Proof Positive, Week 1
Reinforcement Strategies
How we reinforce a behavior is just as important as how often we reinforce a behavior.
Action behaviors
Action behaviors such as weaves and go outs where the dog is moving away from you, ideally are rewarded away from you. The easiest way to do that is to throw the reward onto the dog's path.
Action behaviors where the dog is moving towards us and we want the dog to stay out at a distance, ideally we reward behind the dog because most dogs are motivated to come towards the handler and because we want to build value for being at a distance from the handler.
Action behaviors where we want to build value for coming to us (loose leash walking, recalls or in agility to reward dogs who likes to stay out at a distance), we will want the reward to happen at the handler or behind the handler. We can reward by throwing the reward behind us or at our feet or between our legs to build more enthusiasm. To build a calmer state of mind or more thoughfulness, we can deliver the reward to the dog.
Precision behaviors
For behaviors where we want precision such as heeling, fronts, 2 feet on an item, etc, ideally, we want to reward in a way that builds more value to what we want or off-sets the dog's normal tendency to build more precision. For example, my dogs are more likely to forge in heeling. To offset this, when I reward my dog for heeling when she hasn't been forging, the treat could be transferred from my right hand to my left hand behind my back and then delivered to the dog either at or slightly behind heel position. For dogs who tend to lag, then we will want to build more enthusiasm for heeling. We can do that by rewarding the dog in heel position by inviting the dog to leap up to the reward or we can toss the reward ahead of the dog. For dogs who heel too wide, we want the reward to be placed really close to us.
For fronts, it is really important that the reward is stored either at the center of our bodies (treats in your mouth), on both sides of your body (treat in both hands, one treat delivered from both hands at the same time) or behind you (send the dog through your legs for the reward). Storing the rewards in your right pocket and delivering them slightly to the right of center will result over time in the dog fronting slightly to the right of center.
It is okay to lure the dog to the ideal location to receive their reward.
Stationary behaviors
Ideally, we want to reward stationary behaviors in position to help build duration and prevent extra movement from the dog during the behavior. If we want to build more enthusiasm for the behavior, then we can reward out of position by having the dog chase or catch the treat. In general, it is more exciting to chase a reward than it is to receive a reward in position.
Recap:
There are lots of ways to reward the dog and how we reward can help us a lot. It can also reinforce shifts in criteria that we don't really want and it can reinforce an emotional response that we don't want (conflict, over-excitement, not enough excitement, etc.).
Resetting behaviors
When we need to reset a behavior, it should only happen once in a training session. Twice maximum. We want to grow our dog's confidence. Growing our dog's confidence happens when they are successful. When our dog isn't successful, we can reset the behavior once. If we need to reset the behavior a second time then it's best to give the dog some free cookies and think about how to make it easier for the dog before practicing again.
How we reset a dog should be customized to the dog. Dogs who are more sensitive should be reset with care, whereas, dogs who are not sensitive can be reset more directly while still keeping an eye on their emotional state.
If you plan on doing obedience, it is important that we teach the dog that silence means that they are correct. We want to be kind about our resets and not introduce unnecessary stress to our training.
Resetting a stationary behavior
For sensitive dogs when they miss the cue, we can lure the dog into an easy trick and reward that before re-cuing. We can also talk to the dog and tell them that they really tried before cueing the behavior again. We can do the same for less sensitive dogs.
For less sensitive dogs, we can take a step to the left or right and cue the behavior again.
Resetting a duration behavior (heeling, stays, go outs, weaves, leash walking, etc.)
I do not like silently letting the dog finish the behavior when the dog makes an error. I want silence to be a good thing and I want the dog to fully expect a reward when they finish the behavior when we've made the environment more challenging. For less sensitive dogs, I call the dog to come in my normal tone of voice, reward the dog for setting up and try again. I can also cue an easy behavior, reward that and then try again. Try to reward the dog before they struggle. We want to grow their confidence.
For sensitive dogs, who I can't call off of the behavior, then I will talk to them starting the moment that the behavior doesn't reach criteria. We can also choose to reward with the usual reward for criteria that misses the mark and high value rewards for behavior that is at criteria.
Recap:
There are lots of ways to reset a dog. We always want to keep the dog's emotional state in mind and protect it as best as we can. Remember that confidence is the most important factor to helping your dog become ring ready.
Week 1, Exercise #2: What are some ways that you can reward your 6 behaviors that will reinforce the emotional state, location and precision that you'd like)?
What reinforcement strategies are you going to use for your behaviors. There isn't a wrong answer here and the ideal reward strategy will depend on the individual dogs as well. Do you have a different reward marker for those different reinforcement strategies?
This session, we are going to introduce some smells and/or food to our practice sessions. We want to help our dogs be successful. For dogs who really love to sniff, we will want to use an easy distraction, to begin with (maybe the dog's meal) and build up to more challenging distractions (meat juice).
Remember that food and scent distractions are going to be included in one of the games each week, so we don't need to accomplish all the food distractions with just this one game. Help your dog be successful by not making it too hard.
The more high-value the reward that you use to create the smell, the more challenging it will be. If you transfer the smell to another item such as a towel, the longer the food spends on the towel, the more challenging it will be (if you rub one piece of kibble on the towel that is easier than putting the towel in with the kibble for several hours). The shorter amount of time that the smell has to mix with the air, the more challenging it will be (if you put meat juice on the grass and wait 1 hour to train that is easier than training immediately). The shorter amount of time that the dog has to explore the scent before asking for the dog to work, the more challenging it will be.
Remember that it is easier to make it more challenging after the dog has lots of successful repetitions than it is to make it too hard in the beginning.
Place the scented item on the floor, let the dog smell the distraction until the dog offers attention 3 or 4 times, then practice your stationary behaviors first. Once the dog has had success with the stationary behaviors, then you can practice your duration behaviors.
Instructor: Mariah Hinds