Decker earns his meal by catching it, chasing it and sniffing it, and although this is certainly lots of fun, he’s also learning lots, such as, to choose his human over all the stuff in the park like dogs, other people, wildlife, smells and goings on, that his human is where the fun is, responsiveness is rewarding even when distracted and excited and boring kibble can be great!
Don’t waste these opportunities by feeding from a bowl – think of every mouthful of food for your dog as an opportunity to reward desirable behaviour. And if you do that, your dog will choose unwanted behaviour less.
Don’t worry if you don’t feed kibble, you can still inject fun/training/exercise/focus into meal times!
(Depending on which components you feed here are some ideas that I have used in such situations)
freezing raw e.g. minces into nuggets in an ice-cube tray and hiding those
using a high quality/grain free kibble
drying dietary components to make jerky – works especially well for offal components
the use of freeze dried treats with a high meat content may be counted toward diet
bone or whole organ components can be used in scent games
stuff Kongs or similar with minces or soften components and bring on walks or use as rewards in training, by offering a couple of licks for example
Fun, focus, exercise and training packed into just one meal!
For more on making ‘boring’ rewards more rewarding here.
I can’t remember what I used to do when there was any sort of lull in the action before I had a smartphone.
Anything other than constant stimulation and I am reaching for my iPhone…
The movie Bolt struck a cord when I saw it a few years ago.
It’s about a canine star of a TV show, Bolt, who plays a dog with super-powers saving his person Penny from the Green Eyed Man, week in, week out.
Except, that nobody told Bolt it was just a work of fiction and that he isn’t really a super-dog.
When the cameras stop rolling Bolt is kept in a permanent state of readiness, to fend off attacks by his enemies.
What about pet dogs?
We certainly invest lots in teaching them to do lots of stuff, to increase their responsiveness, to build their love of learning and interaction.
And we put lots of energy into keeping them active, getting them moving, in the hope that a tired dog is a good dog (but is it?).
When do they get to just be?
‘Just being’ doesn’t necessarily come easily
Pretty much every type of dog was developed for some sort of job and in modern pet-dom most dogs are unemployed.
Our efforts in guiding dogs from wild to pet, whether intentional or not, selected for characteristics such as wariness, reactivity, inquisitiveness, attachment and activity.
Our pets’ lives, just like our’s, continue to become more and more sedentary with us substituting real-life pursuits for those that are easier to participate from a seated position – even sport is a less serious outlet for pretty serious behaviour.
Without outlets for our behaviour, it is channelled somewhere else – I have a Smartphone but what do our dogs have?
Would we know a dog ‘just being’ if we saw one?
It can be tricky to spot a calm, chilled out dog.
With great access to knowledge you might think we have a better handle on canine signalling, but unfortunately our awareness (or lack thereof) is affected by popular media’s interpretation of “calmness”.
Shutdown is not the same as calmness
A dog who is overwhelmed by a situation and can’t use behaviour to escape something they find unpleasant, will often show signs of ‘shutting down’.
This happens because the dog is unable to escape and his requests for relief have gone unheard/unanswered. This is typified by a very still dog – the absence of behaviour is not calmness.
Shut down dogs interact minimally with their environment, their body may be still and tense, if they are moving their posture may be low slung, they will often be frozen, you may see them yawn, lick their lips, and squint and blink (outside of normal contexts for these behaviours).
Eileen Anderson’s clip gives you a run down of some examples, mistaken for calmness:
Less behaviour is not necessarily better than more behaviour
If you want less behaviour, maybe the one in the middle ain’t for you…
What does a ‘just being’ dog look like?
A chilled dog is loose, breathing deeply, he may still be monitoring the environment but not really on his tip-toes, he may still be responsive but not in an overly enthusiastic way – but the biggest difference?
The chilled out, calm, ‘just being’ dog is choosing to chill, be calm and be.
Back to Eileen Anderson for her ying to the yang clip:
This dog needs help learning that they don’t need to be ‘on’ all the time – good things happen when you’re doing nothing too.
Both in training sessions, and in life, mark and reward doing nothing – even if it’s only a split second – the more you reinforce nothing, the less frantic behaviour you will see.
make sure to put behaviours on stimulus control – this means that the dog learns to offer behaviours when you cue them only, rather than as soon as he thinks there might be a reward or he thinks it might be time to work
When we might only have limited time with a dog, whether that be because we are visiting, working long hours or the dog is in a rescue/kennel environment, of course we want to make the most of our time together.
