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.

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.

Day 4 of my Indonesia Trip (Sept 2009)

One fact that’s wonderful about dogs is that whether they’re a pampered pet from America, a trained competition dog in Germany, or a street dog in Bali, the language is the same.  So no matter where I go, I know I’ll be able to communicate with them.

On the morning of our first full day in Bali, while my friend Asri and her family and I are waiting at Lovina beach for our dolphin-watching boat to get fixed, a little village dog follows a visitor to the beach looking for food. The little white terrier reminds me of my Jack Russell Terrier Jonesy except that her skin mite condition, characterized by patches of hair loss and dark, thickened skin give her a sad look.

I pull a sweet roll out of my bag, squat down and toss her a small piece. Even though I avoid eye contact in order to look less threatening, she’s a little fearful at first. Once she eats the treat, however, she tentatively steps forward to take the treat I have in my hand. A few more bits of bread and she’s decided I’m safe. Now she gives me a big wag.

Now it’s time to teach her to sit. I use the bread treat to lure her into a sit. After luring her a bunch of times she starts sitting on her own. I look around; the tour people are still working on getting the motor running, and the little dog’s only eaten 1/8 of the bread bun so far. Our driver, a Bali resident and dog lover, watches smiling. “I’d take her home if I weren’t working today,” he tells Asri in Indonesian. Home is three hours away.

In Bali, the safest way to get around and to navigate the traffic is to hire a driver. The cost for us was $60.00/day-cheaper than a rental car in the U.S., and the drivers are great in Bali. Ours went to hospitality school. Because the Balinese people and government understand that their economy is based on tourism, the government helps train citizens to work in the industry. The hotels also provide cheap rooms for drivers, and the tourist areas have lounge areas for drivers to hang around. Our driver is stellar. Every time he drops us off for an activity, HE magically appears right when we’re ready to go on to the next thing.

I turn my back on the little dog so that I can alternate facing between the driver and Asri. “Asri, tell him to take her home anyway. We’ll find a box for her to sit in.”  Of course, if he takes her home she’ll have to be treated for sarcoptic mange mites so she doesn’t pass them on to his other dogs. He has several purebred dogs at home that he lets into his house.  Luckily the cost of such treatment is relatively inexpensive. She tells him and he laughs.

“What do you want to call her?” I ask, hoping to convince him to take her.

“Deannie,” he says. Hah, one step closer to the goal. As I wonder whether he might actually take her Asri exclaims, “Hey Sophia. Deannie wants to be trained. I look down and realize that every time I change my focus to look at Asri and then the driver, Deannie repositions herself to be in front of me.

Next I decide THAT maybe it’s time to train her to perform a trick. It could come in handy if she has to coax food from tourists. I decide on “sit pretty/beg.” When she sits, I lure her with a treat to sit up on her haunches with her front legs of the ground. She’s a quick study. She’s able to balance almost upright when I use the food lure to help her understand what I want.

After about 5 minutes she can sit in the beg position for several seconds although she’s not perfectly straight. She’ll need a few more 5-minute sessions to be able to balance on her own, and then a few more sessions where I reward her for offering the behavior on her own without my prompting.  The behavior has to be un-prompted since tourists won’t know to ask her to perform it. Realistically it will take 2 days to train. I should have chosen play bow instead because that doesn’t require dogs to learn to balance. But I hope to train her more after we get back from the dolphin watching tour.

Unfortunately after we get back, 1.5 hours later than expected, locals trying to sell souvenirs immediately blanket us and I don’t have a chance to train anymore.

HOWEVER, Deannie did immediately recognized me as a friend and approach me with a smile and a wagging tail. Which reminds me once again that across the world dogs are the same. They like you if they associate you with good things, and they learn what you want if you reward them right when they perform the desired behaviors and avoid giving rewards for the undesired behaviors. It’s an easy and simple set of formulas for gaining four-legged friends and one I’m glad to possess.

Sophia Yin, DVM, MS     September 6, 2009

Ever since that great video featuring Tyson the skateboarding bulldog hit it big on youtube, skateboarding has become a standard dog trick that owners attempt to train. Most owners start by using some basic method of luring the dog onto the skateboard with a treat or pointing to the skateboard and hoping the dog will get on. If he does, then they praise and pet him like they would a child who has finally managed to ride a bike without the training wheels. They may even give the dog a treat.

