FE225 Shaping Skills: From Start to Finish!

LECTURE OPTIONS: Subject to change & additions

DID YOU MEAN TO CLICK THAT?

• What exactly are you clicking?
• What is the Goal Behaviour?

TRAINING JOURNAL & VIDEO – Your Best Friend For Progress

A VISIT TO THE 10 Rules Of Shaping – Think, Plan, Do & REVIEW

ARE YOU REALLY READY TO WORK – The 1 Minute Taste Test

• SETTING YOUR DOG UP FOR SUCCESS – Is It Easy To Make The Right Choice
• WHAT’S THE ENVIRONMENT
• WARMING UP THE CLICKER BEFORE GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
• WARMING UP THE DOG – Is the dog ready to work – Focus test.
• CHOOSING THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT
• PROPER REINFORCEMENT – Are you feeding in a manner easiest for the dog & complements the behaviour you're shaping

BREAKING DOWN THE INDIVIDUAL STEPS – ABC’s

WHEN & HOW TO RAISE CRITERIA

ADDING THE CUE & CUE TRANSFER

LOCATION SPECIFIC MARKERS – Use or Not Use – Room Service or Chase

RELEASE CUES – Behaviours need a beginning & end

BUILDING FLUENCY & LATENCY

GENERALIZATION: Never Leave It Til The End
The 4 D’s: Distance, Duration, Distraction & Difficulty
INCREASING DURATION, DISTANCE & DISTRACTIONS

IMPORTANCE OF STATIONING BETWEEN SESSIONS

SWITCHING GEARS – Try something different Instead

HANDLING MISTAKES - Trouble Shooting

REQUIRED BEHAVIOURS TO BE TRAINED DURING THIS CLASS
GO TO STATION
NOSE TARGET - with duration
FOOT TARGET - Step on Perch
OUT & AROUND

HANDLERS CHOICE BEHAVIOUR IDEA LIST: Here is a list to give you some ideas.

BACKUP
PIVOTING Goal: Teach the dog to pivot around the perch
LLW – Pocket cookies method
TELL ME A SECRET
SELPHIE
STACK EM UP – PUT EM IN
GET YOUR ID ON – stick head in collar
BRUSH YOUR TEETH – need square dowel
LEAN/TARGET with body part
SIT PRETTY
BOW
SORE PAW
CROSS YOUR PAWS
PUSH-PULL
DO YOUR NAILS – scratch at the pad
RING A DING DONG – ring bell
SIDE STEPS – lateral side steps – using equipment. Could be long front foot board as well as rear foot board

• Basic understanding of positive reinforcement training techniques
• Dog & handler familiar with use of a clicker to mark behaviour
• Dogs should have basic obedience skills such as "sit," "down," “stay” “wait”

Tools:
Notebooks or training journals for participants to track progress
Clicker
Camera or phone for video
Youtube account
Treat pouch & container to hold treats - must be EASY access
LOTS of small treats - dark or light depending on the surface you're training on

During this course, you will need the following props & possibly more depending upon what you’re likely to try shaping with your dog. These are ideas - please don't go shopping & break the bank. Look around your home first, run your choices by me to see if they'll work

• Perch- front feet
• Cushion
• Large white sheet or tarp
• Platform large enough for your dog to stand with all four feet on with ease.
• Other similar platforms; sizes, shapes, different materials.
• Large Cone(s) – weighted so they can’t be knocked over or picked up
• Set of smaller cones
• Objects your dog can easily & safely pick up
• Foot & nose targets – small items your dog can safely paw or nose target.
• Additional, objects you may want:
• Cardboard boxes – for dog to get 4 feet into
• Vertical stand alone target
• Wobble board

FE225 SHAPING SKILLS: From Start To Finish – Heather Lawson

TRY THIS, NO TRY THAT!

OBJECT: Determine shaping pliability & Re-introduce the dogs to offering interaction with objects
TOOLS: Clicker, treats, container, light coloured tarp/sheet, multiple different objects, stool for human to sit on, timer

Most of you by now have probably heard about or even played with 101 THINGS TO DO WITH A BOX – you know where your dog is clicked for anything they do with the single object, the box. Most people can’t resist and eventually start shaping a particular behaviour with the box rather than just click “stuff” their dog “offers” and end up defeating the purpose of the game. Experimentation.

