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ClickerExpo KY 2010 Day Two (Friday)

First 'official' day of ClickerExpo:
Early Morning session: Reaching the Animal Mind: Opening Plenary Session
Introduction by Aaron Clayton: 46 states represented; Several countries;Human Societies and Shelters sending multiple staff members!! Amazing to see so many different people from different backgrounds. Conference was SOLD OUT!
Late morning session: Smart Reinforcement with Ken Ramirez: All about reinforcement options, and how to use reinforcement schedules and introduce new reinforcers.
I'm all about new reinforcers- seeing as I work with a breed that is "difficult to train"; "stubborn"; etc. Its not that they are difficult to train, or stubborn (o.k., well- they are but that isn't really a training issue) Based on my training experiences, it boils down to this: it is difficult to find reinforcers that they are crazy about consistently. Sure, food works some of the time..and toys some of the time- but my biggest challenge with training Oscar past the basics was finding novel ways to reinforce him. One seminar that I went to said to essentially remove EVERYTHING from the dogs environment that they found reinforcing (including access to other dogs) and use these to reinforce behaviors you want. I thought about this, and while it makes sense- I did not want to become the center of my dogs universe. Yes, this is the point to an extent while moving into more complex behaviors and competition- However the reality is that its not practical- I'm not with my dog 24/7 although I'd like to be. I also PERSONALLY don't think it is fair to my dog. I then went to a seminar by Kathy Sdao which went over introducing new reinforcers and how she spents just as much time introducing new reinforcers as she does training new behaviors! This got me really thinking- I don't have to remove all reinforcers- just make new ones that only come from me!!!
Ken is an amazing speaker, and an amazing trainer. I love that he gets really excited about training (if you've ever seen videos of him working with his dog- you'll know what I mean). He LOVES to train, and it comes across when he speaks. He talked about how to introduce new reinforcers, how to evaluate reinforcers (the key thing they use to evaluate this is focus...ha ha I'm toast with ANY reinforcer with Oscar LOL), and examples of how conditioned reinforcers have been helpful in dealing with some of the animals at the Shedd Aquarium.

ClickerExpo KY 2010 Day One (Thursday)

Oscar, Sprocket and I made the 7+ hour trip in the car to go to Clicker Expo in Lexington, KY http://clickertraining.com/clickerexpo/ . We left Thursday morning (March 18th) and got to Lexington at around 1:30 in the afternoon.

Susan Sarubin from Pawsitive Fit, was gracious enough to allow Oscar, Sprocket and I to room with her, so I called Susan to help me lug the car full of dog stuff I'd brought with me.

To any of you who met us at ClickerExpo- you can't forget meeting me, or at least my dogs. I'm the one with the two French Bulldogs (the only French Bulldogs) in tow- one being a ridiculously cute puppy who EVERYONE wanted to pet and play with :) You may have noticed I seemed a little uptight and anxious about my dog Oscar- the adult French Bulldog- running up to other dogs/people or other dogs in his space. He is great with other dogs- but we left from Clicker Expo on Sunday to drive 12 hours for him to get a laser disk ablation spinal procedure done. He ruptured a disk in his back on Christmas Eve, and had to have emergency surgery on his spine- or he would have likely been paralyzed. The only reason you can't really "tell" he had the spinal surgery is that we have been going to rehabilitation once a week since the incident (and actually before the incident but that is another story). If he had ANY back pain AT ALL, we would have to cancel the trip for the procedure- not to mention jumping around and getting excited could cause him to reinjure his back. TECHNICALLY he was not even over the 3 month recovery period for the spinal surgery. Why take the risk? Well, Oscar has been on crate rest since the beginning of December and is stir crazy- not to mention we had already signed up for CE before the incident. I thought CE would be a good place to bring him where people had their dogs under control. I didn't account for the people with dogs who were at the hotel who weren't with CE; or the sometimes nasty looks I got when I picked up Oscar and moved him to a carpeted area, or held his harness on his back so he wouldn't jump around.
Yes, I know picking him up/holding him isn't TEACHING him anything, and yes I can get him to move on his own even when he is aroused, he is a very well-behaved dog- but when he is excited and scrambling all over the floor- the slippery marble floor- I'm not going to even RISK him hurting his back. So, before you judge someone for how they handle their dog, maybe think about why they are doing what they are doing. Also realize, he hasn't been out in public other than to the vet and rehab therapist for THREE and a HALF months!
Overall, he did great and it was good for him to get out and about and use his brain some.
The hotel was gorgeous, the room was a little small though- and we had to pay $20 extra for a refrigerator. Wi-Fi was also not available in the rooms- and internet cost $13/day.

