By Sophia Yin, DVM, MS Jan 9, 2010

First, the Trainers

It’s a sunny morning in Folsom and something odd is happening at the Folsom Zoo.  Zookeepers and staff are waving their arms, flailing their legs, and balancing in weird positions. No, they’re not there to entertain the animals. They’re playing the training game. The game where two people collude to train a third person to perform behavior unknown to her. The only clues they can give are to click and treat whenever she performs a behavior close to what they want. It’s a game where they get to experience the confusion that animals feel when humans are training and learn the importance of timing, criteria, and thinking outside the box.

The Folsom Zoo is a tiny zoo with many rescued and somewhat tame animals. Regardless of size and the shortness of staff, everyone there knows the importance of training the animals. And that’s why I’m here today, giving a workshop to get everyone on the same level. Says Jill Lute, “In just dollars alone, it’s saves thousands of dollars if we can train the animals to cooperate for veterinary procedures rather than needing to dart them just for their annual exams and vaccinations. And it’s way less stressful for everyone too.”

But before training an animal everyone has to make sure they can train a person first, and it’s easy to get stuck.

For instance, Rebecca’s trainers want her to jump with one knee off the ground, but what she’s doing looks more like the running man followed by an arabesque. Why? Because the trainers need to be more precise about what they click and treat. They keep clicking when she puts her foot down after raising her knee, so she thinks they want her to raise her knee and then put her foot down. Hence the hip-hop dance move. They should have clicked as she was raising her knee. The click needs to occur immediately as the person or animal is performing the correct behavior.

So we take a step back. First reward her for just lifting her knee high until she does this to earn 5 click-treats in a row. Then we need to find a way to get her to jump. She’s good at raising her knee higher but is not getting the idea to jump. So I stand on a box and click when she raises her knee, but reward her up high so she has to jump to get the treat. Within several click-treats, she’s jumping with her knee in the air.

Then there’s Angelica. Her trainers have her waving her arm above her head and leaning to the left side. She keeps wrapping her arm over he her head and touching her head with the back of her hand. What they want her to do is to pat herself on the head. The problem? They accidentally reward the arm wrapping behavior and when they realize they need criteria to try to get something different they start rewarding her for leaning to the side. How do we fix it? We first extinguish the leaning by failing to reward leaning behavior and only rewarding the arm over the head when she’s standing straight. We reward this behavior 5 times in a row so she understands which behavior works. Then we stop rewarding this so that she’ll try something different. She starts moving her hand on her head in different ways, and ta-da, she’s soon patting herself on the head.

Possibly the trickiest is Sharifa, who keeps raising both arms and flapping them like a duck. The trainers are trying train her to slap her pants simultaneously with both hands, so they reward when she flaps her hands and brings them down and graze her pants. But the problem is that this behavior is not distinct compared to the arm flapping. So they take a completely different approach. We take post-it notes and reward slapping the post-it notes with the hand. Then we place the post-it notes on Rebecca’s pants so she slaps them. Then we remove the post-it notes and reward slapping the pants.

Now for some animals

Now the keepers have more refined skills for training the zoo animals to cooperate for husbandry procedures and to just be more manageable overall. For instance, the bears already know how to open their mouth for veterinary exams but the cougars need to learn to perform this behavior on cue as well. The feral pigs are rude about being fed. They jump on the food trough to jam their head through the opening on the wall where the food is dumped in. They need to learn to stand stationary while waiting for their food. And many of the animals need to learn to present their side to the fence for examination and vaccination. Training these behaviors serves dual purposes. It improves the bond between keepers and animals, reduces stress on the animals, and greatly reduces the veterinary costs, especially those associated with animal tranquilization for what would otherwise be a routine procedure.

The Keepers Use Their New Skills

Next the keepers use their newly refined skills. They start to train the pigs to stand patiently to have their food tossed into their trough. We train this by rewarding the pigs for standing before they have a chance to jump up. Then we continue rewarding with a sequence of treats (their regular food) so they remain standing. We systematically increase the interval between treats so that they learn to be more patient between treats. Now it’s a matter of doing this regularly and with multiple keepers until the new behavior becomes a habit.

The bear training is equally successful. We shape one bear to stand with his side to the fence. Lynn, the bear keeper starts by just clicking/treating for a slight head turn to the right. [To see an example of training a head turn in a lion, click here]. After several minutes the bear is getting the head turn consistently. Next she only clicks and rewards when he shifts his weight to the right, then when he’s taking a step to the right, then when he’s turning his body to the right. After just 15-20 minutes of training he’s turning all the way to the side. The behavior still needs refining as the bear doesn’t know it really well. Later we’ll also want him to hold the position and offer the position on cue. But with the improved skills these changes won’t take long to train.

Conclusion

So, while many people might wonder why bother practicing on humans first anyone who’s played the training game knows. Learning how it feels to be trained provides an invaluable insight into how skilled animal training should be done.

By Sophia Yin, DVM, MS   January 7, 2010

Question:

Hi Dr. Yin,
Thank you so much for the wealth of information that you provide on your site and through your youtube videos. I’m an aspiring trainer and am in the beginning stages of learning free shaping with clicker training. I watched your youtube video where you free shaped your dog to put her front two feet in a box. It was really helpful to see that done, as I know that 101 Things to do with a Box is a recommended beginner clicker training exercise, especially when working with a crossover dog.

I am, in fact, working with a crossover dog (a ten year old Springer Spaniel mix who I’ve had for a year and who I’ve trained with luring and clicking and other positive methods up until the last couple of months) and I noticed a pretty big difference in my dog’s response to the exercise vs. your dog related to raising criteria. I noticed that when you raised criteria (didn’t reward for something that you had rewarded for a second ago) your dog persisted. She offered additional behaviors until she got back on track.

I did the exercise for about five minutes. I try to keep a high rate of reinforcement, but my dog tends to get stuck in a rut (looking over at the box). When I try to raise criteria, he seems frustrated (whining, staring at me) and sits down rather than offering additional behavior. In five minutes, we got to the point where he stood next to the box and dipped his head into it. When I started to try to wait for him to do any foot movement, he laid down.

