| Dog training is easy when you discover the | | | | middle of the floor |
| secrets of dog training professionals | | | | |
| explained in this brief article. Once you | | | | 2. turn the radio on softly, then turn it up |
| leave your house, all your training will | | | | gradually throughout our training session |
| appear to go down the drain. How do you | | | | |
| overcome these distractions? Find out right | | | | 3. have a friend come into the room with us |
| now!What is reinforcement? Reinforcement is | | | | |
| what happens when a behaviour is maintained | | | | 4. put a piece of stale dog food on the |
| or increased. Dog training is essentially a | | | | floor |
| progression of reinforcements. Food, toys, | | | | |
| play, attention and 'life rewards' such as | | | | 5. wave our arms around |
| being let inside or taken for a walk are all | | | | |
| potential reinforcers.Without reinforcement, | | | | 6. turn the taps on halfway through an |
| behavior will never be maintained or | | | | exercise |
| increased. This is fine if you want a | | | | |
| behavior to disappear - simply stop | | | | 7. whistle a tune |
| reinforcing it. But if you want a particular | | | | |
| behavior, you need to reinforce it.Most dog | | | | 8. roll a tennis ball slowly in front of our |
| trainers these days use food as a reinforcer. | | | | dog |
| It is by no means the only reinforcer, but | | | | |
| food is convenient and, let's face it, all | | | | 9. turn away from our dog... or any |
| dogs need to eat!So we start off training | | | | combination of the above.Remember, the secret |
| with food in a quiet, distraction-free area | | | | is to always set our dogs up for success, so |
| inside the house. We put any other pets out | | | | that we may reinforce (maintain or increase) |
| of the room. We turn off the TV. We wait | | | | their good behavior.If any of the |
| until the kids are in bed. Then we shut the | | | | distractions on that list are too much, then |
| door and train. There are numerous books and | | | | our dog fails. Just because I wrote it on my |
| articles explaining how to do this, so I | | | | list of low-level distractions doesn't mean |
| won't re-hash the basics.The problems begin | | | | that your individual dog won't find any one |
| when we get out of that distraction-free | | | | of those things too distracting.Be creative. |
| environment and into the real world. Here | | | | Think of new things to add to the list. When |
| there are other dogs, birds, squirrels, cats, | | | | your dog can cope with them all, start making |
| new smells, sights, sounds, people, cars, | | | | up combinations. Invite two or more friends |
| bikes, postmen - it's all out there! Our | | | | around to help. Have them toss a ball back |
| training usually starts falling apart once we | | | | and forth while you practise stays or |
| leave the house.But it doesn't need to.The | | | | recalls. Have one of them whistle a tune |
| big secret to dog training is to always set | | | | while the other waves her arms around. The |
| the dog up for success. If the dog fails, we | | | | sky is the limit so long as we always set our |
| can't reinforce. If we can't reinforce, | | | | dogs up for success.When we have trained with |
| behavior can not be maintained or increased. | | | | distractions inside the house, we're ready to |
| If behavior hasn't been maintained or | | | | find a quiet spot outside. No other dogs |
| increased, training has failed.So we need to | | | | around, no kids playing, no cars screaming |
| set the dog up to succeed. Going too far, too | | | | past, and hopefully no cats or squirrels. We |
| fast will only lead to failure. Allowing too | | | | train the behavior, then start adding the |
| many distractions or too big a distraction | | | | distractions from our list, always setting |
| too soon is setting our dog up to fail. | | | | our dog up to succeed.That is all there is to |
| Without success, we've got nothing to | | | | it - manufacture some controlled |
| reinforce.The best way to set our dogs up for | | | | distractions, build them up, and always make |
| success is to control the environment as best | | | | them just easy enough that our dog |
| we possibly can until they are well and truly | | | | continually succeeds so that we can reinforce |
| proofed and ready for the big wide | | | | the behavior.Aidan Bindoff is Editor of |
| world.Let's say we normally train in our | | | | Positive Petzine, a free resource for people |
| kitchen with the door shut. Here's a list of | | | | training their own dog. Join now, and for a |
| things we can do to set up some low-level | | | | limited time you can download all available |
| distractions:1. place a tennis ball in the | | | | back issues (a $29.95 value) for free! |