Posted on

Building Drive and Momentum- Get it!

One of the advantages trainers have over people that don’t train dogs daily is SPEED. Being quick with your marker and timing of rewards in your sessions makes learning for your dog effective and fun. Like most skills, speed in your training can be improved upon with practice and time. 

During training sessions, we tend to recommend you prioritize repetitions over time – instead of training one particular skill (such as SIT) for 30 minutes, aim to get 10 solid, quick and precise ‘sits’ from your dog. This eliminates confusion and potential errors in your training, plus your dog is much more likely to process the information faster and enjoy it in shorter bursts.

The reality is that dogs aren’t really made to learn in long, drawn out sessions (neither are we!). In order to optimize on these short bursts of energy and focus, we need a fast and effective way to ‘reset’ dogs in sessions to get them ready to perform it again quickly and with just as much enthusiasm!

Meet your dog’s new fav cue – GET IT

A get it cue is a simple chasing game. It involves the dog chasing after a treat, preferably AWAY from you and your training space, and *hopefully* having them return after eating it for more information from you. 

It is a simple and effective tool in our training games because it can be used in multiple ways – if you are working on a stationary skill such as a long down, getting your dog moving away from that position may be optimal for resetting it. If your excited dog struggles to focus with too many repititions, get it can re set that brain. It is also a great puppy introduction to impulse control and chasing – in addition to drive building (more blog posts to come on this fun topic in future!)

There are MANY ways a get it cue can be beneficial, and it is so easy to teach (plus fun). It is a skill that most dogs pick up quickly, so why wouldnt you give it a shot? 

How to Start:

Start by using your dogs lowest value reward, such as their kibble or typical in home treat. We would recommend avoiding toys off the bat because toys tend to amp up the dogs drive and excitement. While getting your dog this excited is a great way to proof this skill in the future for now we want a thinking, problem solving dog. 

Practice in a quiet environment such as your home or training space before heading outside. 

The Set up:

  • Have 10 pieces of kibble/treats in one hand. Be sure to get your dogs attention before you toss the treat
  • Toss treat in one direction the moment they give you attention. Let them chase and eat
  • When they return to you, wait for that momentary glance, then toss the treat in the other direction
  • Repeat this skill until your handful runs out, then go back to playing with your dog

As your dog gets the game and eagerly chases and returns to you (this is key!) to keep the game going, you will introduce the verbal cue GET IT. If your dog does not return to you immediatley during this exercise, continue to work on creatig this predictable pattern and dont push ahead to a verbal cue until you have solid focus/attention. 

Part of the reason we ALWAYS want to wait for the dog to give us attention and focus is because we don’t want to just aimlessly throw food. We want the dog to offer something attentive such as eye contact before proceeding with the game. 

Need visual helpers? We got you covered below!

Simple, fun and effective!

Give it a shot and be sure to let us know how it goes!

Happy Training!

Element Canine Team

Posted on

3 Benefits of Marker/Clicker Style Training

Clicker or marker training in recent years has become one of the well known methods by which we teach dog’s new skills.

It is so popular in fact, that marker training has been incorporated into zoo’s for cooperative care practices, with cat training and with birds who have been injured and are being rehabilitated back into the wild.

There are many benefits to clicker training and getting your dog or cat started on learning with one is simple – once you practice!

First off, what is a clicker or a marker?

A clicker is a boxed shaped object, typically made of plastic and metal that when pressed emits a distinct, sharp sound.

Clickers can come in different styles!

The clicker itself is uninspiring and not all that amazing, but what can be accomplished once the dog has been taught to associate it with a reward (click – then reward) is amazing. This is plain old classical conditioning (remember Pavlov back in the day?) and without the reward, the sound the clicker emits remains meaningless.

In dog training, we use clickers to mark appropriate or correct behaviour in the learning stages of a skill.

Example? A dog is learning to lay down, but is not in the correct position. A trainer would mark the motion of the dog dropping their entire body on to the floor, and immediatley reward that movement. By repeating this, the trainer increases the chances of the dog performing the skill not only correctly, but accurately and without any extra physical prompting. The dog learns through repetition what is being rewarded.

