Reward Based Training
Rewarding your dog for appropriate behavior is not a new concept, however many of us are “old school” and simple grew up telling our dog what to do. Using rewards or reinforcement will help your dog want to please you more often!
What is Reinforcement?
Reinforcement is something you add to your training to increase or strengthen a behavior. High pitch praise, food, laughing, clapping, freedom, walks, going out the door, bones, tug you get it! I want you to help your dog understand that when he complies life is good for him and that there are consequences for his actions which will help him make the correct decision!
Mark the Behavior
Timing is very important as this is how you communicate with your dog. Dogs do not speak our language so they can only associate a behavior with a reward or a correction, and only if the time between the two is very short. Using a marker like a “yes” or clicker will speed your dogs learning. Marking involves having effective timing so you mark the exact moment the dog does the correct behavior then follow through with reinforcement!
Rate of Reinforcement
Reward often, our dogs learn through associations, so rewards help them know when they are doing something appropriate to us. To strengthen the behavior you want you should continue to reward. How often should you reward? As often as needed! Really good trainers reward generously which keeps the dog motivated in the task at hand. If you mark a behavior with a click or “yes”, then always follow through with a reward.
Put it all together
The dog that pulls on the leash is very frustrating to walk. Try using a marker to help the dog understand what it is you want. When the dog pulls, stop walking, using a clicker, click and reward when your dog looks at you, be patient! Repeat until your dog begins to look at you while you are moving forward together. Take two steps, if your dog looks at you REWARD! then three, then five, then several, then for longer and longer distances. The dog is being paid to focus on you; it cannot do that and pull at the same time. If your dog pulls, stop again and wait until he looks at you, then reward. Eventually just putting on the leash can become a cue for "walking together." Paying your dog for heeling nicely is much more effective than punishing the pull. It's also more effective than the physical intervention of hauling the dog's head and neck around repeatedly by the leash, which will give you a sore arm before too long! Have fun and watch your dog learn quickly through marking and rewarding!
Was your first baby your dog? Mine was. In fact, I had two small mix breeds when I brought home my first of 3 babies! I want to give you some important advice and offer you some practical training that will help your dog love your new bundle of joy!
Let me first say “Congratulations” on your new addition or future addition!
Desensitization and training your dog can certainly help ease the transition of having a new, noisy bundle of joy in the home, but nothing is more important than safety. We know that most dog bites are directed at children. Why? The main reason is that dogs tend to be guarders, even the most wonderful dog can decide to guard food or a toy from a child. The second most common reason is fear. If a dog has never been socialized with children, they can be quite scary! The third most common is rough play or accidental bites. For these reasons, I do not recommend ever leaving a child under the age of 9 or 10 alone with a dog.
Here are a few tips I think you will find helpful in helping your dogs adjust to your new baby!
Positive Association/Desensitization:
Purchase or borrow a baby doll, one that cries, giggles or talks is best. Wrap it up and pretend you are holding, burping and cuddling your baby. When the dog comes to sniff, praise them while quickly setting boundaries. Ask for a sit and then reward! If you have two dogs, only allow one dog at a time to investigate the new doll, stroller, basinet, diaper bag, etc. If you like to use a clicker in training, then you would click and treat when the dog sniffs any new object providing the dog with positive feedback. A dog that gets punished every time he approaches the new baby will soon learn that the baby = punishment, I do not like the baby, grrrrr. Remember, the goal is that whenever the dogs are near the baby, great things happen with boundaries in place!
If you get frustrated every time your baby cries, the dogs will associate stress with the sounds the baby makes which will cause the dog to be nervous/anxious. If the baby makes a crying sound as it approaches your pup, can he become reactive to the baby? People always say “there was no warning or reason for the dog bite.” There is always a reason, we just miss our dogs signals. Practicing “calm energy” will not only be good for your dog, it will be great for you!
Give your Dog Feedback/Set Boundaries:
Practice putting the baby doll in a stroller and walking the dogs with the pretend baby so they get use to keeping their toes out of the way, the sounds it makes and wide turns. Practice having the dogs sit often especially when you see another dog, this is best done behind the stroller, just in case they dash toward a dog, you want your leashes to be behind the stroller so they won't risk knocking your stroller over.
Practice laying the pretend baby on the floor on his/her blanket. Teach the dog that the blanket is not to be stepped on. How? Put a leash on your dog and practice walking past the blanket, say “off” if your pup starts to walk on the blanket. When he begins to avoid stepping on the blanket, reward! After several repetitions of rewarding the dog for good behavior, practice with the dog off leash. Do this in several rooms of the house, even on the deck or yard. Once your dog learns the rules and gets rewarded for it, he will be happy to comply. (For more information on this topic, read my blog titled “When Your Pup Asks Why”.)
