Imagine a photographer with a camera focused on a bird’s nest – just waiting for the baby birds to pop their heads up. The instant the birds show their heads, the photographer captures the image by releasing the shutter.

Imagine a dog owner (me) walking his turbo Australian terrier (Bentley).

Imagine Bentley scratching the ground with his feet (like a bull), immediately after he urinates.

Imagine me marking that behavior and then giving Bentley some version of  F.A.T. (Marking is when you click a clicker, say a crisp X, or use whatever signal you use as a marker. F.A.T. is a reward system, consisting of food, attention, and touch.)

I thought Bentley’s natural behavior of  ”scratching out” was cute, so I decided to teach him to do it on command. All I did was mark the instant he did it and then give him a reward. At this point I am not saying anything to Bentley. I am patiently waiting, then marking.

I am like the photographer in that I patiently wait for something in particular to occur, then I act.

During one walk with 3 or 4 instances of Bentley scratching out and me marking the behavior, Bentley caught on. To test his understanding, I waited for him to scratch out, and I did NOT mark the behavior. He looked up at me as if to say, “hey stoooopid, I  scratched out – where’s the mark?”  Now I was ready to add the command or cue. On our next pee stop I slipped the words. “Tough boy” immediately before he scratched out. I marked the behavior and a new trick was born.

Now I can ask Bentley, Are you a tough boy?” and he will scratch out like a bull!

You can capture any behavior your dog naturally performs. This means you can teach sit and down via the capture method. It’s too easy but it works very well!!

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – Canine Relationship Solutions – Memphis – Collierville – Germantown – Dog Training – Cat Training – Bird Training – Horse Training

21Dog

How’s Bentley – Dog and Puppy Shake – Fun Facts and Trainer Truths – iPhone, iPad, iTouch app.

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Most of us would not walk an untrained puppy, off leash, next to a busy street. We realize the puppy is not trained, and she may wander into the street and get hit by a car.  We use a leash to keep the puppy safe.

Inside the house, it’s a little safer. No cars are going to break your puppy’s legs, and your puppy can’t run away from you and get kidnapped or lost. But she can get into trouble and be quite a nuisance!  You can always crate your puppy, but that doesn’t teach her how to behave inside the house.

The same applies to backyard adventures. Puppies dig in flower beds, run on top of pool covers, chew air conditioning low voltage wires and eat plants – RIGHT in FRONT of YOU! You are not going to teach your puppy by yelling and screaming or spanking when the puppy gets into trouble. Your job is to prevent the puppy from practicing naughty behaviors. You’ll teach that rascal later, but for now, PREVENT the practice!!

You need a sort of halfway house, something between crating and letting your puppy run loose and terrorize the backyard or household.

The easy solution is to use a tether. A tether is a rope, with a snap attached to one end.  It’s like a leash without the handle. You can tie the loose end around a doorknob, table leg, or your waist to prevent your puppy from stealing objects and racing through your house. Never tie your dog to a piece of furniture and leave him. Tethers are for the times when you are nearby. When guests come over, ask your puppy to sit and then step on the rope to prevent jumping or racing out the door. I like to tie it around my waist so I can give Bentley instructions, and tell him what to so (sit, down, stay, etc.) when life gets exciting.

I buy 50 foot packages of nylon rope from Lowe’s to make a tether. The rope is round, and unlike a flat leash with a loop, it’s not as likely to get wedged under a furniture leg. The rope is inexpensive. I buy smaller diameter rope for small dogs and 1/2″ or 5/8″ diameter for medium and larger dogs.

If the puppy chews it, so what? I’ll have a shorter tether or make a new one.

I like them to be 5-9 feet. That gives me enough slack to wrap the tether around my waist or around a piece of furniture.

Attach the tether and let the puppy drag it as she explores your den. You can step on the tether to keep her from jumping up or running away with your remote control.  You can tie it to a piece of furniture with a dog bed nearby. You can wrap the end around a door knob as you change clothes. You can use the tether outside too.  Instead of calling and calling, and having your puppy ignore your come command, just pick up the rope and coax her to come to you.

