tigger000

This is correct. Where i work sells the proplan performance food in the breeder bag and most pet stores should have it. Don't forget, majority of super premium foods have a 100% money back guarantee. So if there are any problems with the food whatsoever, just return it and you should be able to exchange/get your money back.

"Dogs that aren't clicker trained from puppyhood have trouble offering new behaviours" I dont know how true this statement is...or whether it applies to all dogs. I have never clicker trained my Dalmation (who is 8 yers old). And i have just completed a dog behaviour and training course...and taught him numerous tricks (picking rubbish up and placing in bin, scent detection, picking items up off floor, pushing basketball with his nose) using a clicker (i actually used a verbal "yes" as the bridge). He is continually offering new behaviours to receive the reward eventhough he has never been clicker trained previously. Anywho, it depends on how complex the trick is that you want to teach it. You dont have to use a clicker...you can always use a verbal word (e.g. "yes") each tme the dog gives the wanted behaviour. A good way to get the dog to get the association that "yes" means a reward will come...is that when the dog is NOT offering any behaviour and is doing its own thing...walk up to him, say "yes" and reward. Do this multiple times throughout the day and eventually this will become the bridge between the behaviour and reward. Once you have the bridge it will make training a lot easier especially if you want to shape the behaviour. for example. I taught my dog to push the basketball with his nose. The first time he looked at the bball i said "yes" and rewarded him. Continue doing this until he is reliably looking at the ball to get the reward. As soon as you want a new behaviour (eg touching the ball with his paw), when he looks at it, dont say yes and dont reward him. As soon as he offers the new behaviour say "yes" and reward again. Continue this process until you reach the desired result. I dont know if that works with all dogs, but it definately works with mine and is just another training technique you can try

Hey, i go to K9-Company on monday nights in Doncaster. So glad you enjoyed it, the trainers there are amazing! I am doing a course at the moment and i go there as part of it....man they have taught me so much too I believe they actually got trainers of the year?

I guess it depends on what works for you. I didnt start with treats/toys....i started with the scent i wanted my dog to detect. I had the tea in the box without the lid on. Each time he sniffed the tea, i bridged and rewarded him. Once he was doing this pretty good i introduced the cue. I then started hiding the tea in my room, in the house and finally outside, gradually making it harder for him to find it. Once he was pretty awesome at finding the tea, i then worked on the indication i wanted him to give (scratching the box).

You can train them to sniff out whatever you choose! I am just about to finish a course also and i am doing scent detection. I have taught my dalmation to detect tea. But you can choose whatever you want! I was under the same impression you are...that you should choose a strong scent....but thats the way us humans think. dogs have such great scent (depending on the breed), that you dont have to choose something that smells really strong. As long as it smells different to the non-targets you are using, you will be fine :p And as nekhbet said, you want to choose a target scent that is unlikely to have lots of other scents on it. for example, clothing would have all different kinds of scents (the fabric, body odour, deodorant, perfume etc), same as shoes, socks and as others have mentioned - money. A lot of people in my course are using herbs, coffee or tea as their scents. I have tea-towels in my non-target boxes and a few tea-bags in the target box.

another couple of really great trainers are from K9 Company They do classes multiple times a week in about 5 different locations. i have been going there for my course and they use all kinds of techniques and equipment (depending on what suits the dog). would highly recommend having a look!

I know many people dont like using correction-chains, but they do work wonders if used correctly. I used one on my dog for social walking and it worked really well. Each time he pulled on the lead, i gave him a short, sharp check on the chain along with "ah-ah" and quickly changed direction. Each time he was walking near me and was not pulling on the lead, i bridged and rewarded him. After one obedience class he was walking really well

From what i have been taught from the course i am doing: Teaching phase is where the dog is learning what is required to receive the reward and develops word association Training phase is were the dog learns the consequences of its behaviour if it does or doesnt comply with the known command Proofing phase is where you start adding distractions and taking the dog to different locations to perform the skill/behaviour.

Hey all! As most of you know, i have been using my Dally to do an assisstance skill and scent detection. He is doing wonders and i am in the final stages of proofing both skills. My question is...with his assisstance skill (picking up rubbish and placing it in the bin) when does it transfer from teaching phase to training phase? I have been using the training processes of shaping (to get him to pick up the rubbish and place in the bin) and backward chaining (to move the rubbish further away from the bin - approx 10 metres). As far as i am aware, you move into training phase when the dog has developed word association etc. So...in this case...would it move into training phase once the dog was picking up the rubbish and placing it in the bin on cue?....and then training phase would be when the rubbish is gradually moved further from the bin? Ugh...im so confused...and sorry if i have confused you all too!!

thanks for all your answers... A lot of you have said to use a continuous schedule of reinforcement....reward every time. I was wondering why you wouldnt move to an intermittent and randomized schedule?

hey everyone! i have a few questions regarding agility training...i am hoping you can help me out? 1. Do you ever use punishment in agility training? And if so, what type? 2. Do you follow a similar reinforcement schedule as in obedience (continuous - intermittent - random)...or do you reinforce the behaviour every single time? 3. What are the best training techniques (flooding, luring, guiding, mimicry, targeting, shaping etc) to teach a dog to weave? I have an idea of what the best training techniques for other obstacles are such as the tunnel, hurdles and a-frame...but the weaving one has got me stuck! lol Thanks in advance

