Page 44 - Demo

around, and others will sit. Stepping into a dog’s space can motivate him to move without pulling, pushing, or luring him. For the Aussie, his owner wanted him to sit, so she didn’t need to step very far into his space to accomplish it.
My assessment of the Lab’s reaction to his owner’s exhaling was met with skepticism from my students. Even though the owner repeated it three times with the same results, the others didn’t think such a subtle action could possibly be cueing the dog. I asked the owner to try it again, paying close attention to holding his breath after he said “sit” and counting to eight before he exhaled. To everyone’s amazement, the dog didn’t sit until the count to eight was over and the owner let out his breath.
My students wondered if it mattered that their dogs learned body signals rather than verbal cues to do behaviors. It may not be of any consequence until they have higher expecta- tions of their dogs. For a “sit,” raising a hand could continue to work for the golden. Many owners like to train their dogs to hand signals. However, his owner indicated that in order to get his dog to “come,” he had to bend down on his knees and open his arms. This won’t work when the golden is run- ning in the opposite direction and not looking at his owner. It won’t work when his owner expects the dog to do what he asks—any place, any time—whether the dog is looking at him or not. Getting the dog to respond reliably to a verbal cue is an important part of training.
There are some things owners can do to avoid conditioning undesired physical cues. These take time and can require care- fully planned training sessions. Here are some suggestions:
Rather than assume the same body posture all the time, the handler should concentrate on varying it instead. This can be accomplished by asking for “sit” with hands on hips, then with hands behind the back, hands waving over the head, etc. Changing head, shoulder, and foot positions can also help. This way the dog cannot establish a particular physical gesture to cue the behavior. One of my students said it was like doing the “Hokey-Pokey” of dog training. Put the left foot in, put the left foot out, and so on...each time asking for the desired behavior. It helped her establish a rhythm and train- ing routine.
Changing the handler’s position in relationship to the dog can help the dog generalize the behavior and not look for cues in the environment. It’s easy for handlers to develop a routine of always training in the same place at home, or taking the same spot in the classroom. Instead of standing in one spot while training, the handler can change his posi- tion, going in a circle around the dog, while the dog stays in the same place. The handler stops every 3 or 4 feet, or just enough to change what the dog sees behind the handler, and then asks for a behavior. Each time the handler moves, the background changes and the dog gets a different view of the environment.
Another exercise is changing the dog’s position in relation- ship to the handler. If a dog has only practiced “sit” at a posi- tion facing the handler, he may have a difficult time doing the same behavior at the handler’s left or right side.
For my students and their dogs who have already estab- lished inadvertent physical signals for some behaviors, they will work on fading them while strengthening the verbal cue. The Dachshund’s owner can gradually decrease the amount she bends over the dog while giving her the verbal cue to “sit.” Eventually she won’t have to bend at all. She may have to work on a different delivery for rewards than from the hand. Tossing the treat on the ground may encourage a hound to sniff the floor and lose focus on the handler. A long
handled wooden spoon with peanut butter or baby food on it could work, letting the dog lick the spoon each time he does the behavior. The golden’s owner can concentrate on lessening the amount he raises his hand. The Aussie’s owner can stop stepping into her dogs space and start reducing the action to just a foot movement. She can then work on mov- ing the foot less and less and then eliminating the movement altogether.
The Lab and his owner may have the most difficult time eliminating their cue. Breathing is not something the owner can gradually fade and stop. However, he can train the dog to another cue such as raising a hand with palm up, while he exhales. The goal is to have the dog focus on the hand signal and not the owner’s breathing. When the dog understands the hand signal, his owner can start to fade it over time. The owner can also try to breath more regularly while he is train- ing, so he is more relaxed. It’s possible that he is tense when training his dog, which in turn caused him to hold his breath at certain times. After holding his breath, exhaling became more exaggerated, almost like a sigh, and therefore more noticeable to the dog.
My students will find that eliminating unwanted cues will help them progress in working on the 4-Ds. When their retraining is finished, there shouldn’t be anything getting in the way of their dogs responding reliably to their verbal cues in a variety of situations. The hardest part may be making sure they don’t accidentally condition any new ones.
It’s easy for dogs to get cues from just about anything. As is true of most dogs, mine have many that they’ve learned with- out any deliberate training from me. When I shut the cover to my laptop computer, they know I’ll be getting up from my desk and they are on the move to follow me. When the fork is placed on the plate when I’m done eating, that’s their cue to come up to the table and my husband will toss them any leftovers. These types of cues can be signals that good things are going to happen or they can signal that something undesirable is going to happen. Next time—cues and behavior problems.
References: Seminar, “Clicker Training Workshop,” instructed by Kay Lawrence; classroom experiences.
42 The Australian Shepherd Journal May/June 2005