But, a dog who hasn’t been getting too much human attention will be pretty wound up and anticipatory waiting for it. Sometimes, it’s better just to hang out with them – this gives them the opportunity to calm down, bond and be.
To teach your dog best, keep him successful as possible. That means that if your dog can’t find your face in a particular situation, it’s just too distracting for him.
Distractions will affect your training efforts in three ways:
distance
duration
intensity
If your dog has trouble focusing it may be because:
you are too close to a distraction
you may be around the distraction for too long
the distraction may be too exciting, interesting, active, scary or conspicuous
For example, your dog may be distracted by another dog when:
you are too close to the other dog
your dog can watch the other dog for too long
the other dog is big, is bouncy, is barking, is making direct eye contact with your dog or maybe even approaching your dog
Keeping your dog successful means that you monitor his ability to focus and be comfortable around distractions.
Asking your dog to focus with distractions
Distance:
Start with distance from potentially distracting situations
How close can you be to a distraction, that your dog can find your face?
A good indication is that if your dog can do the Find my Face exercise, take their reward and then offer another focus, within a 5-count
If there is more of a delay or your dog has difficulty playing the
game at all, you’re too close.
Take a few steps away, and try again.
When your dog can offer 5 repetitions, with a 5-count or less between each one, take a couple of steps closer and build again.
When working on distance:
work for about 30 seconds to 1 minute
practice using distractions that are quiet, still, not facing your dog, not interacting with your dog in any way and are not too conspicuous
Duration:
When your dog is able to play focus games pretty close to distractions, start to build the length of each session.
Build by no more than 30 seconds at a time.
When working on duration:
practice at your starting working distance – decrease distance again gradually
practice using distractions that are quiet, still, not facing your dog, not interacting with your dog in any way and are not too conspicuous
Intensity
Now your dog is able to focus closer to distractions for a little longer – it’s time to increase the intensity of that distraction.
play Find my Face around more active distractions
When working on intensity:
practice at your starting working distance – increase distance again gradually
work for about 30 seconds to 1 minute
Combinations
As your dog improves and is able to Find your Face in and around distractions start to decrease distance while at the same time increasing duration or build intensity while decreasing distance.
This will best help you to have your dog responsive and with you in all sorts of situations.
Setting your dog (and you) up for success:
Adjust the distance, duration and intensity of exposure to distractions when working on focus exercises according to your dog’s abilities.
Use rewards that can compete with the level of distraction you are working on.
Keep the lead loose.
If your dog vocalises, lunges, jumps up on you and is too easily distracted – give your dog a break.
If the situation is too much for your dog, get him outta there!
If you haven’t trained for it, you can’t expect it!
Teaching your dog that him seeing certain stimuli (might be other dogs, people, distractions or specific situations) mean to focus on you is a real training shortcut – that means that as soon as your dog sees one of these things he immediately looks at you, gets into focus mode, and all you need to do is to reward him!
Today’s Games
Time Allowance:
Practice for 1-2 minute sessions and then take a break. Have a few sessions today and tomorrow.
Family Participation:
Kids are often great dog trainers. Teach each child how to play this game safely – have your child sit in a chair to practice.
If your dog is mouthy, jumpy or likely to get over-excited it might be best for you to get the behaviours established and then bring in the kids to help with practice.
Always supervise child-dog interactions and make sure children learn to leave the dog alone when eating his rewards.
Top Tip for Today’s Training Game:
Start working on these games in really low distraction situations. What really gets your dog distracted or excited?
Might be other dogs, passing people, squirrels or interesting smells.
Well, don’t start working around those until you can ace these games in other situations first.
You will need:
Training Mix
stuff for walkies i.e. leash, collar and so on
Beginner Level Games
Passive Focus
Start this exercise by practicing some Find My Face! in a low distraction situation – this might be on a quieter street area, in a quiet spot out on your walk or in the garden.
Allow your dog to pick out things in the environment and just let them observe…
Wait for your dog to choose to find your face; YES! and reward. Repeat.
Practice this game of passive focus in mildly distracting situations.
