Meet Ellie, the Golden Retriever
By Jean of Waltham, MA

Ellie is our first dog and we picked her up when she was eight weeks old. When she was a puppy, we could hardly walk 10 yards before a passerby would stop us to say hello and pet her. One night, we were walking on the sidewalk of Mass Ave in Cambridge and a car drove by, stopped and started backing up (mind you, this is Mass Ave!) Soon, a couple jumped out to greet and gush over Ellie. I couldn’t believe that she actually stopped traffic. Now, we often joke that there is a reason puppies are so cute, because in other respects they have so much to learn and they are quite challenging. But having a dog isn’t all cute fun and games and we quickly realized that we needed to learn how to train this puppy.

Dog training challenge...

Ellie had all the typical challenges of puppyhood: not sitting for greetings, chewing the furniture and jumping on guests. She was quite a handful as a young pup and during early adolescence. In one of our early veterinary visits, our vet described Ellie as “confident and assertive.” At the time, I would have chosen other adjectives.  With great training techniques and advice from Bette, we worked diligently on these challenges. As Ellie advanced to Bette’s level 3 class, we struggled to teach Ellie to “roll over.” To our chagrin, all the other dogs in the class could do it at graduation. We tried food-in-hand, even with her favorites chicken or steak, and she wouldn’t do it.

Dog Training Progress Report...

I am proud to report that Ellie regularly sits for petting, doesn’t jump on guests, grabs her nyla bone when she wants to chew and can even do a trick or two. As for rolling over, we used Bette’s “catching technique” to catch her rolling over on her own and associating a command with it. We began clicking and treating a half roll and eventually she rolled over fully in the yard. Now, Ellie rolls over in the yard on command and we are working on it inside the house.

Dog Training Summary, by Bette Yip, CPDT: Head Instructor at Picture Perfect Pets in Arlington, MA...

Congratulations to Ellie and her family on all of their excellent dog training work! They’ve been a pleasure to have in my classes, always asking keen and thought provoking dog training questions and clearly following through with their homework exercises on a regular basis. There are just a few points I’d like to mention in connection with her story.

On another note, for those of you who are newer to Picture Perfect Pets, I want to clarify that since Ellie came through the ranks, the courses have changed a bit. Our core program used to consist of three levels. It was in the third level that we first formally practiced alternative training techniques such as target training, shaping by successive approximations and “catching,” and applied these techniques to training a trick. The program has since been re-structured: Level 3 no longer exists and Level 2 has been extended into an eight-week program. These alternative training techniques (which we apply mainly to tricks training and problem solving with basic cues in our program) are now part of our Level 2: Beyond the Basics curriculum.

Although these techniques are much more easily picked up via observation of demonstration along with receiving coaching during practice, here’s a preview/review of these methods taken from our 2008 version of the Level 2 Study Guide.

ALTERNATIVE TRAINING TECHNIQUES

Until now, we have used mostly the lure method of training to teach our dog important safety cues. The lure method is simple to follow and comes naturally and easily to most handlers and their dogs. However, there are many more techniques you may want to add to your dog training tool box now that you have the basics down. Among these are target training, shaping by successive approximations and catching. We’ll explore these techniques in Level 2: Beyond the Basics as you begin to work on training a trick of your choice to present at graduation.

TARGET TRAINING

With target training, we teach our dog to hit an object such as a container lid, target stick or toy. We’ll work with two types of targeting techniques: the nose bump (which we’ll call “Touch”) and the paw thwack (which we’ll call “Hit It.”)

Applications: Once we teach our dog to hit a target, we can place the target over other objects to transfer the touch or bump to the new object. We can use the targets to teach our dog to go to specific spots, at which we may ask for an additional behavior. If you have limited space in which to let your dog run, you might use target points to teach your dog to run “laps” in such a way as to get maximum exercise out of a small space. I also use this technique as an alternate way to teach “come when called,” especially when working with a very nervous or distracted dog. These are just a few ways in which we might use target training.

