Tuesday Tip Day Naming a cue!

There are many different cues to teach your dog, names and/or hand signals for each individual cue are important!

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Q1: What is this trick called?

We all know the basic commands and their names, sit, stay, come, off, etc. but when you start teaching a dog more complex cues it can become harder to think of a name for each command, especially one simplistic enough for your dog to know what you are saying (one word cues). I find myself constantly thinking "what exactly should I name this cue I just taught because I honestly have no idea what this new trick is called". The great thing about more advanced training is that you dont technically need to use a word for a cue each time, it can be just a hand signal or even a body movement. I usually teach using both words (which forces me to come up with a name for a cue) and hand signals then switch between using just a word and just a hand signal to be sure my dog is comprehending the cue by both word and hand movement separately.

When you get into advanced obedience with your dog, as in competitions or CGC type certificates, they prefer if you use just words or just hand signals and that is another good reason to either train both making sure to practice on them separately or just stick to one.

You can also use a different language for your cues! A lot of k-9s respond to German cues or other languages so that only the handler is certain to have full control over their dog.

Use whatever cue names or hand signals that you want and will remember and stick to them!

Q2: What is this trick called?

example: If you have taught your dog to beg using the word "beg" stick to that word and dont change it half way through your training session to "sit pretty", this can confuse your dog and may end up taking longer for your dog to comprehend what you are asking of him.

With deaf dogs things are obviously a little more complicated and hand signals are going to be your best bet for training just as blind dogs would be better to train using words. Let me add that deaf or blind dogs are definitely not impossible to train and shouldnt be treated any differently than any other dog!
I will have to do a whole separate post about training deaf and blind dogs just because they are so unique and intriguing to train!

Here is the key thing to remember! When you name a cue make sure you only use one word for that cue!
????Example: When a dog is jumping on you what do you say? Well a lot of people I know, or have hear, have the habit of telling the dog "down". If you are asking "well, whats wrong with that"? then this is for you. To me, "down" means "lay down". "Down" is the word that sticks out in this phrase so when I am teaching "down" as a cue I simply use "down" for lay down. If you were to say "down" as a command for "lay down" and "down" as in "get off me" it can be quite confusing to the dog. Im sure the thought is something like "why are you asking me to lay down I just want to see your face and greet you and love you". This is why I use a completely separate word making training different cues a breeze and less confusing!
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Q3: Why is Rusty on a table?

"Off" is the word I use for that obnoxious jumping, not only is it a good cue for "get off me"!, but its also good for "get off the couch", "get off the bed", "get off the table" and others like that! The word "off" works for all these things because you are asking the same thing in each scenario, when you successfully teach this cue "off" will let your dog know that he needs to get himself or his paws off of whatever theyre on.

If you have kids make sure you are using a cue for your dog that you dont use for your kid, sounds silly but we actually do give our kids "cues" the same as we give our dogs, right?. "Get lay down" "sit", you know, those type of "cues". Well "no" is a good example. For dogs, I use "no" to mark a behavior I didnt ask for while training, for example if I were to say "down" and my dog simply sat still I would say "no" turn around for a few seconds and restart the behavior. For my son, I use to constantly tell him "no" but since he is older and comprehends more I usually use phrases like "stop doing insert obnoxious behavior" or "dont do insert equally obnoxious behavior" to keep the word "no" less confusing for both kids and dogs. Im sure many other parents can relate. If I were to just say "no" in a stern voice to my children and my dogs were around they may not know the difference and that can create a few problems. If they think that the cue was aimed towards them it could cause them to be afraid or feel as if they are in trouble! So first I would like to say that you should try to keep as even of a temper as you can around your children and dogs (in all seriousness as a mom I know how hard this can be but it is possible!). You can also teach your dogs to know when you are talking to your kids vs. talking to them, using the dogs name before a command is an excellent start. I will be making a children & dog blog soon for more information on training around your children and also how to "train" your children how to act around dogs!

Hope you learned something useful from todays Tuesday Tip!

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Tuesday Tip Day Food Lure

A food lure is basically the Second step to begin dog training!

When you have a successful food lure you can pretty much get your dog to go into any position or wherever you ask him to by using just food!

 

waiting for a treat! ;)

 

First your dog will have to know what his marker word or sound is so be sure to train your dog to know the word "good" or the sound of a click before you begin.
 

1. Start by having your dog in front of you

 

2. Put the treat up to his nose and move your hand slightly, if his nose stays attached to your hand use your marker cue and give him the treat

 

3. Start again by holding another treat up to his nose and  move your hand even further to the side, if his nose follows the treat use the marker cue and then give the reward

 

4. Do this repeatedly until he understand that his nose should follow the treat as a guide

 

Since it is easier to show than explain you can watch this video of how a food lure should look when you have successfully trained your dog to follow your lure!

