Weekly Tidbits - July 28, 2021
On my mind this week and random things from around the web on dogs, behaviour and training.
Success Breeds Success
One of the first things I learned about using reward-based training is that, in order for the training to work, the dog should be successful 70-80% of the time. That means that my dog will earn a reward 7 or 8 times out of every 10 tries. That might sound like an unreasonably optimistic goal when trying to teach a dog but we have a lot of control over what “success” actually means. We are the ones giving out the rewards after all.
Have a plan - I always like to take some time to think about how I want to teach my dog a particular behaviour. If I am going to teach my new puppy to “Sit”, that process may mean more than just my puppy’s bum hitting the floor. Do I need them to stay there until I say it’s ok to get up? Do I need them to sit in a particular place like in front of me or at my side? Will I need them to sit straight and not roll onto one hip while sitting? All of these things will determine if my dog has done the “sit” successfully during training. It’s what we call criteria in training speak. Having a plan means setting criteria for each training session that my dog is likely to be able to do successfully. I may need to increase my criteria for the “sit” behaviour as we go along and I include all of those steps in my training plan.
Two steps forward, one step back - Raising criteria for behaviours is more of an art than a science. Sometimes when I raise my criteria for a behaviour, my dog’s success rate can drop. I am asking for a bit more, something new, or working in a new place. It can be tempting to think that my dog has “got this” and should know how to work through the increased criteria. But trust me when I tell you that success is much more important. If my dog fails too often, they might just give up on the process and stop trying. It’s up to me to notice when my dog is struggling and to make that training easier (temporarily) so my dog can get rewards and feel successful. It’s a process of taking two steps forward but one step back sometimes. It’s perfectly fine to push for more but be willing to relax your criteria to help your dog be successful.
Be honest with yourself - It’s exciting when my dog makes progress in training and sometimes it’s easy to think they have learned more than they actually have. It can be frustrating to find that my dog doesn’t really know a behaviour after seeing them perform it in the previous training session. Expectations get in the way. If my dog isn’t progressing the way I thought they would, that’s not a reason to push harder to get the behaviour. I need to make sure that I have been clear about what I’m looking for, that I’ve made it easy for my dog to succeed, and that my reward rate has kept my dog motivated to continue. When I struggle with training, it is almost always something to do with they way I’m doing things and not any problem with my dog.
I have two training rules for myself to help me keep my dogs successful:
The 70% Rule - This is just a simple check to keep me on track. Have I seen my dog be successful in meeting my criteria 70% of the time? And by that I mean the WHOLE time, not just the last 5 or 6 attempts. Success, for me, is measured over the entire time we are working together.
The Rule of 3 - My dogs are only allowed to fail twice in a row while training. Regardless of what I am training, if my dogs don’t meet my criteria for two attempts in a row, they MUST be successful on the third attempt. I can make that happen by relaxing my criteria and accepting less of the behaviour or I can even just ask them for some behaviour that they know well. The point is, I want them to be successful and not fail repeatedly.
These two rules have helped me keep my training on track and my dogs motivated. The best trainers I know have similar guidelines for their training process. Remember, success for your dog will keep them engaged and motivated. It will breed more success as the years go by!
More Puppyville - Laying a Foundation
The current outbreak of puppies in our circle of friends continues! We’re getting to “puppy-sit” and work with some neighbourhood puppies on the beginnings of their training adventure. It has given me a chance to reflect on how we have refined our training approach to our own pups’ first year. For us it really comes down to laying down a foundation of important concepts and behaviours that our dogs will need throughout their lives.
I like to think of it like “paving a road.” There are lots of adventures and activities I will want to have with my dog but those travels will be much more frustrating if I don’t take the time to prepare the road; to give my dog the basic skills they will need. The process does more than just teach behaviour basics like “Sit”, “Stay”, and “Come!” There are concepts and ideas that also need to be communicated.
The first thing we work on with our puppies is teaching them how to learn. My dog and I are different species and we don’t share a common language at first. Mark & Reward training provides an easy way for my dog and I to understand each other. When my dog does what I’m looking for, I mark the moment with a sound (e.g., a clicker or a vocal marker like “yes!”) and give them a food reward. It’s simple - See it, Mark it, Pay for it. For my dog, it’s a different but equally rewarding game - Do the thing that gets dad to make the sound and get the food!
That’s how my dog learns how to learn. Listen for the marker and repeat the thing you did just before you heard it. As I said, it’s a simple system but my dogs pick it up quickly (usually in 2 or 3 minutes) and I get to use it for the rest of their lives. I can also use Mark & Reward training to teach my dogs another important concept.
When we start using Mark & Reward with our dogs, the rule is that if they hear the Marker, they WILL get rewarded. It’s a contract. I told you that you did it right, here’s your reward. Very quickly, my dogs learn that “Dad can be trusted.” It is the consistency of always paying when my dog hears the marker that creates a bond of Trust between us. It’s a bond that becomes invaluable through our lives together. My dogs can depend on me and I can depend on them.
And there are other concepts that need to be taught. I need to work with my dogs to make sure they learn how to cope with life’s little inconveniences like being left alone sometimes, that they can’t always get what they want, and that sometimes they will just have to wait for things. For some of these things, we set up training exercises to help them practice but other things are just taught through experience.
Learning to cope means not being asked to handle more than you can. So it’s important for us to be able to see our dog’s frustration and put their mental and emotional needs ahead of our own sometimes. It might not be convenient to stay out of certain areas or not do certain activities with our dogs, but it’s important to make sure they can handle the sights, sounds, and situations these things will require of them. Teaching them to cope with lower intensity situations goes a long way to helping them understand that they can handle it and that we are there to help them or move them away if it gets to be too much.
Making the extra effort in that first year to “pave the road” and teach our dogs a solid foundation sets them up to learn more complex behaviours and become motivated performers. In addition, they are confident and enthusiastic performers that are eager and willing companions because they trust that we are there for them.
I’m very much looking forward watching all these little “learners” develop into happy, confident, and oh-so-smart dogs!
Remember - Life happens, be kind.
Have a great week and have fun with your dogs!