If you use the tether, it’s a good opportunity to teach your puppy about leashes, collar pressure, and staying connected to you. Instead of pulling the puppy with the rope, use your charm and coax her to stay nearby. Practice LOOK (attention on cue) and HERE, as you putter around the house.

If you prevent your puppy from practicing bad habits, you will be glad!

Alan J Turner

How’s Bentley – Memphis

Private and Group Dog Obedience Trainer

Collierville, Memphis, Germantown TN

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The leash is a tool to reduce your dog’s choices. Ideally, the dog will not feel any pressure from the leash, unless he or she jumps up. The short leash will abruptly stop the dog’s upward progress, and the dog’s attempts to jump up will fail. Most dogs stop trying to jump up, after a few of these failures.

Stepping on the leash, reduces vertical and horizontal territory. Standing upright, with arms folded, eliminates stimuli from you, the handler. The dogs only have a few choices of what to do with their bodies.

If your dog does not sit after a minute or so, consider the following points.

You can use your body language to help. To do this, lean towards your pup with your upper body or take a very small step towards the puppy. He will sit.

Immediately straighten your upper body (remove the spatial pressure you added by leaning forward) and immediately mark the instant his rump hits the floor. Give him a treat. Say nothing.

Is your dog looking at you? If not, go to a different area, a place with fewer distractions.  Are you stepping on the leash, so your dog cannot jump up or move away? If you are stepping on the leash, does the dog have enough slack in the leash to sit?

If you are still having problems getting your dog to sit for folded arms, discontinue the exercise and try again later.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner -  Dog Trainer – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

Private and Group Dog Training Services

Group Dog Mini Course

Do-It-Yourself, Internet dog training basics

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I always ask my clients to practice with their dogs during short sessions throughout the day. For puppies and dogs that are learning look and sit (the first 2 commands), I recommend 5 sessions each day, for 60 seconds per session.

As the dog is introduced to more commands, such as here, stay and down, the sessions will be  longer. How you end the longer sessions makes a difference!

Cool down before ending a session. During your short teaching sessions, respect the fact that learning a new task or raising the difficulty for a task (for example- practicing ‘stays’ with more distractions or increased duration) can be somewhat stressful for your dog.

I think it’s somewhat impolite, rude, or disrespectful to “push” your dog’s performance to a very high level and then immediately end the session.

To give your dog a break, end each session with a couple of easy behaviors that your dog already knows. After teaching, hold a play session or go for a walk.

Following this recipe will keep your dog relaxed about learning. He will anticipate the next session with joy! Your main goal is to teach your dog so make it easy for him/her to be successful!

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – Companion Animal Behavior Counselor and Trainer, Canine Specialization

How’s Bentley – Memphis, Collierville, Germantown TN

21st Century Canine Relationship Solutions

Group Dog Obedience Classes

Private Dog Training in Memphis, Collierville, Germantown, Cordova, Bartlett TN

Reactive Dog Specialist

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Animals that already own rewards will not perform behaviors to receive the same rewards they already own.

Animals that receive rewards without any behavioral requirements will not examine and modify their own behaviors in order to receive the same rewards they already have.

This means dog training success via positive reinforcement depends on your ability to

Identify -  Manage – Deliver – Withhold – Add – Subtract

Rewards

CLICK HERE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – Companion Animal Behavior Counselor and Trainer, Canine Specialization

How’s Bentley – Memphis, Collierville, Germantown TN

21st Century Canine Relationship Solutions

Group Dog Obedience Classes

Private Dog Training in Memphis, Collierville, Germantown, Cordova, Bartlett TN

Reactive Dog Specialist

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Here are some ideas on how to get your dog to perform anytime, every time!