PLAY with your dog

I know the topic of the month is "train your dog", but I really feel that it should be "build a better relationship with your dog".. after that- everything else comes a little easier. There have been several books printed about the importance of playing with your dog: Pat Miller's "Play With Your Dog", Patricia McConnell's "Play Together, Stay Together" and many, many books on games you can play with your dog.
Never underestimate the importance of having fun with your dog! Playing together is a powerful thing, it can help with training (use as a reinforcer), it can help with a shy or fearful dog (build confidence) or help with behavior modification (can use to help teach 'impulse control').
When I took the Level One trainer academy with Pat Miller at Peaceable Paws http://www.peaceablepaws.com , we had to work for 1 week with a shelter dog on training basic behaviors like sit, down, come, wait, leave it, give, and stand. Usually, academy dogs for level 1 are dogs from the shelter who can benefit from some good manners training- but the shelter tries to pick dogs who don't have behavioral issues (of course, it happens but that isn't the goal of a level 1 academy). I ended up working with an American Bulldog named Bay-Bay who was painfully shy and very fearful. Her littermate Tolken was also an academy dog and ended up not really being able to participate due to his fearfulness. I had the most delicious treats (cheese, chicken, livewurst, baby food), and Bay Bay would do the behaviors with these as rewards- but what I REALLY felt built our relationship was the play. Every morning we would hike on Peaceable Paws 88 acre gorgeous property, and Bay Bay was very worried about lots of things- leaves falling, sounds, smells, sudden movements from tree branches. On the second day, I brought some toys with me to see if she would play with them. I had a fuzzy felt ball, and a long rope toy with a tennis ball on the end of it. At first she was worried about the toys, but I soon figured out that if I drug the rope on the ground and wiggled it- she would pounce on it and grab it. Sometimes when we were supposed to be working on new behaviors- I would go out to a field and just play with her. It wasn't long before she was doing the new behaviors- despite her fear, and she certainly had more confidence and trust in me!
The "exam" consists of bringing your dog in front of everyone in the training center and demonstrating where you are with teaching the new behaviors. Bay-Bay did great! While the week long history of being rewarded for offering behaviors helped our relationship, I really feel that the play is what made her more willing to try new things and trust me. Some of my classmates were amazed at how well she did, and commented on how good I did training her-but I have to say I consider myself only a good trainer (not great)- but I AM great at building a relationship with a dog and I have to say that play is what did that with Bay-Bay.
Bay-Bay did get adopted, and Pat offers a FREE good manners class to people who adopt academy dogs so I was hoping to see her again. Unfortunately, the owners didn't take advantage of this opportunity= but I hope they play with her every day!

How do I get my dog to stop doing....?

