Oh Behave!

One of the things trainers try to impress upon clients and group training class students is the importance of consistency when training dogs. Consistent training sets dogs up for success by helping them learn new behaviors faster and more easily. But what does “consistency” really mean? What does it look like in practical terms?

When training new behaviors, “consistency” means several different things at once:

• Have clear consistent expectations about what you want Daisy to do and what earns the reward. If you’re training Daisy to leave something alone when you ask her to, what exactly do you want her to do when you say, “Leave it?” Does Daisy have to merely stop trying to get the item? Does she have to back away from the item? Does she have to look at you? Does she have to leave the item and come to you? Deciding ahead of time exactly what you want from Daisy, and then training systematically and consistently to achieve that goal is important. Otherwise, Daisy is left with the difficult and confusing task of trying to figure out exactly what her human means when he says “Leave it.”
• Reward Daisy consistently for getting the behavior right. The most effective reward schedule when training a new behavior is to reward the dog every time she does it.
• When training hand signals, do the hand signal the same way every time. Dogs are keenly attuned to our body language. They can and do attend to and differentiate between subtle gestures. This makes sense given that dogs communicate with one another using subtle body language. Using consistent unambiguous hand signals when training Daisy creates a minimum of confusion for her and will help her learn the hand signal more quickly than if you’re using sloppy gestures.

 

• When training words, be consistent about the words you use, and when and how you use them. When Vinnie was a puppy some of the first words he learned were “Sit” and “Down.” One day my husband decided to try his hand training Vinnie in puppy intermediate class. My husband kept asking Vinnie to, “Sit down,” and became frustrated and puzzled when Vinnie did nothing in response. Although any human would have known that my husband wanted Vinnie to sit, Vinnie was clueless. “Sit” and “Down” meant two completely different things to him. Putting those words together meant nothing.
• When training words, be consistent about saying the word once only, then showing the dog the hand signal. If you say the word at the same time as the hand signal, most dogs will tune in to the gesture and not the word, and makes it much much much harder for the dog to learn the word.
• Get everyone who trains and interacts with Daisy on board with the same training program. If everyone trains behaviors the same way, with the same clear picture of the desired behavior and using the same hand signals and words, Daisy will have a jump start on learning behaviors quickly and fluently.

I’ll post another article soon about what consistency means when you’re trying to get rid of unwanted behavior. In the meantime, Happy Training!

Scruffy, sit, sit, sit, SIT! . . . Sound familiar?

Training words is often cause for much human frustration. Dogs attend to and learn our physical gestures and body language easily. Dogs notice facial expressions, small gestures and tones of voice that often we aren’t even aware of. Learning words is another matter. Unlike humans, dogs aren’t verbal. They communicate with one another and us using a wide range of physical gestures and vocalizations, not words.

If we want dogs to respond to words, it’s up to us to take the time to teach dogs what certain words mean. Keep in mind that it’s much easier for dogs to learn physical cues for a behavior — such as a hand signal that means “sit,” — than it is for dogs to learn what specific words mean.

Fortunately, with lots of consistent practice you can teach your dog words or “verbal cues” by following this simple three-step mantra:

SAY IT. SHOW IT. PAY IT.

Let’s break it down using “sit” as an example. You’ve taught Scruffy to sit using a food lure, and you’ve been training Scruffy to sit in response to a specific empty hand signal. By “empty,” I mean you are no longer holding food in your hand to lure Scruffy into position.

When Scruffy sits eight out of ten times in response to your empty hand signal, it’s time to start teaching her that the word “sit” means the same thing as the hand signal. Here’s how:

SAY IT: First say, “Scruffy sit.” Say the word one time only in an upbeat tone. Articulate clearly. Repeating the word doesn’t make Scruffy learn faster. In fact, repeating the word will most likely land it squarely in the meaningless blah-blah-blah category from Scruffy’s standpoint, or she might learn to sit only after you’ve said the word several times in a row.

SHOW IT: After you’ve asked Scruffy to sit once, show her the empty hand signal for sit. Don’t say the word and do the hand signal at the same time. If you do that, Scruffy will pay attention to the hand signal and ignore the word. If you tend to say the word and do the hand signal simultaneously, it helps to say the word, take a breath, then do the hand signal.

Saying the word once, then doing the hand signal teaches Scruffy that the word means the same thing as the gesture.

PAY IT: After Scruffy sits, click and reward her with a treat and tell her what an awesome dog she is.

Stick to the mantra, practice regularly, and one day Scruffy will surprise you. You’ll know she’s started to connect the dots when she sits after you’ve said the word, but before you’ve shown the hand signal.

To take word training to the next level, wait until Scruffy’s sitting in response to the verbal cue at least 8 out of 10 times. When she’s at that point, modify the reward scheme. Reward her with a yummy treat for sitting in response to the word. If she doesn’t sit in response to the verbal cue, show her the hand signal, and reward her with praise for sitting. This teaches her that sitting in response to the word alone earns a better reward than sitting in response to the word plus hand signal, and should motivate her to sit more reliably when you say the word.

Keep training sessions brief (3-5 minutes at a time) and expectations realistic. It takes most dogs many many repetitions of SAY IT, SHOW IT, PAY IT to learn words. Try to put yourself in their paws. They’re learning a completely foreign language, a task that must be as challenging for them as it would be for us to learn to “speak dog.”

Patient positive practice pays off. Happy training!