Loose Training – Practice the behaviors in many different areas, while adding distractions

Discriminative Stimulus – only reward for learned behavior when signal or cue is given

Intermittent Schedule of Reinforcement – use intermittent schedules

Generalized Conditioned Reinforcers – vary the rewards

Food Treats – fade treats ASAP – move the treats off your body – place treats in other places. Place treats on your body and do not give your dog a treat.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

Reactive Dog Specialist

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Before you can use positive reinforcement to reward your dog (Food treat, Attention, Touch), you’ll need to get the dog to perform some version of the behavior.

There are many methods to get behavior. Here are some dog-friendly methods.

Capture – good for simple behaviors that are naturally offered, like sit.

Just wait until it is occurring and then reinforce the behavior. Capturing requires patience. 

The trainer must be experienced “setting the stage” for the behavior(s) to occur and the trainer must be ready to reinforce the instant the behavior first occurs or miss that opportunity. Some behaviors may never take place. In addition, the dog may become disinterested before s/he succeeds.

Lure – risk for teaching your dog to perform only when food is present

Use food to get the behavior and then reinforce the behavior. Luring creates an additional risk for creating a dog that only works when food is present. The dog may or may not realize what behaviors s/he is performing because s/he is so focused on the food.

Shape – requires patience and perfect timing skills. Break down the target behavior into many small steps, get and reinforce each step until your dog knows that step, then get and reinforce each of the next steps which are progressively closer to the target behavior. Shaping requires patience and is a slow process (compared to bridge-n-target).

Bridge-N-Target – is the most efficient, but requires more skills from the trainer. Bridge and Target is a component of Syn Alia Training System, developed by Kayce Cover. .

Teach your dog to touch (or touch and hold for duration) a target with the applicable body part(s). This provides your dog with a physical location where success will take place. Communicate the correctness of the behavior(s) while in progress. Communicate a signal to indicate success.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

Reactive Dog workshops

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Schedules of reinforcement are consequence sequences or rates for teaching and maintaining behaviors. Different schedules are used at different stages of teaching and maintaining behaviors. There are three schedules of reinforcement.

• Extinction
• Continuous
• Intermittent

Extinction – when a previously available reinforcer is withheld or no longer available

Some trainers suggest extinction to reduce unwanted behaviors like barking and jumping up. Extinction will reduce the long-term frequency and magnitude of a behavior, but will increase the frequency and magnitude of the behavior in the short-term.

For example: suppose your dog barks when you are talking on the phone. You tell her to ‘shhhh’ or pet her and she does for one moment, but resumes barking in a few moments. Remember, any behavior that is repeated is being reinforced. In this example the touch and ‘shhh’ is reinforcing the barking behavior. To use extinction, you would remove the reinforcers and just ignore the barking.

When you remove the reinforcers that were previously available, your dog will increase her short-term barking efforts to get your attention before she discontinues her long-term ‘barking strategy’. This is called an extinction burst. Your dog will bark at a different pitch or bark louder or add jumping and nipping, or any other behaviors that she considers to be magnifications of the barking behavior. The extinction burst signals that the reinforcers have been successfully removed and your dog will soon abandon her ‘barking while you are on the phone’ strategy, but not before she increases her efforts. If you can survive the short-term increase, you will successfully reduce the ‘barking when you are talking on the phone’ strategy.

Trainers often suggest that clients place ‘jumping up’ behavior on extinction. Dogs jump up for our attention, so the idea is to remove the reinforcer of attention. Just ignore the dog. The problem is that the behaviors during the extinction burst may become dangerous. The dog will jump higher, make more bodily contact, nip, grab clothing or whatever else that dog considers to be in the same response class as jumping up. Suppose the person cannot survive the behaviors during the extinction burst, so the person ‘gives in’ and gives the dog attention. Now the dog has learned that in order to get the person’s attention, she must jump hard, jump high, grab clothes and nip! How rude! It is not advisable to place ‘jumping up’ on extinction if your dog is large enough to knock you over!

In addition to the extinction burst, there is another problem with using extinction to reduce unwanted behaviors. Your dog may very well give up on her barking strategy and replace it with something worse, such as destroy your furniture, counter surf, jump on your table, chase your cat, nip at your child, et cetera. It is much more efficient to teach a polite behavior that is incompatible with the unwanted behavior!

