“Are You Having Fun?”
An unfamiliar approach to training
I recently worked with new clients and their lovely 6-month-old pup Luna here at my studio in North Yarmouth. They’d taken dog training classes elsewhere in the past, but it had been a while, and they wanted a refresher. During our session, the pup did well learning new concepts, happily participated in training games, and picked up the relevance of the clicker in very short order. We accomplished this through a dynamic session of play, engagement, and reward in whatever form was valuable to her at any given moment. It didn’t take long to determine what floated her boat the most: Chase! Chase was definitely at the top of Luna’s long list of acceptable currencies, so we were going to use it as much as logistically possible.
Before any of this happened, however, Luna was given the opportunity to freely explore my studio and playgrounds: a brand-new setting for her and therefore socialization to a novel location… and to me, a new person, who put no pressure on her whatsoever to do anything in particular.
Assessment of Surroundings
Our dogs gather a wealth of information through the exploration of their environment; it’s like getting a detailed topographical map of their immediate place in the world, including layers of olfactory input and loads of historical data. This is why I love using long lines from the get-go, even with puppies, when secure areas are not available. They are given a chance to gain an understanding of their surroundings, fill their senses with the latest news and gossip, familiarize themselves with a plethora of odors… all the while staying safe. I have a deep appreciation of this sensory universe so familiar to them, yet so out of reach for us.
Providing our dogs opportunities to experience a wide variety of environments without micromanaging them goes a long way towards helping them feel safe in the world.
Safety and Comfort First
My clients were surprised I didn’t start our session focusing on “sit,” “come,” and “heel;” the specific things they wanted their dog to master. Training sessions they’d attended in the past got right to these “commands,” so to speak, with expectations that the dogs would behave “or else”. Training was serious business! Allowing exploration, creating a solid line of communication, building a foundation of trust, and gaining an understanding of the individual dog wasn’t part of the process, yet these are exactly what we need before we can expect our dogs to want to play our games and learn. Gamifying training turns it from “serious business” into fun and games with skills carefully woven in between. The pup has no idea she is learning important skills: she just thinks she’s playing.
It takes very little time to set the stage for efficient, fun-filled training. Why don’t we do it more often?
Luna learned that running toward us when we called her is even more fun than running away. Chasing down a treat added tremendous value to it, which meant we got a lot of bang for our handful of individual treats. The flirt pole* and learning tug with rules knocked it out of the ballpark!
The best part of the session was how Luna’s owners reacted. They felt like they just got permission to play with their young dog, to appreciate her puppiness, and to capitalize on what Luna finds motivating. They were relieved to shed the “no!” attitude and instead focus on how they could take the initiative to help Luna want to make the choices they wanted her to make. I think we sometimes feel trapped in the negative, focusing on what we want to stop, instead of what we want to nuture and see grow. Just changing that attitude makes a world of difference.
Happy Training!
*A flirt pole looks like an oversized cat toy: a rod with a rope attached to the end and a toy dangling at the end of that. My favorite flirt pole is a horse driving or lunge whip to which I’ve attached a “sacrificial” squeaky toy. Ames in Wiscasset has the perfect thing! For pups who love to chase, it’s a great way to reward them (with rules, of course).
Diana Logan, CPDT-KA Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Knowledge-Assessed
Pet Connection Dog Training, North Yarmouth, Maine
www.dianalogan.com | 207-252-9352