I don’t want to stress him (or myself) but I am so thrilled by the benefits of shaping that I want both of us to be able to do it. However, I’ve been working on shaping in particular for about 6 weeks now and this is where we are…..is this normal? Are there specific things with regard to raising criteria that I could be doing differently? Any insight you could provide would be very much appreciated! Thank you so much!

Sincerely,
Caroline Shriver, Portland OR

Answer:

Good job sticking with the exercise. Free-shaping, meaning capturing a behavior you like by clicking to mark the correct behavior and following with a reward and then systematically rewarding behaviors closer and closer to your goal behavior, is always a good exercise whether you’re a beginner or have been doing it for many years.

What’s particularly interesting is that you find certain steps work really well for many individuals but many do better following a different path. It depends on the goal behavior you’re looking for as well as the individual’s past experience. I’m going to provide some tips for shaping and raising criteria at the end of this blog, but first I want to address some interesting traits of individual dogs.

Individual Dogs Have Different Learning Styles

I used to think that the behavior of just waiting for the human to provide a clue, the way your dog is, was a result of a dog being a cross-over from traditional force-based training methods. Or, that the dog had always been lured such that he never had to problem solve. While this is probably the case to some extent, sometimes it’s more than that.

For instance, Zoe, the red Australian Cattledog from the shaping video, was actually a cross-over dog.  When I first got her, I was still using some old-fashioned leash correction techniques. Yet she was pretty good at problem solving and offering new behaviors anyway. Then I thought, maybe it’s because I didn’t use that many corrections throughout her life but instead focused on rewards and careful training of the various steps in a systematic manner. Now that I have my Jack Russell Terrier, Jonesy, who’s received about a thousand times more rewards than even verbal punishments, I can definitely say, sometimes the learning style of waiting for a hint is somewhat a characteristic of the dog and sometimes it has to do partly with what he’s learned before.  It’s just like people. Some employees have to be told exactly what to do or they stand around and do nothing. Others can figure out what you want on their own. The first type of employee can be trained to work more independently, but it may require some work on the trainer’s part!

Jonesy the JRT Goes into Auto-Mode

So, here’s what Jonesy does that’s similar to your dog. Often if I really just wait for Jonesy to offer behaviors that I can capture and shape I’ll  get stuck because he wants to perform behaviors he knows. One of the behaviors I reinforced about a million times is lie down and remain lying down. For the first several years of life, when we were outside, he had almost no ability to remain stationary if I was just standing next to him. I had to always have him sitting or lying down and on an appropriate reinforcement rate or he’d be pulling at the end of the leash. For instance, I would take him on “field trips” on a daily basis and practice rewarding sit or down-stay while I was randomly standing stationary—pretending to look in a store window or adjust my ipod. So it makes sense that, during free-shaping games where I just try to capture him offering a behavior, when frustrated, he’d try lying down. As a result, if owners are going to want to do lots of free-shaping for practice purposes, I tell them they should start before they train a really good stand, sit or down-stay. If your dog’s really good at just waiting around for a minute, then you’ll have to wait around much longer than a minute for him/ her to offer different behaviors! Don’t worry, you don’t need to delay the stay behavior for long. Maybe just a week.

Another interesting characteristic of Jonesy is that he has a tendency to get an idea of what I want in his head and then just repeat the behavior over and over with little ability to listen to the cue I’m giving him. For instance, if I’m practicing his cue discrimination by running him through a portion of his repertoire of tricks just on verbal cue-sit, spin, twist, right, left, down, play bow, he may do very well indicating that he clearly knows the verbal cues without visual signals too. But then if I add in something like “back-up” he may then just back-up over and over and now have problems doing the other behaviors. That is, he may back up a set amount of steps when I tell him to sit, and then when he’s the distance he thinks he’s supposed to back-up, he may sit. It’s like his brain or ears shuts down and he just performs the exercise he thinks I want. My dad’s 8-month old puppy, on the other hand, stops and listens and thinks about what I am asking for or want.

Even the Two Family Cattledogs had Vastly Different Styles

Jonesy’s not the only dog who get’s stuck in repeat-mode. While my last cattledog, Zoe was great at thinking and trying new behaviors, my dad’s first cattledog was just like Jonesy in terms of performing the wrong behaviors over and over but in a very eager, dopey, happy way. Interestingly, once I shaped weave poles with Zoe and Rudy and took data. Despite their completely different learning styles, they learned in virtually the same number of steps.

Tips on Shaping Behavior and Raising Criteria

Don’t worry if your dog’s not a genius at free-shaping. You’ll learn much more from him than you will from a dog that makes mental leaps and figures things out on his own. Here are some tips.

• Be aware that the location of the food reward is important. Animals want to orient to the direction of the treat. So if, every time your dog looks at the box you toss the kibble/treat into the box, he’ll quickly learn that the box is something good and he should orient toward it. After that you can deliver the treat when you’re sitting away from the box, but if he gets stuck you can reward a few more times by tossing the treat in the box.

• Reward a step enough time so he’s sure of what he’s doing is right. For instance, you might reward the same exact step 5 times before you increase your expectations. So if your dog reaches into the box with his head, reward this behavior 5 time and then raise the criterion to reaching into the box with his head and slightly lifting one foot. By rewarding something easy a bunch of times you’re gaining what is called behavioral momentum. If he has lots of success doing something easy at first, he will be more resilient to giving up when it gets a little harder.

• If your dog starts to get stuck you may need to decrease your expectation before he gives up. Note that sometimes I wait quite a bit of time for Zoe. I can see her thinking and trying to solve the problem and I have first rewarded her quite a bit for the previous step. But when I get the feeling, based on my experience with her, that it’s too hard, I reward something easier a few times.

• Take a break if needed. Free-shaping can be a big brain strain for animals. So if you stop after just a minute or two and then come back to it a even just a minute later, he may do much better.

• Have a plan or stop to revise your plan if your pooch does something unusual.

