Behaviors

A Quiet Crate

Ron Watson — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 00:53:17 -0600

Getting a Drop with One Disc

Ron Watson — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:16:49 -0700

Using Predictable Behaviors

Ron Watson — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:02:22 -0700

Let’s say that you have a dog that does not retrieve well, and is always dropping it a few feet in front of you. This is a frustrating problem for many trainers, as the more pressure you put on the dog to bring you the disc, the less apt he is to actually bring it. The dog learns that interaction with the handler creates stress, and learns to avoid that situation. The disc gets dropped farther and farther from the handler.

There are many things that you can do to get a retrieve, but few people use the dog’s drive and the rules of cause and effect, a consequent game, to get the disc brought to their hand.
Here is how the consequent game can help you get the disc dropped right next to the handler.

Tug

Ron Watson — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:02:22 -0700

Tugging is a treat reward for discdogs. It does several things for us. It attaches prey drive to the biting of the disc; essentially a way of back chaining a catch. It also lends itself to back chaining a retrieve to the hand as the game often starts and stops with both dog and handler touching the disc.

Two Targets

Ron Watson — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:44:22 -0700

When we teach the game of disc to our dogs, we always use at least two targets.

Having multiple targets ensures that we always have something the dog wants. If we’re playing with one, the dog quickly learns that he has something that we want. This is like giving our dogs our bait bag.

With multiple discs, when the dog makes the catch we still have motivation in our hands. He winds up with a dead toy and we have a live one. This throws the odds in our favor and allows us far more ability to manipulate the situation. It allows us to train.

We can now wait on behaviors. We can deliver reinforcement more efficiently. We can maintain a higher rate of reinforcement.

Two Targets is a must.

Directional Feeding

Ron Watson — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:44:22 -0700

We need to learn to hit our dog in stride with the disc, making the big leap (or the safe leap in my case with Leilani) all but inevitable.

Getting a dog to leap everytime means putting the disc in the right spot, at the right distance at the right time. That is not a terribly hard thing to do once you've figured out where and when that spot is. The problem is that most people never learn where that spot is, let alone when, and many people don't even know there's a spot.

Another thing that needs to happen with our game is that our dog must be able to drop a disc when asked. Whether it's at our feet, out there 20 yards away, or while standing on my back.

Getting a drop on the run is extremely important in building routines.

Directional Feeding is a drill that we use here at Pawsitive Vybe to teach our dogs how to drop discs on the run, away from us, and to give the handler an opportunity to learn how to compute and execute a proper lead time for the big leaping grab. Disc placement by the handler and disc management by the dog can be worked or learned at the same time.