Check out Bailey practicing some passive focus in a mildly distracting carpark, with people, vehicles, noises and sniffing to distract her:
We can’t expect our dog to be focused all the time – it’s important that we also make sure our dog gets to be a dog and have fun too!
Rather than just ending a training session or a focus exercise and ignoring your dog, give them something else to do and encourage them to enjoy off-time too.
Today’s Games
Time Allowance:
Practice for 2-4 minute sessions and then take a break. Have a few sessions today.
Try fitting each short session into your routine; for example, while you wait for the kettle to boil, during the ad break of your TV show or while you wait for the computer to start up.
Family Participation:
Kids are often great dog trainers. Teach each child how to play this game safely.
If your dog is mouthy, jumpy or likely to get over-excited it might be best for you to get the behaviours established and then bring in the kids to help with practice.
Always supervise child-dog interactions and make sure children learn to leave the dog alone when eating his rewards.
Top Tip for Today’s Training Game:
Establish this exercise with your dog searching for food and then begin to transfer it to sniffing doggie areas.
This way you will always be able to give your dog some time-off to sniff, no matter where you are.
Let’s start with teaching your dog to find your face, no matter where he is, as a default.
That means that you won’t need to ask him to give eye contact, that he will learn to choose to focus on you.
If your dog is looking for your face, think of all the behaviours, that you don’t like, he can’t do!?
Today’s Games
Time Allowance:
Practice for 1-2 minute sessions and then take a break. Have a few sessions today and tomorrow.
Try fitting each short session into your routine; for example, while you wait for the kettle to boil, during the ad break of your TV show or while you wait for the computer to start up.
Family Participation:
Kids are often great dog trainers. Teach each child how to play this game safely – have your child sit in a chair to practice.
If your dog is mouthy, jumpy or likely to get over-excited it might be best for you to get the behaviours established and then bring in the kids to help with practice.
Always supervise child-dog interactions and make sure children learn to leave the dog alone when eating his rewards.
Top Tip for Today’s Training Game:
Observe your dog really closely during this exercise. We are going to reward little steps toward full-on eye contact.
If your dog has trouble, go back a couple of steps and work at the last point your dog was successful.
You will need:
Training Mix
Beginner Level Games:
Teaching Find my Face:
drop a treat right at your toe
when your dog bows their head to eat it, watch them closely
say YES! as soon as you see their head raise
drop another treat right at your toe
say YES! as soon as your dog’s head raises toward you
drop another treat right at your toe
say YES! as soon as your dog’s head raises toward your face
drop another treat right at your toe
say YES! as soon as your dog’s face meets yours
drop another treat right at your toe
say YES! as soon as your dog makes eye contact
drop another treat right at your toe
repeat
Soon your dog will be zipping his face back up to your’s after eating the dropped treat.
Calm, happy, focus is so often our training-dream; a dog who will respond even when there are distractions and who enjoys working in partnership with his person, in all sorts of situations.
We can achieve calm, happy focus in distracting situations with careful training.
By teaching your dog to focus in lower distraction situations we can continue to build on this success by carefully introducing slightly greater distraction levels in increments.
Disclaimer: this video was made for demonstration purposes only; Decker or any dog did not suffer any distress during or after this work – please don’t worry! In response to trainers who show similar scenes with their dogs wearing training collars, shock collars or training equipment, this is a dog who has been worked and trained with rewards-based training – there are no training tools or treats or toys used here at all showing that dogs trained this way can work in very distracting situations, without ‘cookies’ and through choice.
What do I need for week 4?
Training Mix, toys or other reward
your dog’s collar and leash
Kong toys or similar for pacifying
Week 4 Training Games
Find my Face
LOOK!
Go be a dog!
Environmental cues for focus
Adding and building distractions
What’s my dog learning?
focusing on my person is very rewarding
I learn that to access distractions, I can check in with my person first
I can check in with my person even though I would really like to sniff, run around and explore and I can wait to access the things I want.
My self-control is developing – I can’t have all the things I want, when I want them.
Passing in or out of a door is a cue to check in with my person and wait patiently.
Learning to stop and check in with my person will keep me safer.
Of course calm, happy focus doesn’t need to be a training dream – it can be a training reality.
You can download a more printer friendly, but abbreviated version of this week’s exercises here.
AniEd Ireland 