• Have a clear picture of what you’re rewarding in your head. If you don’t, you don’t won’t know what you want either. (Refer to the Indonesian moodle blog).

• Practice on people and have people practice with you. Humans have all the same problems playing the part of the pet as dogs do. You’ll have a better appreciation of what the pet goes through if you subject yourself to someone else’s training. (Stay tuned for upcoming blog on Saturday, January 9th).

• Sometimes behaviors don’t have to be completely free-shaped. You can manipulate the environment to increase the likelihood the individual will do something close to what you want so that you can get started. Just be sure you only do it few times and then don’t need it anymore. For instance, if you’re trying to train your dog to head over to a certain part of the room, you can toss a treat in that direction a few times. Better yet, do something that makes them orient in that direction but requires no movement that the dog can see on your part. Or if you want him to turn, say 45°, you can place something he likes such as a toy at 90° to the direction he’s facing. Then as he starts to orient to it but well before he’s turned the 90°, you can click and treat. Once he orients several times, then remove the toy and see if he’ll orient in that direction since you’re rewarded it already.

• Stop while you and your dog are still having fun and experiencing success.

By Sophia Yin, DVM, MS  Jan 2, 2009

Question:

Do you have suggestions for training in a multiple dog household? Of my three dogs, two are “sitting to say please” to go out. The other dog refuses. I started letting the two go on out and making the refuser stay until she sits. But she still refuses to sit at the same time as the others. How do I reinforce behaviors properly with three dogs who don’t always respond the same way or at the same time? (All three dogs are eleven years old.)

Rhonda

Answer:

Here’s the trick. For the one who just doesn’t “get it,” he needs a ton of practice in a short period of time—not just sitting to go out, but for other things throughout the day. It’s like when you learn a new sports skill or dance move. If you practice it 30 times in a day, you may get the move down-pat. If instead you only practice once a day for 30 days, it may take forever.

So here’s what I suggest if you want to make the behavior a habit with just 1-2 days. Have the slow learner earn every single kibble by sitting throughout the day. You may need to attach him to you via leash when you’re home if he tends to blow you off. That way you have a lot of opportunities to reward him for sitting because he’ll be near you.

You can randomly reward him for sitting or you can have short two-minute sessions where you reward him for repeated sitting. You can also add in several variation of an exercise called leave-it where he learns that he can’t get to a dropped treat because you physically block him or have tossed it out of his leash range. Then once he figures he should turn and sit and look at you, you can let him get the treat. This exercise teaches him that when he can’t get something, he should turn to you and ask by saying please by sitting. Do this after you’ve practiced a lot of sits in a row first so that sitting is foremost in his mind.

Then work on a similar exercise at the door. Open the door and toss a treat through. Block him from going through. Once he sits and remains seated, you can let him out. If he takes a while to sit, then once he sits give him a string of treats in a row. This helps him learn that sitting is a jackpot position! Once he sits quickly each time, they you don’t need to give treats-the reward is going out. By practicing a bunch of times in a row, the lightbulb will finally click on.

Once he’s great with the behavior on his own (which should just take 1-2 days) then practice the same thing with your other dogs present. With this focus-type of practice, he’ll be sitting politely at the door in under a week!

By Sophia Yin, DVM, MS  January 4, 2010

Question:

I love watching your videos. What treats do you use in your veterinary practice? They seem pretty irresistible. They also look like they are something that allows them to nibble off small pieces at a time. We have trouble finding something the fearful or anxious dogs will eat.

Thanks!

Lily from Grand Rapids, Michigan

Answer:

I use a variety of semi-moist treats such as Pup-Peroni and Natural Balance Food Roll which can be cut into variable-sized pieces and nibbled off in little bits at a time. The ability for dogs to nibble small pieces comes in handy for keeping dogs focused on the food during potentially scary procedures and thus helping to control their head. I also keep treats such as canned spray cheese and baby food in my food arsenal just in case.

You’re right in that using really tasty treats in the hospital setting is important. I often have people tell me dogs won’t take treats in their hospital and then I find that their giving treats that are about as enticing to dogs as celery is to kids. If you use boring dry dog biscuits, only the happy-go-lucky chow hounds, who don’t really need treats to have a good hospital experience will eat them. But if you start with something most dogs love it makes a big difference.

That said, the environmental set-up as well as how the treats are delivered will make a huge difference too. For instance, even though I see a huge number of fearful and anxious dogs in behavior consults, most of these dogs readily take treats during the course of the consult. I ask the owners to withhold food that day since the dog may get its meals-worth of food in treats during the consult. Then there’s the hospital set-up. The waiting room of our hospital is comfortable and calm and my behavior room has throw rugs or fleece beds, chairs that look like couches, dog toys, and other homey things. You’d be surprised the difference that a little washable bathroom rug makes in improving the dog’s comfort level quickly.

Next, when I first greet the ambivalent dog, if he does not immediately look relaxed or approach me, I just ignore him and talk to the owner. I let him see that I have food, which I may discretely toss to him. Once these dogs have had a few treats from a safe distance in the absence of people staring at them, they quickly warm up. Pretty soon they’re walking right up and offering a sit to earn treats. Even the dogs who won’t initially take treats tend to eat the treats after they habituate to the room for several minutes, especially when it’s clear I’m not going to put any pressure or demands on them. For a regular veterinary health exam, the perfect time to inconspicuously toss treats to a dog who won’t yet take them by hand is when the technician is doing the pre-examination history.

Once you put all of these things together-starting with a hungry dog in a dog-friendly room and a ho-hum low key greeting you’ll find that most dogs will eat almost any semi-moist, tasty treat you offer them.

For more information on these techniques refer to Low Stress Handling, Restraint and Behavior Modification of Dogs and Cats. The online version is at www.AskDrYin.com/elearning.

Let’s hear from you!

What are your favorite treats for dogs and cats in a hospital setting and what percentage of dogs and cats take treats in your practice?

Sophia Yin, DVM, MS  December 10, 2009.