Hey guys, So my dog was doing his assisstance and scent detection skills quite well at home. I live next door to a park, so i took him there to add a few more distractions. There is usually only 1 or 2 dogs walking around at the park when i go, so i thought this would be a good way to start proofing the skills. After he was doing both skills well here i decided to take him to a more unfamiliar environment. I took him to a park that he has been to numerous times before (he hasnt been there in a while though)...and he completely freaked out. They have two ovals there (separated only by a small dirt road) and the first one i took him to there were about 3 dogs wandering around...there is a road in the background which is relatively busy...and the whole time he stood there with his tail between his legs. I decided to just do the assisstance skill as the dog enjoys that activity. So i went right back to step 1 with the piece of rubbish right next to the bin. It took him a good 5-10 minutes but he eventually started dong the skill (i didnt move the rubbish any further away)...although he was still quite scared. I thought maybe if i took him to the other oval he may be a bit better. So i took him there and there were about 5-7 dogs running around. Again, it took him a while to get going, but he eventually started doing the skill (he seemed to be doing the skill better here) Im not sure what was freaking him out...maybe the cars?, maybe the other dogs were distracting him too much? And im not sure how to go about getting him to perform the skill when he appears to be so scared/distracted?

Hey guys, I wasnt sure where to put this, so please feel free to move it. As part of my course we are required to write a separate report on how we trained the dog for the assistance skill and the scent detection skill. Within this report we are supposed to show evidence of our training through training session reports. I was wondering what kind of information you would put in the session report? I imagine it is like a diary and writing down what you did on each training session...so at the moment my session reports include information such as: The date, the aim of the day, how i am going to achieve the aim, problems encountered, and what i plan on doing the next day. I have also included the attempts made by the dog and whether the dog passed or failed those attempts. For example, shaping the dogs behaviour from looking at an item to touching it with his nose. Each time he touched it with his nose, he passed that attempt (identified on the report by a tick) and each time he only looked at the item he failed (identified on the report by a cross). Is this the kind of information you would put in such a report?...is there anything else i should be including (e.g. schedules of reinforcement?)? Thanks everyone!

BAHAHAH!!! i like it I will talk to you over pm to organise something thanks again, greatly appreciated!

That would be fantastic! If you're serious about it ill send you a pm. I only have 2 months left of this course...and the assessment is due on april 17th....so that would be an awesome help :D

sorry Nekhbet you have me a little confused. Do you think i should go back to the start and hide the box around the house again? and go through the steps again?....sorry had a long day at work and the brain is a little fried!

Very true Nekhbet! but it is a very informative and enjoyable course!

Thanks for your replies. I didnt think i was moving too fast. When we had our workshop for the scent detection, we were told by the trainer (a guy who trains customs dogs etc) that the best way to do it is to have the dog indicate on the target box 10 times in a row before adding more boxes. Everytime he indicates on an incorrect box, you start back at 1. So i have been doing this with my dog. and over the past few weeks have worked our way up to 6 boxes. I didnt teach him a passive response as he has a lot of trouble sitting/dropping as he is still recovering from a torn crucit. He does the active response well...and by giving him the "ah-ah" everytime he indicates on a non-target box has actually really helped in stopping him scratching all boxes. To begin with...i just had the target odour in the box without the lid on it. I hid it around the house/outside and everytime he found it (without giving the active response) i rewarded him. I then started hiding it ouside and making it more difficult. Once he was doing that well, i added the lid onto the box...and waited until he started scratching it before i gave him the reward. I am worried that if i go right back to the start (hiding the box without a lid around the house) that i will confuse him?

No the "ah-ah" isnt something we have been taught to do. We were told that if they indicate on a non target box that we should just ignore them and get them to continue sniffing and reward when they indicate on the target one. I started doing this but i hit a problem. My dalmation just started scratching every box. He figured that it doesnt matter if it wasnt the right one...if he just scratched them all, he would eventually get the reward. I wasnt sure how to stop this....hence i started using the "ah-ah" and taking him away from them. If you have any other suggestions as to how to avoid him scratching all boxes then i would love to hear and try it out! And no....it probably isnt a jackpot if i do it everytime! Do you suggest i only reward him with one treat?....and if i did this...when (if ever) would you jackpot? Thanks

thats what i have been doing! just wanted to check that i am doing it correctly

Hey guys! So as many of you probably know i am teaching my dog to do scent detection for my course. He is progressing great...we have worked our way up over the past few weeks from 2 boxes to the final 6 boxes which is the number we will be using when we are tested. Anywho, at the moment i am jackpotting him every time he indicates on the target box (giving him about 3-4 treats). When he indicates on a non-target box i say "ah-ah"...take him away from the boxes, wait a few seconds and then get him to repeat the run. I am wondering whether i should be continuing this or changing his reinforcement from a continuous schedule (rewarding everytime he correctly indicates) to an intermittent schedule?.....I do vaguely remember a trainer from the course saying with scent detection you should always reward when they correctly indicate...and never use an intermittent schedule.. Just wondering what other people have done?? cheers!

I am not a dog trainer...but i am currently doing a course: Cert III in dog behaviour and training. Within that course one of the many things you learn is how to conduct dog obedience classes. Im not sure if this is of any help, but it is a great course, only runs part time for 8 months

yeah cosmolo i did think i was working the dog a bit too long!

good point! I did some more work for a bit with him today. The first few runs he did really great. But after a while...he just did the "ill just stand here".... Nekhbet - do you think if i did as you suggested - hiding the ball around the house etc and getting him to find it...that it would make him put more effort into it when i start hiding it in the box ?

hey guys thanks for your advice, i will give both of those things a try and see how i go. Nekhbet - i do believe he is actually sniffing the boxes. This is because the boxes have lids on them and look identical - so wouldnt it would be quite hard for him to be more keen on one box (the target box) than the other if he was only using his sight? I will still use your advice as this would help his response and motivation to do the task! clipandcoach - thanks, i will definately go back a few steps and msg you if i need more help!!