Clean Run - January 2016 - 8

Training in
Concepts
By Sandy Rogers

When I train, I cast a big learning net
during every session, training as many
things at once as I can. For example, I
was working with a young pup yesterday. The pup was up on a box and I was
"paying" him (rewarding with food) for
not jumping off. I was also telling him
"gooood boyyy" while he was on the
box, and when he sat I gently propped
him back up (hand under tummy) and
fed him at nose level. I started moving
forward and then back to reward, but
when I moved forward the pup would
jump off and come with me ("Are we
working on stick by your leg again?")-
not what I wanted. I immediately withheld the cookies (the rate of reinforcement was very high while he was on
the box) as well as the verbal praise
until he jumped back on the box.

"I'm not actually teaching stay; I'm
teaching the pre-stay concept of "don't
leave." What else am I teaching?" I asked.

"What am I teaching?" I asked my
student.

"I'm teaching him the concept that when
you hear "goooood boyyy" it means you
are on the right track; keep working,
there is a cookie in your near future."

"Stay on the box," he replied.
8

"I don't know," he said.
"I'm also teaching the pup not to sit; I
want him to stand. What else?"
I let him watch for a bit longer and
when he was stumped I said, "Close
your eyes. What am I teaching?"
He said, "What 'good dog' means."
"And what does it mean?" I asked.
"That he did it right," he answered.
"There's something more, and it is the
biggest lesson of all in this particular
session with this pup."
My student looked confused.

In a very short time I convinced this
puppy not to jump off the box. But
what I was happier about was that he
learned to work for my verbal praise.
Having a dog that understands what
verbal praise means is critical for developing a dog that will try his hardest
during a training session. Not jumping
off the box was a by-product of that
bigger lesson. I was working hardest
on the timing of my verbal praise, turning it off like a light switch when the
puppy jumped off the table. Does this
mean every lesson with the pup will
have constant verbal praise? No, but
this session did because it happens
to be the perfect way to work on that
particular concept. The puppy was also
learning not to shut down when the
game changed. Earlier he had been
getting paid handsomely for sticking
to my leg. I did not let that fact keep
me from changing the game to don't
come with my leg when you are on a
box. This teaches him the concept of
"new games mean work harder; more
cookies are available."
Later that day we worked on "go jump
on that balance disc." I was rewarding
the pup more for looking toward or
down at the disc than for getting the
"correct" number of paws on it. Getting
all the paws on is an easy by-product of
the "real" lesson, the concept of "keep
your eyes on the obstacles while you're
doing them, not on me."
Dogs can and do learn general concepts. And, when they are taught a
concept as a concept; the learning allows them to better generalize when
they are asked to respond. Holes in
foundation training often exist because general concepts about broader
subjects than the actual task at hand
are not understood.

Dogs can and do learn
general concepts. And,
when they are taught a
concept as a concept; the
learning allows them to
better generalize when they
are asked to respond.
Clean Run

January 16

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - January 2016