THE MOVING EXERCISES

Corrections Can Often Work Against Success

Gary Patterson

In obedience, even the best trainers spend many hours getting quick and responsive sits, downs and stands, only to find that things start to unravel when they move away from the controlled circumstances of teaching the fundamentals to doing the work at more advanced levels. The dog's attitude becomes more tentative. Sits and downs slow while stands often become unstable with multiple footsteps forward after the command. While there are a multitude of explanations for why this happens, the most common reason I have found is the dog losing focus. Focus is fairly easy to maintain when the handler and dog are working in highly controlled training situations but when the dog is allowed to heel, look around or there are outside distractions, all the fundamental training quickly changes, usually for the worse.

Besides loss of focus, there are other factors that come into play. Command structure may be inconsistent, so the dog becomes confused about the command. The bond can also create problems. As the trainer moves along, the dog wants to continue to follow the trainer, so it's more likely to ignore the command or, becoming confused, believes there is no safer place than heeling with the trainer. Most trainers have spent months building the relationship with the dog through bonding. When the day arrives where the dog is expected to quickly sit or down while heeling, there is often a second of conflict where the dog wants to obey the command but also follow the trainer. The result is confusion and a slow response.

The majority of trainers, faced with this problem, attempt to correct the mistake with physical corrections when the command is given. Is this the best response? I believe that not only is the trainer not likely to fix this problem, but may be aggravating it with the correction.

Imagine a friend telling you about a movie he saw while he continues to slap you on the shoulder with enthusiasm. What would you be concentrating on-the move or the slap? This is the fundamental problem when giving a correction while also giving a command. Is the dog thinking about the command or is the correction distracting it?

Using the example of the moving sit, the dog has only a fraction of a second to mentally translate the sit command into the action of a quick sit. If it's distracted, even if only for a split second, confusion or the slow sit can result. The challenge to the trainer then is to create an alternative to a correction, where focus is preserved and the earlier quick sit results. The answer is not as complicated as it sounds, but rests in the idea of shocking the dog at the exact moment of command. This “shock” not only maintains focus, but actually increases it so the earlier quick sit is every bit as good as the one in more fundamental training and, often, is even quicker.

I have often thought it strange that in the Companion Dog test in AKC, the trainer is allowed to use verbal commands, but at the Utility Dog level, the most difficult, the handler could only use hand commands. It seems counter-intuitive that a dog can understand verbal commands easier than body language; no living being reads body posture better than a dog, whether it's in another dog or the trainer. On the other hand, verbal communications don't rank highly in a dog's way in the world. If we can use this dog's careful reading of the handler's body to achieve a result, the other distractions, such as a correction, can be minimized or even eliminated.

Let's use an example of a slow sit. Assume that the dog sat quickly in foundation training, but now starts to sit more slowly as the trainer is heeling. This can be either a sit on command or when the trainer comes to a stop while heeling. In each case, the dog's rear slowly drops to the ground, yet this same reaction never happened in earlier training.

The usual training response is for the trainer to give a correction straight back when the command is given or as he comes to a stop. But this rarely improves the sit because of the issues of distraction and losing focus that the correction creates.

Instead, let's set up the situation so we can shock the dog into watching intensely as the command is given.

Without any tug or ball, the handler heels the dog in a straight line. I often do this without a lead, depending on the quality of the heeling of the dog. When I want the dog to do a moving sit while heeling, I will do three things at once.

    • I try to give the exact same sit command that I have always used. To digress, when teaching the sit, down and stand, I try to structure my commands so they can't be confused with each other. So, with the sit, I have a high pitched sit command. On the down command, I make it lower in pitch and softer. On the stand, I avoid the initial “s” sound of the “stand” and use only “and” or “aaaa.” Remember the dog has only a split second to interpret the command, so the more I can distinguish one sound from the other, the greater the chance of the dog staying clear.

    • Just before the command, I look down and establish direct eye contact with the dog. Nothing makes a dog focus better than eye contact. By using both the command and eye contact I bring both clarity and focus to the dog.

    • The last thing is to create a block. In this example, as I give the command, I also pivot on my left foot about 90 degrees into the path of the dog while holding my right hand high over the dog's head. This simple move blocks the dog from going forward, while making it look up at my hand, forcing it to drop its rear quickly. The picture shows the right posture from the trainer at the second the command is given.

The trainer has put the dog into a position where it has no alternative but to sit quickly and not try to follow the trainer. If the previous foundation work on the sit was correct, the trainer should find this goes surprisingly fast. The trick now is what to do to eliminate all the body language and move to a more finished exercise.

The concept of fading as a teaching and motivational tool is a subject that can take an entire article by itself. The idea is that if we can use several tools to teach and develop a dog in training so it is conditioned to respond to all the help, then the trainer needs only to remove the tools in a way where the dog learns to need less help to accomplish the same result. Let's see how the idea of fading is used in our example.

At first, the trainer is using three aids or conditioners to achieve a quick sit: the command, eye contact and the block. When the dog is sitting quickly with these three aids, the first to go is the physical pivoting into the dog's path, leaving only eye contact, the right hand held up and the command. The dog is now conditioned to sit quickly when the hand is raised, so we don't have to physically block the dog's forward momentum anymore.

The next items to be faded are eye contact and the high right hand. Slowly these are eliminated and if the dog seems unaffected, they can be eliminated most of the time. However, it doesn't hurt to go back to give a little reinforcement with a hand or eye contact from time to time.

As the dog learns to sit instantly on command, the handler can come to a momentary stop, praising the dog, and then move away, facing the dog and repeating the command with an upheld hand to strengthen what the dog has already learned. The trainer then returns to the dog for the release and play.

After only a few sessions, the trainer needs only to give a clear command and, aided with only a quick look into the dog's eyes or a raised hand, can move away with the assurance the dog is stable and clear.

This approach works just as well with the moving stand or down, but the technique may be slightly different with each exercise. With the down, the handler may need to quickly drop the right hand to the ground instead of raising it over the dog's head while giving the command and eye contact. With the stand, the trainer might lightly touch the dog's right flank or the front of its chest before moving into the dog's path for the block.

If focus can be maintained during this stage of training, the act of the dog moving may actually make it down, sit or stand more quickly; the energy of the forward movement gets translated into an energetic sit, down or stand. But, if the foundation wasn't finished properly, the trainer shouldn't expect as good or a better performance when the exercise is coupled with heeling.