Puppy Dog Tales - Rewards for Training

Little Boy is responding well to all the basic commands - SIT, DOWN and STAND.  

Obviously I use only reward-based training, and so I have a treat bag permanently attached to my belt so that I can reward wanted behaviours whenever they occur.  It is very important to let young animals know what is a 'good' behaviour, and what is a 'bad' behaviour so continual and consistent guidance in the form of rewards for 'good' behaviours is very important.  I do use voice, touch and games too, but with food-motivated dogs such as Labradors, treats make the whole process very simple.  

It does carry its own problems in that I have to ensure that the treats do not make up a large proportion of the puppy's diet - a young, growing animal needs a well-balanced dog food suitable for his age and breed.  Similarly, the older animals are prone to putting to weight, so the quality and volume of treats has to be strictly controlled.

For the puppy I am using a mixture of his kibble pellets and dehydrated liver cubes.  The latter are available in little tubs from pet stores, have no additives or chemicals and come cut in to little cubes of about 0.5cm.  They are quite soft so I can break them up further with my nails and so can treat frequently using the tiniest of pieces.  The older dogs can have problems with sensitivity to wheat so for them I use gluten-free beef or chicken chomping chews.  These are made from 50% meat, and are soft, thin flat strips about 15cm long x 2cm wide.  As with the pup, I break the strips in to about 4 pieces to have in my treat bag, and reward with a small piece broken off one of these quarters.  The size of reward can thus be varied as appropriate for larger or smaller dogs.  

If your dog is very overweight you can measure out the dog's daily kibble allowance, and instead of feeding it all at one time in the dog's regular meal, you can put half of it in your treat bag and use that to reward behaviours.  If your dog is fully grown but is very stubborn, you could try not feeding a meal at all and instead put the dog's daily kibble allowance in your treat bag and reward desired behaviours constantly during the day so that he has to work for every piece of kibble.  However, if you try this approach you would need to be careful that you were consistent and fair in your rewarding, and that your dog was an adult, in good health, and no longer growing as puppies need a different feeding regime to adult dogs.  

For the older dogs, if I am trying to teach them something new or difficult, or trying to encourage them to do something they are worried about - such as getting Little Girl to do the Dog Walk at Agility - then I will use small amounts of a high-value treat.  High-value treats are exactly what they sound - a treat that is of high-value to your dog.  It could be a piece of cheese, or fish, cream, a piece of hot-dog sausage - whatever your dog adores and will do anything for.  Obviously, to keep their status as 'high-value' you must limit their use to those occasions when you are having problems otherwise they will lose their value. You can also use them to distract your dog when working on resolving behavioural issues such as inappropriate barking.

Olympic "Gold" for Little Girl!

What excitement!  After only a few months training Little Girl achieved 3rd place in Beginner Class of Agility Club's end-of -term fun competition!  

Feel very, very proud as she has only mastered Dog Walk in last couple of weeks (is high up, off ground so a bit scary as she is quite clumsy) and only managed see-saw (scary as moves and bangs when hits ground) in the last week or so. Couldn't believe she did so well so need to keep up training until session starts again in August!

Is your Pup Really a Wolf in Dog's Clothing?

There are numerous variations on the theme of dog training, many based on misconceptions around wolf behaviour.  A study in the 1990’s by Dr. David Mech of the University of Minnesota concluded that much of what was widely believed about wolf packs was mistaken, but it was these misunderstandings that had underpinned the dominance hierarchy / alpha leader version of dog training.  Dr Mech studied natural wolf packs in the wild for over 12 years and attributes many of the misconceptions to observations of unnatural packs of unrelated wolves in captivity.  He identified that the natural wolf pack is typically a family, with a breeding pair of adult wolves and their offspring and the terms "alpha" or "dominant" are less appropriate than "parent."  A wolf pack should be seen as a family unit which serves to raise the young, with the adult parents guiding the activities of the group before the young disperse to pair up with other dispersed wolves and form a breeding pair and a pack of their own.  To ensure their survival, canines have developed body language and behaviours that have a calming effect so the animals can co-operatively hunt for prey, raise their young, and resolve conflicts without violence.  

Although dogs are not wolves, they are pack animals and they want someone to take charge.  They want to be led by a calm, even tempered leader; someone who will deal with whatever situation arises with confidence, and communicate to them that they are safe and secure – a parent figure rather than a tyrant figure.  A handler taking on the role as pack leader has to communicate that they are in control, are the source of the dog’s food, are in control of the space in which it lives and the resources it wants to access, and help the dog understand those actions that constitute acceptable behaviour through positive obedience training and building a close, trusting relationship with their dog.

Dogs learn very quickly and from an early age – both from each other and from humans.  Puppies can learn behaviours quickly by following examples set by experienced dogs.   Studies have also shown that dogs engaged in play with other dogs change their behaviour depending on the attention-state of their partner.  Play signals were only sent when the dog was holding the attention of its partner. If the partner was distracted, the dog instead engaged in attention-getting behaviour before sending a play signal.  Similarly in a training environment handlers have to secure the attention of their dog before giving it an instruction.

To train any animal the behaviour of the animal must be understood.   A bond between trainer and animal must be developed so that the responses of each become predictable.  The animal needs to learn that the trainer will respond predictably when the dog offers certain behaviours, i.e. the trainer will offer rewards.  Similarly the trainer learns that reinforcing the desired response makes the response more likely to be repeated in the future.   One of the aims of dog training classes is to train the handlers to be predictable so that the dog realises that responding in a certain way has a desirable outcome.

Reinforcement is a reward for desired behaviour and gives the trainer a means of managing the behaviour of the animal as whenever a particular activity is reinforced, the chances of that activity being repeated are increased. To be effective, a reinforcement must be given almost simultaneously with the desired behaviour (and certainly never before).  A reinforcement can be a food reward, a verbal reward (praise), a physical touch (stroke, tickle etc) or even a game (throwing a ball etc).

Inducement training can also be used to shape and reinforce a behaviour that at first approximates the desired goal behaviour.  Through further selective reinforcement and shaping, the dog's behaviour eventually meets the handler's requirements.  Psychologists identify this process as a form of operant  conditioning.  The inducement can be in the form of a favourite toy, or a treat.  When the dog responds with the desired behaviour, the behaviour is then reinforced by verbal praise.

So to summarise:

·         The handler has to understand what a dog is – a pack animal that wants to live in a co-operative family unit with a firm but fair pack leader who makes the dog feel safe and secure. 

·         Owners should remember that dogs are not wolves, and breed personalities have been shaped by selective breeding during domestication.

·         Dogs learn quickly, from both other dogs and humans, and through selective breeding have acquired the ability to interpret subtle social cues from their handlers.

·         Dogs need to be trained using positive reinforcement methods, and handlers must understand that they need to demonstrate predictable behaviour to the dog so that the dog realises that behaving in a certain way has a desirable outcome in the form of a reward.