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Tuesday Tip Day Clicker

 

A clicker is a very useful tool for dog training!

 

 

When used properly it can mark the exact behavior you want your dog to learn! Other marker cues such as words "good" "yes" or any other word you would use works in the same way as a clicker making it possible to train your dog even without the use of a clicker. However, when you use a word you will need to make sure that you are using the same sound and tone every time you mark a behavior. Training with a clicker is a consistent sound with every use which is why it makes it more desirable for the use of training new cues.

 

Pro tip: To train your dog to know the correlation of the click sound to a treat you will just click and give a treat at random moments throughout the day. Make sure your dog is doing normal things like laying around the house or sitting next to you and not barking or begging etc. or else you may end up with some undesirable habits.
?If you dont have a clicker on hand and need to get right to training try using the top of a pen. The sounds is similar however you do not want to prolong the use of this because soon enough every time you sit down to use your pen you may end up with your dog watching you like it is time for some training and treats!

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Tuesday Tip Day Training with Food Treats

Food or Treats are a fantastic motivator for dog training! However,

    Many people are weary when it comes to training with treats. As far as I understand they believe a few different things when using this type of reward/motivator for training. One of the reasons is because they dont want their dog to "get fat". Here is the thing, when you are training your dog with treats or food then you need to proportion their meals to how many treats they received during that day of training, in other words, just feed them less food at their meal time, this prevents the excess calories and weight gain. 
    The second reason, to my understanding, is that some people feel as if their dog is only responding to your cues to receive that tasty treat your holding. Let me get into the dogs learning theory real quick. Dogs learn by association, when a dog responds to a cue or lure using a treat or piece of food then they are rewarded with the treat for doing as they were asked. Since dogs love food using them for rewards during training makes training become a more enjoyable experience! The more you practice certain cues your dog will be conditioned to understand what you are asking without having to use a food reward every time. Let me say this again, Yes, you start by training a dog with treats but when done properly, and overtime, you will wean your dog off responding to cues solely for treats and he will start responding to you because he understands that this is something good and that it is something you had asked of him. Should I say it one more time?

Treats are ONLY TEMPORARY.

   Lets look at two different motivators to train loose leash walking. Now these are only two examples to put both sides into perspective for you and you can decide which way of training is right for your own use. First is positive reinforcement which instills a good correlation into training and the second is positive punishment which instills avoidance and fear into training. There are many variations to train loose leash walking, again, these are just two examples.
   Positive Reinforcement with food treats - Start in your house or in your backyard with limited distractions, then move to the front of your house and repeat session gradually increasing distractions. When you start training you will have your hand or pocket full of treats. Start with your dog next to you and give him a treat. Then start walking forward, say "good" or click and give your dog a treat as he is keeping slack in the leash. If he gets to the end of his lead as you see the leash is about to get tight you should stop walking. As soon as he walks towards you again and lets slack back in the leash continue walking and give your marker cue "good" or click and reward with a treat as long as he is keeping slack in the leash.
    Positive Punishment with prong collar and no treats - First make sure your prong collar is properly situated and sized before starting any training. You can start training session in backyard or in house with limited distractions. Start by having your dog besides you. Walk forward, if your dog is walking besides you perfectly say "good" and move to an area of increased distractions. If your dog gets to the end of the leash and starts to tug give the dog a sharp quick yank on the leash which applies a hard pinch on the neck, this correction should be strong enough for your dog to realize that it had just did something inappropriate. Limit the corrections to two in a training session, if you have applied two corrections and had no results then you may have to try a different technique for training.

In the first scenario you are training your dog that keeping the leash loose means that something good will happen. The second scenario implies to your dog that if he doesnt listen to your cue he will receive a correction and will loose leash walk solely to avoid receiving a correction. My preference and goal is to keep dog training fun and exciting for both you and the dog and that is why I  avoid positive punishment techniques such as choke or prong collars.
There are also problems with training tools such as prong or choke collars, some times they produce instantaneous results, however, when not used properly your dog can actually desensitize itself to the corrections. If you dont use them correctly, and for training right from the start, they can get used to the tightening around the neck which renders them useless for training purposes. I will say this a thousand times, I avoid the use of these training methods unless we have exhausted every other training option with no results.

Using food treats keeps your dog involved and interested in training.

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homemade peanut butter
and pumpkin treats

You can use a variety of different food treats in your training and use them as a "grade system" for how well they did! Your dog will decide which treat he values the most so test out a few different treats to see what gets him the most excited and use that one for perfectly completed cues!
If your dog has  a sensitive stomach or cant eat "people food" you can look for grain free treats in your local store and also just use a variety of dog food such as the food they normally eat for breakfast or dinner. You can also mix in wet food as a high value reward and let them get a lick of it every time the do a perfect cue.
Other items such as baby food meats, shredded chicken, and homemade treats are all great options for training and things that your dogs may go crazy for!
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Wet food in a bottle for
easy yummy reward

Pro Tip: My  personal preference is to use things that have a potent smell to them such as salmon or beef based treats, they usually work well as high value rewards. You can find these in wet food variations also and can use a tube or small container to let them get a lick from every time they complete a perfect cue. In my experience using a tube or container where they can only get one lick from keeps them intrigued and wanting more so when you use them as high value rewards there will be a greater chance your dog will repeat the cue to receive that as a reward.

