How Dogs Learn Stuff

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Slowly, over time. That’s how dogs learn stuff. When I first started training, I quickly learned to SIT. But it was sort of an iffy sit. Sometimes, I sat. Sometimes, I didn’t. And if I did sit, it was only for a brief time. Now, however, I’ve learned to sit and remain seated. Not that I’m perfect at it, but my sits are a lot more dependable now. Same way with STAY. I have learned to remain in the STAY position, even while Dude walks away from me, even walks behind me. It’s still a bit confusing. Sometimes, I think I’m supposed to turn and face him, but apparently that’s not the case, so I just stay where I am. Since I get a treat for doing such, I guess it’s what he wants. Any way, it’s fun. I get treats.

HEEL is coming along. That’s probably the hardest one of all. Dude holds a treat in his hand, and slightly behind his left knee. That keeps my nose there, especially when the treat is DELI TURKEY!!! I’d jump over the moon for deli turkey. Now, my nose stays there while Dude turns left, then right. Sometimes, he slows down. Sometimes he speeds up. When he does, he says QUICK. When he slows down, he says–you guessed it–SLOW. QUICK, SLOW, LEFT, RIGHT. It’s a lot for a dog to learn. But never think an old dog can’t learn new tricks. That just ain’t the case. Probably some cat made that up.

As I’ve said before, anybody can teach a dog. Just use positive rewards, make it fun, and keep the training sessions short. Oh, and train consistently–at least several days a week.

I’ll still keep working, until I get really, really, really good.

 

The training never stops

More training today. Working more on Heel. Also practiced Watch me some more. Dude came out for about 15 minutes–about the length of my attention span–and during that time, we got a lot done. I’m starting to love heeling. Dude once again brought cubes of deli turkey. What I won’t do for that! You don’t learn to heel in a day, but I am learning, day by day. Getting a little better each time. Today, we practiced turning while heeling, and practiced speeding up and slowing down the pace.

Oh, yes, and one other thing. Do you know the difference between Stay and Wait? Well, here it is. With the Stay command, the handler has the dog stay in one place, then comes back to the dog. But with the Wait command, the handler ends up calling the dog to him. How ’bout that? Subtle, but important difference.

In case any of you two-leggers are interested, it’s really not hard to train a dog. Yes, it takes time, and patience. But any human who has both these can train just about any dog.

Well, until next time, my friends…remember what ol’ Boxer says… Wag more…bark less. (No, I didn’t make that up, but I did adopt it as my motto.)

More Training

Heel. It’s what trained dogs do. Learning to heel takes patience and practice, on the part of both dog and handler. I started learning this a short while back. Now, the goal is to increase the challenge. Let’s go over this whole “heel” thing from the beginning.

Dude never knew how to teach a dog to heel, that is, until Prof. Casey showed him what to do. Oh, Dude had watched videos, and read stuff, but there are so many dog training theories out there, he got confused as to exactly what to do. Like me, he just wanted to be told straight out what to do, so he could just do it.

Casey said “Want your dog to heel? Hold a treat by your knee and start walking.” So, that’s what Dude did, and I started heeling. Once I was walking fairly consistently by his knee, and getting rewarded in the process with treats from the hand near Dude’s knee, it was time to up the ante. Yesterday, in class, Prof. Casey told Dude to vary the pace–speed up, then slow down, saying “Quickly” and “Slowly.” Plus, Dude and I practiced changing the direction of the walk, turning here and there. And, the treats come less often from Dude’s hand, but they still come. All I know is, if my nose is by his knee, once in a while–I never really know when–I get a treat.

And in yesterday’s class, Dude had me sit while Prof. Casey created big distractions. He started out with minor distractions–a toy thrown on the floor. Finally, he was tossing chairs. While I couldn’t help but look over at the chair hitting the floor, I remained in the “sit” position. Not bad, huh?

Finally, straight from this dog’s mouth, I’d like to tell you that dog training is all about positive rewards, and creating a good experience. Getting angry at poor Rover, yanking on his leash, and trying to act like a Marine drill sergeant doesn’t work with a dog. Do this, and you’ll both end up frustrated, with your bonds of trust damaged. Instead, make training a game in which you and your dog have fun. Rover will love you for it, want to play. And you two can accomplish great things.

 

 

Training Hard

How do any of us learn anything? We train. Musicians train to play music. Football players train to play football. Martial artists train to lock, throw, punch, and kick. Hey, did you see “Rocky?” Like me, he was once considered a “throwaway.” But he showed them what he can do. Rocky is my hero. Like him, I want to show folks what I can learn to do.

But learning involves hard training. It takes time and work to get good. And, my friends, I’m putting in the time and work to get better at obedience skills. Dude comes out here most days, and he and I train. Well, I train. All he does is give commands, hold the leash, and provide the yummy treats. Right now, he’s using little cubes of deli turkey meat. He and I both know I’d jump over the moon for one of those.

Yesterday, we worked mostly on heel. I’ve pretty much learned to sit at his side on command. Then he holds some turkey in his hand, right next to his knee, starts walking, and says “heel.”  Where do you think my nose stays? You got it. Right by his scrawny old knee. And dig this–at the end of yesterday’s training, my nose stayed by his knee, and he didn’t even have a treat in his hand! Of course, he gave me a treat at the end for a job well done. “Fading the lure,” it’s called when the trainer may or may not have a treat at any particular time.

Then, we worked more on “down.” Dude is giving the command more at a distance now. I still look for the treat in his hand. Sometimes it’s there, sometimes it’s not. I never really know. But I do it, just in case it’s there. It’s the “fading the lure” thing, also called the “slot machine” effect. I often get a treat, but I never know when I will, so I play along…just in case.

Prof. Casey says I have two things going for me: (1) I’m a mature dog (old dogs can learn new tricks), and (2) I’m highly food motivated. The way I’m learning, I dream of one day winning an obedience trial.

 

Boxer goes to Grad School

Having graduated from Petsmart’s Beginner class, I’m now in the Intermediate class. Even got Prof. Casey again. He’s a pretty cool guy, who knows what dogs like…namely, yummy treats. It’s hard not to like a guy whose hands smell like beef jerky, so you can see why Casey is so popular with the dogs.

Yesterday was our first class, and I started learning to sit with distractions. On Dude’s command, I sat as still as a statue, then stayed in place while Casey dropped a chair on the floor, and threw toys all around the room. I wanted to break, but I didn’t. Then, I started learning to heel. For this, I learned to sit by Dude’s side. Up until now, all my “sits” have been “puppy sits,” you know, the kind where you sit and face your trainer. But now I need to sit by his side. Then, while he walked along holding a piece of all-beef hot dog in his hand close to his knee, I kept my nose right near that knee the whole time. Of course, he rewarded me for doing so. This training is a lot of fun. We essentially play games, and if I play along, I get plenty of treats and lots of praise. Oh..and one other thing–I walked at heel by Dude’s side along a course Casey had set up. Of course, at this stage, I was enticed by the treat in Dude’s hand, but it’s a start. This week, Dude and I will work on the stuff I’ve already learned, and on my new skills.

If I keep learning like I’m learning now, maybe, just maybe, one day I’ll win a UKC obedience trial. Why not? It could happen.

I’ll bet somebody would want to adopt me then.