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thoughts, opinions and stories from the dog side

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marajessup

From “employee” to “partner”

My goal as a dog trainer is to end with a partner. A dog who enjoys working with me and finds value in the work. A dog who enjoys the reward but doesn’t *need* it on a consistent basis.

But most dogs don’t start like this.

They start as “employees” who we should plan on “hiring” with something that they find valuable. As my other posts show, I’m a fan of using rewards generously in the early stages of training and treats and toys are my top choices.

Think of your first job. You had a need or a want so you traded your time for a paycheck. While you may have *liked* your employer, you weren’t working out of your love or loyalty to them, you were working for the paycheck.

But as time went on, you learned that your employer was fair and good. They trained you in your job, challenged you enough but not too much and genuinely appreciated the job you did. You began to find that you felt somewhat rewarded when they gave their approval or thanked you for a job well done. They paycheck was still a pretty important part of your job, but you’d go above and beyond a bit for your boss.

Fast forward a few years. Your boss needed a partner to help take over the running of the business.  They asked you to join them. By this point you knew the job inside and out. They had trained you well, built rapport and had gone from “boss” to “friend”. During this time they have time and tim a again proved themselves trustworthy and you have come to enjoy working alongside of them.

You knew that as a partner, your paycheck would be inconsistent. That didn’t matter. You were confident in the job, you wanted this.

This is the progression of dog training as well. Pay them well, be consistent, build rapport. Figure out what they find fun and exciting and reward them with it. Gradually expect and ask for more. The need for treats and other external reinforcers will fade. Because you’ve slowly but surely turned your employee into a partner.

 

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“But I want my dog to work for ME, not food”

Why? What is so important about feeding your ego that you can’t reward your dog with something meaningful to them?

I know, that sounds a bit harsh. But honestly, the title statement does, too. You’re the smart one in charge, you get to decide what to do and when, you get to choose what to train for. Your dog is kind of stuck with you and what you decide so why NOT add some value to it for them?

You’re going to ask them to control themselves and ignore their instincts. You’re going to require them to keep four on the floor when they’d rather be jumping. They’re going to have to “sit” or “come” when they REALLY want to chase the squirrel. And the world of scents that your dog reads like an open book and wants to investigate? They’ll need to often totally ignore them. That’s a mighty tall order. And just expecting a dog to do it for you from the get go is pretty amazing.

Now there are some dogs that happily work for you for the sake of working for you, for the sake of learning, for the interaction. My Missy was like that. It was incredibly cool and I don’t want to discount that type of dog. They do best with a person who is clear, concise and speaks “dog” very well. So you’d better be honing your interspecies language skills if you’re blessed to have a dog like that.

But for many dogs, food will make the learning process smoother as it adds value and interest for the them. It will make training easier and more exciting. It gives them a very tangible reason to focus on you. It makes what you’re requesting enjoyable. It allows you to mess up just a bit (because you will!) and still be motivating enough to your dog to stick it out and try again.

Your dog will be putting a lot more restraint, self control and work into figuring out what you want and doing it than you will. So why not use something in your training that they find to be naturally motivating?

I’ve started three out of four dogs out with generous amounts of food. We played games with it, I used it for rapid fire rewards, I pulled out high value food in new places to give them a simple, valuable, no think reason to focus on me.

Guess what? They all ended up working for me in time. Because behind the food I was a fair, benevolent person who was clear and consistent. I didn’t expect more from them than I did myself and I looked for ways to make what I wanted valuable to them.

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To Treat or not to Treat

I’ve often heard the that if you use treats, your dog is working for treats and not for you. And that they won’t respond as well in real life when you need them to. That idea is, well, a bit amusing to me.

Food is a powerful motivator for a dog. Your dog needs to eat anyway. Why wouldn’t you harness that and use it to your advantage in training?!?

When Kolt was a baby dog, he got at least half of his meals as training treats. Basic obedience, bark alerts for SAR work, shaping games, pet tricks. He was having fun with me and getting to eat – what could be better? I’d take him for off leash runs in the field, recall and throw a party with rapid fire kibble. I fed him cheese sticks during vet visits for puppy shots.

I used it to build habits, positive associations and capture attention. I was the cool person with all the great stuff. He loved it, I loved it.

But I didn’t rely on those treats to do the work for me. I talked to him, I used my voice and body language to get into training. I played with him (not throw the toy play, but goofy interactive play with me). I built a relationship where food was just one aspect and most importantly we were just having fun together.

Today I got my camera out to take pictures and grabbed a few treats to better capture Kolt’s attention. He got super excited. And I realized that I’d hardly used treats all week. And guess what? He still happily did tricks when asked. He went to the vet and was a happy go lucky and pretty well behaved dog. He recalled beautifully even in high distraction areas.

Food definitely helped build those conditioned responses.

The problem with using treats in training is not with the treats. It’s with the people who expect the treats to do the training for them. When treats do the training, you always need to have them. When * you * do the training and use treats to accentuate it then they are a powerful and valuable tool that reinforces training and helps to make it incredibly fun and interesting for your dog.

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A Dog Geek

Geek – a person who has excessive enthusiasm for and some expertise about a specialized subject or activity.

That would be me when it comes dogs.

Dog owners and dog lovers abound in today’s society. But dog geeks are a unique subset of the before mentioned groups.

They don’t just feed their dogs, they spend hours reading reading food labels, researching ingredients and comparing diets.  They have a list of foods that they’d never feed, a list of foods they’d like to feed and a list of what fits best in their budget.

They don’t just train their dogs, they speak dog. They know the nuances of canine body language and how dogs read people. They understand that dogs pick up on a person’s tone of voice, not just their words. And they know that it confuses the heck out of their dog when there words say one thing and their body screams another.

They don’t just buy a collar, harness or leash for their dog. They pour over websites, compare brands and check out the latest gear. Then they evaluate how compatible it is with their dog’s body type and activity level. And they’re much more apt to have a collar collection than a shoe collection.

They don’t just walk their dogs, they get out and do dog activities. For fun and in inclement weather at times. Agility, 101 tricks, schutzhund,  herding trials, therapy work, competitive obedience and my activity of choice, search and rescue work.

All this isn’t to say that dog geeks are superior to or care more about their dogs than other owners. But they are different. More intense. A bit fixated at times. And they love it.

This blog will delve into the dog geek side of things. Stories, thoughts, training ideas and opinions. First and foremost staring my own four legged teachers. Come join me – even if you’re not a committed geek. It will be fun and there are cookies! (because we use those for training – along with clickers, and toys and, well, you get the picture 😀 )

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