Clients frequently tell me that they think their cat or dogs like each other but they aren’t sure. They sometimes point out that their pets sleep together, but does that mean they’re best friends? It could but it doesn’t necessarily. They could just be sharing beds because it’s comfortable or convenient. True “friends,” actively seek eachother and hang out, play together, and perform affiliative gestures such as mutual grooming.

Here’s a photo of Jonesy and his bratty younger, but bigger sister, Lucy. Jonesy pretty much just tolerates her. Sometimes he puts up with her pestering, and other times he exercises his Sailor’s mouth. When she’s in the more comfortable bed he sometimes joins her because that’s the most comfortable spot.

Here’s Jonesy with Homer (tricolor JRT) and a visiting JRT. Homer would actively seek Jonesy out and lie next to him. That would sometimes make Jonesy grumble under his breath. Homer did indeed look up to Jonesy. But, as usual, Jonesy could care less about Homer.

Tell me about your pets who sometimes share a bed. Are they best friends or just convenient buddies?

By Sophia Yin, DVM, MS  December 8, 2009

Question:

We have a 2 year old female cat (Kachina) who is fully declawed and spayed. She will jump on the bed or sofa with my wife (Liz) and want to be scratched behind her ears/head. She purrs while this is happening then all of a sudden she will turn and bite Liz in the arm. This used to happen 1-2 times every month or so and now it is a few times a week. Kachina usually comes back to lay with Liz in about 30 minutes as if nothing happened and curl up with Liz. Liz was in bed last night and Kachina bit her arm and blood was flowing from the entry wound. I closed the door to our bedroom last night but we need to do something so Kachina stops biting Liz. Kachina does not do this to me.

Any suggestions?

–Doug

Answer

Doug, as you already know, unlike dogs who generally read like an open book, cats are a little more subtle and come with interesting quirks. For instance a hungry dog will follow you around the house even barking and whining until you give in. Hungry cats sometimes meow from their comfortable place, until you deliver the food to them. One thing about cats is that they don’t necessarily like being petted endlessly the way many dogs do. This could be the root of Kachina’s issues with Liz. So even if the cats solicit the petting, they may get tired of it after several seconds or minutes.

It’s like they’re saying, “Pet me now.” And then after a set time point, “Ok, I’ve had enough,” or ,”But not that way.”  The signs meaning stop may be subtle-a tail flick, ears bent to the sides. When, we humans are blind the cat has to give a bigger cue-namely a bite. In essence the bite says, “Hey! I told you to stop!” After this the cat may just figure out that the subtle signs don’t work. Better to go with the neon sign, a big chomp, first. Or it may be that the cat gets more irritated with each event. Like. “Geez, doesn’t she know I can’t stand being petted that long?”

In cases where the humans just can’t keep their hands of their cat or pet the cat in a way that their cat more aroused, cats have been known to proactively hiss or swat any time the human walks by. Or they bite and scratch seemingly randomly. To them it’s not randomly, they’re biting when they think the human may approach or try to pester them. Overall they become more irritable around people they deem bad petters.

So what if this is Kachina’s issue. What can you do? Safety first. Keep Kachina out of the bedroom at night. Next Liz should only pet Kachina for short bouts of petting, short enough so that Kachina will, for sure enjoy it. These short bouts should be paired with feeding so that Kachina comes to associate the petting with things he likes. For instance, Liz can either pet Kachina will simultaneously feeding cat treats or canned cat food for about 5-10 seconds and then stop both the feeding and the petting. Alternatively Liz could pet for  5-10 seconds and then follow immediately with a treat to reward Kachina for behaving well. I frequently start with method 1 and then move to method 2. In both cases, systematically increase the time that Liz is able to pet. The goal is that Kachina associates the petting with good thing (food /treats) and remains in a positive emotional state rather than becoming agitated.

If these techniques don’t clearly help, then it’s time to see a behaviorist. A list of veterinarians practicing behavior can be found at www.AVSABonline.org.

By Sophia Yin, DVM, MS   December 1, 2010

I’ve heard that a tired dog is a behaved dog. Will exercise solve most of my dog’s problems? Dogs are natural athletes and as such need exercise every day; however, exercise is not a substitute for training. In fact, for many dogs, vigorous exercise just gets them into better shape.  For instance my Jack Russell Terrier can easily run 18 miles and still have enough energy to bounce up and down when he thinks I’ll play fetch. When I’ve taken him out for a 10 mile run, I frequently forget as soon as we’re back that he’s been exercised.

Do I need to be the boss when training my dog, cat, horse or bird? While you will need to set rules and limits so that your pet knows how to behave, you don’t have to teach the behaviors by using force such as pinning them on their sides or yanking with a choke chain. You can instead train the pet by rewarding the good behaviors immediately as they occur and ensuring the pet does not get rewards for bad behavior. As a result, your approach for getting Fido trained should be more like a game of chess and less like a boxing match.

If I train my pet how long will the training last? Animals learn and change their habits throughout their life. This continual learning is important because an animal in the wild that stops learning won’t be able to adapt to its environment and survive. Continue reinforcing good behaviors throughout the animal’s life.

What’s the most common training mistake people make? People think they’re only training during planned training sessions when in reality, animals are continually being rewarded for good and bad behaviors all day. As a result of the lack of awareness owners often spend more time accidentally rewarding the undesirable behaviors than rewarding the desirable ones.

What’s the most important thing you to understand about your dog or cat or horse to modify behavior? The most important point about animals is that animals perform behaviors because the behaviors have been reinforced. In order to change behavior, we have to reward an alternate behavior that you would prefer and remove all rewards for undesirable behavior. This means that you have to recognize what might be reinforcing bad behavior so that you don’t accidentally reward it.

What do you use for rewards for pets? It’s important to use everything that motivates your pet, to your advantage. Food rewards work well because, for instance, if your pet eats 100 kibble a day, you can reward him 100x for the same behavior in one day, which means he can learn the behavior and form a habit quickly. Once he knows the behavior well, you can give the food rewards intermittently and alternate with other reinforcers. Ultimately you want to use what’s most reinforcing to the pet at the instant. For instance if you’re teaching your dog to sit before going out the door, at first reward with a sequence of treats for sitting and looking at you for permission before you let him out. Once he’s consistently good at this behavior, you no longer need treats because his ultimate reward is getting to go out the door once he’s automatically sat for you.