What boundaries will you set around the highchair? What if at 6 months your baby starts to eat solid foods from the high chair, and some gets on the floor. Now your baby is 12 months old and is a messy eater! For 6 months Max your sweet Labrador has been rewarded for sitting nicely by the highchair, hey, he cleans up the floor, who would complain? What if at 14 months Mom says “stop feeding the dog, please keep your food on your tray”. Your child’s arm often dangles over the side, but no more food is randomly dropped. Max is use to being rewarded, Max gets excited and jumps up to take the food, but bites through your child’s hand on accident. Is Max a bad dog? Could this have been prevented? Absolutely.
Appropriate Play/Accidental:Teaching your dog the rules of play are essential, such as “take it” and “drop it”. If you allow your dog to jump up and steal the tug toy from you, then expect him to do the same to your toddler. Teaching him to only take toys or food on cue, will prevent him from taking things from your child’s hands. If you allow your dog to jump up then sit, he will again do this same behavior with children. Teach him to come, sit and reward!
The Anxious/Fearful dog:Finally, keep your dog in a safe place if he is fearful of children. Many dogs come into rescue with a fear of children. Slowly letting them gain confidence at a distance is key to building his positive association. Having a toddler or child toss food to a nervous dog will help, the key is to take this SLOW and always just toss, do not attempt hand feeding for weeks. Make sure your anxious dog never feels confined with a scary child in the room, this is a recipe for disaster. Confinement can be on a leash, trapped in a crate, in a room, a car, small back yard, a hug (most dogs hate hugs anyway, please never let your child hum your dog). The bottom line is make your dog feel safe if he is anxious around kids until you work with a trainer to desensitize him.
I hope you understand how many dog bites can be prevented if we only pay attention to what we are teaching and rewarding our dogs for. So be an aware dog owner and keep both your child and dog safe!
I am hear to set the record straight on the Stubborn Dog!
The REALITY is, dogs in many ways are just like kids. Some dogs will pick up things much quicker than other dogs and some will take additional repetitions. Often in my classes I will see a dog with a “wide mouth pant”, or “stop and sniff the ground” or “look away” from his/her owner, this is my cue to help the owner with their timing or body language as the dog is clearly becoming confused and often stressed.
Often times dog fail to learn a cue because the owners TIMING is off, even the slightest second can reward a dog for dropping a toy instead of picking it up! I know I have made this mistake myself!
When trainers say “reward the behavior you want”, this means over time! Please do not expect your dog to become consistent after one training session. Many people do not realize that dogs do not generalize well. For this reason we need to have them practice their behaviors in many different environments with a variety of distractions so their behaviors become automatic or spontaneous.
Always consider the “dogs point of view”, is there something scary about the environment? Often our dogs are distracted by the sounds, smells, and movements around them so they may have missed a cue. Does the dog have a positive association with his surroundings? Is the dog feeling well? Often dogs will sit at an angle to alleviate hip discomfort. Is your dog in conflict? You may be calling your dog, but the big black German Shepherd at the other end of the room already gave your pup the “look”, should he go to mom/dad and risk a reprimand or just stay where he is as it is safe!
When Annie did not want to heel for me on a street walk recently, I stopped and looked at her, knowing she was not being stubborn, I realized I was caring a full doggie poop bag with her leash. As soon as I moved the poop to the other hand, she resumed her place by my left side!
Another example, a client’s Jack Russell would not get in to her car anymore. She just ran around the car and refused to jump in as she had done for months. I asked her to drive her car out of the car port and ask her girl to get in, with no hesitation the Jack Russell jumped in the car like always. We realized on occasion she was receiving a shock from the wet floor. She was convinced her dog was Stubborn until we solved the mystery!
Finally, consider what motivates your dog. A recent client just installed an invisible fence and the dog is enjoying FREEDOM, rolling in the grass, sniffing, digging, peeing, you get the idea. Do you think the dog will come in? Come in from this new amazing freedom, in this context “come” is obviously a negative to the dog! But, if you reward your dog for coming in the house with a game of tug, belly scratch or cheese for a while then “come” becomes a positive!
So the next time you start to say your dog is STUBB...., stop and really ask your self why your dog is behaving the way he/she is, I am sure you will find a real reason!