Behaviors that are reduced through extinction are subject to spontaneous recovery. They may reappear later but can usually be extinguished more quickly than before.

The schedule of extinction and the resulting extinction burst is a helpful tool for trainers that use shaping. Trainers place a desirable behavior (that has a history of reinforcement) on extinction and the behavior increases in magnitude and frequency. The trainer waits until the magnified version is closer to the target behavior. If the trainer can reinforce the magnified behavior at the correct instant, the behavior will be repeated. It’s tricky and requires excellent planning, timing and patience.

Continuous – each instance of the behavior is reinforced

Continuous is used for teaching new behaviors or when your dog is extremely distracted. To use a continuous schedule, reinforce the behavior anytime you give the cue and your dog gives you the behavior. You’ll switch to an intermittent schedule as soon as your dog has learned the new behavior well.

Intermittent – the schedule between extinction and continuous, of which there are four sub-categories -  variable ratio is the most useful for family dogs. Intermittent schedule is great for maintaining behaviors because we teach our dogs that reinforcement may not occur each time, but it will occur sometimes.

Behaviors that have been placed on a intermittent schedule are much more difficult to extinguish than behaviors that are continuously reinforced. This principle applies to unwanted behaviors as well. If you sometimes give your pup attention when she jumps up on you and sometimes you ignore her, she will keep jumping up – forever and ever! There are four sub-categories of intermittent schedules.

• Fixed Ratio – reinforcement occurs after a specific number of desired behaviors
• Variable Ratio – reinforcement occurs after an average number of desired behaviors
• Fixed Interval – reinforcement delivered the first time a behavior occurs after a specific amount of time
• Variable Interval – reinforcement delivered the first time a behavior occurs after an unpredictable amount of time

Schedule Thinning – changing from continuous to intermittent schedules

Methodically changing from a continuous schedule during teaching, to an intermittent for   maintenance is called schedule thinning. Behavior that is reinforced on a continuous schedule will not continue if the reinforcement is removed. For example if you place $1 in the soda vending machine and do not get a soda, you are not likely to keep feeding the machine dollars because you are accustomed to a continuous schedule (you always get a drink when you perform the “money insertion behavior”).

On the other hand, slot machines at the casino deliver an intermittent schedule of reinforcement and people offer the “money inserting behavior” for many trials without any reinforcement. If our dogs learn that the reinforcement comes intermittently, they will continue offering the behavior –even if it is not reinforced every time. A behavior that is placed on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement is resistant to extinction.

Schedule thinning should be done in a deliberate exacting process or the behavior will reduce in magnitude or become extinct. Use Continuous schedule when teaching new behaviors, when your dog is slow to respond or when you are warming up at the beginning of a session. Intermittent schedules should be used after the behavior is well established and you have already added the cue. Let’s suppose you are ready to place a behavior on an Intermittent – variable ratio schedule. The idea is to slowly increase the average number of responses before you deliver reinforcement. For example, first you will reinforce an average of 4 out of 6 responses, then you will reinforce an average of 3 out of 6 responses, then 2 out of 6, et cetera. You may need to thin it more slowly. For example, first you may reinforce 19 of 20 responses, then 17 of 20, etc. Mix it up so that your dog never knows if you will reinforce or not, like a slot machine!

Choose the best performances to reinforce when thinning the schedule. If your dog starts to ignore the command, you should increase the rate of reinforcement.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

Reactive Dog Workshops

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Forget about stopping naughty behaviors.:) Instead, spend a little time with your dog and teach him a behavior that is incompatible with jumping up on counters such as to Go-To-Place.

If you focus on stopping behaviors, you are destined to make a full-time hobby out of training. For example- If you focus on stopping a dog from jumping on the counter and succeed, you really haven’t taught the dog what behavior is acceptable, or how he might behave politely and earn a reward.