What’s the most important behavior you can teach your pet? In general, for dogs and cats, the most important behavior is to teach them to ask politely for things they want by automatically saying please by sitting and looking at you for everything they want-that means food, petting, being picked up, going out the door, getting leash on, etc. By teaching them to learn to earn everything they learn that focusing on you isn’t a chore, it’s just the way they get what they want. They also learn emotional self control-that no matter how excited they are for the ball or treat, they only get it if they choose to sit and politely ask for permission. Then, in other situations where they want something or are unsure of what to do, they will tend to look to you for guidance. In other words they will start seeing you as a leader. Incidentally, the second most important behavior to teach your dog is to come running when called even with lots of distractions. [ok to link to video say please by sitting 1,2, stellah learns to earn, come when called]

What’s special about horses? One important reinforcer for horses and other herd animals that is not a reinforcer for dogs and cats is rest. As a result, when working on an exercise with a horse, goat, or cow as soon as it performs the exercise correctly, you can reward it by letting it rest for an amount of time equal to the time and effort the exercise took.

What’s special about cats? Because cats often have their food out at all times and have not been exposed to many different foods you often have to first add treats to their meal so they learn to like the treats. Then you often have to cut back on their regular meal because they are getting too much and train them during mealtimes until their food becomes a valuable resource. Another peculiarity of cats is that they are good at pretending they have a low attention span or don’t get it. They may meow and meow or walk around aimlessly until you just walk over and give them the treat or reward. In these instances, rather than walking over to them when they really want your attention, walk away so they know that if they don’t play your game, you’ll remove all chances of a reward. Usually they will follow you and try harder to do what you want them to do to earn the reward. If they don’t, then stop the session and resume a little later.

What’s special about parrots? Most parrot species are very both very social and very vocal. They spend much of their time communicating back and forth loudly with their mate or other members of their flock. As a result, attention, and talking are very rewarding to them, even if that talking is yelling. Face it, when we yell at them it sounds a lot like the squawks they give to eachother. Be sure you use these things as rewards so that you’re training good behaviors rather than always providing these things freely without thought and consequently, sometimes as a reward for bad behavior.

Are some species such as dogs smarter than others such as cats? This depends on how you define intelligence. If you define the most intelligent animal as the one that gets its way, then cats are hands down much smarter than dogs. People tend to think that animals that don’t learn what they are teaching must be stupid rather than considering the fact that maybe they themselves are bad teachers or that they are using the wrong incentives or motivators. When animals are trained using positive reinforcement and behaviors are shaped in a stepwise fashion cats and many animals one might consider dumb, can learn as fast as dogs.

Are some dogs smarter and easier to train than others? The first part is difficult to answer because intelligence can be measured in many ways. But more importantly, smarter does not mean easier to train. The easiest dogs to train are those that are relatively calm and have a dependent personality so that they want to please you. Because they have a follower personality, they learn what you want despite the gaps in your training and are happy to oblige. Dogs that are more independent and consequently could care less about verbal kudos have to be trained more methodically and with things that are actually motivating to them. When trained in a stepwise fashion you may not notice much difference in speed of learning and they will appear happy and willing to learn too. When you skip steps or use rewards that the dog doesn’t care about, these dogs come off as stubborn and willful. When you combine independence with high energy and arousal such as a Jack Russell Terrier, plus a strong ability to problem-solve or tenacity in getting to what they want, you can be in for a big struggle. If you’re not a step ahead and several IQ points smarter, your cute puppy Einstein may developing into an evil genius.

Do you use only positive reinforcement? No. While it’s essential that we focus on reinforcing good behaviors, it’s equally important to remove rewards for undesirable behavior (scientific definition = negative punishment). If both are not done equally, then the animal will continue to be confused as to which behavior you want and a good habit will never be formed.

What are the most common mistakes people make when using positive reinforcement? A common mistake is that people don’t distinguish the difference between a lure/baiting and a reinforcer. A lure is when the animal sees the motivator such as food or a toy in front of his face and performs the behavior because he’s just following it. A reinforcer is when the dog performs the behavior and then he may or may not get the reward after he performs the behavior. In one case-luring-the pet can see the food or toy and decide whether he wants to follow it and perform the behavior. In the second case, he doesn’t always get the reward afterwards and he doesn’t know until after he performs the behavior whether he will one. Many owners start with luring and never progress beyond needing to bait. A second common mistake is that people often praise or pet animals as a reward when the animal shows no behavioral indication that he finds these rewarding.  With wild animals such as giraffes, the training is still paired with food usually so the only negative is that the giraffe has to hear a lot of blabbing. For dogs, the praise and petting is often in lieu of something he would rather have such as food, so the dog ends up getting bored.

If I use food/treats for training won’t the pet only behave when I have food? If you train incorrectly or incompletely with food then you will always need food around for the animal to perform the behavior. Conversely with punishment you’re likely to always need the punisher (choke chain, pinch collar) on the dog or readily available so that the dog knows that if he doesn’t behave he will get punished.

The way to wean off food rewards is to first reward enough so that the animal learns the behavior well in different contexts. Then the handler should start rewarding with food more intermittently and sometimes switching and using other rewards that the dog wants at that instant, such praise or toys. One mistake is to accidentally make it black and white to the dog that training occurs in specific sessions and at other times they don’t require or reward the same good behavior. In fact they may even accidentally reward bad behavior. In other words they have not made it a habit yet that the dog behaves throughout the day, it’s only habit to behave during training sessions. What owners should do is have the reward available every time during the day that they need it until the dog learns to behave well all the time.

Won’t using treats train the dog or horse to be nippy? Your pet will only become nippy if you reward nippy behavior. For instance if you feed the food reward when your dog lunges for the food or horse grabs then you will train the dog or horse to lunge to get the food. The best way to prevent nippy behavior is to reward the horse only when he stands with his head away from you and to reward the dog only when he’s gentle.

