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Learning begins with questions
Any Dog But a Collie
After deciding I wanted to live with a dog, the only dog I ruled out was a Border Collie.
What Words Conceal
The language across all kinds of media paints a picture of dogs and our relationships with them.
Location is Their Cue
We begin teaching the dog to go to a target, such as a mat or platform and in this process our focus is on the outcome – the dog can place feet on the object or settle down. But at the same time this learning is happening the dog is also noting the location: where this is happening in this room, in the house, relative to the food-machine (you).
The Right Bed in the Right Spot
Resting and sleeping are not necessarily the same state. Good sleep where we feel safe and comfortable is important for us all.
Play Health Check
When we look at play or food delivery as an ACTIVITY we share the same mindset as the dog: is there pleasure to be experienced?
Since the Dawn of Dog Training
The old joke reminds us that the only thing dog trainers can agree on is that their training method in the best one. It becomes increasingly difficult to know which method is “right” and whether it will suit the dog, the situation and trainer’s skills.
Back to Basics?
The word “basic” is often derided as synonymous with “shallow,” but in its origins it is the very opposite: foundational, profound, supportive.
The Whole of The Dog
We cannot divide training into compartments of fast recalls, or sit for greeting, or loose leads as everything we ask of the dogs is interrelated.
Not Today and Not for My Sheepdogs
Standard protocols of extinction, impulse control, counterconditioning are quickly grabbed off the shelf as satisfactory solutions. These solutions are unlikely to help your collie, your sheepdog as the focus is heavily on suppression of who they are and why they live.
Do you see what I see
Doing better is the reward from doing the work. This work needs to be the right work at the right time with the right intent done in the right way.
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Curiosity drives learning. Be curious
Thoughts that deserve time to digest, integrate and mature into changes.
Or just a way to browse and stretch the thinking muscles.
The Experienced Dog
Sufficient preparation does not mean every eventuality, but a range of different conditions …
Value of Experience
The personal knowledge and skill gained by doing or applying our knowledge for a period of time…
Chasm opening up?
Are we just making dogs compliant for people or should we consider what is beneficial for that dog …
Choose to lure
It has become untrendy to lure. Surely our primary choice is what makes it easiest for the dog?
What is a Trainer?
I know what I am, as a trainer. But does my view of “A Trainer” coincide with, or even overlap with yours?
When we train a dog
it grows.
Can we be selfish trainers and still train for the benefit of the dog?
Guidance is not dependance
Shaping was the new sexy protocol to train. No guidance allowed !
Fade in Protocol
Disruption and distraction is always a risk, build resilience and robust learners with the fade-in protocol
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Likely to expand your horizon, make you ask questions of yourself, your understanding and your expectations.
For browsers, for passers-by and of course for training geeks.
Surprising Puppy
After introducing the Obnoxious Puppy as a youngster I am knocked over by the delightful Young Man he is turning into.
Obnoxious Puppy
When 12 weeks old hits, and you will feel a slam, the Child of Delight is going to demonstrate ungrateful, obnoxious traits.
A day of learning
A no-training day does not mean he gets a lazy day, learning is still happening and this is significant and important for his development.
Stop doing that
There are times we need to be able to say “you cannot be doing that”.
Yep, me too.
Luring by Hand
Every time food is in your hand the dog will notice. What do we want them to respond to?
Luring at distance
There are occasions when we want the dog to approach for reward by something other than us.
Non-food lures
“the direct use of the reinforcer
to elicit the behaviour”
toys, play, companionship, running, affection …. all lures
Prepare to train
Setting up the training area and environment before we begin any training, or learning, or teaching will be an important skill to develop.
Cue Seeking
The gap between the consumption of the reward and the begin of the next behaviour allows us to see the effect of the reward to the dog.
More than words
We expect our dogs to understand the meaning of words and signals, but what you say doesn’t always turn into an actionable response.
Going Shopping?
The foundation for food-less pockets, the foundation for extended behaviours, building a strong association together.
Reasons to use a Clicker
A simple tool that can provides clarity but does not make you a trainer.
Nose target ?
A popular behaviour that seems easy to teach and have practical application, but it is often not such a pleasant experience for all dogs.
Duration Movement
Asking the dog to continue, or sustain a movement in the behaviour we have already taught.
Duration Stillness
“Stay!”, meaning don’t move, also “you stay here, I shan’t be long” when leaving …????
Re-lease or stay?
Is “staying” is something you
ADD to a behaviour,
or
ASSUME in a behaviour?
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FEATURING Familiarisation
What does familiarity look like? How does it develop?
More than words
We expect our dogs to understand the meaning of words and signals, but if you have ever worked with computers you will know that what you say doesn’t always turn into an actionable response.
One dog’s trick is another dog’s lifeskill
We cannot teach something just for fun, it can never be just a trick, ride a bike for fun? – it is only a trick.
Ethical questions
What to ask before when we make a plan to teach
One day you will love him again
The puppy that you adored, could do no wrong, is now a living horror story. We want to use positive reinforcement, and our mind focuses on the success of what is not happening. But reinforcement attaches itself to something happening, not an absence and cannot select for a multitude of different things that are being reinforced.
How do you know what you don’t know?
The age of trusting the professionals is fading fast. I am not sure anymore what exactly is a professional and the difference between genuine, self-styled and fake? With so much information freely available and shared when we open the gate to “looking for a xyz” we are struggling to recognise authenticity from smart marketing.
Wheat or Chaff?
What is the purpose of this video? To sell a product, to instruct or to inspire? It should be clear from the first viewing. Often we are seeing an unhealthy blend of talking head, dripping treats into bored dog, convincing you of their innate expertise.
Not all lures contain food
“the direct use of the reinforcer to elicit the behaviour”
This should always be foremost in our mind, in that many alternatives lures are available.
A teaching plan
The pathway ahead, a road map for success. Details of what, why, when, how.
Fast does not mean better
We are becoming surrounded by a culture of fast. We are being sold that immediate gratification is the only solution.
What is important … ?
… when your dog is sick and fearful? If you have a dog who is sick and fearful you can feel lost and alone. The weight of opinion, expectation and information can be overwhelming. What is right? What is true? What is best? Throughout this journey I have allowed my ethics to guide me. The individual who is Merlin is at the heart of every choice I make.
Approval or attention seeking?
Jumping up is nearly always viewed, by both positive and negative trainers as A Major Sin. It rates near the top of the list of an undesirable behaviour.
Isolation hell or solitude heaven?
Strange times often give birth to new insights and understanding.
Certainly a new aspect of empathy as we experience social situations that may not be of our choice.
The Table Game
Coming up to 20 years since I designed this game for my college students in computing – to improve communication!
Who knew it would become a future piece of technology for world of training and behaviour analysis?
… and cruises of course!
When it is not rewarding
Just because it is our intent to reward does not make it always rewarding.
Changing is growth
We are naturally attracted to familiar ways of training or living with our dogs. We have often worked hard to learn those habits and there is a reluctance to make changes since this is hard work. It takes mentally energy to note what we are not doing well, recall what changes we need to make, find the prompts that can move us to the changes and then work on the skills those changes require.
Are you coasting?
Are we coasting or are we improving? Is time so precious that we cannot invest in doing better? Looking at “Leave it” protocols, which are just another way of saying “no”. If we focus our training around what we don’t want the dog will focus on what to avoid. Focus on what we do want.
A New Puppy. Oh Joy.
Impulse buying the wrong sofa can be rectified if you swallow the expense. Impulse buying a puppy can result in personal grief for you and your family and quite possibly result in a very unhappy future or end the life of that puppy.
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