Charlie learning 'nose' target (not 'paw' target!). Real-time, reward-based training.

Описание: I always get a warm reception whenever I see Charlie out walking, but I don’t get to do much training with him now as he’s a good boy! But his owner let’s me play occasionally, so here’s me working with 11 year old Charlie, to teach him how to touch a target with his nose. Some dogs investigate with their nose, some with their teeth, some with their paws, and some dogs crash into things with their whole body. Charlie uses his paws a lot, so the main part of this fun training session was me trying to get the timing right so I was rewarding nose touches, not paw swipes! There was no need for me to correct any perceived mistakes, as this was more about my skill and timing as the trainer – Charlie was learning what I was teaching him. So, if he made a mistake, that was on me! I used chicken as the reward (with ‘yes!’ as the marker), but I also used praise as he enjoys hearing what a clever dog he is. You’ll see lots of steps to the final goal of him moving away from me, to plant his nose directly onto the target without also using his paw. Although I didn’t quite get to the planned end goal, we came a long way in 14 minutes. And he enjoyed the training, which is always an important aspect of reward-based training. Training should be enjoyable, both for the trainer and the trainee.
He's experienced reward-based training before, so he’s not concerned about trying things – but you’ll notice a couple of occasions when he stops and thinks a bit harder about what’s being expected. As long as a dog can work things out, and isn’t becoming stressed, it’s great to let them process. If we always lure them or tell them what to do, it makes for a weaker final behaviour. If they’ve worked it out themselves, and are motivated to achieve, then they continue to want to get it right. It means that some rewards can be lessened quickly, and ‘more’ can be expected sooner. If the training game is fun, it becomes its own reward.
The reasons for teaching a nose target are many. A hand-touch recall is very useful around the house and garden, as well as on walks. A stationary target is great for cooperative care, such as grooming, when you add in a ‘wait’. It’s also great for teaching tricks, or a ‘send-away’. You can even use it for mini science experiments, such as discrimination tasks (e.g. having several pictures of shapes, and asking your dog to ‘touch the square’ or similar versions!).
Even though this video is about nose targets, the training principle of shaping (or successive approximations) can be used for any training goal you have. It’s simply about breaking down a task into small, easily achievable steps, and building gradually to the final goal. Some steps may need to be broken down further, and some can be sped through – it all depends on the dog you are training, and how well you can teach them to do what you want them to do. The learner should come first – if something isn’t working it’s up to the trainer to make the changes, and to reward good choices. The learner should not be punished/ corrected for making mistakes, because if they really understood and had practised the goal behaviour, they wouldn’t have made the mistake. Set your dog up for success! You might hear me occasionally say ‘oops’, or ‘oh no!’, and these are examples of no-reward markers. They are just communication to say ‘what you’re doing won’t earn a treat, but please try again’.
If you have any questions about this training, feel free to ask.

For more information on me, and what I do, head to www.sarahcrockford.com.

Please subscribe to ‪@helpingpetminds‬ for more videos, and you can also find me on www.facebook.com/HelpingPetMinds.