Do people have naughty pets because they treat them like their kids? People should not spoil their kids or their pets. Spoiled kids who have no boundaries tend to grow into depressed adults. Spoiled dogs who have no limits tend to be more anxious or frustrated than dogs with clear rules even though they may have access to everything they want.

Is punishment ever appropriate? Punishment, which for the purpose here we will define as force or coercion, can range from verbal reprimand, to a painful jerk on a choke chain or pinch collar, to using an electronic shock. It’s anything that the animal dislikes or wants to avoid and it decreases the behavior being punished. While punishment can be effective in some situations, it is generally a more advanced technique and can have many side effects. People tend to use punishment indiscriminately because it’s the first thing that comes to their mind. That is, they use punishment because they are not proactive enough to reward good behavior and prevent rewards for bad behavior. As a veterinarian my job is to recommend the techniques that are safest to both animal and human and that are effective. Consequently, I do not recommend punishment as general approach to training, because other safer and equally or more effective techniques are available. When punishment is used, it should be used with full knowledge of the potential side effects so that they can be avoided or remedied if they do occur. Here are several considerations when deciding on whether punishment is appropriate.

• In general, punishment should only be used after the handler has a strong history of reinforcing the good behavior so that the pet has an alternate appropriate behavior it knows to perform.
• Punishment should only be used as a way to buy time to reward the good behavior frequently enough so it become a habit. In general my recommendation is that if punishment is used, it be used for one specific behavior and that an alternate behavior be rewarded 50x to every punishment.

• Punishment can cause the other pets in the household to become anxious and fearful. Although the punishment may not be directed at them it may still scare them. Since it’s not related to any behavior that they can control, meaning they have no way to predict when or prevent it from occurring, they are likely to become more anxious.

• Punishment must be strong enough to get a clear reaction and so that the animal does not habituate to (adapt to or get used to) the force used. The problem is that this can also cause injury to the animal if it’s too high. And it can cause anxiety if the timing is not right or the owner doesn’t consistently punish every single time the bad behavior occurs.

• Generally negative punishment (removing the reward for bad behavior) and positive reinforcement are easier to perform and more effective than using force (positive punishment). Both require the same timing, but as you’ll see, positive punishment may require more strength and more speed.

• Punishment can cause animals to become more aggressive and aroused. For instance, animals are often scared when threatened with punishment and may become defensive when they can’t flee. When animals are fearful of being hurt, they can run, freeze or fight. If running or freezing doesn’t work, then they are more likely to fight.

For more information on punishment download the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior’s (AVSAB) Guidelines on the use of punishment.

November 23, 2009  Sophia Yin, DVM, MS

In my entire career as a vet, I’ve only been suckered into adopting two pets. The first was Meggie, a Scottie puppy with a neuromuscular disorder called Scottie cramps. The disorder caused her to randomly walk like a broken down robot. She was probably the easiest pet I’ve trained due to her general good nature and the fact that I got her when she was pretty young. The second was the Jonesy, the Jack Russell Terrier, my current dog. He’s was and still is the worst Jack Russell Terrier, and for that matter, the worst dog I’ve ever trained. To almost anyone he looks like he’s very willing to please. This dog, who, at 8 weeks of age was already aggressive to other dogs and independent, IS now willing to work and focus on people. But a slight error or lapse of attention on your part and he’s up to no good.

Given that Jonesy is sort of a 24/7 job, and given that I’ve been able to go 16 years while only adopting two pets, you wouldn’t think I’d be taking another difficult case. But somehow I got stuck with, believe it or not, two 9 year old Bengal Cats. Now, I have nothing against cats, it’s their litterboxes that I don’t like to clean. Plus I don’t really have enough room in my tiny house for additional pets and their litterboxes. If I were going to get a cat, it would not have been a Bengal, cats known for their energetic and devious nature. Let alone cats that needed to be rehomed because they were spraying in their previous environment-one in which a third cat was reacting to a neighboring trespasser by redirecting her aggression to her Bengal housemates. But to make a long story short, I have these cats. I took them with the idea that I would keep them until their spraying issue was resolved and then rehome at least one-since they do better when kept separate.

Their names are Oliver and Dante and they are surprisingly friendly. For instance on day 1 when I took Oliver out of his carrier and he was slinking around the room, as soon as anyone started petting him he became outgoing. Dante has the bathroom to himself but has access to people through the custom-made screen door (a custom-made window screen with a door handle and hinges added). Oliver has a kitty condo located in one of the offices. So far they’re doing well, although for Oliver it took a bit to get the litter box right.

They haven’t been the huge nuisance that I thought, mostly because they’re a very controlled environment. I only let them out supervised. They’re also really easy to train. They both know sit and target. Over the next few weeks I hope to run some litter box tests just for fun and hopefully train some additional tricks.

Any Bengal owners out there who want to share some information about their cat’s personality?

Sunday November 22, 2009  by Sophia Yin, DVM

I remember in highschool math class thinking, math wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the word problems. Now, as an adult, I think, if you can’t do the word problems, which represent math in real life, you don’t really know math. Similarly, with dog training classes, it’s great when dogs know how to sit, and heel and focus on their owners in the controlled class environment but what they really need is to be able to do those things in real world. That is, it’s not good enough to do them just at their home or in their own neighborhood, the behaviors must be reliable in new locations with high distractions. That is why I frequently have a field trip after the last week of a 6-week dog training session. And that’s what we did today. We took a field trip to downtown Davis. Four dogs-five if you include my dog Jonesy-attended. Four had a history of lunging at, snapping at unfamiliar dogs, one had a history of lunging or snapping at people in his personal space. These were all issues we had addressed in behavior consults for some dogs as well as during this class. And then there’s Jonesy. In unskilled hands he’s more likely to bark fearfully at skateboards, loiters, and random objects and then become overly aroused.  Here are the exercises they worked on today.

