When Pigs Fly_ Training Success With Impossible Dogs - Jane Killion [31]
At class, there was a very nice woman just starting with her first dog and we began chatting. I noticed that her dog had an attention problem, and she was only using dry dog biscuits as a reinforcer. I offered to give her some of my pork loin to help get her dog working, but she told me that her dog was not motivated by treats. About 15 minutes later it was time for off-leash work. The second she took the leash off, her dog bee-lined for my bag on the other side of the arena (he had bookmarked the location, apparently), and dove his entire head right into my bucket of treats. He looked pretty motivated, to me. If you think your dog is not motivated by food, you probably need to improve your cooking.
Have you made your list? What is at the top? If your dog has a very strong desire to do anything at all, you will have an easy time training him. I promise you, even if your dog has a very strong desire to run crazy laps and ignore you completely, you are in good shape. It is the really naughty dogs that are easy to train. If your dog is active and cares deeply about getting reinforcements, be it a toy, food, or the environment in general, it is a cinch to transfer that passion to another (desirable) activity. I love it when a new student shows up with a wild, lunging dog. If the dog jumps on me and tries to lick, paw, or gently gnaw me, better yet. We can take that energy and channel it into whatever behavior we want, picking up good manners on the way. If, however, your dog’s top reinforcers are:
1. Lying on the couch,
2. Lying on the bed,
3. Lying on the deck,
4. Lying under the table,
and so forth, you have a more complex task to tackle. You cannot train an inert lump to do anything. You are going to have to teach him how to desire things. My first recommendation is that you honestly assess your dog’s weight and put him on a diet (ask your veterinarian for guidance). He should have plenty of ribs showing. Being just a tiny bit hungry is very motivating (and extremely healthy). Next, pay attention to Chapter Seven, where we discuss how to teach your dog to play, and work a lot on free shaping games. Over time, you will find your dog perking up and beginning to care about things.
The Keeper of the Keys
Control of Reinforcers
Now that you have a list of your dog’s hot reinforcers, you are going to work on the “C” in ICE. Control the hot activities so that your dog can only get them from you. Think of those hot reinforcers as cash. Imagine you walk into a bank and money is just lying around all over the place with a big sign “Free for the Taking.” When you walked into that bank, would you stand on line and wait to use a cash machine to take money out of your own account? Of course not. You would just pick up the cash on the floor. If, on the other hand, the only way you could get money was to wait in line, put your debit card in the cash machine, punch some buttons, and then get cash from your account, you would readily perform those behaviors because you have no option. What we want to do is pick up all that “money” that is lying around in your dog’s world, and put it into the cash machine that you control—you! The hot reinforcers are the cash, and you are the cash machine. The dog has to punch the correct buttons to get some money.
Some reinforcers, like food and toys, are easy to control because you can take physical control of them. If your dog has a toy or ball fetish, you are very lucky. I have had two dogs in my life that were ball-obsessed and all I had to do was say, “Want your ballie?” and I had their complete attention. The key here is to never allow your dog to have that valuable toy except in exchange for a behavior. It is also very helpful to have a cue for that toy, for example, “Want Your Ballie?” “Where’s Your Toy?” “Get Your Frisbee.” The cue is easy enough to teach, because the toy resonates