Why So Serious?

Training the doggies is fun. Doggies being trained by me should have fun, too.

Last night I decided to try and train Sadie to bow. Now, this could easily be the fifth time I've tried this particular trick with her, and never before had success. In the past I'd always started with a lure for a few repetitions then switched to a 'fake' lure - my empty hand. She never caught on.

This time I decided to go with a purely capture approach. Play bowing isn't something she offers often, so I had to find a way to increase the likelihood of it. So I got crazy! I was hopping around, twirling in circles, and squealing with excitement. This is the most fun I've ever had!!!! Sadie responded by bunny-hopping, spinning, and play-bowing and... CLICK! Every offered bow got her a handful of kibble. The difference from previous attempts was amazing. She was happy and engaged, rather than frustrated, and the offered bows got more frequent.

I got silly with her again tonight, clicking a few of her offered bows. Each time she threw out her front paws I'd bow at her as well. Then I let her settle a bit (enough to stop hunching her back) and gave her an enthusiastic bow. She responded by giving me a shallow bow back. I kept the silly excitement level a bit lower and cued her bows with my own, getting well over a 50% response rate at first, which continued to improve. Not bad for day 2.

Sadie's ultimate reward, though, was doing nosework for the last of her dinner. She launched out of her crate on my FIND IT cue. Her tail wagged slowly in concentration as she scented out the piles of kibble hidden throughout the apartment.

Her strong, positive reaction to my enthusiasm got me thinking about my training of Maxwell. I love working with him. He's so quick to catch on to new tricks and has such an amazing work ethic... but was he having fun? I realized that I've gotten not just serious about dog training, but serious in my training. That has to change.

And so, tonight I got creative with the little guy. We started with a few bows of his own and a little flat-work. Then I set him up at the far end of the weaves, as if I was going to call him through them. I paused long enough to let him focus, then gave a happy HERE instead. He trotted quickly to me with an Aussie smile, as if to say "You almost had me there!" We repeated this a few times, with me randomly either calling him through the weaves or simply asking for a recall.

Then I brought out the squeaky toy, and it was on.

I rough-housed with him, using the toy to take the brunt of his teeth. He was wide-eyed and riled up when I suddenly asked him to OUT and WEAVE. He shot through the poles like his nub was on fire, and I sent the toy sailing past him as a reward. I alternated toy-play with weaving, moving around to give him different entrance angles and starting positions. The human bed served as a nice table to send him from, and he only missed his entrance once.

This just reinforces for me what I've read and been told, but apparently never fully internalized: a reward is what the dog finds rewarding. For Sadie, that means food. For Maxwell, it means play, and preferably fetch. I'm going to try to incorporate toys more into his training sessions. Food will surely always be a part of it, but I can use it as a 'lesser' reward, and the toy as the good reward, and a long play session as a jackpot.