Podcast Feature

I was thrilled while on a recent trip to Chicago to be featured on the Dog Training Conversations Podcast with my friends Chad Mackin and Jay Jack.

Feel free to listen to the Podcast (episode Bridging the Gap) here or here for non-Apple users.

I was in Chicago to visit friends and do some learning with Chad Mackin while we planned our seminar together. The seminar is November 7 & 8 in Tucson, AZ and is titled “Bridging the Gap: Building Lasting Relationships with Clients, Colleagues, and Canine Companions”. For info or to register please see the host’s website.

Poor Timing

Hi Sarah, I have a couple of questions. I’ve had two sessions – two nights in a row, where the owner’s timing is way off. I was trying to find ways of helping them to improve their timing, do you have any suggestions?

Secondly, do you ever encounter people who are simple clicker dyslexic? If their timing is just that awful, do you think it is something they will work out or do you use a different tactic?

Thanks! ~ Krista M.


Hi Krista! Thanks for taking the time to write.

To answer your questions it’s not uncommon to find people who’s timing with a clicker is not great. Most people, however, will improve with some practice.

For the average person the mechanical skills that are involved with dog training are completely foreign to them. That is why I like to break these things down into very small steps. It may seem easy to a pro, but for someone who isn’t practiced clicking, treat delivery, and leash handling can be overwhelming.

Specifically with the clicker I teach it step by step – starting with simply holding the clicker, then practice timing before adding in treat delivery to the whole picture. Treat delivery is a skill in it’s own and it is practiced first without the clicker so that people can practice quiet/neutral hands, different neutral pre-click hand positions, and get treat delivery smooth before adding another layer of complexity. Once people have had a chance to play with that and the clicker on it’s own, food is added in to that mix. Just like good dog training, things are broken down into achievable steps and difficulty is increased gradually at levels the learned can easy master.

Click when the fingers are fully extended on both hands.

Click when the fingers are fully extended on both hands.

Timing is best practiced first without the extra complexity of food delivery. There are a few exercises I will commonly use to help people with their timing and observation skills: On the Ball, The Hand Game, and Click the Change. On the Ball involves throwing a ball into the air, instructing your pupil to click when the ball is at the highest point. You can also have them practice using a verbal marker “yes” and try “good dog” here to nicely illustrate the precision offered by a clicker. The Hand Game is simple, but fun and also effective. Instruct your student to click when both of your hands have all five fingers fully extended – your hands can be in any position but they only click when both hands have all the fingers extended. When they get good at this, you can try to trick them. Click the Change is a good one for people to try at home. They can sit with the clicker while they watch TV and try to click whenever the camera angle changes. To save them from becoming completely annoyed, you can suggest they do this during the commercial breaks.

There are many benefits to using a clicker or other salient marker especially for a novice trainer, so I do like to try to get people comfortable and proficient using one. New trainers often are not adept at communicating clearly with their body language or verbally, so the clicker can provide that much needed clarity to the dog. It has been my experience that if people can get moderately proficient at using a clicker during the foundation stages that they are more consistent with marking than if they are first taught using a verbal marker (this could be because I am better at teaching people to use a clicker than a marker word, however), which in turn causes their dog to learn skills faster. It is simply physically and mentally easier for us to push a button than it is to make a word come out of our mouth – that is one reason why new trainers can be more consistent with a clicker. There is also some evidence showing that animals not only learn faster with a clicker but they also retain skills taught with one for longer.

That being said, there has been the odd person that simply cannot grasp the clicker. Even with breaking things down and practice their timing is so awful that using the clicker is actually detrimental. With someone like that I will definitely just teach them to use a verbal marker – their chances of being closer to the target behaviour are much better. This is one instance where the precision of a clicker will not be a good thing and a slightly sloppier verbal marker will be preferential. Of course you run the risk of them not being very good at marking consistently, but it is better than no marker at all. For most skills we are going to teach the average companion dog, a very marker will definitely be suitable to get the job done. While there certainly are multiple benefits to using a clicker especially with a novice handler, I am not married to it. Being able to be flexible to meet your client’s needs is very important. I will never force my students to use a clicker, but I do ask them to at least try it. If they really do not like it, I will instruct them to use a verbal marker instead. Generally once they move out of Foundations classes they wean the dog off the clicker and use a verbal marker anyways.