A popular altnerative to clickers is a verbal marker – a verbal affirmation that the dog learns to associate with correct behaviour through classical conditioning. The word most commonly used in this example is the marker Yes – it means the same thing to the dog over time: they have done something correct and earned a reward.

3 Benefits of Marker Training

As a trainer, I love marker training because it simplifies the process for humans and takes out a few problematic aspects of training altogether – mainly how humans and dog’s communicate.

For example, if you are not training with a marker and are still rewarding your dog, there tends to be a point where the dog becomes confused. Are you rewarding him for sitting, or looking at you? Are you rewarding him for returning to you when you said his name? Or when he returned to you and sat? Dogs offer us many behaviours all in one motion and if you are rewarding inconsistent skills you will end up with inconsistent behaviours.

Because of this confusion in learning, clickers and verbal markers are massively beneficial because they…

  • Allow you to silently train and still communicate effectively with your dog. There is no need to nag, add verbal input or cues they may not fully know.
  • Allow you to have accurate timing. Timing is one of the most critical aspects of training, and a clicker/marker makes it easy for us to focus on and visualize what exactly we are rewarding
  • It creates accuracy in behaviours and eliminates ‘sloppyness’ – suddenly, the scenario mentioned above becomes clear to the dog

You call your dog…
He comes…
You Click/Mark…
You Reward him. Thus, He has been rewarded for coming when you called and not for the many steps in the middle of that skill that can happen.

Now, just with any skill (and dog training is a human skill) practice makes you better! If you are unsure about how to start working with a clicker and your dog, check out our video below.

How to get your dog associating markers with reward!

Once again, timing is key! Practice getting your hands in order and rewarding your dog consistently. The pattern is Click then– Reward (not at the same time!)

If you don’t love the idea of using a clicker or find it burdensome – no biggie! you still must mark appropriate behaviour to keep training simple and ‘clean’ – therefore, use the verbal marker YES or YEP instead.

Training is efficient when our timing improves – this is the beauty of the clicker or verbal marker! Give it a shot and let us know how you like it!

Happy training

Posted on

Mat Training Games: It’s Your Mat!

This weeks game is all about impulse control and getting your dog to want to stay on their mat – even in the face of distractions! We all want a dog who eagerly runs to their mat when the doorbell rings, or when the pizza guy shows up…but we have to work in small stages in order to get there.

This game is meant to be used in the ‘proofing’ stages of your training – so your dog should have a basic understanding of going to their mat and laying down on it right away. The most common mistake eager owners make when training their dog is working their criteria too quickly – essentially expecting too much from the dog, too soon and without a lot of practice put in.

For example, if your criteria for your dog is to remain on the mat while a small form of distraction is presented in close proximity – that is where you will begin! This is where our game ‘it’s your mat’ comes proves useful!

The Set Up

As always practice these games in quiet, familiar environments. We will leave the choice of rewards up to you, but as a rule – use a lower value reward if your dog struggles with food in your hands, and up the value of the reward (think meat, cheese) if your dog is advanced

The Game

  • Have treats on hand and a mat for your dog handy
  • Set the mat down, and cue your dog through a hand signal or a verbal cue to go to their mat
  • Mark and reward, and then release them
  • Cue your dog again – and let the game begin! Hold your treat hand close to your dog’s face. They are presented with a choice: move off the mat, or remain calmly laying down and focused upon you? Mark and reward the correct decision!
  • As your dog learns the game, challenge them by moving the ‘treat’ hand further away (enticing them to follow it). Your criteria will remain the same. The dog is rewarded for remaining on the mat!
  • If your dog breaks, make the exercise easier. Shorten the time they are on their mats, or keep your hand very close to their face and reward immediatley!

Need a video?! We got you covered! Give it a whirl and Happy Training

Posted on

Mat Training Games: Tiny Tim

If you followed our post last week and gave it a try, then you know we are spending the next two weeks chatting about mat training games!

As trainers we will be the first to tell you it is a boring skill – both for your dog to learn and due to the high level of reps you need to teach it, for you too…but it doesn’t have to be if you get creative with the skills you use!

