FF215 Game Changer!

As positive reinforcement trainers, we understand that our dogs have choices – the choice to engage or not engage, to stay or go, to work or not work, to choose us or choose the environment. These choices are crucial because they impact our ability to build and maintain a working relationship with our dogs. They didn’t choose the sport or activity we so enjoy. Our goal as trainers is to inspire our dogs to choose to engage with us, to find joy in working with us, to prefer our company and activities over the myriad distractions of the environment. Maybe you think you’ll never get there, that it’s too much to ask or too much work and effort. But what if I told you that you can achieve this and more?

Course Details

Game Changer! In training we often focus on specific skills and behaviors. But what about the concepts we want to instill in our dogs? Such as what it means to engage with us? To stay in proximity to us? To focus on a task, or control impulses around distractions? How to be a good teammate and look to us for guidance! This course is packed with over 30 fun games and activities designed to do just that! To give your dog a broader understanding of the concepts that are behind the behaviors we train. And to give our dog every reason to choose you, to work with you, and to enjoy the sports and activities you have chosen to do together. These games are not just fun; they are also carefully crafted to enhance your dog's training and strengthen your working relationship.

Most games will fit into one or more of the following categories:

Attention
Focus
Engagement
Proximity
Recall
Impulse control
Distractions
Heeling/LLW
Relief from Pressure

This course is ideal for handlers and teams:

just getting started on their training and teamwork journey
wanting to re-ignite that spark and excitement felt when you first started working with your dog
looking for ways to add more purpose to the games they already play with their dogs
feel their dog is losing interest in training or sometimes find it difficult to keep their dog engaged
wanting to improve their recalls and off-leash reliability
wanting to improve attention and focus and working around distractions
find themselves rewarding by rote, are not as motivated to train as they once were or just need a bit more fun, purpose and excitement in their training.

Teaching Approach

Lectures and games are released weekly and include written and video descriptions of each exercise. Students may choose which exercises and games to practice and work on.

Video demonstrations of the games and exercises include the instructor working with her own dogs as well as examples from other dog and handler teams. There are a variety of breeds and sizes represented in the demo vids. Demonstration video length varies between 1-2 minutes. Many of the demo videos are also captioned.

Instruction is suited to students of all levels and will focus on increasing the enjoyment and benefit for each individual team. Students will be provided with both general and specific written feedback, often including timestamps for clarity. Students will be able to show their work for any previous weeks as well as the current week’s exercises for continued feedback.

There will be a TA in the study group for this class.

Syllabus

Week 1 Lectures:

What’s Important?

Asking Questions!

Types of Games

What are Construct Games?

Attention as Behavior

Why Teach Cued Attention

Attention Games:

30 second game

Doggy Zen again and again

Doggy Zen Find my Face!

Construct Games: Most Versatile Games Ever!

Hand targets!

Out and around a cone

Food bowling

Week 2 Lectures:

The Difference Between Attention, Focus and Engagement

Give your Dog a Reason

Reward Events

Proximity Games:

Quartering

Lure coursing

Tween

Leap Frog

Leash On, Leash Off

Recall Games:

Fist bump

Put your collar here!

Come and Get it

Slow Dancin’ – Boogie!

Week 3 Lectures:

Focus and Impulse Control: what do they have in common?

Focus and Impulse Control Games:

Flicker

One for me, one for you

Crunch time!

Airplane

Down the rabbit hole

Week 4 Lectures:

Choose me!

Engagement Games:

Musical Toys

Treasure Hunt

Let’s get Goofy! Silly Sounds!

Now you see me! Now you don’t!

Week 5 Lectures:

Building Duration

Heeling/LLW Games :

Hansel and Gretel

Jump for Joy!

Up, Down, All around!

Slide to Side

Distraction Games:

Gutter Balls

Treats on a seat

Week 6

Catch up Week

Are you Ready to Work?

Integrating the games

Share your Games!

Prerequisites & Supplies

There are no specific prerequisites for this class. Food rewards will be used extensively. Some games will use toys. Open to any age dog or puppy.

Sample Lecture

Week 2:

The Difference Between Attention, Focus and Engagement

It’s easy to blur the lines between the meanings of attention, focus and engagement. While it’s true that they often are seen in combination, that doesn’t mean they are one and the same or that they can’t be present without the other. The most important difference though is the motivation of each.

As we discussed last week, I define attention as a behavior: look at my face/make eye contact. This includes the execution (look at my face/make eye contact), duration (continue to do so until released), and difficulty (do so even under difficult circumstances or environments).

When we reinforce a behavior, it is more likely to increase in both frequency and quality. The motivation for a dog to continue offering eye contact is driven by the reinforcement history we establish

Focus, however is a state of mind. It is the capacity to concentrate on and direct mental effort to a specific task, “thing”, or outcome. It is not a behavior that can be reinforced, but rather a skill that can be practiced and improved. While in a mental state of focus there is often the anticipation of a specific desired outcome which enhances the dog’s ability to both garner reinforcement in the form of dopamine and build duration in the skill of focusing on a specif

Engagement is the result of enjoyable and collaborative interaction. It is neither a behavior nor a state of mind. It is a choice the dog makes based on the experience, and the anticipation that experience will continue. Two key points of engagement are authenticity and respect.

Reward Events – Value Added

We can make an exercise, a behavior, or a sequence more valuable and increase the dog’s desire to continue to engage in the training, even ask for more, by adding value to our rewards through the use of “reward events”.

Often, we tend to reward by rote, using the same method, the same reward, and the same duration. We assume that because our dog eats the treat or takes the tug, it is reinforcing. However, reinforcement should lead to an increase in the quality or frequency of a behavior.

Reward events are a way to add value to the rewards we provide. They also inject a joyful emotional state into our training. Spend time and effort making your rewards and reward events fun for your dog. The games you’ll learn not only increase your dog’s skills but can and should be used as part of your reward events.

If we want our dogs to be enthusiastic learners and partners, our reinforcement needs to go beyond a cursory piece of food. The reward should match the level of work. The more we ask of our dog, the more we need to be willing to provide in return. Rather than giving your dog one treat, give them several in a row, Fast Food style, paired with verbal praise. Most dogs prefer movement over staying stationary, so allowing them to use their bodies when receiving rewards can increase the value of the reward. Using the games in this course is just one of the many ways to add value to your reinforcement.

Give your Dog a Reason

Whether performing a behavior, or in a focused state of mind, or making a choice to engage, our dogs need to have a reason. We want that reason to be strong enough that the dog is driven to respond to our cues, play our games, compete with us in sports, and enjoy everyday activities with us.

Building a repertoire of enjoyable and reinforcing games tied to purposeful training, does just that. It gives the dog a reason to learn what we want them to learn.

Proximity and Recall Games:

You might think that these 2 skills, remaining in proximity and coming when called are 2 different skills. A recall is actually an up close and personal behavior! The end result is the dog being close enough for you to reach out and take his collar if you need to. Recall training doesn’t start at a distance. Distance is added as a layer of difficulty!

In this week’s games we are going to give your dog a reason to stay close and a reason to return to “close” if there is distance between you.

Proximity Games:

Quartering

Lure coursing

Tween

Leap Frog

Leash On, Leash Off

Recall Games:

Fist bump

Put your collar here!

Come and Get it

Slow Dancin’ – Boogie!

Instructors

Julie Flanery

Faculty

Julie Flanery (she/her), CPDT-KA has been working professionally with dogs and their handlers since 1993. She focuses on the needs of the dog and helping people form a strong relationship, through clear communication, and positive reinforcement. She has placed Obedience...

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