Our training methods are based on animal learning theory. Dogs are opportunistic animals that make choices based on what has worked or not worked for them in the past. If they did not operate this way they would not survive. Using the methods we have chosen our dogs quickly figure out what works and what doesn’t. This creates a much stronger trained behavior and increases the likelihood that it will happen reliably in all situations.
Unlike most dog sports, Schutzhund uses the same field for both precision Obedience and Protection usually on the same day and usually one after the other. This requires a high level of focus and control from our dogs, which is where training and relationship come into play. Once you take off the leash on the trial field that is all you have.
Your dog is learning 24 hours a day, you can take an active role or not, the choice is yours.
Operant Conditioning
We use all 4 quadrants of operant conditioning but primarily utilize Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment
especially while in the learning phase of training.
Dogs learn extremely fast when they are rewarded for their work. The more you reward and promote the things you like, the more the dog will offer the behavior and the stronger it will get.
For an in-depth look at Operant Conditioning go to: www.wagntrain.com/OC/
Reward Markers
We use several Markers to communicate different things to our dogs. The most important one is the Reward Marker. A Reward Marker tells the dog that what he is doing at that exact moment is right. Reward Markers have been used in marine mammal and zoo training programs for decades and have become popular and accepted in the dog training world, because they work. We use a verbal marker such as the word “YES” instead of a clicker because like to have our hands free and prefer very few visual cues to the dog. It is important to remember that the reward is not the same as the Reward Marker. The Reward Marker is a signal that tells the dog that he has earned the reward.
Other Markers we use are:
Keep going signal
Correct behavior. Continue and you will earn a reward.
No reward marker
Incorrect behavior. Try something else; we then would cue the dog to tell him what that something else should be.
Punishment marker
Incorrect behavior. You have earned physical punishment.
We use this communication system through all phases of the work. This allows us to progress quickly and move forward seamlessly in training from one part of the Obedience routine to the next, and from phase to phase.
To learn more about Reward Markers go to:
http://www.clickertraining.com/what_is_clicker_training
Rewards
A reward is something used to compensate the dog for doing the behavior we want. Some examples of what we might use would be food, a tug, a ball, or access to something he wants, like the helper.
We use many different rewards depending on the dog and where he is in his training. If a dog works in a calm frame of mind for food we might use food a lot in the early stages of learning, later when the dog understands what we want, and we have behaviors on cue, we might add a tug toy or a ball in to get more speed and excitement. It all depends on each individual dogs needs. Once the dog is reliably doing the behaviors we want we may use several different rewards within one training session. It is all about finding the right balance, too much excitement can make the dog hectic and unable to think and learn.
There are a few keys to using a reward correctly. We do not use bait bags, we don’t like to have a lot of visual cues. Because we use a Reward Marker the reward can, and should be, anywhere. We never “beg” our dogs to work by showing the reward, once we have a behavior on cue we ask for the behavior, mark it, and then pay the dog with the reward.
We do pair praise and touch with our rewards but do not use them as a primary reinforcer. We do not buy into the whole “mother dog” training model for dog training. The mother dog teaches her puppies’ life skills that are extremely important, things like correct signaling to other dogs and bite inhabitation. The mother dog is not teaching the un-natural complex behaviors that we teach our dogs for the competition field.
We are not just “human pez dispensers” if everything your dog wants in life comes through you first, play, ball, food, tug, touch, helper, this puts you in a very powerful position. Train your dog correctly and pay him for his work!
Relationship
Relationship is the most important part of our training program. It is a large part of building a solid foundation and is crucial for our competition dogs to be successful. We are fair in our training and we “pay” our dogs big when they are right; this builds trust and a good working relationship. Our training program creates confident thinking dogs that do not shut down when they make a mistake; they just try harder because they want to be right. It also creates a dog handler team that works together with no conflict and most importantly a balanced relationship between dog and handler at home as well as on the training field.
Drive
Everyone is talking about “DRIVE” especially in our sport. Prey-drive, defense-drive, fighting-drive, pack-drive, ball-drive, food-drive, the list goes on and on. Basically anything the dog is crazy for we call a “drive” These terms are used to describe what we think is motivating the dog and to give us some common terminology so that we can communicate to each other about our training.
Certainly it is easy to say “my dog has food-drive” if he will work, learn, and is very motivated by food. Where it becomes a very gray area is when we try to break down things like pack, fight, and defense, especially on the protection field. Unfortunately no one can agree on what each drive actually is, or more importantly exactly how to tell which one the dog is in at a given moment and it just seems at times to clutter up the training process.
Since no one but the dog REALLY knows what is going on we try not to get hung up spending a lot of time on drive theory and just simply train the behaviors we want and chain them together. As long as the dog is happy, learning, and working to his fullest potential we really don’t care what drive they are in.
