FF320: Better Still: Stays Without Frustration

FF320 Better Still: Stays Without Frustration 

Teaching Your Dog that Silence Equals Correctness

If there’s one concept in dog training that’s helpful for obedience and other dog sports, it’s that silence equals correctness.  If your dog can continue performing enthusiastically without constant feedback, dog sports will be much easier.  Many dogs get worried when we go silent, so my goal is to teach my dog that silence is good!  I want to help my dogs understand that they are performing the desired behavior without constant verbal praise.  This will foster independence, confidence, and better responses to cues. 

Dogs that understand that your silence is a cue that they are doing the correct behavior will do better in sports where we can’t always give our dog feedback.  From a learning perspective, the less we “chatter” at our dogs, the more they can concentrate on processing cues and learning.

This concept will also help you fade reinforcement like treats or toys.  With increased confidence and focus, your dog will not need as much reinforcement to know that they are correct.

Finally, your dog's understanding of this concept will decrease their tendency to offer all the things when you don't give constant feedback. A dog who knows that silence means they are right will confidently and comfortably wait for their cue, knowing they are doing the right thing.

Getting Started

If your dog is used to getting constant praise, it might take a while before they are comfortable with the lack of feedback.  Try to reduce the amount of praise you give.  Focus on your reinforcement cues, whether those are words or a sound like a clicker.

This video is about the most vocal I am with my dogs during training.  Notice the praise (good boy, good job, yay for you) comes after the marker.  Before the marker, I am silent.

Here is a pretty standard training session with my dogs.  Short, sweet, and no extra chatter.  Rise is getting all of the information he needs during this session.

Increasing Silence

Once your dog is used to not hearing much praise from you, you can start to chain behaviors together.  Only do this with behaviors the dog knows well and gradually increase the difficulty.  Start simple, like cueing sit.  Don’t say anything except the cue for the next behavior, like touch.  Mark the touch with your reinforcement cue and feed.

As you work through this process, your dog should be able to perform several well-known behaviors in a row without feedback from you.  You should be random with your praise and reinforcement cues; don’t always make it harder.  Sometimes praise or reward your dog after the first behavior, to keep things fun and interesting.

Examples

Here are a couple of examples from real-life situations.

Example 1: Sit-Stay Cue

1. Cue: Ask your dog to "sit" and then "stay."
2. Silence: If they remain sitting, stay silent for a few seconds.
3. Release: After the silence, release them with a cue like "break" and mark and treat.

Example 2: Walking on Leash

1. Loose Leash: Walk with your dog on a loose leash.
2. Silence: When they walk beside you without pulling, remain silent.
3. Occasional Praise: Occasionally praise or treat them for maintaining the behavior.

Common Challenges

If your dog becomes restless during your silence, offers other behaviors, or shows frustration, shorten the duration and gradually build it back up.  Always build on success and don’t forget to randomly reward at various times.

Be sure you’re patient and consistent.  It will take time for your dog to equate silence with being correct.

Homework

The way to start this process is to start thinking about it.  Go watch a recent training session with your dog.  How much did you use generic praise?  Be honest; it’s okay if you chattered at your dog the entire session.  That’s very common!

The next time you train your dog, pay attention to how much you’re praising and start to decrease the feedback.  Don’t stop cold turkey; you want the dog to get used to this gradually, but start the process!