For Setanta

[Carrie]

I told you I'd post a method for bark training and for getting the dog's attention. This is something I wrote out for someone else, so it's sort of generic: In your dog's case, because she is so sensative and fearful, I wouldn't rush into using lots of visitors as triggers. Keep it easy on her.

Besides the training, you'll need to address and take into account any underlying socialization deficits, lack of exercise or any lack of mental stimulation etc. Resolving the underlying cause is the main intervention.


Here's the method I've used and it works if you're consistent:

Manic Bark Training

The sequence:

Put the barking on cue...say "speak" or "bark" (whatever cue you want, just keep it the same) You can use a hand signal too if you want. I open and close my fingers against my thumb like my hand is imitating a mouth, like you'd do with kids when they talk too much.

Immediately after you cue (not more than a second or two after, get the dog to bark by having someone knock on the door or whatever else will make him bark.
Dog barks.


Praise..."gooooood!" (no treat, just a little praise)


Give cue...."quiet" or "enough" (I use enough, but whatever you choose, just make it the same.) And immediately after, show the treat to prompt quiet....hold the treat in front of his nose...get him distracted until he is quiet. Hold the treat for 3-5 seconds and then give it to him.

Repeat with less and less visibility of the treat prompt but still give it to him after perfect 3-5 second quiets.


Repeat with longer and longer durations of quiet before giving the treat.


Practice with lots of visitors or whatever else triggers the barking. Vary them.
Do it over and over till the dog gets onto this game. And it is a game. It my take a few sessions so keep it up. You'll know that the dog gets it when he barks on the cue and doesn't need the door knocking or other noises to set him off. And he quiets on the first cue to quiet without being shown the treat. Still give him a treat but take it from somewhere he won't notice so much, like your pocket or a table top. (later, once reliable, you'll put the treats on a variable reinforcement schedule)

If he ever starts to bark during a quiet time with even a half attempt at a bark or a tiny soft bark, tell him "woops" (a no reward marker) and start your count over again....1,2,3,4,5...He has to know that barking during the quiet time lost him the treat. He needs to give you 3-5 seconds of perfect quiet after you cue the quiet.

Practice this by going back and forth, back and forth between the cue to bark... and the cue to quiet...lots of times before trying it out in real situations. Set up the situations so you can practice better. Expose him to a wider variety of sights and sounds if he is especially easily set off.

Many people give up because they never get past the hard part. Memorize the instructions and understand them completely. Practice, practice. This process works if you give it ample training. It can seem like it's going nowhere the first few times and most people never make it past the initial hard part. The first few times, the dog will respond poorly so you must be ready with some very tasty treats. If he messes up once you've decreased the visibility of the treats for a while, go back to showing him them again for a bit. (Often, dogs that have been trained using more traditional methods take a while to get onto the game because they haven't learned about doggie zen) They’re not accustom to controlling their own behavior because someone else is controlling it for them.

When he's been doing this for a while and he barks after being told to "quiet," he must get an instant time out away from the action, which most dogs find fun and stimulating. Having to leave the excitement really bothers most dogs. Timing, of course is vital as always. Once you've given the "quiet" cue and he barks, he must immediately get a "Woops" (too bad for you) and he is quickly removed to the isolation area. Do not let him out if he barks. Wait for a lull of about 5-10 seconds first after having been in there for a minute or two.

You can also do a down-stay. A lot of dogs don't bark when they're lying down.
It is very likely that it will get worse before it gets better. Your dog has been barking for a long time this way and when something has been working and then it doesn't, he's going to try and try some more. The sudden shift in the rules will likely cause some confusion at first. But then there will be an extinction burst where by he tries and tries and the last time he tries before he gives up because it's not working, he's going to give it all he's got. Keep at it. This will pass. Once he finally gives up for good, the behavior will extinguish. It will extinguish because it doesn't work to bark. Nothing satisfying comes from the excessive barking and no behavior exists when there is no motivator. BUT...something better happens, that works better when he hears the word, "quiet." So that new behavior will be taken on.