Methods:

Touch (nose bump): Put a scent on the target object—a scent that is new or unusual for the dog often works better than delicious scents. Your dog will likely touch her nose right to the target to get a good whiff. Click & reward. If your dog licks the item, you can either say “AhAh!” and remove the item for a time out, or simply pay better for a repetition that has less of a lick and more of a sniff. Once your dog is deliberately bumping the target, begin to move it a few inches in various directions. As your dog gains confidence with reaching to bump the target, increase the distance and speed with which you move your target. Once your dog has learned to nose bump the target, you can begin to apply this tool to training a new trick.

Hit It (paw thwack): Place the target on the floor. Use a food magnet to lure your dog around in such a way that a paw occasionally touches the target. Each time a paw touches the target, click and treat. Once your dog makes the connection and hit the target with a paw intentionally, you can begin to hold the target in your hand and move it a few inches in various directions. As your dog’s skill increases with hitting the target, increase distance and speed. Once your dog has learned to paw thwack the target, you can begin to apply this tool to training a new trick.

SHAPING (BY SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATIONS)

When you shape a behavior by rewarding successive approximations, you are breaking a more complex behavior down into the tiny little slices that make up the behavior, and gradually raising the criteria for reward until the behavior is fully shaped as desired.

Imagine what a film strip of a dog chasing its tail in a clockwise direction would look like. Imagine each individual frame of the strip: you might first see the dog look to the right, then turn its head slightly to the right, then turn its head more to the right
after several more frames of head turning to the right, you might see right paw raise from the ground and then move to the right
you get the idea.

Learning this training skill takes excellent observational skills, patience and good hand/eye coordination, but it can be a really wonderful way to teach your dog new behaviors. Behaviors shaped with tiny successive approximations tend to be retained quite well in comparison to behaviors trained using other training methods. This training method is a great choice when working with very shy, nervous or over-excitable dogs. In your entry level course, you may have heard your instructor explain shaping for calmer or more confident behavior in general if your class had any nervous or super-excitable members. If any of your class members had trouble with following a food lure right into a position, you may have seen us combine shaping with luring techniques to help speed the process.

Applications: I often use shaping when helping a canine student to learn emotional impulse control. We can shape for calmness, confidence or patience and to build the skill of paying attention to one’s handler. If you’ve ever brought home a dog toy your dog seem to have no interest in, you could use shaping to teach your dog how to play with the toy (and to make this toy your dog’s new favorite!) Shaping is a really fun way to teach tricks. My dog, Toffee, learned how to “Tidy Up” (put her toys in a box) through shaping. Alas, she only seems to be able to count to eight at the time this document is being written.

Method: Especially if this technique is new to your dog, you may wish to start by teaching your dog to experiment using Karen Pryor’s classic game clicker training game: “101 Things to Do with a Box.” Put a shallow box wide enough for your dog to step into (with at least its front paws) down in front of your dog. Keep your clicker hand and treats out of sight by keeping them behind your back—this becomes a body language signal to your dog that we are now playing a shaping game. You may want to clearly signal the start of shaping sessions with a cue such as “What Can You Do?” and the end of sessions with a cue such as, “All Done Now.”

Initially, you will click your dog for any slight interest in the box
a glance, a sniff, a step towards or past. Position your body across the box and see if your dog gets the idea to step into the box or brush the box with its paw. Toss the a reward into the box and see if that causes your dog to look into the box or push it around. Your job is to notice every slightly different behavior your dog shows around the box, clicking each new experiment your dog performs. You’re essentially teaching your dog to offer up behaviors for you to choose from rather than waiting for you to tell her what to do.