For some natural-born skateboarding dogs, this crude technique works. In other cases you end up with a dog that sometimes rides the skateboard and at other times tries to eat it. Or worse, you get a dog that goes crazy every time he sees the skateboard because he wants to chomp on it like it’s a chewtoy. For those who have dogs that don’t naturally know how to get up and ride, here’s a step-by step plan. This simple dog trick starts with teaching the dog to step on objects with the two front feet on cue and progresses to stepping on moving objects such as a skateboard.

Start by Teaching a Simpler Dog Trick Called “Step” with the Two Front Feet

Step 1: Luring

The first stage of training this dog trick consists of teaching Fido to place two front feet on any object that you want. The benefit of this behavior is that you can also use it to teach other tricks such as shake paws, high five, wave, turn on the lights, or ring the bell.

To start, you’ll need an object that’s elevated several inches off the ground and wide enough so that your dog can’t easily walk around it. Objects I’ve used for a 40-pound dog include a step-aerobics platform, an indo board, several coffee table books placed side by side, and a square, firm doggie bed.

Next lure the dog with treats or kibble so that his front feet are on the object and then give him 5-10 more treats in a row. Then walk away so he gets off and follows you (or toss a treat on the floor so he has to move) and repeat the procedure. Repeat this step until you are able to walk towards the object with him and he steps on without hesitation consistently-meaning 5-10 times in a row-with the food lure.

Step 2: Switch to Rewarding the Desired Behavior

Next, switch to rewarding the behavior instead of luring. Walk up to the object and see if he will step up on his own. If he does, say “yes” right as he does it in a distinct voice and give him a treat within 0.5 seconds. That’s right. I said 0.5 seconds. Dogs learn best if the reward comes within a split second. That means you’ll have to whip your treat delivery hand out and get that treat right up to his face. If you’re able to do this, then “yes” will come to inform Fido exactly what he’s done right and that he’s getting a treat within an instant. Again, follow with several additional treats. Then walk away and repeat. Be sure to approach the object from different directions so that you know Fido’s focusing on stepping up onto objects rather than just on stepping on one object from one specific approach.

Step 3: Generalizing to a Few Other Objects

When he can immediately step up 5-10 times in a row from different approaches, switch to a smaller object for him to step on. Try a coffee table book or a hard-cover binder. At this point you may realize he only knows to step on the objects you just trained. So you may need to go back to step 1 when you first start with a new object. Work on several different types of objects so that you know he’s learning the concept of “step.”

Step 4: Adding the Cue Word

Once he’s regularly stepping onto the object of interest, you can start teaching the cue word “step.” Walk up to the object ahead of him and if you’re sure he’ll follow and step on it, point to it first and say “step.” It’s important that you’re sure he’s going to step up and you say the word before he’s performing the action. If you say the word and he does not perform the behavior he will not make the connection between the word and the action.

Step 5: Practicing on Random Objects to Test Fido’s Knowledge of the Cue

Now you can move to an even smaller objects or objects that are tilted slightly if you want. If the object is small it’s ok for him step with just one foot. Walk up to the next object, point to it and then stay “step.” Once he’s stepped, say “yes” and reward. Avoid staying “step” and pointing simultaneously in this step and the last step too or he’ll tend to learn just the visual pointing cue and not the verbal cue since the visual one is more obvious. Repeat step 5 in rapid succession going between different objects. When he can step on different objects on cue without hesitation, then he actually knows what the visual or verbal cue means.

This process is short. Most dogs can learn this dog trick within several sessions if they are hungry and motivated for what you have to earn. My dogs are used to working for their meals so I use their daily alottment of kibble as rewards when I want them to learn tricks such as this quickly.

Step 6: Turning this into the Skateboard Dog Trick

Now transfer this dog trick to stepping on a skateboard. Place the skateboard on a carpet or grass so it won’t move and scare him. Point and say “step.” Then reward him when he’s standing with his two front feet. Repeat 5-10 x in rapid succession. Then start requiring he step on with 3 or 4 feet before you give the reward. Once he easily steps on onto the board, sometimes reward 2 feet on and sometimes 3-4.

Next move the skateboard to a sidewalk so that it will move around and have him step on the skateboard. When he’s more excited he’ll jump on with all four feet. It’s important that he learn both 2 and 4 feet so that he can propel the board forward as well as riding on it.  Practice this dog trick in 5-15 minutes sessions several times a day and in just several days your pooch will be a skateboarding pro.

