The Smart Dog U Blog

Talos Learns about Shaping (Video)

I love shaping. I love teaching a dog how much fun shaping can be. It takes the dog just a few minutes to understand what shaping is, and then: hold on and be ready to click - the dog loves this new game! 

What is shaping, you ask? Imagine a sculptor with a chunk of clay. How does he get that clay from chunk to masterpiece? He shapes it with his hands, slowly changing the form, until it meets the artist's satisfaction. That's what we do with the behavior of an animal: we take whatever "chunk" of behavior the dog gives us, and we slowly mold that behavior into something we like. We use the clicker to tell the dog "Yes, I like that!" If the dog knows the way to earn a click (and therefore a goodie), it's only a matter of a few clicks before you've got the dog creating behavior that matches what you wanted to see.

If you want to try it with your own dog, here's what you need:

1. Clear the room - no other dogs allowed. Keep the distractions to a minimum.
2. Have high value treats. No dog food, biscuits, or Pupperoni. We're talking ham, turkey, cheese, chicken, or hot dogs!
3. Have a large object ready to put on the floor. Put the object down, step back, and zip your lips!
4. Click the dog for any interaction with that object. This is not the time to be stingy or to have high expectations. 
5. Remain still. Remain quiet. Resist the urge to help your dog.

I made a video of Talos learning how to shape. (At the bottom of this post.) The sound isn't very good (sorry, I'll remember this for the next video), so you may have to turn your volume way up. Originally, I thought I might shape Talos to use his feet to interact with the box. But it turns out he's not that advanced yet - he's still learning that interacting with the box is a good thing. So I decided to lower my criteria and reinforce any and all interactions with the box.

At one point, Talos stops, sits, and waits for me to direct him to do something with the box. That indicates to me that he doesn't understand fully what shaping is all about. And that's ok! That's why I didn't raise my criterion to paw touch. The more experience he has with shaping, the better he'll get.

Why is shaping important? Your dog is learning how to learn - which is the most important reason to work on shaping. Another thing, it's FUN for the dog! Your dog gets to engage with you, work his mind, and try to figure out how to get you to click. The more you practice shaping with your dog, the faster he'll be able to figure out a solution. So when you actually need to teach a new behavior, it's super easy!

Now here's the video of Talos shaping:

Talos Does Walmart

It's been a busy week for Talos, he's been getting lots of different public exposure. Today's adventures took him to Frederick, MD, where we got fitted for shoes, shopped, did banking, and picked up dog food.

We started at If the Shoe Fits, a terrific store with fantastic customer service and extremely helpful staff. Talos learned how to lay (not quietly yet, but we're working on it) while I got my feet measured and tried on some shoes. The staff couldn't have been nicer and more helpful, as well as gracious with Talos.

After a quick stop at the bank, it was off to Walmart, which can often feel like a circus, even without a Great Dane service dog in training by my side! It's a Super-Walmart which means it's about a mile wide. Of course, the things we needed were on opposite ends of the store, and all in between as well. Taking any dog into a public place can be challenging, but when the dog is a Great Dane -- a young, spotted, blue-eyed Great Dane -- well, let's just say it's a lot more challenging!

It's great experience for Talos, so as long as he's well behaved, people are allowed to pet him. At this point in his training, we focus quite heavily on socialization: we want him to have good experiences with as many different types of people as possible.

Talos performed fantastically in Walmart - walking nicely, leaving the food on the shelves, paying attention to me, and staying close. You wouldn't think a trip to Walmart would tire a dog out, but take a look at this video. We've been out of Walmart for ten minutes, I'm getting ready to put fuel in the Element and I look over to see Talos stretched completely across the car with his head on my armrest. He's getting too big for the front seat, but he doesn't realize it yet.

He got in a few good minutes of hard napping, then it was back to work because I had other stops to make. It's hard work, prepping to be a service dog. Those Walmarts are tough on a dog!

More Socialization Experience for Talos

Stairs can be daunting to the dog that's not had much experience with them. There are so many different types of stairs, too, that it's important to find as many different types: wooden, spiral, concrete, metal, without risers (backs), glass, steep, short, etc. Here's a video of Talos experiencing an odd-looking set of stairs: glass sided without any risers. He does a fine job, taking the lead of my husband.

Talos + the Freight Elevator

Service dog training involves exposing the dogs to as many different situations as possible, in a safe and fun way. When Talos was only 12 weeks old (and his house training was reliable), I started taking him to public places so he could see the world.

