OB315 Balancing Motivation & Precision

WEEK ONE

• Introduction
• Clear Communication
• Engagement
• Arousal for Speed and Accuracy
• Breaking it Down
• Slow is Smooth & Smooth is Fast
• What Creates Speed
  • Confidence
  • Clarity
  • Motivation
• Adding Speed to Individual Behaviors
  • Surprise cookie game
  • “yes” game
  • Release to the behavior
  • Offering

WEEK TWO

• What motivates them to race back to you?
• Games for Speed as dog approaches
• Attitude and animation come first
• Power up Your Reinforcers
• Energy Creates Energy
• Accuracy is not negative!
• Often has a negative connotation
• Building a positive CER with the behavior
• How to Get Accuracy
• Get Accuracy
  • Clear information
  • Consistent Criteria
  • Confidence
  • Fluency before chaining!!
  • High success ratio!!
  • Well-established motor pattern
  • Break it down

WEEK THREE

• Games for Speed When Dog Leaves Us
• Games for Adding Speed to Accuracy Out of Context
• Using Physical and Verbal aides for Accuracy
• Fronts – aides – sticks, platform, bounce pad
• Finishes – touches, foot target,
• Heeling – leash or slip lead
• Accurate Behavior as a Trick

WEEK FOUR

• Ready, steady game – pivots, fronts, finishes
• Ring Picture
• Chaining
• Analyze progress (is speed increasing? If not, why? Is the dog consistently fast? Or not)
• Variable Reinforcement
• Offering Accurate Behavior
• Fading Aides
• Anticipation

WEEK FIVE

• Backchaining
• Adding Accuracy to Chain
• Speed vs. accuracy ratio
• Maintenance
• Charging Up Behaviors

WEEK SIX

• Ring Picture – Adding a Judge
• Jackpot Training

Slow is Smooth & Smooth is Fast.

Your dog can’t do a behavior fast if they can’t do it slow. This is true for several reasons. First, the dog must be able to execute the correct motor pattern. Just like humans, learning something new takes time. Want your dog to do a tuck sit vs. a rockback sit? They have to learn how to perform it slowly. Their body must master the motor pattern. The easier the motor pattern becomes, the faster the dog can do the behavior. If you ask them to do it quickly right out of the gate, the failure rate will be high and the dog will be frustrated or worried. Second, learning new information requires a lot of mental concentration. They have to process the information. That causes a bit of a delay. Again, no different than humans. If you are learning a new skill and I’m yelling at you to hurry up, it will interfere with your ability to process. It will likely make you nervous or jittery which won’t be helpful either. The quote “slow is smooth & smooth is fast actually comes from the Navy Seals. And those guys have lightning quick reflexes!

Be patient. Give the dog a minute to figure out what to do with their body and to process the information. The more they practice the skill, the faster they will get. They also need to be free to “learn”. Especially complex behaviors like fronts. The dog must be perfectly centered, not too far to the left or the right, not to close to us or too far, but perfectly in line with shoulders, weight on their front feet, looking at us or a focal point… that’s a lot!!!! If we add “speed” to that…oh my! The poor dogs!!! Speed will come. Give their brains time to process all the information. To learn all the little pieces. To truly and fully understand what we are asking. Then speed will come… on it’s own!

What Creates Speed

Confidence. If the dog is not confident, they will be hesitant. That’s not conducive to speed. When the dog truly understands the behavior and what we are asking, speed will come. Confidence comes from us giving the dog clear information. Given to the dog consistently. It also comes from slicing the behavior into teeny tiny pieces so the dog has a high accuracy rate. It’s much easier for the dog which increases the odds the dog will be correct. If the dog is correct over and over, they will gain confidence! I build on those slices little by little. By the time the end behavior is complete, the dog has a strong understanding of what I want. You must also be sure that your cue is absolutely the same every time. Dogs pick up on the SLIGHTEST physical cue. Change in expression, had movement, hand position, weight shift, etc. The cue must be clear and consistent.

Clarity. Just because WE think we are clear, doesn’t mean the dog thinks we are. Countless times I’ve thought I was being clear in telling the dog what I want. But if the dog isn’t getting it, the dog isn’t understanding it. It’s that simple. It doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what the dog thinks. How do I know if the dog is understanding? By their error ratio. If it’s high, they don’t get it!! I literally just count to TWO. That’s it. TWO. If my dog makes TWO errors in a row, something is wrong. They are confused. I need to step back and evaluate. What is going on? I need to change something. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. It won’t work. I promise you. I’ve tried it. More than once. I’ve watched people do it. It never works. Count to TWO. After two, stop the madness!

Motivation. What motivates YOUR dog? Truly. Not what you think motivates them. What really motivates them. All of my dogs are different. I use different reinforcers for different dogs. For each dog I have a hierarchy of reinforcers. What is most valuable and what is least valuable to that dog. For some exercises I need a lower value reinforcer. For others, a higher value reinforcer. It all depends on what I’m trying to achieve. You need to be clear on what motivates THIS dog and be able to list least valuable to most valuable. Speed comes with motivation. If I toss a toy, and the dog would rather have a treat, I won’t get a lot of speed. I need something the dog gets excited about. Something that motivates them to put in the effort.