Training your dog, no matter what the situation, takes time, consistency and commitment, results are not instantaneous although you may see some changes instantly. You need to continue to work with your dog daily improving on cues learned until they can perform that said cue 10 out of 10 times. Even after they know the cue you will need to maintain it for the rest of their life, this is easier than it sounds since you can accomplish that by learning how to adapt training into your daily routines.

Once again, after your dog knows what you are asking of him you can completely take away food based rewards and your dog will learn to respond to you solely because you asked him to.

Food is not the only motivator for dogs but its usually at the top of the success charts. You can also use toys however using them can some times get complicated especially when your dog does not know a proper "drop" cue. Petting and affection can be used as a reward also but only if your dog enjoys affection, which a lot of dogs do, however it is usually not as rewarding to them as a piece of food. I personally like starting training with food, then once my dog has a cue almost understood we switch to toys as a reward. I will then give my dog a series of cues  followed by throwing a ball, rope or Frisbee. This type of play maintains cues that the dog has learned while also having fun and getting out some excess energy!

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Tuesday Tip Day Kennels

Kennels are not bad things, especially when you make them good.

 

 

Kennels  are great for a few reasons. They can be an especially great tool for maintenance. If your dog has anxiety issues or gets bored easily while you are away kennels will prevent your dog from being able to roam the house and engage in destructive activities throughout the day. Kennels are also a good "safe place" for your dog, some times dogs can get stressed out and need their own space, just as we humans do, and using a kennel gives them a perfect place to go and relax.

 

Ive heard a lot of people who refuse to use dog kennels because they think they are bad or cruel. Truth is they are only "bad or cruel" if you make them seem this way. Using kennels as punishment for behaviors is what turns kennels into a "bad" thing for your dog and that is why you should never use them this way.

 

My son and Rusty enjoying man time in their secret clubhouse

For the best use train your dog as a puppy (or begin whenever you get your dog) to know that kennels are a "happy place", you can achieve this by having your dog lay in their periodically during the day giving treats and toys(while supervised). Let them sleep in the kennel over night and use it as their *place during the day.

 

If you kennel your dog while you are working never leave toys that can be easily destroyed into many pieces (this also includes dog beds or mats) especially if your dog is a chewer, these tiny pieces can potentially harm your dog if they are swallowed. I recommend using the beehive shaped Kong toy (pictured to the right) as entertainment while you are away. My cost effective way of stuffing them is by mixing both wet and dry dog food together and stuffing them completely full topping the end with peanut butter and freezing it over night. Freezing the Kong toy will make it more difficult for the dog to get all the fillings out so the toy will last for a longer period.

 

 

 

* pro tip: "place" is the cue more commonly known as "go lay down". This is the cue that tells the dog to go to a certain spot and stay there.

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Tuesday Tip Day Head Collars

Head collars are NOT muzzles
or doggy death traps

Have you ever seen those little face contraptions that some people use while walking their dogs that look like these?

These are called head collars, no they are not muzzles and no it does not automatically mean that the dog wearing them is aggressive. So rest assured when you see my (or anyones) dogs with one it does not mean that you should avoid them at all costs because they might bite you ( well I cant speak for anyone elses dogs but I know my dogs certainly wont bite you) and no they are definitely not harming my dog in any way shape or form.

Head collars have been around for a few years now so they are a fairly new concept that is still not widely accepted or known about. Head collars are used to ease your dog from pulling on a walk. A dogs face is very sensitive so when you lead your dog by his face he will be less likely to pull since dogs do not like the pressure. This way of walking a dog works in a similar way as leading a horse and is indeed very safe for dogs. As opposed to muzzles your dog will still have full use of his mouth when wearing one.

However, when first putting on these collars your dogs may not like it so you will have to get them use to the head collar by letting them wear it around the house during the day and giving them treats for not pawing it off their face! They will also need the same training while out on walks although some dogs have instantaneous results and will stop pulling as soon as you put it on, others will spend a relentless amount of time trying to get it off their face and that is why it is very important to  get them use to it before hand.

If your dog pulls I would highly recommend trying these out! They are a far better option (safer) than choke or prong collars and they come in all different sizes. There are a few different brands of head collars also, some have different padding for extra comfort for your pooch. Choose one you or your dog likes and make sure it is the right fit!

Click Here for a good back up article to read about how safe head collars are for dogs and how they work

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