Variations on a theme.

[Aitch]

Do you take a training trick and make it your own depending on your dog?

I find that with several dogs, all with different characters, training has to be modified to them sometimes. Amber is a big bouncy fool so she needs a bit of excitement. Poppy is a quiet, dignified lady so I have to find ways to keep her interested and keep her dignity. She will give up if she thinks I am taking the micky. Bear has had to be retrained to touch. He is old and grumpy, mostly blind and deaf. For him it has to be lots of really smelly treats. It's all about his nose. Alex is a whole new kettle of fish. I'm still learning with him. He is not food centred but does like cheese and ham. He is willing to do anything for a ball or a Kong Wubba.

The actual training has to be varied too. To get them all to stay, for instance, Bear has a real problem with it so I've had to put smelly treats near him and do a leave and then Stay. I can now get him to stay without the treat being near him.

How do you vary your training?

 

[MaccieD]

With Juno I train in short sessions with only a small number of reps and then switch to something different and mix new behaviours with old, well known so I have a high reward schedule. One thing I have found with her is I use a quiet voiced 'Try again' cue when learning something new if she's not sure what I want her to try - it encourages her to offer something with a good chance of being rewarded.
I find working with clients dogs really interesting and how we have to adapt in our training to get the best from them whether it's being bright and exciting to keep motivation high or calm and quiet to reduce arousal. Also increases your own awareness of voice and body language.

 

[snowbunny]

My lot are all so different.

Shadow loves to learn. The reinforcers are important for information that he's on the right track, but it's the actual "doing" that floats his boat. With him, I can easily and quickly build chains of behaviour because one behaviour is reinforced by the next. He's easy in some respects, but it's hard to get him to stop throwing behaviours out. I wish that I'd taught him early on that stillness is a behaviour.

Willow loves learning but has to be set up to succeed. Whereas I can wait Shadow out and he'll keep trying until he gets that click, Willow's environment needs to be carefully constructed in the acquisition states of learning a behaviour so that she will just "happen upon" the right choices. If no, she will switch off. If she has worked something out and I see that little spark of understanding, it means the world to her for me to acknowledge it, tell her she's so smart or brave or whatever. Whenever she has done something that (to her) is difficult, I make a big fuss of her. That's not leaping about and squeaking because she doesn't respond to that. Just really sincere neck rubs and "Wow, what a clever girl you are!" sort of phrases.

Squidge depends a lot on external factors. She doesn't cope well in the heat, so I have to train her when it's cooler otherwise she can have a "what's in it for me?" attitude. Which is fair enough; I don't like performing when I'm hot and bothered, either! For training purposes, she is motivated by attention mainly. Again, of course we use food to reward the behaviours we like, but eye contact, smiling and playing with her is a big motivator. You have to be careful with that because she will play the fool for a grinning audience. Using interactive play is important for her to get that attention in a constructive way.

Ginny loves kind words and strokes. She is learning that she can earn food by her actions, and as she's done that, she's started enjoying the food more, but this is the Premack Principle in action where, instead of the food making the behaviour more likely, it's actually the attention that she gets while being asked to give the behaviour that makes eating the food more likely. It's a nice neat Premack circle. I obviously don't do a lot of training with her as I don't like to stress her joints, but I do want to do more little bits because she really does love it. This morning, I was doing "feet up" on a wobbly rock with the Labs and she came over and prodded my leg with her nose because she thought it was her go.

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

This morning, I was doing "feet up" on a wobbly rock with the Labs and she came over and prodded my leg with her nose because she thought it was her go.

This is very sweet. Oi, Mum, don't forget about me! But said in a thick, Catalan accent, obviously.

 

[Selina27]

It is interesting, how they all learn, or approach learning, differently. And yes I think I do vary a given game or trick to suit Cassie. I think only now have I got the confidence to do so myself though.
Thinking about it, it's one of the things that can make a traditional training class quite tricky, if there is no room or scope to treat your dog as an individual learner.