Paying the release as we have been during this class is often a contentious issue for dog trainers.

I think the issue comes up based upon what the dog and handler perceive the duration behavior to be. Is it a chore, duty or obligation? Or is it an fun, play, and opportunity?

Obligation or Opportunity?

If it is an obligation or duty, the handler is reluctant to reinforce the release because they don’t want too much value placed upon the release, as it is already self reinforcing and adding cookies could make the dog not want to stay. The allure of freedom is already too much of a distraction.

If Staying is fun and an opportunity to earn reinforcement, then the release is actually a bit demotivating. The dog gets released and the reinforcement ends. They have actually lost the opportunity to work. So … Read More »

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In this Video, Apryl Lea and Pan work on a Pedestal. The intent of the session was to Manufacture the Approach and Generalize the Handler position.

This session has nothing to do with the Down. All we want is a stable position on the pedestal which will happen because of the high rate of reinforcement on the table. This is about Action. It is simply about getting a lot of value on the Pedestal and generalizing the approach and the spatial relationship to the handler.

Apryl worked from all areas of the room and placed reinforcement for the cued Release throughout the room as well. Enabling her to get Pan to work from, the Right, from the Left, From near to far and far to near. She also worked from a seated position at a distance.

Pan … Read More »

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[title]What Is DOC?[/title]

DOC

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Dismiss – Go Do Dog Stuff
Observe – Watch Dog
Capture – Mark and Reinforce Desirable Behavior

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DOC is our Environmental Management Protocol. It is designed to help handler’s learn to passively handle their dogs. We dismiss the dog and then let them hang out there on their own in the environment and shape behaviors we would like our dogs to use when they’re on their own. Spot is one of the default behaviors that we’re looking to shape in our Environmental Management.
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DOC for Action

Once we have Desire for the Spot or Pedestal and/or Desire for Duration, we can dismiss the dog, observe them casually and wait for them to go hit the spot. If we’ve done our job in building the spot so far, the dog should be waiting there … Read More »

“Dog’s don’t generalize well,” is a phrase that many dog trainers know and understand.

While it is true that dogs do not generalize as well as humans, generalization may be enhanced through training.

Generalizing the spot behavior is critical to being able to use the skill successfully in our daily interactions. We need to be able to put our dogs in many different spots, as it is not practical to always have ‘your’ Spot with us. Having a well generalized Spot will enable us to place our dogs on any kind of rug, on tables, chairs, stools and other pedastals, it also can be generalized out to include thresholds and doorframes.

Handler Position

Generalizing the handler’s Position is extremely important.

The dog should not be basing the performance of the spot behavior upon the position of the handler. The handler’s position, movement, location etc should … Read More »

Tossing Your Cookies

When asking the dog off of the spot, the Release, we toss cookies. Tossing the cookie forces the dog to leave the Spot and sets up another approach.

The concepts of On and Off can be taught quite quickly by marking the off and tossing a cookie. The dog leaves the Spot to go grab the cookie and then immediately returns to earn more cookies for doing the Spot again.

We can get the dog to move away from the handler, towards the handler, to the left or to the right with tossed cookies.

Dismiss and Capture

Once we’ve added value to the Spot and have started to generalize the approach to the Spot, we can then Dismiss and Capture the Spot behavior. What we do here is to get the dog all excited about the spot and working in general … Read More »

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What is a Pedestal?

Pedestal is a raised spot, essentially a table.

We use all kinds of things as Pedestals – exercise balls, stools, plastic tubs, crates, chairs, stools, boulders, stumps, picnic tables, benches… you name it and if our dog can hop up and stay on there, we’ll use it.

Our favorite Pedestal is an old end table with some carpet on top, as you see in the video above.

The more objects we can generalize this skill to the more readily our dogs will take to different Pedestals. Here’s an example for those of you who play disc with your dogs… A footstall here at Pawsitive Vybe (dog hops up and stays on feet) takes place in just a few moments. We got Prima, one of our Red Dogs, to hop up on my … Read More »

Behaviors can be broken down into many root concepts. We can mark and reinforce any or all of these in order to draw attention to them so we can use them in the future.

Spot training offers us several active root concepts that we can teach our dogs that will come in handy in other situations:

Targeting
Threshold
Foot Target
On
Off
Duration Behavior (sit or down)

Threshold

Understanding that the space on one side of the threshold is different than the space on the other is an important part of understanding the environment. Dogs surely know all about this concept but they don’t know that we know about it, or that we, as a team, should be concerned with it.

Understanding that a threshold is something to be conscious of allows for all kinds of team actions to be better understood.

Foot Target

We can mark the moment a foot hits … Read More »

Action

It is important to understand that duration behaviors, have 2 components. The Action and then the Duration.

Many clicker trainers have problems with duration because they are primarily focused on marking and reinforcing action. After the action part of the duration behavior has been performed there is really nothing left to mark. All that’s left to do is to add value. So once the marking of the action there will be no additional marking as we pay the dog for duration.

If the handler does any marking of behavior during a Duration skill, it should be focused on good decisions made by the dog – starting to but deciding not to get up, for instance, unsolicited eye contact, perhaps, shifting to a more relaxed position, etc.

Excessive marking of behavior during duration behavior training tends to teach the dog that action makes things … Read More »

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When working on Duration behaviors the first step is getting the behavior to happen. The second step is to add as much value to that behavior as possible to ensure that it happens again. We add value with a high rate of reinforcement. For learning and adding value we should aim for 15-30+ rewards per minute. That’s a cookie every 2-4 seconds.

We then release the dog and wait.

As the value is added to the target behavior the dog will start to repeat the behavior faster and faster.

Step 1 – Shape Interest
Mark and reinforce (rewarding for position) interest or approach to the spot

Step 2 – Add Value
Shovel food on the spot.

Step 3 – Release
Give your release cue and toss cookie to help dog off.

Mark for behavior, Reward for Position!

Reward placement is key in Spot training. The reward must be delivered so that the dog can maintain position on the spot. While that may seem entirely logical and clear, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to screw up. Fumble a cookie and the dog gets off the spot. Move your hand in the wrong direction and the dog will follow.

Reward placement can be used to our advantage though, and here’s how we do that:

We can mark the crossing of the threshold and reinforce with a cookie dropped on the Spot. This will get the dog further onto the spot.

We can mark each foot fall as the dog walks on the target area and place cookies that require them to get them further onto the spot.

When we want a sit, we can place … Read More »