The trouble with force based methods, intimidation, aversives and all that is that it tends to regress badly and often, fairly soon. I went that route for years and it never worked. Power struggles don't work. And primarily, it doesn't get at the root of the issue which could be a bad socialization history or some other fear or even excitement over seeing a dog pal. You don't want to escalate that. Associating the other dog or whatever triggers a dog to bark manically with that kind of punishment is that the dog is already stressed, emotionally and physiologically (heart rate, adrenalin, respiration levels are higher) and it further associates the trigger with more of a stressful time than he was already having. It doesn't help the dog to calm down. It only shuts a dog down so he looks calmer but he's "stuffing it." Showing the dog that good things happen in the presence of the trigger and for obeying your cue makes for a much more reliable skill and a much happier dog. It's also less wear and tear on the owner in the long run.

Once the behavior is quite well on it's way, practice this in different environments, locations, contexts and various triggers. Get the dog to generalize this behavior in any kind of situation, anyplace.

I have two yappy Chihuahuas and one loud mouth mix breed... and believe me, if any dog can bark, they can. LOL. I used this method and was lazy with one of my dogs. In the last week or so, I've been practicing better and let me tell you, the second they hear, "enough"....they all three stop barking in unison...absolutely suddenly and exactly together at the same second. It's great. They got the initial behavior going quite well in just one or two sessions. It took some more to get the cues independent of the prompt and the door knocking person.

It can also double as a fun trick to show people. "speak" and "quiet."




This is a rough draft of a chapter in the book I'm writing: So, again....it's sort of generic. And it's pretty disjointed...just had to get my ideas written down.


Teaching Focus

This is an important lesson which will assist you in all training because if you don’t have your dog’s attention and he’s motivated more by something in his environment, he can’t hear your cue. It isn’t that he’s being stubborn or defiant. Dogs are hard wired to be very aware of what is going on around them. It’s an animal thing.

I start teaching this to puppies right away, when they’re very young. As with anything, I start out with very minimal distractions, usually inside the house in a room where nothing much is going on. I always have the most tasty treats; fresh meat tidbits or mozzarella cheese, something the dog doesn’t get regularly. Remember to make your treats the size of a pea or your dog will get fat. If need be, cut back just a tad on his meals, but not so much that he misses out on the important nutrients. I practice this a few times a day for just a couple of minutes or so. And then intermittently throughout the day, a time here and a time there. Young puppies have the attention span of a gnat. Be sure to keep lessons fun, interesting and short. Stop the lesson before he gets bored or too easily distracted.

The goal is to get eye contact from your dog when you ask. If he looks at you on his own accord, praise and treat, if you have a treat on you at the time. But let him know that he is wonderful for just making eye contact. Eye contact is not a natural gesture with dogs. We consider it polite to look each other in the eye when conversing. Dogs consider it uncomfortable and rude. So, we need to counter condition them so that it becomes a good thing to do.

Have your treats ready and hold a couple in both hands, closed in your fists which will be held at your sides. Show them first to your pup and let him know you have them, but don’t let him get them. Let him sniff, lick, paw and mouth your hands and just wait without talking. Keep waiting. Eventually, he’ll look up at you as if to ask, “Why the heck am I not getting what’s in there?” The second he looks you in the eye or even if he looks up at your face, click and give him the treats from both hands. I think clickers are incredibly effective, but if you don’t use a clicker, you can use a marker word, such as “Yesssss!” Always use the same word and choose one that isn’t something that sounds like a word you use in other contexts. This word marks the exact time the wanted behavior happens. Timing is everything. If you’re not alert and you fail to click when he looks at you and he looks away, you’re too late. Don’t click and treat or you‘ll be reinforcing his looking away. (If you ever click by accident, you must give the treat anyway or you'll ruin your prime...the dog will lose the association between the click and the treat) If you, like all of us who use clickers, make a mistake while you’re getting use to it, don’t despair. Just forget it and move on. The beauty of non-punishing methods is that if your timing is off, there’s less wear and tear on the dog than if your timing is off in with an aversive. You might install a behavior you weren’t hoping for, but that can be fixed easily.

