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By Root 342 0

you have to be careful not to un-do the work you have put in by coupling your dog’s name with anything that is unpleasant. If you want to preserve the great name recognition that you have built with your clicker, your dog’s name has to be a truly sacred sound. By “sacred,” I mean that his name has to be the sound that he treasures hearing over any other sound in the world. In order to do this, you have to be sure that the only time he ever hears his name is when a good consequence is to follow. In your daily interactions with your dog, his name must always be connected to something good. Once it looks to you like your dog understands that his name is the greatest word ever spoken, you won’t have to give him treat every time he hears his name, but you should at the very least have a warm smile ready.

Both of these dogs know their names. I can ask Augie to stay while I ask Nicky to come through the gate. Both dogs will get nice treats for these behaviors.

Never call your dog’s name and then scold him or do something he does not like. This is so especially important with a Pigs Fly kind of dog. When Timmy called Lassie’s name, Lassie heard it and, without any further prompting, responded from three counties away, at significant peril to her life. When you call your dog’s name, you will see him running his risk/benefit equation and deciding whether it is in his interest to look at you or not. He is not going to cut you any slack in that equation. On one side of the balance sheet is a great big world, with all the interesting smells, sights, and sensations that God put there. On the other side all you have is the meaning you have invested in your dog’s name through history of reinforcement or punishment. What is in the history of your dog’s name? Cookies? Wow, that’s better than sniffing dirt! Rides in the car? Chasing squirrels is not nearly as fun as a car ride! Leash walks? Digging a hole does not compare with a leash walk! Medicine being put in ears? Whoops, lying in this patch of sun at the far side of the yard sounds pretty good right now.

4

Shape, Rattle, and Roll

Fundamentals of Shaping Behaviors

In this chapter you are going to learn a fun and effective way to teach your dog new skills using a process called “shaping.” Shaping involves slicing the behavior you want your dog to do into tiny pieces, successively clicking and treating each “slice,” until you have built up the finished behavior you want to train.

Here is how shaping works. Imagine you are looking at a frame-by-frame motion picture of your dog picking up a tennis ball. What would the first frame be? Probably turning his eyes towards the ball. Then maybe a direct stare at the ball. Then lowering his head towards the ball. Then about six more frames where his head gets progressively lower and lower. Then touching his nose to the ball, then opening his mouth, then putting his mouth around the ball, then closing his mouth around the ball, then lifting his head for about six more frames. Each of these “frames” is called an approximation—a little step towards the finished behavior of picking up a ball. If you want to teach your dog to pick up a ball by shaping it, you progressively click and treat all of the “approximations” that I have described above in this way:

1. The first step is the dog turning his eyes towards the ball. After you have clicked and treated that glance toward the ball a couple of times, your dog will start offering it. By “offering it,” I mean he will deliberately glance towards the ball in an attempt to make the clicker go off.

2. Once your dog is firmly and deliberately offering the glance towards the ball, you can hold out and not click it. Your dog will keep trying the glance, and then, when he sees that it is not paying off, he will offer “improvements” on that behavior, like a bit of a head turn in that direction. Voila! You have frame number two, the head turn, which you can start click and treating.

3. Again, once your dog is firmly and deliberately offering the head turn, hold out for any tiny lowering of