Tag Archives: dogs

06/19/12

“The Boys”

We welcomed these boys as fosters into our home last week. They were surrendered to us as the family didn’t feel they had the time for the dogs, and the dogs were also too boisterous for their young children. They’re a bit of a handful together! But individually, they’re pretty nice dogs. They can get a little overwhelmed in some situations, but they’re quite consolable and are never worried enough to refuse treats. We are working on their jumping up and their lead manners. Considering they were practically raised by a backyard, they have relatively few issues and will make charming pets for the right home.

First of all, there is Mack:

Black and white kelpie, labrador, border collie crossbreed dog looks at the camera.

Mack, being a lovely attentive boy for the camera.

Mack was a bit of a snob for the first couple of days, but when I took him for a walk without his brother, he totally changed! He started looking to me for reassurance and guidance, and then never stopped when we got home. Now we’re pretty good friends, and I am sure his new family won’t have to do much to win him over, either.  For more details about Mack, view his PetRescue profile.

And then there’s Jet:

Black kelpie cross labrador cross border collie dog, looking at camera.

Jet, much harder to photograph, and looking much older than his 20 months!

Jet has a sooky soft temperament, and is much more likely to win you over quickly than his brother.  Jet is one of those floppy submissive dogs that lay on their back for belly rubs and generally just is soft natured!  I think this boy will find a home easily with whoever meets him first – he’s quite endearing. Read more about Jet on his PetRescue profile.

Both Mack and Jet are available in South Australia to an appropriate home. They were surrendered as half Kelpie, half Labrador x Border Collie. They are 20 months old and will be available from Wednesday 20th June as vaccinated, desexed, and microchipped.

06/17/12

Reward Training Techniques (Dunbar)

This post is part of the series in response to Dunbar’s 2012 Australian seminars. See index.

Dunbar described five reward training techniques:

 

 

Lure Reward Training
He called these ‘techniques that cause the behaviour’ and the ‘Plan A’ of dog training – that is, it should be the first option when teaching a dog a behaviour.  More about this method is outlined in my lure reward training post.

 

All or none reward training
Dunbar created ‘all or none’ reward training after thinking about dogs in shelter situations.  These dogs need to default to good behaviour, or just be ‘good’ without any verbal cues.  In all or none reward training, you just wait for the animal to do what you want, and reward it.  For example, if you have a dog on leash and wait long enough, they’ll eventually sit.  The term ‘all or none’ comes from the behaviour: He’s either sitting, or he’s not.  Dunbar advocates this way for inattentive or ‘crazy’ dogs, and suggests it should be the ‘Plan B’ in dog training.

 

Black and white working cross breed runs with a tennis ball in mouth.

Life rewards: Running, playing fetch. Much better than any boring treat!

 

Shaping (often with clickers) Continue reading →

05/17/12

Seven Steps to Off Leash Reliability

This post is part of the series in response to Dunbar’s 2012 Australian seminars. See index.

A reliable recall is often difficult to train.  Dunbar has many suggestions on training a dog to be reliable off-leash – however, he doesn’t teach a recall as such, more cues at a distance.  The logic is that it is just as useful for your dog to sit immediately, on cue, in any context, as it is for you to train a recall – and perhaps even better if you do not want your dog to move towards you (for example, if there was ongoing traffic or other hazards associated with approaching you).  Dunbar’s logic is partly based on not removing a dog from their rewards, as well.  For most dogs, being off leash is associated with a lot of fun, and calling a dog away from that fun is inherently punishing, despite any rewards you think you may offer.

Without further ado, here is Dunbar’s seven steps to off leash reliability.

 

Small back and tan crossbred dog running towards camera.

Photo © Ruthless Photos.

 

Continue reading →

05/10/12

Repetitive Reinstruction (Dunbar)

This post is part of the series in response to Dunbar’s 2012 Australian seminars. See index.

Dunbar advocated what he called ‘repetitive reinstruction’ as a form of verbal punishment for dogs that do not obey a trained cue.

He called this technique negative punishment (taking away something good), but this only happens if you are always rewarding the behaviour in the first place. Repetitive reinstruction is taking away the ‘nice sweet speaking person’ and you get ‘annoying and over the top’ person. It works quickly, and response reliability increases after successive trials.

Staffordshire bull terrier crossbreed smiling at the camera.

This is Dexter, a young Staffy X available for adoption through Adelaide All Breed Dog Rescue. Click his picture to visit their Facebook page.