This isn’t that. Well, it is kind of but it’s more fun because we’re using more objects and we’re constantly switching gears. This exercise not only has a slightly different approach to the game, it also has a different focus – gathering a bit more in-depth information about our dog.

In addition, to the interactions with the objects, It’s going to help give us some insight into our dogs and determine just how quickly our dogs focus can shift, how willing or even unwilling they are to offer interactions with objects, how quickly they become obsessed or focused on one object and the biggie, whether or not they get frustrated by all the change or actually appreciate it and start working to make the clicks happen.

You might be asking the question why? I already know my dog can or can’t do XYZ. Well, if your dog has been shutting down every time you try shaping or is one of those who just isn’t grasping the game of offering behaviour this exercise is a good bump start for them.

If you’ve been “guilty” of always jumping in with a lure to help your dog be successful when trying to shape a behaviour it may be one of the reasons your dog is struggling with playing the offer game. They haven’t learned to TRY and see what happens.

Why would a dog possibly have an issue with offering or trying to offer behaviour? They may have spent a large portion of their training being lured and the human may have held onto the lure for too long. They might have had a few too many “uh uh’s” or “no that’s not right try again” which is a sure way to knock the enthusiasm right out of our dogs.

As a result, we get whining, barking, leaving us and just plain lying down and quitting – the “I just can’t be right” sets in for a number of reasons and now we assume all kinds of things about our dogs. Which in turn leads us down a hole other rabbit hole of well he’s this or she’s that, she doesn’t like this or that. Nope, not going to go there. We’re going to play and show our dogs ANYTHING GOES so go ahead and try it. No rules! Well almost, they can’t grab a toy and run away.

SETUP: Dog must be put away during setup – they cannot observe or participate while you are setting the scene.

Lay out the tarp - we use the light coloured tarp/sheet so the cookies are EASY to see. This will NOT work if you toss the cookies into grass or a multi coloured carpet. We don’t want the dogs sniffing all over – we want to keep them participating. Help your dog out and use a dark cookie.

Place 10+ objects randomly on the tarp
Place the stool you’ll be sitting on at one edge.
Gather your cookies and container along with your clicker
Set your timer. Have your notebook handy to make notes on the results of your session

Now that you’re all set up – go get your dog. With your dog in tow, head right to your stool and sit down. Be ready to begin your session the moment you sit down. If necessary, toss a cookie onto the tarp and then start clicking for any interaction you see your dog to with the toys.

Do not stay too long with one object – randomly switch number of interactions done with an object.
For instance, 3 interactions with a toy, then no more clicks, then move onto the next object (based on where you toss your cookie) and have 1 or 2 interactions with the next object.

If your dog lies down as Piper occasionally does in this video – toss a reset cookie to get them up and moving again so you can again begin clicking for any interaction, even ahead flick towards and object can get you started. Remember NO specific goals, we’re just creating the atmosphere for interaction.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN WITH THIS GAME?

• Will your dog dive in and play the game?
• Will they become frustrated in any particular manner?
• Will they walk away?
• Will they quit playing the game and just lie down?
• Will they become barky or whinie?

END OF SESSION: When your timer goes off don’t immediately stop. We don’t want the sound of the timer to become an indicator the session is over. Do one or two reps after the timer or even quit before the timer goes off.

TRY THIS, NO TRY THAT – Video - PIPER

I wanted to know a bit more about Piper’s ability to focus and switch within a game so this is what we came up with. Would she be pliable or become frustrated with the shaping process when there are a lot of options and no clear cut criteria or rules.

The video is too long – I absolutely DO NOT want you working this long, but I wanted to show you how adaptable Piper was and what her responses were when there was no clear cut criteria and she wasn’t sure. At no point did she quit. I was extremely careful to keep the game going and not have her sink. No sinking allowed. Keep your dog active in the game or stop and re-assess.

HOMEWORK:
Write down your observations. Did things happen as you thought they would?
What did you notice about your dog when they were playing the game?
Did it take your dog a bit to figure out the game?