Training Techniques
If at first you don't succeed, try again. The second time you don't succeed, try another approach.
Luring
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- Luring involves Using food or a toy by placing it near the dog or in a certain position so that the dog performs the desired behaviour by following the food like a lure.
- Luring is very similar to targeting using a target as a pre conditioned lure, can make it a lot easier to fade out the lure and can help manage frustration and over excitement in highly food motivated dogs.
Benefits
- Builds excitement in the dog as the rewards are visible.
- Doesn't require a lot of thinking from the dog, they simply need to follow the lure.
- Is Positively Reinforcing and teaches the dog to love the behaviour.
Limitations
- Can get the dog overexcited, which can affect their ability to focus and perform.
- It can become frustrating for the dog when they don't understand the behaviour, and if the reward is out of reach. Or if the timing of reinforcement is off.
- The lure, if not faded out, becomes part of the behaviour, and the dog will only exhibit the behaviour if it is shown the reward first.
- Sometimes the lures won't work when faced with conflicting or more rewarding stimuli, such as other dogs or exciting triggers.
Tips when using :
- Using a well-conditioned marker
- Fade out the food lure, and use the visual and verbal signal as soon as possible.
- To avoid frustration, use shaping to break down complex behaviours.
- Manage excitement using low-value lures in calm environments and high-value lures in more stimulating environments.
- If the dog doesn't understand the behaviour, ask them for something easy and reward them for that to keep them engaged in training. Then, try again, change the difficulty, or try another technique.
Capturing
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Capturing involves marking and rewarding the instant the dog voluntarily does the desired behaviour without any prompting or guidance from you.
We can set up the environment to allow us to easily capture behaviours we want as well as manage arousal to reduce the waiting time.
For example: if you want to capture a down, you can take your dog into a quiet room with no distractions put a comfy mattress on the floor and wait quietly for the dog to get bored and lie down then mark and reward the behaviour.
Benefits
- Requires minimal effort on the part of the dog to form associations.
- The behaviour feels really good and it's a great way to build joy and excitement towards doing certain behaviours.
- It builds trust in humans and hence works great for rescue dogs and dogs that can be a bit shy or reserved.
- Since it doesn't rely solely on a food lure it works really well for dogs who aren't as food motivated.
- It's excellent for teaching behaviours that can't be lured like a head tilt, a Settle and a Wait.
Limitations
- It's limited to natural behaviours like sitting, yawning, digging, sniffing etc.
- Marker timing is critical.
- It can be time consuming following your dog waiting for the right behaviour
- It is not always easy to accurately predict what the dog will do and when they will do it, making it hard to repeat behaviour.
Tips when using :
- Keep training sessions short and fun.
- If the dog isn't getting it don't drag it out as this will build frustration for you and your dog, do something else and keep observing your dog to see when they do offer the behaviour.
- Use it in conjunction with free shaping, marking and reinforcing similar behaviours it will eventually lead to the desired behaviour.
Modelling / Moulding
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Modelling or Moulding involves physically moving the dog's body into the desired position to get the behaviour and then marking and rewarding them.
It can be considered intrusive by the dog and should be the last resort when you need the behaviour in the case of an emergency and nothing else has worked.
Modelling can be scary for a lot of dogs and doesn't teach them to enjoy the behaviour.
Leash pressure when walking a dog is a form of moulding as you're physically modelling where you want the dog to go.
Benefits
- Gets the behaviour quickly.
- It works every time with minimal training as long as you are in physical control of your dog.
Limitations
- The dogs don't enjoy the process and can learn not to enjoy the behaviour thus offering less of it.
- Some dogs may learn to avoid humans.
- The added stress can lead to trigger stacking and cause reactive outbursts in other areas or an increase in stress-relieving behaviours like chewing, barking, digging etc.
- Some dogs may defend themselves resulting in scratches, bites or other injuries.
Warning Moulding can be stressful for the dogs and many of the dogs in the educational videos below will show signs of stress during the process.
Shaping
Shaping involves adding small steps towards the end goal and is great for complex behaviours.
It involves marking and rewarding successive approximations of the end behaviour in order to help the dog reach the desired goal.
Once the dog gets good at one step then mark and reward; the next progression of the behaviour that they are able to perform.
Free shaping: Free shaping involves letting your dog figure out on their own what it is you want them to do and then marking them for making small slivers of progress towards the end goal or desired behaviour.
Benefits
- It allows you to break up complex behaviours into small bite size portions.
- It is fun for the dog and the handler.
- It works great for worried, scared and anxious dogs who can sometimes be put off by a direct approach.
- It encourages dogs to think about what they need to do to get a reward.
Limitations
- It can become time consuming.
- Often dogs may get stuck on one behaviour and get frustrated when they are unable to progress.
- It requires expert marker timing and reinforcement schedule.
- It requires planning on the part of the trainer to build a clear pattern that they would like the dog to follow in order to reach the end goal.
Tips when using :
- Good planning is essential to avoid frustration and build clarity.
- Train incompatible behaviours separately using different visual and verbal cues and then use chaining to put them together.
- Don't be afraid to take a few steps back and build clarity if you find your dog is struggling, or is offering you multiple behaviours other than the one you are looking for.
- Keep sessions short and fun.
Videos on shaping
More resources