Sophia Yin, DVM, MS     August 10, 2009

Question:

Hi Dr. Yin, your videos are great but you’re an expert! Will it work for someone like me who does not train dogs for a living? I really liked the Pepe one with the crate. What if the dog is not treat driven? That was great!! I’m getting a standard Poodle puppy in a few months and I’m trying to learn all I can. Thank you!! Desiree.

Answer

Good job to you for doing your homework before you get your pup! Yes, the techniques on my web page can work for anyone whether beginner or advanced. The crate training techniques are especially simple. And interestingly, beginners and non-trainers often do much better because their interpretation of the techniques is not clouded by habits that they have already learned.

But you do bring up a good point. Many techniques, although simple, require more coordination and thoughtfulness than it first appears. Consequently, the success or speed of success depends on the ability of the humans to perform the techniques, the personality of the pet, and how consistent the people are about carrying out the program.

Training is a Technical Skill

You may see trainers or even TV personalities who demonstrate techniques as if a cursory demonstration is a substitute for teaching.

Some people may think that training is an intangible art. Although some art may be involved, training is actually more of a technical skill, like a sport. This sport requires that we reward the dog or puppy with something he wants within half a second of performing the good behavior and that we remove the reward for undesirable behavior before the behavior actually gets rewarded. For instance, let’s say we have a dog that loves to jump on us for attention and we would prefer he sits to be petted. If we stand up straight and remain silent so it’s clear we’re ignoring him when he comes to us for attention and then reach to pet him immediately after he sits he will understand that sitting is what earns him the petting. If he then starts to jump as soon as we start petting we should remove our hands and even stand up straight so that our message is loud and clear —standing leads to removal of attention, sitting leads to petting. If we delay the posture that tells the dog that we are now removing attention, then the message for him will be muddy.  This point about timing and the importance of using the right body posture to provide the correct message to the pooch is important regardless of the type of techniques used.

Because training is a technical skill, like a sport, even the finer aspects can be learned if you have an instructor who can break the pieces down for you. For instance how you deliver the food reward to your pet is as important as making sure your pet’s hungry during training sessions. Good instructors should show you how to deliver the reward so that you don’t accidentally encourage the pooch to jump or grab for the food and how to deliver the reward efficiently so that the game is fun for the pet. They also pick out little movements that you make that accidentally tell your dog that you’re not paying attention to them when what you want to form with the dog is a mental connection.

Techniques Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect if You Start Off Early and with the Right Pet.

Fortunately, just as a weekend sports enthusiast may still be able to hit a baseball well enough to get a hit or play golf well enough to have a pleasant game, the average owner doesn’t necessarily need to have perfect technique, unless they wait until they have developed serious behavioral disorders such as aggression. Several factors determine the level of ability needed.

One factor is the ease or difficulty of the behaviors you’re teaching. For instance crate training, when performed even in a crude version is easy. Training dogs to sit, or lie down or come when called are also easy tricks to teach.  But to convert these exercises from tricks that the dog  performs only when you have food to good behaviors that occur when needed during every-day life requires much more practice and consistency.

A second factor is the personality of the pup. For instance, some dogs are naturally laid back, highly food motivated, and oddly enough want to please their owners. Such dogs often learn good behavior even when their owners practically have to pantomime what they want. Other dogs are more independent and interested in the outside environment. These dogs won’t learn good behaviors by accident and are much less likely to bend to force. They need owners who have greater skill at training. Oh, and don’t’ worry about having a pooch that is not food motivated. All pups have to eat for a living. If they understand that the food is available only for short periods throughout the day—ideally all through training sessions at first or in a puzzle toy– and that what they don’t work for, they don’t eat, they will learn to value food.

A third factor is how early you start. Starting as soon as you get the pup—meaning even right at 7-8 weeks—will speed the process immensely. At 7-8 weeks puppies are not as coordinated as their adult counterparts. They can’t jump as hard, as high or as fast as an adolescent, so it’s easier to reward them for sitting and remaining seated before they have had a chance to jump.  When you first put a leash on a pup, they don’t tend to pull. Rather, they generally need to be coaxed forward with a food lure or praise and the desire to get to you.  As a result, in that first week of leash walking you can spend the entire short walk rewarding the pup for being at heel position and even luring them forward to that position if needed. And every time you stop you can guide them to sit using a treat. Within a week or two if you walk them regularly they should be picking up good leash walking behavior such that food can now be used as a reward after they perform the good behaviors rather than as a lure. In fact, with puppies we can easily train most of the polite behaviors that characterize a well-behaved adult right from the start. By doing so they won’t have a chance to establish bad habits of jumping on you, lunging or dragging you on their leash. So you won’t have ingrained bad behaviors to reverse. (See puppy)

The Goal of Training is to Make Good Behavior Fun

Overall, the goal of the techniques on my site are to make training fun for both the owner and pet. If all interactions are fun and bad behaviors are not inadvertently rewarded, the pet will be more willing to behave well regularly regardless of his personality.

