"How often do you train your dogs?"
Have you ever asked this of , or been asked this by , a fellow handler? The answer very much depends on the individual dog and handler, and, living in the UK, it also depends on the weather! If your dog lacks motivation, (or the handler does!) then training something repeatedly for any length of time will probably do more harm than good. Better to spend five minutes playing with your dog, so that he wants to be with you. A game of tug is a great motivator. If this doesn't come naturally to your dog, then how about training it? Or finding another interactive game for you both to enjoy? Guess what, that's doing some training with your dog! It doesn't have to be on agility equipment, it's fun for both of you, and it can be a five minute session! Of course for the highly motivated dog, he'll keep on working till he drops probably - hence my mention of the weather. When it is as hot as it has been recently, imagine running round in a fur hat and coat, and in bare feet - need I say more? You have to be your dogs' common sense when the weather is hot. You wouldn't walk your dog in the heat of the day ( or at least I hope you wouldn't!) so don't train him then either. Just as when going for a walk with your dogs, early morning or evening are best, and keep the sessions short. I try to discipline myself to train both my dogs daily, but this will not necessarily be for a long session each time. Sometimes five minutes does more good than repeating something till you're both bored stiff. I sometimes don't feel like it, either, especially in this heatwave. However I know that my dogs would train whenever and whatever I asked, so it's more a case of motivating myself, rather than the dogs! I invariably find that once I start, though, I too enjoy the training. People assume agility will be fun for all dogs, but that isn't a given. Some dogs do agility for themselves, others do it to please their handler. The holy grail is the dog who does agility with you to because it is great fun to work with you - or perhaps I should say it is great fun to play with you. Good training leads to the holy grail. Remember, if it isn't fun for your dog, it is unlikely to be fun for you either, and as they say in entertainment, "Always leave them wanting more!"
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Do you have problems with your dog going off course, dropping poles, becoming distracted, or wide turns I observe all these behaviours regularly. So what is causing this?
Well, obviously there is never just one cause, but the one that I want to talk about today is, in my opinion a very important one. This is telling your dog what you want him to do early enough! Now you can cue your dog verbally, physically, or a combination of both. The key thing is to do it early enough. Handlers in general often cue an obstacle far too late. They react to the obstacle as the dog arrives at it. Now this is fine in the handler's view, as they have walked the course, and know what is coming next. The dog doesn't. He has to listen, or look, at your cue, register it in his brain, and then react. He has to do all this while running flat out. So, imagine you are driving along on an open road at 60mph. Mrs SatNav tells you that in say half a mile you will be turning left, and then usually again , a few hundred yards out, and lastly again at the actual junction. This allows you to prepare and look for the junction, indicate, regulate your speed, and take the turn successfully and safely. What if instead Mrs SatNav decided to let you get right up to the turn, still at 60mph, and then screamed "Turn here"! You would panic, brake suddenly and probably would miss the turn altogether, maybe even cause an accident! If this was how my satnav worked I'd be a nervous wreck. I would be slowing down for each junction , just in case, taking the wrong turn because I couldn't make the right one, and cause consternation for any car following me, because my behaviour was erratic and unpredictable! This is exactly what happens to your dog when cues are not given in time. If you do this to him, guess what? At best the dog turns wide, or knocks a pole, or takes the wrong obstacle. At worst, if you do this repeatedly, he slows right up, switches off, sniffs the floor or goes off and does something else. The poor dog has no time to anticipate what you want him to do. He can't get it right, so he gives up. So imagine how much better things would be if you thought ahead and gave him plenty of warning? He could listen, look, react, change his stride if necessary, and take the right turn! Celebrations all round. He wants to please you, just give him a chance to do so. YOU are Mrs SatNav for your dog, give him a chance to get it right, and both of you can celebrate when he does!l I will start this month with a quote by C.S. Lewis :
"You are never too old to set another goal, or to dream a new dream." We have all heard the phrase "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", but is it true? I don't think so! My old girl is nearly 14 years old now and regularly picks up new habits (not always good ones!), from watching the two younger dogs training. Now I am in the "old girl" category myself these days, and observing the shows I attend, we are at least 50% of the field, if not the majority. We are up against tough opposition from youngsters who started as children, are far more agile, can think quicker, and probably have faster dogs too. So what's in agility for us oldies? Looking around me there are plenty of people who get round in their own time and are obviously delighted with themselves and their dog. They don't expect to win maybe, but are delighted because they had a good run. Don't get me wrong, I like to win as well as the next man, but these days I find it harder to remember courses, or else I concentrate so hard on one difficult bit that I make a complete pig's ear of the rest! Or else I'm concentrating so hard on where I am going , that I forget to tell my poor dog where she is going! I think I will set myself the goal this weekend of remembering the whole course for a change! I am told it helps to write a crib sheet, so if you see a mad woman talking to herself and scribbling in a book this weekend , it's me!! If I manage a clear round anywhere then that's icing on the cake. Oh, and a startline wait would be champagne! I am definitely not too old to dream! I have a problem with my start line wait, which I have been attempting to cure for some time. My dog sits on command easily, but then gets up as soon as I look away. My start line command is "sit".