I often hear "how do I get my dog to stop doing XYZ". I like to get people to rephrase that question to "how can I get my dog to do THIS instead of XYZ". As Pat Miller at Peaceable Paws http://www.peaceablepaws.com/ teaches- for ANY undesired behavior there is a process to decrease this behavior:
#1: VISUALIZE the behavior you DO want. This isn't always as simple as it sounds, but is in my opinion a crucial part. For example- if you don't want your dog jumping up on visitors- what would you PREFER they do? Sit on a mat? Lie down? Try to figure out a behavior that is incompatible with the behavior you DON'T want. Try not to say "I just want my dog to STOP doing XYZ", for some behavior problems it may be a challenge to come up with an alternative behavior- but if we just STOP the unwanted behavior we create a behavior vaccum- which makes it much more difficult for the dog to learn. Dogs learn MUCH better if we can show them behaviors we DO want so they can be rewarded for that behavior instead of saying we don't want them to do anything at all. They are doing that undesired behavior because whether we mean to or not, that behavior IS rewarding in some way to the dog. Dogs do what works.
#2: PREVENT the unwanted behavior from being reinforced..preferably ever.. Sounds simple doesn't it? Not really! If you want to stop your dog from jumping up on people they shouldn't be able to - ever, if possible. This means using leashes, tethers, crates and other management tools to prevent your dog from jumping up on people. Don't yell at your dog, push your dog off, say 'no', tell them 'off', - just prevent them from doing it. Some people ask "why can't I just tell my dog "off", or push them off me? The answer is this; you are still rewarding that behavior! Most dogs jump up to greet you because they want attention- and what are you doing by putting your hands all over them and talking to them (regardless of what you are saying)? You are giving them attention. Some dogs LOVE to be physically pushed off of you- its like a game of body slam! Use a leash or tether to prevent the jumping up and step out of the reach of the dogs paws, or if you have a bunch of people coming over and can't have your dog on a leash- put them in another room or a crate until the excitement has died down and they are more likely to not jump up on people. Try to set your dog up for success- its not only the best way to get them to be rewarded for the proper behavior more often- but it also decreases frustration for both you and your dog!
#3: GENEROUSLY reward the behavior you DO want; again- sounds simple right? IT IS! However I find most people (even me sometimes!) forget to reward behaviors that we DO like. Its very easy to see behaviors we DON'T want- but often harder to see behaviors we like. We take them for granted, and we shouldn't! If you see your dog lying quietly on his bed resting- throw him a little treat, tell him "good boy", give him a belly rub- that is of course only if you LIKE the behavior of calmly lying in his bed :0) For dogs jumping up, I like to reward the 'sit' or depending on the dog- the down. Don't ASK your dog to sit when they greet people- try to wait for him to offer the sit and then as soon as they do= click and treat!Timing is important, especially with a dog who is so excited they are offering a bunch of behaviors. IMMEDIATELY reward the correct behavior, and don't skimp on the reward. A pat on the head and a 'good dog' isn't as rewarding to the dog as we would hope :) A special treat or toy works best. Don't get me wrong, praise is good- but would you work a full time job only for praise from your boss and no paycheck? Once the desired behavior occurs on a regular basis- the reward for the dog can be things other than a treat- but to get the behavior to happen more often, it has to be rewarded often with something the dog REALLY enjoys.. After all, he really enjoys jumping up on people or he wouldn't do it!
SO, start making a list of behaviors you don't like your dog to do.. then start a list of things you would RATHER he do.. and think of how you can help him succeed!!

January is "Train Your Dog" Month

January is train your dog month, so I'm going to try to write up tips and ideas for how you can build a better relationship with your dog. As I've always said, you may also need to change some things about the way YOU act with your dogs- relationships are a two-way street.
The most important thing when you get a new puppy is SOCIALIZATION. I know this is stressed so much and so often- but please don't underestimate the importance of this! I have a very fearful dog who was not socialized as a puppy. As a result of this, he can't go out in public without melting down. A trip to the petstore is out of the question, trips to the vet are a major ordeal, and forget about a trip to the dog park. On the other hand, he is of all the dogs in my home the most willing to work with me at any time. He knows so many behaviors and tricks and can learn new behaviors with very little effort from me. Unfortunately, the socialization period for dogs is between 6 weeks and 14 weeks and then it gets MUCH more difficult to get dogs to understand that new things and situations are o.k. We can work with Bugsy to get him over his fears- but its a long and difficult process and I've had him for almost 2 years now and he has only accepted one person touching him besides myself and Russell. In contrast to that- it took me 3 clicks to capture his "play dead" (he was rolling on his back submissively) behavior to get him to offer it and only a few days to get it on cue. This illustrates to me that learning new behaviors is a life long ability- but socialization is something that can't be made up for.
If you have a puppy- get it out of the house and exposed to new things in a non-threatening way. I took Oscar with me everywhere I possibly could. Because of the increased risk that puppies who haven't had their full series of shots could get sick, don't take them to dog parks or pet stores where a lot of dogs are hanging out. Places like Home Depot and Lowes will often let you bring your puppy in if you keep them in the cart or in a carrier. I would bring Oscar up to the grocery store and sit on the bench outside and play and give him treats= and LOTS of people stop to say "hi" :) WalMart is also a place where you can sit outside and see lots of people.
If you think you want to do therapy work with your puppy, try to get him around wheelchairs, canes, walkers, people walking funny, etc. during their socialization period. The more things you can expose them to, the better- Different sounds, sights, smells, surfaces.
Getting your puppy into a puppy good manners class is also a very important and beneficial thing. Finding a good puppy class is sometimes difficult, but a good place to start looking is the APDT website to find a trainer who uses dog friendly methods: http://www.apdt.com. In a puppy class, you will learn how to teach your pup behaviors like sit, down, wait- but also get an understanding of how to communicate with him in a way that will strengthen your relationship. Dogs learn best with positive reinforcement based methods- and communicate with body language. A good trainer will help you to understand body language and how it applies to training your puppy.
So, if you have a new pup in your home- get him out of the house and out to see the world! Get him into a good puppy class and have fun with your dog!