Last week’s game (the long down) focused upon building the dog’s ability to lay on the mat (duration) for longer and longer periods. If you haven’t checked it out, please do so here. The game this week focuses upon clarity and placement. In other words, does your dog know what to do when they see their mat? Do you need to cue your dog more than once to get them to perform the skill? Does your dog have a clear understanding of laying down on it, rather than sitting on it without being told? Can your dog do this without an immediate reward present?

These are all parts of the learning process known as proofing – getting the behaviour better, more refined and as close to perfect as possible (and eventually in any environment).

This game is meant to be a fun way to improve your dogs skill – it is geared towards an intermediate level of mat training so if you are new to mat training check back for our tutorial on the start up steps or contact us for some training info.

We want to make sure the dog is working at the level they can be the most successful at, so you can make this game easier by trying it in a familiar environment or by using your hand signals/verbal cues. Avoid luring the positions for the dog altogether.

THE DRILL

  • Have your dogs mat (ideally something like a towel) and treats ready to go, but not in your hands. Ideally, keep your rewards on a shelf or book case close by.
  • Set your mat down, cue your dog to go on their mat > Mark and reward when they complete their down and relax
  • Release your dog from the mat, pick it up and fold it in half.
  • Now that it is smaller, place it down in the same spot and cue your dog to lay on their mat. Mark and reward when they hit the desired position, release them.
  • Pick up the mat, fold it in half. Put it down. Repeat the steps above

Repeat the steps until you have a TINY mat your dog barely fits on (or doesn’t fit on at all) but they continue to perform the same set of skills (lay down and relax!)

TIPS

  • No lures. This drill is meant to test your dog, if you are still luring this skill, build your foundations first before trying it.
  • If you want more of a challenge, put the mat down in different spots in your ‘training zone’ (but keep it in the same room). See if your dog can follow the drill then!
  • Rewards should not be directly on you – rather your dog should remain laying down in position while you bring rewards to them. You must always reinforce the position you desire – therefore avoid feeding at any time other than when the dog is laying down.

Need a video? We got you covered!

Mat Training Game – Tiny Tim

Give it a shot and let us know what you think!

Posted on

Mat Training Games: The Long Down

If I am being totally honest, mat training is a behaviour that can become tedious and boring to teach repetitively. If you are new to dog training in general, Mat Training is a popular skill that involves teaching your dog to be calm and sedentry on a mat or a dog bed. The benefit of this skill can be seen when guests come inside your home, when you bring your dog out to a friends barbecue or for high energy dogs to learn to relax. Instead of being uncontrollable or jumping towards being, or bolting out the door – dog’s instead learn to relax and hang out. On top of all of this, the dog learns to be bored and to be ok with it. So, this is becomes an important life skill because being bored is likely to happen in a dog’s life, and it is something that should be taught rather than assumed to be inherited.

Little Ollie learning to relax on a raised bed!

So it is a great skill! However for me, ‘proofing’ it ( the process of ensuring the dog can perform the skill on cue in any environment) can become tedious. Afterall, we are teaching the dog to accept boredom and there are only so many repititions you can do before the skill starts to lose your own interest (as well as your dogs!)

As a result of this, over the years I have come up with some fun games that I implement into our training routine to keep things interesting, challenging and overall helps keep my dog’s skill sharp!

Its important to note that these games are meant to be challenging for your dog; therefore, your dog should have a basic understanding of mat training before you try them out. You want the dog to have a clear understanding of laying down on a mat beforehand, otherwise you are adding too much, too soon into your training. If you don’t know what mat training is, check out this great video here or message us for any training inquiries.

This game specifically focuses on building your dogs mat duration – so they calmer they learn to be (and the longer they can do it), the better!

The Set Up

Start these games in a familiar environment, and use a medium level value of food.

Have your dogs bed or mat available and ready to go.

Try not to over use your verbal cues (ie: ‘go to your mat’ should be used once)

You will be sitting in front of your dog in this game

The Game

  • Cue your dog to go to their mat/bed
  • Mark and reward your dog.
  • Once you are sitting down with them and they are on their mats, you will wait for them to offer a slight head tilt downwards

This is the first step towards a chin rest! You want to make sure you reward this.

Mark and reward your dog, then wait for them to offer it again. As they guess at the correct behaviour you are rewarding, you will start to get an effective head/chin rest or head movement towards the floor.