Note: In a few weeks I will be launching an online education portion of www.AskDrYin.com with much more detailed videos, handouts, and readings on training and behavior modification techniques. For now, if you have a puppy, feel free to look at the puppy learn to earn program and watch the puppy training video on youtube (superbark1)

By Sophia Yin, DVM, MS    June 16, 2009

Have you ever wondered how dogs on TV learn so many tricks? It turns out that many tricks are really easy to train quickly if you train them in a stepwise fashion. Here is the basic approach followed by a cool trick you can train.

General Tips and Approach to Trick Training in Dogs

• First, use bite-sized treats or the dog’s regular kibble, instead of feeding his meal in a bowl, to reward the individual training steps. That way you can reward the right behaviors a lot in a short period of time (10, 20, 30 + times in the course of just minutes). As a result your pooch will learn the steps quickly.
• You will often need to start by rewarding or sometimes luring a behavior that may look very different from your goal behavior. Then when the dog’s good at that step, you’ll start rewarding behaviors that are closer and closer to the goal behavior. In other words, you’ll be shaping behaviors through little steps called successive approximations. By training in mini-steps you and your dog will always experience success and even the most relaxed learner will be able to learn the steps.
• Once the final step is learned, train the cue word so that Fido can perform the trick on cue. Avoid putting a word to the trick until the trick is actually learned. Otherwise, to your dog, the word will just sound like random babbling.
• As an added step you can switch to other rewards besides food and you can train Fido to repeat the trick multiple times in succession without needing a reward of any kind each time.

Here’s an Example of One Trick You can Train

Beg (Sit on hind end with front legs raised in the air).

Start with your dog sitting on a non-slip surface. Next have several treats or kibble ready in your hand. Put the treat up to your dog’s nose and as he goes to sniff it, raise it just enough so that his front legs come off the ground. Then give him the treat while his legs are raised off the ground. Repeat this 5-10 times until he consistently balances with legs slightly off the ground. In the next step put the treat up to his nose and then raise the treat so that he has to balance with his feet higher off the ground than in step 1. Again repeat this until he consistently balances with legs that high off the ground. With each step hold the treat higher until he can balance with his back completely vertical to the ground.

Now train him to remain in this position for longer amounts of time. Once he’s in the beg position, give him 3-5 or more treats in a row. At first have treats come frequently and then space them out so that he’ll stay in position for longer amounts of time for the same amount of treats.

Now turn the food lure into a hand signal. Take the treat and instead of putting it right up to his nose, raise that hand up, but farther away from Fido and to a height where he will raise his body into “beg” position. If he moves forward towards you, pull the treat away so that he understands that moving towards you causes the treat to go away. You may only be able to hold your hand 2” away from him at first to get him to beg. But after a handful of trials you should be able to lure him from further away. When he can do this consistently, see if he knows the hand alone is a cue by raising it but without a food treat. When he moves into beg position, then immediately give the treat with the other hand.

Training the verbal cue. Once he performs “beg” with the visual hand cue consistently, add the verbal cue. Say “beg” and then follow with the hand cue. It’s important that the verbal word comes before the visual hand cue otherwise it will not begin to predict the visual cue. If they come at the same time there’s no need for him to learn the verbal cue—since he’s getting the visual one. When you’ve done this 10 times in a row, say the verbal cue and wait an instant to see if Fido responds by “begging” without needing the hand cue. If he doesn’t then repeat the pairing 10 more times before you test again. Once he has the verbal cue there’s no need for a hand signal anymore, but you can still use the hand signal alone or with a verbal cue if you want.

Conclusion

Now that you know the general approach, you have all the tools you need to train many fun behaviors. To see video of this trick, go to Dr. Yin’s Dog Tricks page at www.AskDrYin.com/dogtricks.php.

Are there dog tricks you’re interested in learning how to train? Email Dr. Sophia Yin at www.AskDrYin.com