Exercise 1: Sit at corners and heel across the street

It’s difficult to look both ways for cars when waiting at the corner if your dog’s dragging you around or getting ready to trip you. In exercise one, all dogs were required to sit at the each corner and heel when going across the street. Remember, if you need to watch your dog when crossing the street, make sure there are no careless drivers or bike riders who could accidentally run you over.

Exercise 2: Walking at attention past people

When out walking, it’s important for dog and handler to share the road with pedestrians. Many people are uncomfortable with unfamiliar dogs regardless of whether the dog is friendly or not. So in these exercises dog owners were required to 1) keep their dog close enough to them so that pedestrians would not feel like they had to move out of the way. 2) Keep their dog looking at them as pedestrians passed if there was any chance their dog might look at or try to sniff the pedestrian. While looking at pedestrians may be ok, it’s nice for people to know for sure that you have control of your dog. Owners could also just move off to the side and have their dogs perform sits facing them and away from those passing by.

Exercise 3: Defensive greetings

Next we set two student volunteers up on the sidewalk to act as dopey dog greeters. As dogs walked down the sidewalk, the volunteer inappropriately approached to pet the dogs and possibly solicit jumping while stating, “Can I pet your dog?”  Dog owners defensively backed up with their dogs so that it was clear that the answer was “not yet.” Once they had their dogs sitting, or lying down, they invited the greeters to greet. For the dog in the class who was fearful of unfamiliar people, the owner worked on keeping the dog focused and out of trouble.

Exercise 4: Walking next to other dogs

Now dogs were required to walk down the sidewalk in tandem. This was probably the most difficult exercise. Dog tended to sneak glances away in between heeling at attention. Jonesy gave several student volunteers a workout. He looks easy because he’s fairly well behaved for me. When other people work with him they he’s probably more difficult than any dog they will handle.  They learn that they will be doing lots of running around, with fast paced changes in order to keep his attention. Look away for instant and he’s getting into trouble.

Exercise 5: Clearing the sidewalk to let others pass by

Here everyone clears the sidewalk to let people pass by. Then owners keep their dogs focused on them even when student volunteer pedestrians try to distract them.

Exercise 6: Chilling out on downtown benches

Sometimes you want to just sit with your dog and enjoy the scenery, your meal, or conversing with friend. In this exercise, dogs were required to lie down while owners sat on downtown benches. Then student volunteers as well as dog owners took turns walking up to the handlers with dogs and offered human food. The dogs were required to remain sitting or lying down and were not allowed to sniff the other dog.

Nov 22, 2009    By Dr. Sophia Yin

When we last left off, I’d dropped Lucy, the 8 week old Australian Cattledog with my parents after taking a week to train her through the puppy learn to earn program at my house. Before I brought her down, she seemed virtually perfect. She would automatically sit to be petted, to get her leash on, to go out the door, to have her toy tossed, and even when she greeted guests, including young toddlers. She could fetch and would chew on appropriate toys. And she could walk on leash in heel position and come when called even away from playing with other puppies.

Then I brought her to my Dad, with the hopes that if my parents could just continue to reward the behaviors I had just trained she’d be almost as well-behaved for them. It sounded so simple, until on day one at their house she immediately decided, they didn’t exist. They were far too slow to deliver the treat while she was behaving or sitting and looking at them, so she’d immediately run off and do something else. Luckily, the Puppy Learn to Earn program starts with the puppy on leash at all times when the owners are home so she had to stick near my dad thus giving him a better chance to reward good behavior. After a full day attached to him earning her meal throughout the day, Lucy finally started sitting and looking at him. They finally started bonding. And it was a good thing since I would be unable to return to check their progress for several weeks.

Hints of Lucy’s Bad Behavior

In the weeks that I was away, it was clear my dad and Lucy were bonding. “Lucy licks me when I carry her,” or “Lucy’s doing better at sitting for us,” he would report.

But then came the email reports from my mom when I was traveling several days later. “She’s still pottying in the house, what should we do?” “Lucy’s chewing on our arm, how come?”  ” She keeps grabbing her leash on walks. How do we stop that?” Now these seem like typical questions anyone might have, but that would be people who’s did not already have a 35-page 100-photo book specifically detailing how their puppy had been trained. So my answers included statements, such as ” Did you read and look at the photos on pages 1-8 on how to potty train Lucy, or p 19 on nipping? Or watch the instructional videos I sent on how to perform the exercises?”

Even though my dad doesn’t like to read in English, I had hoped he would at least look at the photos. Yeah, right.

Anyway, based on their reports, when I finally visited them about two weeks after I’d last seen her I wasn’t surprised by her bad behavior. On a positive note, my parents had walked her twice a day through the neighborhoods of San Francisco where she’s greeted many people and received treats for sitting. So she was much more comfortable around cars, buses, individual and crowds of people, as well as fire engines, dump trucks and the other city sounds that and sights that could scare dogs who didn’t get such experiences before 12 weeks of age.  On the other hand two weeks ago we had a sweet puppy who sat for petting, treats, to be greeted, to get leash on and on walks whenever we stopped, now Lucy was a jumping maniac. That in itself wasn’t that bad, nor was the fact that she was still an angel when I walked her on leash but a little monster when my dad tried. She would stop and grabs leaves or lunge randomly in different directions or grab the leash and play tug. What was really bad was the things she learned in her puppy class. I saw them first hand when I went.

Lucy’s Bad Puppy Class

Puppy socialization class started as close to 8 weeks of age as possible is supposed to solve or prevent a number of problem issues from developing in puppies. In class, owners should practice handling their puppies and teaching their puppies that remaining calm to have their feet, ears, tail, mouth examined is good. Puppies should also learn how to play nicely with other puppies and dogs, that humans in general are safe and friendly, and that even in the high excitement environment of a class with other puppies and people, they should be able to calm down and focus on their owners.

That’s in theory what puppies are supposed to learn, but what Lucy learned was exactly the opposite. In the class, the instructor started with handling exercises. Lucy’s breeder had started these during Lucy’s first weeks, so Lucy had been good with me, all of my student volunteers, and my parents from day 1. But during class, the problem was that she wanted to play with the puppies so she was struggling and more agitated overall and my parents didn’t know how to hold her to prevent this. You’d think I would jump in and help, but not wanting to miss the educational opportunity or to interfere in the instructor’s class, I just videotaped the evidence as the bad behavior played out.