I hope that answers your questions. Thanks for writing and until next time happy training!

– Sarah

What Should I Do?

 

Hi Sarah,

I recently started using more food and treats when training my dog. I am very happy with the results except I am concerned because my dog has started to become possessive of me. I work in a dog daycare and have been training at work (I figured it was good distraction practice) and yesterday a very docile dog walked past me and my dog tired to start a fight with him! My dog is a 3 year old female pit bull mix, and we have been working on some leash reactivity issues but have been making good progress. Do you have any suggestions? 

Thanks! ~ Emily H.

 


Hi Emily!

Thank you for taking the time to write me. The first thing I would recommend to you is to always be very cautious using food for training in groups of dogs. I run a dog daycare and I am often training dogs that are with us. I am very careful about which (if any) dogs I allow out into the group while I am working with a dog. The reason is too much excitement for some dogs can cause them to act differently – it may causes issues with the dog you are working or a dog who is simply in the area.

Having food around or toys may be too much for some dogs. In this case, it sounds like the food may be increasing your dogs arousal level, and this is causing her to act aggressively. It’s also possible she is doing a bit of resource guarding of you and/or the food you are carrying. Some dogs are prone to over arousal, and adding food to the mix just tips them over the edge and causes them to act in ways we find concerning.

The first thing I would do, if you are not already doing so, is train your dog with the lowest value food she will work for. I find with other dogs around most dogs will jump at the chance to work for kibble. The higher the value of the food the more it is going to raise her arousal.

Secondly, I would not use food or toys for training any exciting/stimulating activities while she is out with other dogs. You can, however, use food rewards for calm behaviours such as group place and stays. It will be valuable for your dog to learn to be calm and have self control when there are food and other dogs present. It would be a good idea to reward your dog and then also reward the other dogs, so your dog sees you giving food to the other dogs while she is in a calm stationary behaviour. If she breaks her position calmly place her back where she has been asked to stay. If your dog does not have a solid place or stay behaviour, teach them this at home before trying at the daycare.

Last, but not least, you will want to spend some time working your dog through the arousal issue surrounding food. I would recommend doing a lot of activities that will teach impulse control around food, such as: It’s Yer Choice, Leave It, No Mugging, and other games that will work on impulse control. You could also try some guided relaxation which will help to condition your dog to be calm around food.

When your dog is doing super with these steps you can start attempting to add in small amounts of more stimulating training around other dogs. If at any time your dog shows any of the negative behaviour mark this with a non-emotional ‘time out cue’ – this is a word of simple phrase that will consistently indicate to your dog they will get a time out – such as ‘oops’, ‘too bad’, or ‘time out’ and calmly lead them to a short time out in a crate. Your dog should start to understand that displaying this behaviour is going to end up in her being taken away from you and the food – which is the exact opposite of what she wants! It’s important to note that a time out should be a back up, think of it as emergency brakes, it should not be your main mode of teaching. If you do have to give your dog a time out please re-evaluate your training as you have likely asked too much of your dog in that moment. I would also consider getting guidance from a qualified professional trainer in your area to help you with this.

Thanks so much and happy training,

Sarah Fulcher

Confidence is Silent

This applies to dogs as well. Very often people tell me their dog is an ‘alpha’ because it is aggressive or pushy to other dogs. I explain that their dog is acting like a bully, not an ‘alpha’ and they are behaving this was because they are actually insecure. Truly confident dogs do not have to push, bully, and squabble. Just like it is with people!