I started training tricks to have fun with my dogs. I like those cool behaviors and I get bored easily. I wanted the dog that picks up the laundry, the dog that can sit pretty, bow or high five.
I did it to have fun. What I didn’t realize was just how much it would improve my working dog training skills.
I learned how to break down behaviors.
I hadn’t truly explored this pre-trick training. I mean, I had a little bit, but not to the same extent. Instead of just slicing the loaf of bread, I started cutting it up for croutons. Instead of rewarding my dog for picking up that object, I started rewarding one part of a behavior – glances, a step in the right direction, a touch, anything closer to what I wanted. So, when a dog wasn’t quite getting something in search dog training, my first thought became “how can I break this down for them to be successful?” Instead of “what do I need to correct?” or something along that line.
It’s always okay to break something down further. Because, when you’re doing it correctly, it’s really easy to up the criteria as soon as the dog is solid in it.
I learned timing.
No training method works effectively without good timing. With tricks its click, reward. And at the right moment. Break down those behaviors, look closely for what I wanted and mark/reward it. The more I practiced (both with the dog and on without) the more I perfected my timing and reward skills in all areas of training. And the better your timing, the better the dog understands what you want.
I believe that any trainer getting good results – regardless of training method – has excellent timing skills. For me, I wasn’t interested in thinking about honing my correction skills. Sure, my dogs get corrected on occasion. But my interest lies in focusing on what I want rather than what I don’t want. So the clicker, and shaping behaviors with it, became the perfect tools to perfect my timing skills.
It gave me a platform to experiment.
If something has worked for years, then am I going to create a training issue if I break it down more? Am I going to make my dog more dependent on rewards and reinforcement from me and less of an independent worker?
I’m slow to experiment with something when it could be life or death for someone. But training for tricks gave me a platform to experiment with timing, rewards, clickers vs. verbal marker, taking a step back to make something more clear when it wasn’t going as I wanted. In experimenting, I found what worked well for my dogs. In experimenting, I built a better communication system. In experimenting, I gained confidence in my ability to break down and precisely reward behavior. And then I applied to the work.
Part two to follow later… 🙂
K9 Musings 
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