First Lucy just struggled in short bursts. But next thing she was growling. The room was fairly quiet with everyone sitting in a circle, so the growling was like a megaphone to me. The instructor seemed oblivious. I asked her what she wanted my parents to do in this type of situation. Her answer told me she hadn’t been watching. She started explaining how to reward Lucy for allowing her feet to be handled when the actual problem was that my parents had not been holding Lucy effectively. (Note: I know this because I had spent the previous year writing a photoillustrated book and DVD called Low Stress Handling, Restraint and Behavior Modification of Dogs and Cats. This involved videotaping and analyzing exactly what technicians, veterinarians and other animal healthcare staff were doing right and wrong when handling animals. And then photographing both correct and incorrect techniques. The book has 1600 color photos).

Not that her instruction was wrong. My parents were actually doing the desensitization and counterconditioning incorrectly. They were randomly giving treats and handling her feet, rather than giving treat at the same time or within a split second of handing the feet so that Lucy could make the connection. The funny thing was that they looked so happy when they were doing it, even when Lucy was struggling and growling. So as I looked through the video camera lens in horror, they were enjoying their just enjoying their new puppy.

I watched as the instructor patiently explained and demonstrated the correct method of feeling the feet and then rewarding for good behavior with a treat. The problem is that after the first few times, her technique changed. She would feel the feet and sometime take over 3 seconds to follow with a treat making it difficult for Lucy to associate the reward with the foot handling. Then, not surprisingly, as soon as the instructor walked away, my parents went back handling Lucy’s feet or mouth and randomly giving her treats, as they had been before. So they clearly hadn’t understood what the instructor had told them. Mental note to self: Have hidden video of participants in my own dog classes to see how frequently this happens. Luckily in my classes I have one assistant per every 2-3 participants.

Next, it was time for puppy play session. The instructor had us let the puppies loose, all 8 at one time and now I understood why Lucy’s behavior was so bad. In my puppy classes I tend to only let two or three puppies off leash at a time while dragging a leash, and I match the puppies based on personality and play style. These puppies only get to play this way after they can focus well on their owners when around the other puppies. Otherwise the puppies will just learn how to blow their owners off.

And ignoring people is exactly what Lucy learned. She’d run and jump on a puppy and wrestle for up to 30 seconds and the run and jump on another. She raced back and forth as the other owners laughed, “Lucy’s the fastest one.” Personally, when everyone in the class is at a consensus that one puppy is the wildest one and that puppies owners are also the oldest senior citizens in the class, that raises a huge red flag. These owners will need lots of one-on-one  help if they plan to keep the puppy in their family for a long time or to raise a canine good citizen instead of doggie juvenile delinquent.

Next the instructor started the exercise called “Catch the puppy,” where people would grab a puppies collar and then give them a treat. The goal is that the puppy learns that it’s good to be grabbed by the collar. The problem is that for puppies to make the connection for sure, it’s best to grab their collar and follow with a treat 5-10x in a row and in multiple sessions until the puppy actively look to you for a treats whenever his collar is grabbed. What Lucy was learning was that she didn’t like having her collar grabbed, it meant she wouldn’t get to play. This learning was clear, later in the class when the instructor was stepping on the leash I’d put on Lucy so that she could observe Lucy better. A puppy owner went to grab Lucy’s collar and Lucy turned, flashed her teeth, and growled. The instructor didn’t notice. So much for observing her better.

This collar grabbing technique became even less likely to effective when the instructor stated, “Now when you grab the puppy, have him sit, and then lie down and then stand.” Now all of a sudden the room was filled with demands of  “sit, sit, sit, sit…” Then when a puppy owner caught Lucy and Lucy was too interested in other dogs to pay attention to the treat, the instructor instructed, “First tell her to sit.” By then Lucy, who knows to automatically sit when she can’t get what she wants, was sitting. Regardless, the instructor repeated, “tell her to sit.” So the puppy owner said “sit” to Lucy who was already sitting, and then gave her a treat. Now, not only was Lucy learning that collar grab means cessation of play, but she was learning her cue to sit (or to not sit in cases where she was too distracted to sit) was “sit, sit sit sit sit.” Unfortunately, I didn’t get this on tape.

The rest of the class Lucy’s behavior continued to deteriorated. She became more and more aroused around the other puppies. She was happy to be the puppy on the bottom of the pile and play on her back, but she pounced on the puppies the way football player pounce on a fumbled football. She could not focus on me or my parents or hold still-especially since even when she was being held by her collar, other puppies might still be running around and jumping on her.

So, in just 2 puppy classes and a little over two weeks with my parents, she’d turned from a calm, sweet, polite puppy, to a puppy with impulse control and the start of aggression issues.

Effects Extend Beyond Class

Needless to say, I took her out of the class and took her back with me to work with her more. Once at my house, I was able to confirm that my worries were correct. Now when Jonesy, my Jack Russell Terrier, growled at Lucy to get her to back off, she would leap on him more excitedly instead of backing down to the more mature dog like she had two weeks ago. This behavior was repeated with two other test dogs similar in size. They grew tired of her repeated attempts to play roughly with them and when they voiced their opinions with growls, she escalated by growling and lunging more. In other words, she was learning, harass other dogs at will and then get into a fight when they growl at you. And she was only just over 10 weeks at this point in time. On to of this, if there was a dog in the same room or within 15 feet of her she had to lunge to try to get at it whereas before she could easily focus on me and even come when called away from puppy play.

With all that had gone wrong in just two puppy classes and a little over two weeks, I wondered, now how long would it take to retrain the bad behavior out of her and reestablish the good behavior from that first week? And once that was established how long would I need to train her before the good behavior could become a habit? Find out in the upcoming blogs.

I can say this, as a result of her bad behavior, I added about 150 more pages and hundreds more photos to the Lucy’s training manual book.