I had a light bulb moment this week, when I realised how often the word "sit" is used in our household, without a clear message as to what it means! Now, my other half likes to give the dogs a biscuit when he gets up, comes home, wants to get their attention... you get the picture. Nothing wrong with that, you might say. Well fine, until the dogs start to bark whenever he returns, so that they cue him to give them a biscuit by barking! To stop this, he now asks them to sit to get their biscuit. “Great”, he thinks, “I've cracked it, all is quiet, and the dogs love me!” However, as soon as the biscuit is received they are up and off – hence MY problem. "Sit" appears to mean do so ‘til the treat is given, and then the exercise is over! Now, I'm not saying that this is the only reason I have trouble getting a wait on the start line, but I suspect it is a contributory factor. I have now changed my command and am in the process of explaining to her that this new command actually means “Your bum needs to be on the ground, and stay there till I give the all-important release command!” This poisoning of a cue is not unique to this situation, and is a common snag with other agility training problems, such as contact training, recalls and direction commands. How often do you hear your trainer shout "Where was your release command?" To return to the start line, how many people do you see whose dog sets off before release? I am far from the only person to have this problem. More often than not the dog is actually releasing on body movement, rather than a verbal cue. We have inadvertently taught our dog that we are going to put an arm up, run away, twitch or some other little foible, and they are not listening to, nor waiting for, a release command, they are off! So I have more work to do, and my advice this month – be clear on cues. “That was terrible!” “Why did I even both showing up today?”
Whether you’re training or competing, we have a tendency to focus on the negatives. It’s human nature. By focusing on the negatives and the things you DON’T do well, you can correct it. We learn from our mistakes. However, too often in sports, people forget to focus on the positives. Why is this a problem? Because by neglecting the positives at the expense of the negatives you are punishing yourself. And this actually won’t help you get the improved performance you desire. In fact, the fields of psychology and sports psychology have been clear for decades that the best way to change behavior is to reinforce it. To know this works, think back to when you taught your dog to sit. Did you tell her off when she didn’t sit? Of course not! You gave her treats every time she sat until she could do it on command. This is the power of reinforcement. The reason that reinforcement works is because it communicates what you did well so you know to repeat it. Punishment doesn’t work so well because it’s only telling you what NOT to do. So, next time you’re out there, instead of telling yourself off, try praising yourself only for the things you did well. You’ll enjoy it a lot more, feel better about yourself, and be more likely to perfect your technique quickly. Danny O'Rourke PhD (www.knowinganxiety.com) We all know the saying "practice makes perfect" don't we, but how many of us actually follow that sage advice? Be honest, after a busy day at work, there's always a job to do at home, or something we want to watch on the TV, it's cold outside, and raining.....
Now I'll put my hands up and admit to days like that , after all we're all human. However it's no use then complaining that our dog still can't do the weaves fast enough, or turn tight, or wait on the start line, or whatever our problem area is . To improve something you have to practice, going to a training session for an hour a week simply won't do that. The trainer can tell you how to do something, but it has to be repeated many times to become learnt behaviour. A wise woman once told me "Don't avoid what you don't like doing, practice it till you can do it brilliantly, and then you'll love it."So often we say "my dog can't do that" , or "I can't do that." I admit I do it, but my new year's resolution is to stop! I am trying to do a bit of training every day, sometimes out in the garden, sometimes on walks, sometimes at training sessions with Shirley and Pete, and sometimes indoors, if it's foul weather. I've no doubt I'll lapse occasionally, but I'll forgive myself, and start again next day. So I intend to practice flick-aways this week, I've always avoided them, because I can't do them, so hopefully I'll be able to add them to my skills, in a few weeks! What are you going to focus on? Reward-based training is what we do here at Paws. You will hear Shirley repeatedly telling handlers to reward more often, or to have higher value rewards.
So, what are rewards? Well, food treats tend to be the first on the list - these need to be more interesting than a bit of dry kibble! I always use cocktail sausages for my dogs - they love them. Basically, something smelly, small, soft, and easy to swallow. Some of our handlers make their own liver cake, or cook chicken for their training sessions. Then there are toys. Mine love to tug, and the current favourite is a rope tuggy or the lead itself, which is made to tug on. Many dogs like a ball, which is ok, but is not an interactive toy, so it's better to encourage a tuggy if you can. A squeaky ball can be very motivating for some dogs too. Lastly, there is verbal praise. This will ultimately be the only thing in the ring with you when you start competing, and so it is vital that the timing is right. Too often I hear people saying "Good dog" when the dog in question is being anything but good! What they really mean is "PLEASE be a good dog for me". So, the moral of this blog is "Reward the behaviour you want repeated" (Susan Garrett). |