The dog may abandon the counter jumping behavior only to start scratching the lower section of the cabinet under the countertop, start barking at the counter, or worse!

Go-To-Place is one of my favorite commands.

The “Place” is a very comfortable dog bed strategically placed in the kitchen where you can reinforce Go-To-Place behavior!

CLICK HERE for Go-to-Place instructions.

If you focus on teaching this one behavior, you won’t have to “break him” from jumping up, licking the dishes in the dishwasher, barking, object stealing or any number of behaviors that annoy you!

It’s much more efficient to teach dogs a few basic behaviors that are incompatible with many unwanted behaviors.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

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There are three distinct pieces to a voluntary behavior, called the ABCs.
The “B” represents the behavior.
“A” is for Antecedent, which is anything present in the environment before a specific behavior. The A precedes the behavior.
“C” is for Consequence, which is the immediate result of the behavior.

Here’s an example of the ABCs of a voluntary behavior.  A dog jumps up on a counter and gets food.

Dog sees and smells food on counter  Dog jumps up  Dog gets food.

A                                                                 B                         C

• The A – food is on counter, dog has access to the counter area, dog is hungry
• The B is the behavior, which is any response to any stimulus.
• The C is the immediate consequence of the B.

Suppose you would like to reduce “jump up steal food off counter” behavior.

In order to change a voluntary behavior, we modify either the events / environment before the behavior (antecedent), or we modify the events or environment immediately after the behavior (consequence), or both.

You could modify the antecedents and the behavior would be less likely to occur. For Example: attach a leash or tether, place the dog outside of the area, teach the dog to sit or go to place while you make a sandwich, and so forth. Some of the changes could happen immediately, others require that you train your dog.

Now let’s take a look at a few consequences and how they might influence behavior.

Types of Consequences

If consequences are to have an effect on the preceding behaviors, consequences must occur during or immediately after behaviors. Consequences are grouped into two categories, reinforcers or punishers. For consequences to be considered reinforcers or punishers, their effects on behaviors must occur now and anytime in the future when the animal is presented with similar circumstances.

• Reinforcers increase behaviors.
• Punishers decrease behaviors.

Consequences can be added or subtracted.

• A consequence that is added or begins is called a positive consequence.
• A consequence that is subtracted or stopped is called a negative consequence.

There are four possible consequences for any given behavior. Two of the consequences will increase (or reinforce) the behavior, and the other two will decrease (or punish) the behavior.

• Positive Reinforcer – add or begin to increase behavior
• Positive Punisher – add or begin to decrease behavior
• Negative Punisher – subtract or remove to decrease behavior
• Negative Reinforcer – subtract or remove to increase behavior

Dog sees and smells food on counter  Dog jumps up  Dog gets food. In this example, the behavior of “dog jumps up” is being reinforced (assuming the dog likes the food). A stimulus is added and the consequence increases the behavior, therefore the consequence is a positive reinforcer.

Dog sees and smells food on counter  Dog jumps up  Dog gets squirted with water. In this example, the behavior of “dog jumps up” is being punished (assuming the dog dislikes being squirted with water). A stimulus begins and the consequence decreases the behavior, therefore the consequence is a positive punisher.

Dog sees and smells food on counter  Dog jumps up  Human makes food disappear. In this example, the behavior of jumping up is being punished (assuming the dog wants the food). A stimulus is subtracted and the consequence decreases the behavior, therefore the consequence is a negative punisher.

Dog on counter is being squirted with water  Dog jumps off counter and onto floor Squirting of water is stopped. In this example, the behavior of “the dog being on the floor” is reinforced (assuming the dog dislikes being squirted with water). A stimulus is stopped and the consequence increases the behavior, therefore the consequence is a negative reinforcer. Negative reinforcers usually include escape and avoidance behavior.

Dog friendly training focuses on using positive reinforcement and negative punishment to teach our dogs desirable behaviors. Although we will use all four consequences, dog friendly training focuses on using positive reinforcement and negative punishment to teach our dogs desirable behaviors.

