of animal learning is much more complex than saying “pay lots at the beginning and then pay less.” The devil is in the details and in the understanding of a few principles that will enable our learner to learn and for everyone involved in the process to enjoy it.