Owning a dog is one of the most rewarding things you will ever do, of course most of you already know this having fallen in love with our wonderful breed, the Eurasier.
I could talk about dogs all day, in fact usually I do! But if I have to summarise, here are my top tips for successful dog and puppy training:
Capturing
Capture the behaviours you like, even if you haven’t asked for them. If you dog lays down in his bed - “Good settle”, if you pup goes to toilet in the garden - “Good tinkles!”, if your pup is running towards you - “Come!”
This a great way of training your dog with minimal effort. If we use the words and rewards at the time the action is being offered then it gets paired together and learnt. Simple!
Short and sweet
Training should be fun for both you and your dog. These don't need to be regimented hour at a time sessions, find minutes here and there throughout the day. Perhaps waiting for the kettle to boil or when the adverts are on whilst you watch TV. Two to three minutes here and there 10 times a day is often much more productive than trying to find an hour slot in your day when one of you might not be in the right mood. Pick your moments well. If you're training something such as a settle command, then you want to make sure your dog is tired and calm. If you're training something such as recall or a retrieve, you want to make sure your dog is keen and ready to go! Set them up for success by making sure they are in the right mood for what you are training.
Using the word ‘No’
When using the word ‘no’ it is important to remember that it is not an instruction dogs can follow. Often, they will get frustrated by this and training doesn't go well. It's far better to focus on what our dogs should do instead, i.e. rather than ‘don’t jump up’, it's better to teach them to ‘have all four feet on the ground’. Rather than ‘don’t lick the dishwasher’, teach ‘settle in your bed’ when it's being loaded. This can make a huge difference to your success and relationship with your dog.
Prevention is key
First rule of dog training - prevention. There a saying in the dog world - practice makes permanent… If you let your pup or dog repeat something they find rewarding enough it can become very engrained and hard (if not impossible!) to fix. We can usually find a way to stop our dogs practicing certain behaviours by being one step ahead.
Some examples:
• Prevent counter-surfing by never leaving food on the worktop
• Prevent jumping up by getting low and near the floor before they jump
• Prevent pups learning how fun it is to chase the family cat by supervising interactions and keeping pups on a house line and under control
Proofing / Environment specifics
When training our puppies/dogs we want them to generalize, e.g. ‘sit means sit no matter where you are’ regardless of environment or context. In order to do this, we need to train our dogs in several different environments, starting with no distractions and building up when they are ready. Always stay within their threshold so they can be successful. When teaching something like loose lead walking it would look like this:
• Build up to 10 steps, without pulling, in the house (no distractions)
• Move into your garden starting from 1 step building up to 10 (minimal distractions such as sounds of cars, people, smells etc.)
• Move out and about somewhere quiet, start with 1 step, build up to 10 (few distractions such as a dog in the far distance, a person walking past)
• Move somewhere busy (dogs closer, children playing football, groups of people)
Once your pup / dog has nailed this you can start to go from 10 steps to 20, then 30 etc. before you reward.
At any time your dog is struggling, go back a stage and build back up again. Remember we want them to be successful.
Hierarchy of rewards
It’s important that we make sure we are using the appropriate value of reward in that moment in time when training.
All rewards will have a certain value to your dog/pup. At any given moment, he may prefer one above another. It is useful to think of all the things your dog likes and place them in a ‘hierarchy’, starting with the most valuable to him first (although be prepared for this order to change from time to time).
Games with toys and praise can also be added into this ‘hierarchy’.
Different jobs require different ‘wages’, so think about what rewards will make actions worthwhile to your dog. Learning new exercises, coming away from things he would rather do, or leaving something tasty to eat will require your highest value reward to ensure he responds next time. In comparison, asking him to do something easy, such as sit once he has learned it, may only require your lowest value treat, or, in some cases, just praise, to maintain it.
You can also ‘Jackpot’ things that were amazing or hard for your dog. This involves lots of rewards in quick succession. For example, if you dog recalled away from some horses, reward heavily one after another to make a big deal of it!
Don't worry about overusing treats. We can also use toys/games as well as social connection to reinforce things we like. We tend to use plenty of treats when teaching something new but we can quickly back off on these and vary our rewards once they have learnt it.
About me: Hi! I’m Sarah, I am a dog lover, Eurasier owner and a busy mum of 3 beautiful children. I am an ABTC registered animal handling instructor, hold an Advanced Diploma in Canine studies, and am a Puppy School tutor trained by the world renowned Gwen Bailey. I own a busy and successful pet services company on the south coast called Pet-Professionals, and love every minute. My busy life means I don’t get to make many Eurasier meet ups, but I definitely plan to make a few this year when I can. I am often lurking on the SEA forum so hope to chat to many of you there.