Alan J Turner – Dog Training in Memphis Collierville Germantown TN

How’s Bentley Aggressive Dog Seminar

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You should proof your dog with all commands in various locations, with various distractions. Otherwise, your dog will not obey when the environment is filled with exciting people or dogs or events. People with very well trained dogs have spent hours practicing.

Teaching your dog to sit or shake or lie down is the easy part. The real work is practicing in many locations with various distractions!

People and other dogs are a huge distraction to your puppy or dog. The outdoors is full of distractions. Before you can expect your dog to obey when guests visit, or outside at the dog park, you’ll need to practice with smaller distractions that are under your control. Each time you ask for the behavior (called a cycle), you’ll increase the level of distraction.

Suppose you want your dog to sit, no matter what is going on around her. Here is a sample of instructions for “proofing” the sit.

Introduce your dog to “sit” in a quiet location.

Practice in many locations inside and outside the house, until your dog will always sit when there are no distractions. Now, you are ready to proof the sit. At this point, you will create small distractions as you practice.

Before you begin, get a empty, shopping bag. With your dog nearby, wave the bag over your head and ask for a sit. I’m guessing your dog will not sit, but will be excited about the movement of the bag. That’s okay. Now we have a baseline of behavior.

Next, ask your dog to sit when you hold the bag in your hand, without any motion. Then you ask for the sit when you are gently moving the bag in your hands. Next you might slowly move the bag from one hand to the other. Each time you ask for another sit, you increase the movement of the bag in your hand. Be creative. Rattle the bag in your hands, wave it slowly from side to side, et cetera. Slowly raise it over your head and ask for the sit. After several cycles of increasing the movement / noise of the bag, you can wave the bag over your head and ask for the sit. Your dog will ignore the waving bag and sit!

There are many types of distractions that you can introduce and you can control. Try marching in place and asking your dog to sit. How about clapping your hands and asking for a sit?! Be creative. Your goal is to set up proofing sessions with distractions that are more exciting than real life!

If, during these proofing exercises, your dog fails to sit, do not repeat the sit command! Just walk away for a few seconds, come back to your dog and try again, this time with less distractions.

Once your dog will sit, no matter what type of distraction you provide, it’s time to go outside and work with real-life distractions! If your dog is too distracted by the truck passing by, or the bicyclist, that’s okay. Just move your dog away from the distraction and try again.

The key to having a puppy or dog that will listen to you, when the world around him or her is full of distractions, is to PRACTICE with distractions.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – White Lab Trainer

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I always suggest that my clients teach their dogs and puppies two commands for each behavior. Sit is a god example. One command should be audible (word “sit”) and the other can be visual (folding of arms across chest).

Once you’ve taught your dog to obey one cue or command for a particular behavior, you can teach another cue for the same behavior in 6 trials – or less than 2 minutes!

Cavalier King Charles spaniels are great family pets!

Before you begin training your dog, you’ll need to learn a bit about communication and motivation. Please visit the Dog Training Start Here Category. There you will learn about markers and rewards, two excellent topics for communicating and motivating! A prerequisite for “stay” is “Attention on Cue”. It doesn’t hurt if your dog already knows “Sit” too!

Trial 1: give the new cue, wait one second, give the old cue. Mark the instant she performs the behavior and deliver a food treat.

Trials 2 and 3:  same as Trial 1. Add one second per trial to the elapsed time between delivering the new cue and delivering the old cue. So the 2nd and 3rd trial will have a 2 and 3 second delay between the new cue and old cue.

Trial 4: give new cue only and wait for her to perform the behavior (several seconds if necessary). Mark the instant she performs the behavior and deliver a food treat.

Trial 5: give old cue and wait for her to perform the behavior. Mark the instant she performs the behavior and deliver a food treat.

Trial 6: give new cue only and wait for her to perform the behavior. Mark the instant she performs the behavior and deliver food treat.

Now you can use either cue. In areas with high distractions, you can use both cues. If you do use both cues, pause a second or two between the cues.  In other words, do not use both cues at the same time.

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