Once a week, I try to get out to lunch with my husband where I can expose Talos to some of the neatest socialization experiences. We've done this freight elevator a couple times before, but today I had the camera with me to capture just how noisy and large a freight elevator can be!

There are a few things to pay attention to in the video:

1. I'm feeding Talos a relatively high value treat. He takes the treats most of the time. However, take note of when he refuses the treat I offer - that's a great way to gauge how much stress a dog is experiencing. If he won't take a treat, he's probably a little stressed.
2. Watch how he's able to perform the behavior "touch" (touch my hand with his nose), but cannot sit when I ask him. The situation is simply too distracting for him. That's a training issue, not an obedience issue. In other words, that's my problem, not Talos' - I need to work with him more in distracting environments.
3. Notice the position of his tail and his ears. The tail and ears can tell you a lot about what your dog is thinking and/or feeling. His tail is down, but not tucked, indicating that he may feel a little stress, but isn't terrified.
4. After we exit the elevator and we're walking away, you'll hear the (very loud) buzzer and the clanking of metal. Notice the absence of any fear reaction from Talos. That's a good indicator that he was not wigged out by the entire experience. He just lopes along, happily beside me, waiting for the next adventure.

Who's Fault?

I was very frustrated with myself after yesterday's fiasco in the library. I was frustrated for several reasons:

1. I assumed Talos knew more than he actually did.
2. I put both of us in a high pressure environment by going to the library where silence is golden.
3. I didn't prepare properly - I should have had more than one food toy.
4. I should have spent a lot more time on Talos' settle before asking him to perform to such high standards.
5. I assumed that Talos' size is indicative of his knowledge and skill. He's only five months old. He may be big, but he's still a young dog with only rudimentary skills.

Knowing the fault was mine, not the dog's, I was able to re-frame the experience and make a plan to improve his behavior. That's the main difference between the old-fashioned style of training and scientific, modern style of training.

Looked at with old-fashioned eyes, a trainer would say that Talos was being disobedient, he was trying to assert his will over mine, and that he needed to be corrected and shown that whining and playing were not appropriate in a public setting. That's not really fair, now is it? After all, I never taught Talos those skills; at least not to the standard of being in the public library.

My focus isn't on the dog's poor performance, but my own. It's not Talos' fault. That blame rests squarely on my shoulders. And I'm happy to take that responsibility. I cringe thinking about those trainers (and owners) who find it so easy to put the blame on the dog. What a lazy and cowardly way out!

I say man-up and train the behaviors you want. No sense blaming the dog for my own mistakes. I'm better than that. Talos deserves better than that. Stay tuned for more details on our settle work, there will be a lot of it in our future!

Being Quiet is Hard (Video)

One of the things service dogs have to be good at is waiting quietly. They'll be asked do a lot of that in their life - they only need to work when their person needs them, so downtime is a big part of their day. At first glance it may seem like an easy task, but being quiet is sometimes difficult for a dog to learn. 

Today I took Talos to the local public library. I'd planned to do some work on my laptop, while giving Talos some "office experience:" how to lay quietly for an hour or two in a public place. Two years ago, when I worked for the Federal government, the pups learned this relatively quickly - they were immersed in office life nine hours a day, five days a week. We had a few restless meetings, but in general, the pups learned that when nothing was required of them, it was nap time.

I don't have an office environment, so today was Talos' first real "office experience." I was prepared: I took his portable bed, a stuffed food toy, and a regular dog toy to help occupy his body and mind. We found a nice, quiet cubby out of the way of the library traffic and away from other patrons. I gave him a quick tour of the library, so he could have a few moments to see where he was and what was (and wasn't) going on, then headed back to my cubby to get some work done.

I put Talos' bed under the desk, gave him his chew bone, and got to work. For about two minutes. He wasn't interested in the chew bone. He could hear children across the library, and apparently they'd peaked his interest. I threw a few pieces of dog food under the table to get his attention back to where I needed him to be. He was happy to eat the food, then was ready to explore again.

I took him on another quick circle of the library, letting him sniff and explore, but not letting him meet any people. (No one asked to meet him - I would have let him greet if anyone asked.) He flopped down on his side, began running his big lips along the carpet in one of the aisles and proceeded to sing. Oh good lord - not now, not here!

I managed to get him up and back to our out-of-the-way cubby, only to find a woman had chosen to sit right next to us. Out of the 50 free cubbys, she picked ours to sit next to. Another distraction for Talos. I tried again to get him to sit or lay quietly under the table, but he was having nothing of it. He flopped down again, and began rolling on the floor and singing. Imagine this at your local library, except he's not on a couch, but on the library floor. We've got a lot of work ahead of us:

Two Updates

If you're a regular Smart Dog Blog reader, here are updates on two recent posts:

I was officially "mummified" last night, much to my delight. I was able to get in two hours earlier than expected and was thrilled to again sleep with the dogs!

