Lyra - Maintaining a Positive Attitude while "correcting" a Dog
Here's a very short video of Lyra making a mistake on her "stay".
I don't ignore the fact that she breaks, but I go to great lengths to keep her engaged, even though she's made a mistake. This is particularly important in this training session because Lyra's working for personal play only - no toys or food are available, and she knows that.
Just help the dog; it's no big deal. Really. She won't take over the world. She won't think she's "getting away" with ignoring me. She WILL stayed engaged in the game, and that's the hardest thing to get back if you manage to lose it.
I put her back with a cheerful attitude. I then reward a stay. Finally, I repeat the originally intended exercise (a recall).
If she had continued to fail, I would have accepted that I was asking too much. If that is the case, ask less and start over.
18 comments
[…] tweeted two posts by trainer Denise Fenzi. One was on “Maintaining a positive attitude while ‘correcting’ a dog” and “Play (and a shameless […]
“I look at it as I am here to show them what is right and what is wrong, not waiting for them to figure it out. Its one of the reasons why I didn’t get into clicker training; I just don’t want a dog throwing behaviors at me until it hits the right one.”
either method works; just whichever you prefer with your dog.
“I guess it’s more of a problem with high prey drive dogs – I have field bred retrievers who live for chasing things”
actually, my dogs have very high prey drive. They’re bred for schutzhund. That’s why Lyra obsesses over movement and other dogs in public; she’s wired that way. But she’s improving so I’d say I’m on the right track.
How does the dog know it’s going in the crate because it broke a stay? Do you make a game of going to the crate as you did when you put Lyra back in the video?
No, if I’m punishing a student dog for breaking a stay, I usually say something along the lines of “are you tired?” and put them in the crate. However, that is almost always a “passive” stay (dog is staying for no real reason except I need them to stay while we talk) as opposed to an “active” stay (dog is staying to play some game that comes next, like recall or retrieve). Dogs that break active stays to do the activity normally don’t understand the idea of “stay until….”; Dogs break passive stays because they are bored and are looking for something else to do. So they go to the crate while we talk or finish whatever we’re doing. the passive stay is as close as i come to a true correction; I make no real effort to make it a fun exercise (honestly I dont’ know how to make it fun to do nothing for an extended period of time) and I will quietly put a dog back repeatedly (or crate them if it makes more sense) until they get it – the stay is required. This is a little complicated to explain because each dog is handled differently, and my dogs and my student dogs are not trained the same way. They have different goals, priorities, skills, etc.
How do they know? I don’t’ think they do. Over time they stop breaking because they’d rather be out looking around then returned to the crate with nothing to do.
This one I really don’t understand. If a dog leaves training, it is because that is what he wants, so how can you doing what he wants (ending training) be a punishment?
If my dogs leaves training it is because training was interesting to the level of a 7, and watching the squirrel or some other competing alternative was an 8. I end training – now they have nothing because I don’t just let them stay there and watch the squirrel. Because I make training fun my dogs never prefer doing nothing to working.
What makes this concept important is the fact that want nothing but the best for your dog and that your doing this just because you want to know how they behave by which will help you and your dog grow a little much.
“I teach everything pretty much everything this way, so they figure it out. Mistakes aren’t important; being right is.”
I look at it as I am here to show them what is right and what is wrong, not waiting for them to figure it out. Its one of the reasons why I didn’t get into clicker training; I just don’t want a dog throwing behaviors at me until it hits the right one.
“FWIW, I cannot think of one instance where one of my dogs broke a stay, nor one of my student’s dogs, because they went to a distraction in a show.”
I guess it’s more of a problem with high prey drive dogs – I have field bred retrievers who live for chasing things.
“If a student comes to me and shows up with a stay problem, I might punish the dog for breaking by putting the dog away in a crate for a bit. "
How does the dog know it’s going in the crate because it broke a stay? Do you make a game of going to the crate as you did when you put Lyra back in the video?
“And if one of my dog’s leaves training (whether on a stay or any other exercise) I end training. That is a punishment. "
This one I really don’t understand. If a dog leaves training, it is because that is what he wants, so how can you doing what he wants (ending training) be a punishment?
“Just help the dog; it’s no big deal. Really. She won’t take over the world. She won’t think she’s “getting away” with ignoring me. She WILL stayed engaged in the game, and that’s the hardest thing to get back if you manage to lose it.”
Perfect. Thank you. This is a hard concept to grasp when you’ve been taught for years to “never let them get away with anything.”