Labrador Retriever Training
As I have discussed in a previous post, the Sit behavior is one that I use a lot and for multiple different reasons. I might use it to snap a photo, like this one on the right. I have used it to keep my dog still while I am making food in the kitchen. I have used it when out and about to keep them engaged while there are a lot of distractions going on. There are so many different ways that I use the Sit behavior. Here are some of the mistakes I have made when teaching it.
Moving to Fast
I typically have a high standard when training dogs. This is great! I also sometimes forget that the dog in front of me might not be at the same level as the last dog I was working with. I have to remember to follow the process to teach the dog the behavior before asking for it.
The example I can give is telling the dog to sit before they even know what that word is. If I were to ask a puppy to sit before showing it what that word meant would you expect it to preform the behavior? No! That's crazy! That's like asking a baby to give you a high five without showing it what a high five is first. I have seen that dogs will sit naturally and in that moment of them preforming the act is when I overlay the verbal "Sit." Doing that coupled with many repetitions, and I mean a lot of reps, will name that behavior for the dog and get them to understand that "Sit" means "Sit." I do not want to go into all the specifics of teaching a dog how to sit here. The main point is that I teach and name the behavior before asking them to preform it.
Not Enough Reps
Dog training, as with any kind of behavioral conditioning, takes time and repetition. In this specific instance, I am talking about generalizing a behavior for a dog, mainly, "Sit." I have struggled in the past from taking a dog to a new place to train and watching the wheels completely fall off. This has led to some of the other mistakes mentioned below in the past. Once I realized that 1000 reps at home in the kitchen training a dog to sit does not translate to that dog also sitting at the park on command I was able to make better use of my training time and progress faster.
I had to remind myself when taking a dog to a new environment that we needed to take a step back and start from the beginning. When I was able to apply that things went much smoother and the generalization process happened faster for different behaviors. Knowing that dogs have a hard time generalizing and need to be show things multiple times in multiple different places and scenarios has helped my training immensely.
Improper Technique
I typically use a clicker and treats when I am training a new skill for a dog. That being said, in my early days of training my clicker timing was not always what it used to be and I am still perfecting it.
When speaking directly to a dog learning to sit, the timing needs to be accurate with their butt hitting the ground in the beginning. I have seen instances where the trainer might click when the dog starts to make the motion to sit, that will typically cause a stop in the behavior because that dog will now be looking for a treat. I have also seen a late click. This is not as detrimental as an early click but still does not clearly communicate to the dog what the correct behavior is that is being asked for. As the dog progresses in their training I might wait five to ten seconds, sometimes much longer, before clicking and providing a treating to start the formation of a good sit/stay. That is starting to creep outside the intentions of this post though.
Relying Heavily on Treats
This is more of a general statement that applies to all behaviors that I have taught my dogs. The main thing that I have learned is that I usually try to skip the step of transitioning the dog away from the food reward. I usually try to jump from clicker and treat training straight into, "this dog knows what I'm asking it to do why isn't it doing it?" I have found that I need to stay in the intermittent reward phase slightly longer than what I have in the past. That helps to ween the dog off of the food reward and transition to verbal praise or another type of reward.
To break this down a little more. When starting to train a behavior I will use a clicker and provide a treat/food reward for every successful attempt. The next phase in the dog instilling that behavior should be intermittent or variable rewarding. So, instead of clicking and rewarding for every successful attempt I will reward on every other or every few successful attempts. Then, to cement the behavior even more I will continue to lengthen the amount of reps between rewards, every fifth successful attempt, every tenth. I hope that helps clarify.
Getting Frustrated
"Take the frustration our of training. Command SIT, STAY, Move back, repeat command STAY. If he decides to come, quickly command COME. Now he's done two things right, nothing wrong." - Richard A. Wolters, Water Dog
The quote above had a couple pictures attached to it in the book. What I take away from this is to work with the dog. It is still a dog and making sure that they have a positive experience and win more often than fail is important in their progression.
In my early years of training I would get much more frustrated than what I do now. Mostly it was because I did not understand some of the things mentioned above. I would move too quickly and expect the dog to understand a behavior without teaching it to them. I would go to train in a different area and the dog would forget everything we worked on leading me to tossing my hands up, throwing my hat, and packing up to go home with no success. There were times that I tried to teach a new skill in the beginning without a clear marker telling the dog what was "correct." I would think that we had done enough reps with the clicker and treat to go and train without them. Completely blowing past the variable reinforcement phase only to stop the training early because "the dog wouldn't listen."
I still have frustrating moments when training dogs but far less than before. The best thing I have found to do if I am getting frustrated is to stop and put the dog up for the time being. I know that we will both be much better off instead of trying to force it and continuing to get more frustrated.
In Conclusion
I hope you have found these common mistakes that I have made helpful in your own training. Hopefully you can avoid some of the blunders I have made. I guess something to point out though... any of these mistakes I made were all able to be fixed later. It took a lot more reps, time, and patience to work out incorrect behaviors and secure the correct ones but, I was able to. It's always easier to do it right the first time though. I know if I can remember to keep it light and have fun while training it will be a much more enjoyable time for both the dogs and myself.
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