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A lot of people ask me how to train dogs or how do we have dogs that behave so well. A lot of it has to do with consistency. We all have the same basic expectations of the dogs and what we expect the dogs to do in terms of behavior and tasks across all of the trainers. A lot of it also has to do with the fact that we use reward based training. This means that we carry treats, tug ropes, and other things that are rewarding to our dogs and then when the dogs do something that we want, we reinforce that behavior with a reward.
Psychology and reinforcement schedules are kind of a sticky, hard subject to explain to people because punishment and reinforcement are inherently have different connotations. However, not all reinforcement is good and not all punishment is bad. All of the training/learning schedules are effective when it is done correctly and humanely. In the case of positive punishment and negative reinforcement, it is extremely hard to do because it has to be done every single time and EXACTLY when the problem behavior is done and the level to which it is applied has to be the right amount for the behavior given. Because of this I personally do not use these methods when training any dogs - I look for ways to create a bond and relationship with the dog and since I wouldn't want to be friends or listen to someone who is constantly telling me what NOT to do to please them instead of what TO do to please them, I wouldn't expect the same thing from my dog. Instead, I more often use positive reinforcement and negative punishment. In essence, this means that I ignore the behavior I don't want (for example, the dog jumping all over me) (this is the negative punishment) and reinfore/reward the behavior I do want (for example, sitting on the floor or even just having all four paws on the floor)(positive reinforcement). This way of training is way more effective when done consistently, but it still tends to stay with the dog longer. It also makes training of new behaviors easier because they are more willing to learn because learning is fun to them. If you think about it would you rather learn calculus if every time that you got a problem right you got a cookie or every time you messed up you got choked? Personally, I would rather take the cookie and if I got a cookie, I would be more willing to continue on in math. I got this thought from a lovely article that Linda had us read about how to get the behavior that we want from our dogs. I also got a lot of my ideas about creating a relationship with the dogs from the book that I am currently reading that I have really enjoyed so far. Suzanne Clothier has really opened my eyes to the idea that every dog is different because of the fact that the relationship is different between each dog and human, just like our relationships differ depending on the people we interact with.
The week has really flown with Neeco so far, I am still in shock that I have had him only a week because it feels like it has been so much longer! He has settled back into school like a champ and is getting used to my apartment just fine (except when I take a shower and he's in his kennel). He's doing really well in his kennel otherwise, which makes me really happy and proud of him.
Since I didn't have a lot of homework to do (or at least I didn't think I did) yesterday, Batman (my old roommate) and I took Ganther (who is now with Batman) and Neeco (who Batman trained last fall) to Willow River State Park to work off some energy and just give them a little break from the normal routine. They were so good and it was so cute watching them play in the water! I worked on Neeco's recall on a long lead, which he did really well with. We then took them to the lab farm to dry off before our meeting (and get out some extra energy). Let's just say they were SUPER tired last night. Neeco slept for a lot of the meeting and when we got home he just went to my bed and slept and would want to follow me, but would be a minute or two later than me when I was moving around. Ganther apparently slept like a rock! After all of this fun, we went to the meeting. Here we learned all about the retrieve sequence and how you train a lot of the basics that our dogs "come" with. We train retrieves by making the retrieves fun! Of course, Neeco already knew how to retrieve ordinary things off the ground, so Grace and I worked on him retrieving harder things (like a credit card off of the tile ground). He did so well with it, he did break a gift card, but he also retrieved it about 5 times. He also retrieved my cell phone from the ground too! We then worked on some diabetic alert training, which Necco alerted Linda when she came around! I asked Linda to show us how to train the high and low motion for Neeco to start learning as his next step, so I will start working on that with him in the coming weeks, which I really look forward to! There was a ton of proud moments for me and all of Neeco's previous trainers yesterday, I am just so in shock and love how determined he is to do things and he has harnessed his CRAZY energy from last fall into learning more. It is truly inspiring to watch him go from a puppy who was OBSESSED with my calves after a run or any time they were bare to a dignified, well-mannered dog. It kind of just gives me insight to the fact that dogs aren't stupid, it's all in the training and the owner being able to recognize the dogs needs and being there for the dog like the dog is there for them. Today marks the last day of the first week of classes. Neeco and I had a wonderful week!! We figured things out with Grace and we're getting in the groove of things. In class this week, we just talked about the dogs that we were getting, getting acquainted with them and our partners! Then we did some team building and learning exercises with the group of people. It was a pretty low-key and fun class.
Today, I took Neeco out for public access. He is SO good in public, one of my favorite parts of him is that he'll lay down if I am taking too long in one place, but he gets up really quick after that. I took him to a municipal building, Aldi, and Target and he did so well in all of those stores. We even went to the dog section in Target and his attention was easily guided back to me. After all of the work I put him to today, I decided to use my State Park Sticker and take him to Willow River State Park. We went on a 2ish (?) mile hike (it might have been more than that, it was a trail that was 2-4 miles depending on which way you took). He absolutely loved the water and was so intrigued by all of the scents all over the place. He got a little sick of me taking pictures with and of him.
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June 2020
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