Once your dog has the knack for this game and is confidently offering up new behavior experiments, you’re ready to apply this training tool to shaping a specific behavior. Try to imagine the film strip version of the behavior, and begin your shaping with frame one. Each time your dog is offering a “frame” with ease, put that part of the behavior on a random rewards schedule. This will kick your dog into an extinction burst, during which your dog will be more likely to try more intense or variable versions of the behavior it thinks should work, giving you more variations to choose from. Each time a new slice of the behavior becomes reliable, raise your expectations—just a tiny little bit! Once your dog is performing the new behavior, you can attach a verbal cue and/or hand signal. When you see that your dog is just about to perform the behavior, give the signal (starting with a subtle version of the signal and building up may be best) and wait for the behavior to happen. If it does, click and reward. If not, we’ve jumped to attaching the cue to soon. Go back to an earlier step and build back up.

CATCHING:

Catching is a method of getting a behavior your dog already performs “on cue” so that you can ask for it when desired.

Applications: Sometimes it’s useful to get an instinctive behavior on cue so that we can control the frequency and situations when the behavior occurs. Take a scent hound’s tendency to be distracted by smell: one approach is to put “Go Sniff” or “Check It Out” on cue so that you can actually get from point A to point B in a timely manner, choosing stops along the way where it’s convenient and safe for your dog to do some investigational or recreational sniffing, on your timetable. I like to put “calming signals” such as “Shake It Off,” “Look Away” & “Bow” on cue—these are useful in helping my giant dog (sometimes scary looking to other dogs) diffuse potentially tense canine interactions. They help her to control her own emotions, and help other dogs to see her as less scary. Sometimes it’s just fun to put a natural canine behavior on cue as a trick: does your dog chase her tail, or kick his feet to mark the ground
maybe stretch in a cute way? All of these might be fun to put on cue using the training technique of catching.

Method: The first step is just to train yourself to notice the desired behavior. Every time your dog performs the behavior, simply click and treat! Soon, your dog will learn that this is an easy way to make you become a treat dispenser, and will start “throwing” the behavior more predictably. Once you can tell that your dog is about to perform the behavior, simply say the verbal cue (or do a hand signal) just before or just as your dog begins to perform the behavior. When the behavior is complete, click and reward your dog. If giving the cue distracts your dog from doing the behavior, go back to simply catching the next few repetitions and later reintroduce the cue more subtly (for example, speak the verbal cue more softly.) Gradually build up to the desired cue.

Back Chaining:
When teaching a complicated routine, it’s easier for your dog if you break the routine down into a series of smaller tricks and then link them together. As an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher, I learned the usefulness of back chaining for fluency and retention. This also works beautifully in dog training.

Applications: Imagine the classic, “Go get me a soda from the fridge” trick. This trick actually consists of many segments: Go to the fridge, open the fridge, grab the can, close the fridge, bring the can towards me, let go of the can. Trying to take all of this in all at once would be overwhelming for your dog! Breaking this routine down into its individual parts and then linking them into a longer and longer routine works much better.

Method: You can certainly work on each “trick” in the sequence individually as you prepare your routine, but when it’s time to link them together, start by practicing the last piece of the routine first. Next, add in the second to last part of the routine and follow up with the ending. Gradually add more of the routine, adding in the first step last. Using this method, you’ll add in the first step of the routine last. So, for our “Get Me a Soda” routine:

* We might have our dog practice picking up the can and bring it to us, building up distance until the dog can take the can from the open fridge and bring it to us at the sofa.
* Now we teach our dog to grab the can, nudge the fridge door shut and bring us the can.
* Then we teach the dog to open the fridge (tying a length of rope to the handle for the dog to pull on will help), grab the can, nudge the door shut and bring the can to us.
* Now we teach the dog to go to the fridge, open the door, grab the can, close the door and bring the can to us.

Of course, one might question the wisdom of teaching your dog to open the fridge, but that’s another discussion entirely. If we wanted to teach the routine, this would be one way to do it.

As you develop your trick to present at graduation, I encourage you to have fun trying out these new training techniques. You can use any combination of these as well as the lure method you are already familiar with to teach your trick, but it is my goal to expand the range of training options you have available as you think of new things you’d like to train your dog to do (or not do) as the ideas come to you throughout your dog’s life. Be creative! Experiment!