Play this game until he is getting onto it and responding regularly. Fade out showing him the treats first as soon as possible but keep them in your hands for now and let him sniff. Get the behavior going well. And then add your cue. “Look,” “watch me” or simply use his name. Get it in there the first second that he makes eye contact. This cue is going to become associated with the behavior and will then be used to elicit the behavior. As with teaching most all new behaviors, get it going first before using a cue. The dog doesn’t know what the word means anyhow and it just muddles things up for him. Let him concentrate on the behavior itself until he is repeatedly successful. Then begin tying the cue with the behavior.

Something else that helps is movement. Dogs are attracted by movement and can have an easier time catching onto this game if you take some steps in another direction. If the dog moves with you and watches your face, click/treat. Don't let the dog see the treat first. This prevents him from becoming dependent on your having treats, prevents the treats from becoming part of the cue. If he needs help, is not looking up at your face, go ahead and show him the treat and swish it up by your forehead for him to follow, then click/treat. But fade this as soon as possible. You don't want him focusing on your hands. I find it best to work the previous exercise more if needed, where you are waiting for eye contact rather than physically eliciting it. The dog is learning that direct access to the treat will not get him the treat. Only by looking away from your hands and treats, making eye contact will he get the treat. Work in the movement of your body as you go. Take a step to the left and see if he'll follow, watching your face. Quickly, the second he does, click/treat. You'll be increasing and varying your movement, locations and contexts. You want him to generalize this behavior no matter where you are or what either of you are doing at the time. Gradually you'll work up to the point where he is doing something else and you'll be able to give your cue and he'll look at you. But as with anything, work up to distractions very gradually.

Begin adding seconds to the duration he must hold his gaze before getting clicked and treated. No longer is one quick glance and then looking away going to work for him. But add those seconds one by one. If he is looking away before he gets reinforced, you’re asking too much too soon. Go back to a level of duration where he is successful and work up from there again.

As with anything else your pup is learning, he is not apt to be a wiz kid in generalizing the behavior to other contexts, locations or distractions. Once he’s quite reliable in his early lessons, mix things up. Note: Don’t wait until the behavior has been solidly in place for too long before you up the ante. Often, dogs will seem to get stuck in a rut and not tend to move past that level very well. On the other hand however, don’t move ahead before the dog is quite proficient at the previous level. It’s a bit of a balancing act. But as you practice training your dog, you will also be getting reinforcement for your efforts, which will propel you forward and make you more confident in your decisions. You will become a better trainer yourself! Remember, we learn the same way.

Also, after he’s gotten pretty good at this trick, try putting the treats in various locations, but where you can get them quickly. Don’t continue now, to hold them in your hand every time. Keep him guessing. Stretch him a wee bit. He’ll work harder. If he back slides, try showing him the treat again for a little bit. Remember, once the behavior is reliable, you can drop the use of the clicker at that level. The clicker, remember, is for marking or showing the dog that what he just did was what he’s being rewarded for. Once learned, the clicker can be left in your pocket.

So, now your precious pooch is making eye contact with you on cue. You’re clicking and treating every correct response. You’ve tried this in other rooms of your house and even out in the yard where there are mild distractions. You’ve been praising him and giving him belly rubs when he wandered over to you while your were watching T.V. or reading and looked you in the eye at random times. He’s really getting onto this game. Now is the time to put this on a fixed ratio of reinforcement for a couple of days and then onto a variable reinforcement schedule. And it’s time to take this on the road; when you’re on a walk or socializing with others. Don’t bombard him with high level distractions, but do introduce them gradually.

Another reminder: Watch for that extinction burst. When you’re asking for a longer duration than ever and perhaps some tough distractions are present and he happens to do a very good job, jack pot him. Give him the whole bag of treats and call it a day. Quit, leaving him wanting more. Always end the session on a good note. That level of expertise that he reached will be apt to be repeated and in fact will become the new base line of the behavior from which you’ll build.