 

The best way to illustrate this technique is by describing training a distance sit.  Here is the process:

1) While the dog is playing, grab the dog by the collar, give them a treat, then release them to continue play.

2) While the dog is playing, grab the dog by the collar, ask for a sit, give treat, and then release them to continue play.

3) Without touching the dog, cue sit, then grab the collar, give a treat, and send them to play.

4) From a casual position, cue “sit” as many times as necessary (perhaps decreasing distance and increasing urgency in voice) until the dog sits.  Once the dog sits, release the dog, ask for a second sit, reward when the dog sits on the first cue, treat the dog, and send it to go play.

 

In this way, the dog is repetitively reinstructed to perform the behaviour until it does so.  Though this may be a number of cues in the first instance, over time, the number of cues will reduce to 1-2 cues.  He assures us that this does work – the number of responses increases per the number of cues, over time.

Dunbar acknowledges that collar grabs should always be associated with good things, in order to reduce the likelihood of dog bites from this interaction (touching a dog collar is often a precursor to a dog biting).

Obedience competition has made a second cue a ‘crime’.  In reality, we are aiming for one cue eventually, but it’s okay to use multiple cues in training. Dunbar has collected figures to graph the improvement and there is an improvement over time (i.e. the number of cues diminishes).

Not only is this repetitive reinstruction, it is also specific redirection.  It is instructing the dog what to do in order to stop the negative punishment.  This can be a useful way to direct the dog during ‘crazy times’ (when the dog is over aroused, like when the doorbell goes).

Dunbar argues that the cue doesn’t become ‘irrelevent’, because if the dog doesn’t perform the first time, the cue was irrelevant anyway.

This is one of the more controversial suggestions from Dunbar, with many dog trainers advocating for one cue only.

 

Suggested further reading:

Patricia McConnell on repeated cues.

“Rover, sit. Sit. SIT. SitSitSit!!!” – a review of Dunbar’s suggestions by Boulder Dog.

05/7/12

Dunbar on Classical Conditioning

This post is part of the series in response to Dunbar’s 2012 Australian seminars. See index.

Dunbar believes Classical Conditioning is a big deal in dog training.  He doesn’t believe in separating Operant Conditioning from Classical Conditioning. To Dunbar, the dog learns the same thing: In case of x, good things happen, and in case of y, bad things happen.

White poodle.

For a basic overview of classical conditioning:  Classical conditioning was named by Pavlov, who learnt that if he rung a bell before feeding dogs, overtime, the dogs would start to saliva

te at the sound of the bell alone.  Basically, classical conditioning is associative learning.  Dogs will associate things with certain stimuli.  In Dunbar’s view, however, he thinks that the brilliance of classical conditioning has been lost over time.  In his opinion, just because Pavlov worked with a reflex (i.e. the dog couldn’t choose to salivate, it happened itself), doesn’t mean that classical conditioning is only used for reflexes.  (This is normally the distinctive difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning, but Dunbar ignores it and finds it irrelevant. Confusing!)

 

Classical conditioning should happen all through a dog’s life.  Treats should never be phased out for classical conditioning.  Dunbar said, “Don’t take you dog’s temperament for granted” and “If your dog is friendly, it can be friendlier”.

Dunbar particularly advocated Classical Conditioning for improving handling of dogs.  Particularly, classically conditioning collar grabs and other contact the dog may find unpleasant.

He talked about dog trainer Bill Campbell’s ‘jolly routine’, which is an over-the-top play response an owner ‘performs’ when a stimulus is seen.  The idea is the dog things, “Whenever my owner sees x, they get so happy!” – which in terms classically conditions the dog to like x.

While he believes there is better ways of getting rid of problem behaviour, he did talk about using ‘lightning strike’ verbal feedback for poor behaviour.  He described this as punishment in a praise sandwich.  For example, the dialogue would go: “good dog, very well done, lovely dog, excellent, good, good, yes, ASSHOIFJIDSHKLJ!!!, yes, good dog, good, very good”.

He also liked the use of classical conditioning in shelters, particularly in the Open Paw program, where dogs are rewarded for just being in the shelter and seeing people.

Dunbar describes classical conditioning as a ‘winning strategy’.

Further reading: my lecture notes from Paul McGreevy on Classical Conditioning.

External link:  Roger Abrantes’ post on “Unveiling the myth of reinforcers and punishers” 

Updated with additional notes 13/10/12.