Clean Run Magazine - December 2006 - 35

The key to success in shaping a wait or stay is to know when to push From
the authors of the IN FOCUS book, the envelope and wait a bit longer
before reinforcing. If you wait too long your dog will break his position.
Being able to anticipate a new DVD video just how long your dog can wait,
but reinforcing before he moves, is the way to succeed. To begin, you
might click and treat after 1 second, then 3, then 2, then 4, then 1, then
4, then 2, and so on. This Do you... is called ping-ponging. While working
on gradually increasing duration, always throw in some easier repetitions
to keep your dog motivated and successful. Have a dog that would walk over
hot coals to Present your reinforcer so that your dog does not move from
his get to agility equipment, but can't be bothered to position. Click,
then get in very quickly with the treat. If your dog take direction from
you on course? moves after the click but before the treat, just ask him to
move back into the desired position before treating him. If your dog moves
Have a dog that is so obsessed with agility that doing before you click
use your NRM oops , break off the exercise, ask obstacles is the only
reward he wants? him to leave the table, then begin again. You should then
lower your Have a dog that happily completes obstacles even a duration
requirement for a few repetitions and then start raising whole course on
his own without any direction from you? it again. Break off the exercise
after you give each reinforcer, allow your dog to leave the table, and
then begin again. Have a dog that blasts off the start line, often before
you While your dog only needs to stay for about 5 seconds on the table,
give him a release command? working on longer duration is smart. If you
can get 30 seconds you Have a dog that lacks self-control? can be much
more confident in your dog's table performance. Don't then you need to add
a verbal cue to stay or wait until you are very certain that your dog will
actually hold the position for the required duration name get IN FOCUS
behaviors only after they are occurring in a perfect form. and get your
dog Next Steps Once you have the desired in the game duration of the
stationary position, you can work on with you. COURTESY OF DEBORAH JONES
distance. You will move a step away, click, move quickly back, and treat.
Ping-pong your distance until you can move about 15' to 20' away. The last
criteria to add to the stationary position is distraction. Holding the
position regardless of what happens in the environment is very difficult
for some dogs. When you start adding distraction, lower your duration and
distance requirements. As with everything else, distractions should start
out at a very mild level and increase as your dog is successful. Reinforce
often for ignoring distractions. Make it worth your dog's effort by using
high-value reinforcers. Add planned distractions so that they challenge
your dog, but do not cause repeated failure. This article brings us to the
end of the shaping series. As I said in the first article, shaping is my
favorite training technique; I hope these articles have helped you learn
to enjoy it as much as I do! D Deborah Jones, Ph.D., an assistant
professor of psychology, specializes in social behavior and learning
processes at Kent State University's Stark Campus. Having written several
books on clicker training, Deb helped develop and produce the Clicker Fun
video series. She is co-author with Judy Keller of In Focus: Developing
http://www.cleanrun.com http://www.k9infocus.com
Clean Run Magazine - December 2006

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