Dog Trainer's Log

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People love rules. And dog trainers love routines.

Can you remember those old obedience class homework handouts: practice 15 automatic sits, heel forward with three left turns and three right turns, practice two fasts and two slows, practice sit/stay for three minutes and down/stay for five minutes on lead with distractions. I can. Taped each week’s assignments up on my ‘fridge. Practiced them religiously, 15 minutes in the morning and another 15 minutes at night.

There’s nothing wrong with rules. Or routines. Those homework handouts were how I trained Taryn all the way through utility, and how I earned her SOTC CD (a club title awarded to mixed breeds by qualifying three times under three different fun match judges.) Those homework handouts were still around and part of my training plan when I started Jazz, who eventually earned an AKC CD, a CKC CD, an AKC CDX and who I trained and showed in utility.

But by the time Nola, A/C CD, came into my life, I was a lot more experimental with my training, and I no longer either taught from or handed out homework sheets that told students at any level, even beginners, to do X for 5 times, or practice Y for 5 minutes. By the time I started working with Nola, I was focusing on operant conditioning, experimenting with shaping. I aimed for less straight-line pattern in my dog training and more multi-tasked, total-dog approaches. I no longer started at beginners and held off all utility work until my dogs had earned their CDXs.

Getting to a whole-dog approach didn’t happen overnight. And on the way, I’ve made a training bag full of mistakes. One mistake is something I mentioned a couple weeks ago – Constantly Reinforcing Almost Perfect, or CRAP training.

I didn’t come up with the acronym, but it’s a good one, isn’t it?

CRAP is what happens when, while attempting to shape a behavior, the trainer reinforces it when the dog *tries* instead of waiting until the dog actually *accomplishes* the desired behavior. CRAP is what happens when, in attempting to approximate a behavior in sucessive steps, the trainer doesn’t increase the performance criteria. CRAP is what happens when the trainer doesn’t clearly give the dog the feedback that he has to try harder, try again, try something else, try another choice, offer another behavior.

CRAP is all about the handler needing a schedule, an outline, a homework handout for a situation that is far too fluid for that kind of structure.

Shaping means starting with an end (goal or behavior) in mind, and successively rewarding each small step toward that end goal. For instance, with M., when she displayed some interest in Reu and Bard’s old nylaknots, I sensed that eventually this could become the toy for my anti-toy princess. I praised her for sniffing the nylaknots, touching them with her nose, gnawing on them. But she and I were both stuck there – she didn’t know how to offer one to me, and I didn’t know how to show her how to use a toy for interactive play.

The breakthrough? I was paying attention to the old man, Casey – and M. wanted some attention. She couldn’t just leap up onto my shoulder and push Casey out of the way (her usual method.) At one point, I absent-mindedly said what I’ve said to her dozens of times – where’s your toy, M.? And, pre-occupied with Casey, I ignored her.

The next thing I felt was a nylaknot pressing into my arm – and a little spotted nose, giving me HER bone. Which I dropped (damn neuropathy!) But M. picked it up, and pushed the nylaknot at me again. This time, I was able to hold on to it long enough to flip it a couple feet away – and she pounced on it.

What do you do when after three years, the dog that won’t play has a break-through and offers a game?

You do NOT push the 15-year-old dog off of your lap and immediately focus on playing with the spotted princess.

You DO ease the old main onto the end of the couch, and fish around madly in your pocket for that last treat (ah, yes, one-quarter of a tiny liver cookie, thank you goddess!)

You DO praise and pet and click (all at the same time.) And take the toy, and feed the ‘give.’ And hold the toy, and offer it again, and praise/click the snatch and grab. And then you put down the toy, and go about your day. But the next time you have a minute, you offer her a toy, and praise her madly for holding it, carrying it, chasing it. You accept the next steps – and kick yourself for not thinking of them yourself.

And you write it down, so that you don’t forget it for the next skill, or the next dog.