The little bird that examined Nemo's tonsils this morning has made a great escape. I didn't see him during our afternoon play session outside.

Nemie's No Killer

Nemo's had a mixed history with the birds in our yard. I've always thought he was a friend of the backyard birds, but occasionally they'll wind up in his mouth. Not alive. I've seen him stick his head into a bush to look for them. I tell myself he's just curious, that he's not intentionally trying to harm them. But he IS a dog, after all, and dogs DO kill things.

I had no definitive evidence until today. The little yellow finches are late nesters. Their little ones are just leaving the nests about now. While I was refilling the finch feeders, Nemo occupied himself with something in the yard. I looked over to see what he'd found and...you guessed it: it was a baby yellow finch!

I  blurted "Nemie?!" in surprise. He looked at me with a quizzical expression, opened his mouth and deposited the fledgling onto the lawn. A little wet, but unhurt.

Yay, Nemie! You're NOT a bird killer! You really were just curious! The young bird flew a few feet, then had to rest. I took all the dogs inside - no need to press our luck (or the bird's!) - and have been watching him hop from place to place. I'll have to re-check the yard before I let the dogs out again, just in case he's still hanging around.

Do I think there will be dead birds in Nemo's future? Of course. He's a dog. He's curious. He has strong jaws and sharp teeth. Even if he doesn't mean to hurt them. But at least this little guy made it in - and out - of Nemo's jaws safely.

I Miss Being Mummified

My job takes me to some interesting places. I'm in Rockwall, TX, teaching for Karen Pryor Academy. We're about an hour outside Dallas. When I travel, most times I can't take my dogs. So here's the hard part: I've got a giant king-sized bed and no dogs in it!

The dogs are allowed (ok, encouraged) to sleep with us, much to my husband's dismay. I, on the other hand, find myself comfortable only when I'm "mummified," which refers to what it feels like when you've got a dog on each side of you, holding down the sheets, making it hard to move or turn over in bed.

So I've got this huge bed and it's completely empty. I can stretch completely out and not touch a dog. There isn't even a dog hair on the bed! What kind of life is this?!

My flight gets in tomorrow night (technically Monday a.m., but saying tomorrow night makes me feel better) and I can't wait to squeech myself in bed between all the dogs again. A good night's sleep will evade me until then...

The Power of the Click

Some days the profession I've chosen makes me sad. Clicker trainers have excellent observation skills. We see things other people don't even notice. We see the dog that licks his lips as his person approaches and know that dog is feeling stress. We notice the panting dog, the slight flinch of the head. We see all the signs that tell us a dog is frightened, confused, scared, or stressed. Signs that lots of people don't notice. It can be tough.

Sometimes, however, those same observation skills lead us to see some great changes in a dog. One of my clients rescued a breeding dog who'd birthed who-knows-how-many litters. The dog is seven years old and looks like a worn-out mama. Her belly sags and she's got gray around her face. She'd lived in a kennel all her life. Oh, she'd been able to come indoors when she gave birth to her pups, but once they were weaned, it was back outside for mama.

She wasn't abused, she wasn't neglected, she wasn't tormented. She probably got food and water regularly, and her cage was probably kept clean. But she missed out on so much that we take for granted: a relationship with her owners. She wasn't a pet, she was a means to an end. She produced puppies, which then earned money for her kennel. 

When she first came to class, she was very dull: her eyes were dull, her tail hung down, there was no connection with her owner, or with anyone for that matter. She was friendly enough, and wagged her tail if you talked to her or pet her. But she had no idea that people could be fun, reliable, the source of good things.

She's been coming to Canine Building Blocks for about three weeks now. Last night, she was a different dog. There was pep in her step, she was on the same page as her owner, there was real cooperation going on! The dog was offering behaviors in hope of earning the oh-so-desirable click (and treat, of course). She looked like she was really enjoying herself - and I'm sure she was.

Clicker training can change a dog. It can change you. It can change the way you interact with your dog, and it can open up a whole new world for the two of you. It's phenomenal. It can take a dog who'd not developed a relationship with a person for all seven years of her life, and turn her into a thinking, learning, and loving dog. Wow. It doesn't get any better than that. For me, for the dog, and for the owner.

I love this stuff.