This exercise takes continued practice and some dogs get onto it sooner than others. Don’t let this one slide. It will become a saving grace when you’re trying to get your dog’s attention all through his life. Without focus or attention from your dog, training can be a real struggle. Incidentally, when this becomes habit for your dog to look at you when you cue him, you won’t believe the impression you’ll make on passers by.

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Note: When learning a new behavior, reinforce every correct response. (continuous schedule of reinforcement)

I mentioned a fixed ratio and a variable schedule of reinforcement, but didn't explain because it's all expained elsewhere in my book. Most professional trainers use some type (s) of a reinforcment schedule. So.....a fixed schedule of reinforcement is for example, getting a reward every 3rd correct response. This pattern is to be used for a fairly short time before the dog catches on and gets too dependent on a pattern and anticipates, only performing every 3rd time. But it will tend to "set" the behavior....(like jello) LOL. So, for about 3 sessions, do it this way. (BUT ONLY after he's learned the behavior.)

Then you'll go onto a variable reinforcement schedule which is, for instance, after 2 correct responses, then after 5, then 3, then 8. Mix it up so the dog doesn't know when he's going to get a reward, but there's a very good chance that he will at some point. Don't go too long inbetween until he's been proficient for a long time. This keeps him guessing and keeps his interest high. It makes him try harder to get the reward and then you reward only after the best examples of the behavior and withold for not so good examples. When you get to the point where you can spread these out quite a bit, if you go too long without a reinforcer, he will begin to flag and give up. Just before he does, he'll give it all he's got and probably give you the best example ever. That's when you jack pot him. (her, actually) That will become the new base line from which you'll work, where you subsequently up the ante and ask for better responses, quicker or longer ones or straighter ones....depending on what you're working on.

This is exactly how slot machines work in casinos. Those casinos know exactly how all mammals learn, including humans. They get people to try harder and harder...to keep putting tokens into the slot machines. There is an average number of pay outs given per number of attempts.

[Carrie]

Some helpful links:

ClickerSolutions Training Articles Contents

Calming signals gallery (I recommend her book...Calming Signals) Very good! Very small and inexpensive. You can read it in one sitting. Lots of pictures to demonstrate.

Some of my favorite books: *****Culture Clash, Jean Donaldson, The Power of Positive Training, Pat Miller, The Other End of the Leash, Patricia McConnell, Don't Shoot the Dog, Karen Pryor. There are lots of other good books, but those are a few. Culture Clash is my all time favorite. She really explains well, the way dogs are. It will help you immensely to understand your dog and how dogs work.

Karen Pryor was the dolphin trainer at Sea World and I think other places. She is an applied behaviorist and marine biologist. She took the concepts used to train dolphins and although these concepts have been around since Pavlov and B.F. Skinner, she has really brought it to dog training in a big way. She is the "queen" of clicker training. And details the art in her book. You can't punish a dolphin by putting a choke chain around his neck. You can't punish zoo animals like jackles and lions to teach them to put their necks along side their cage in order to receive an injection or to draw blood. If these wild animals can be trained to volunteer for some yucky business, certainly the far more biddable domestic dog who is hard wired to get along with humans can be trained without punishment. Harsh punishment has a lot of potential and detrimental side effects and just isn't as effecive.

Some obedience training will be very good for your little sensative dog, but only when it is made into a game and is rewarding and fun for her. This type of training keeps the pressure off the dog and off the owner. You don't have to be all serious and get cross when things aren't going well. You just stop on the best note you can and try again next time. Think of training as a fun thing to do with your dog, not a drugery. Get excited and playful with your little one before and after a training session, barring anything too wild that might freak her out. Learning new skills will help your dog gain more confidence which has to be the big goal here especially and it will really serve to tighten the bond you have with you dog. It will also put you in the leadership role because she looks to you for the things she likes and she learns that her behavior is what determines her goodies. Have her earn lots of the things she likes and needs. You don't have to be extreme with this, as that can sometimes be a little stressful and take the fun out of it. Anyhow, just some thoughts.

[Carrie]

Eye Contact - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!

You hear that there is more than one method to train a dog. Yes indeed. Here's another good method of getting your dog's attention.