I recommend trying 10 Repetitions of this skill. Then end the training session, release your dog from the mat and do something fun!

If you need a video to help you out, check out the one below!

Riley showing off the game!

Trouble Shooting

  • This game involves free shaping – therefore some dogs may take a bit of time to think. This is ok! Try not to verbally cue your dog in any form. If your dog has never free shaped before, you will watch your dog and wait for them to ‘look’ downwards, or make any slight movement with their head. You’re reinforcement and reward delivery will communicate to the dog that they have performed a correct behaviour.
  • If your dog becomes frustrated, end the session early and try again later
  • Your timing should be accurate in this game, and you should be 100% focused on the dog in order to avoid missed opportunities to reward!

Implementing different skills and games in to your regular obedience training keeps things interesting for not only you, but for your dog as well. Give it a shot and let us know how you do!

Happy Training

Posted on

The Secret(s) to a Solid Stay

If you had to imagine your dog’s ability STAY in one spot, in a distracting environment while you moved a distance of 5 meters from them, what would be the outcome?

Would your dog stay in position?

Maybe for the first few minutes?

Would they follow you instantly?

Would they catch a scent in the air and decide to follow it away from you?

If you answered YES to any or all of the above, we hope this blog helps you! Stationary behaviours in dog training (otherwise known as Stay’s or Place Training) are notoriously difficult to teach because they involve patience, accuracy in timing and ensuring solid foundations before they are built upon and finally, ‘proofed’ (the process of getting a complete behaviour in any environment).

There are many ways to teach a dog to Stay, but we prefer the most uncomplicated, simple and clear way for the dog. This skill is important and useful in day to day life with your dog – we therefore want it to be so accurate, asking your dog to perform it is easy rather than difficult.

So, what is a stay?

Simply put, a ‘Stay’ is a position (such as Sit/Down) with duration!

Thats it.

It’s not fancy, and when it boils down to it, it can actually be a rather boring skill for the dog to learn – which is where we come in as their trainers and handlers to make teaching this skill fun, engaging and worth the dog’s effort.

It is important to remember that we are advocates for our dogs learning. Our training should reflect fair and clear guidelines so that they can succeed quickly and with minimal frustration or stress. If your dog is frustrated with the learning process she is more likely to ‘check out’ and opt out of working with you altogether – something we want to avoid at all costs.

If your dog struggles with staying put – we are going to start their training with simple guidelines. It can be easy and tempting to work well beyond our dogs capacity at that given moment (for example, asking them to Stay in a challenging environment with out any precious practice) but this is one of the main culprits for incomplete behaviours and skills. Instead, we want to ensure that the dog can hold their position (sit or down) for an appropriate level of time before building upon any distance or distractions. Trainer’s call these the ‘3 D’s of Dog Training’ and can be viewed similarly to building blocks in learning.

Imagine these blocks are your 3 D’s! Duration, Distance and Distraction. You can’t build upon them until the first two are solid.

The first step we will focus on is the basic foundation of a STAY….which is your dog’s ability to sit still in one position for X amount of time?

How long can Zeus stay in this position?

To make things easy, we have outlined a little exercise and video for you to begin this process below!

To START:

  • Place your dog in a sit or down, whichever position is more comfortable for your dog (and easier)
  • Pause a moment, mark and reward them. Pause again, mark and reward them. Repeat this for a count of 5 (or use 5 treats for timing)
  • Once your 5 treats or ‘seconds’ are up, release your dog from the position (with a leg tag or a verbal encouragement to move), and repeat this process.

As you practice this successfully, increase the amount of time your dog has to ‘Sit and Stay’. There is no need to verbally cue or command your dog to remain still in this drill, because your timing of rewards communicates that for you!

If your dog continues to break from their position, shorten the amount of time your training (as an example, instead of 5 second duration being your goal, try for 3 seconds instead).

A final aspect of a solid STAY: ensuring your dog knows when its ok to move!

We add in a ‘release’ cue to all of our stationary behaviours such as sit, down, and stand so that half the work is done for us already; the dog doesn’t move until we cue them to. Keep this consistent in your training so you don’t create confusion.

Need a video to help you out? Check it out below!

Need a demo of the Stay Drill?

Happy Training!