Luckily, there is more than one way to exercise a dog. Putting their brains to work can be as tiring and fun as physical exercise. There are many games, puzzles and learning activities you can do with your dog that will bust their boredom, boost their brain, and maybe even set them up for a good nap afterwards.

Tricks for Kicks

If your dog has learned the basic commands, a rainy day is the perfect time to work on some new material. And yes, you can certainly teach an old dog new tricks. My 14-year old is still keen to learn new behaviours. Learning tricks is a great way to give your dog enrichment, develop your training skills and strengthen your bond with your dog. When teaching new tricks, keep it simple and break down the behaviour into small steps, rewarding your dog at each approximation to the final behaviour. For instance, if you want to teach your dog to spin. Start by rewarding your dog for turning their head to the side, then towards their flank, then taking a step in the direction of the turn, then turning half-way until they turn all the way around.

A great resource for trick training is the Do More With Your Dog website. You can also find books about trick training such as The Big Book of Tricks for the Best Dog Ever. Many dog trainers, including myself, offer trick training classes if you want in-person coaching. 

Nose Workouts

Getting your dog to use their super sniffer is an excellent way to give your pooch enrichment and tire them out. Nose work is also used regularly by trainers as therapy for anxiety and hyperactivity in dogs. It requires a great deal of focus, and has a calming effect on the brain. When the dog finds the source of the scent, dopamine, a “feel good” hormone is released. As with training any new behaviour, it’s important to start off easy and progress in small steps. 

1. Use some tasty and smelly treats. Say, “Find it!”, then toss a treat on the ground. Repeat several times until your dog’s eyes sparkle and tail wags when you say the cue. 
2. Next, have your dog wait while you place a treat further away. Return to your dog and give then the cue, “Find it!”. 
3. After several repetitions, you can start to place the treat in easy hiding places such as under a coffee table or behind the leg of a chair, still in full view of your dog.
4. After several successful finds, let your dog watch you hide two treats, then three treats, in easy places. During this step, start rubbing the treat on a paper towel and ask them to sniff before you tell them to “Find it.”
5. Next, let them watch you hide treats in harder places – on elevated surfaces, under things, and behind things. Continue to ask them to sniff the scented paper towel before sending them to “Find it.”
6. Eventually, your dog will be ready for some great hunting fun. You can put your dog in another room while you hide a few treats. Then you bring them back into the room, have them sniff the scented paper towel, and tell them to “Find it!”. Resist the temptation to help your dog if they struggle. The object of the game is for your dog to use their nose to find the treats, not ask their human. If they can’t find some of the treats after trying for some time, remove your dog from the room, put the remaining treats in easier places and let them try again.

You can find many videos on Youtube that show you how to introduce nose work to your dog. You can also find online classes. For in-person coaching, you can ask a local certified dog trainer for help.

Food Puzzles

 There are many commercially-available interactive dog toys such as Kongs, and Nina Ottosson puzzles. You can also make DIY toys from materials around the home to give your dog some challenges.

• Muffin Tin Game – Take a muffin tin and as many tennis balls as your tin has cups. Place a treat in each cup, and press a tennis ball into the cup. Show your dog there’s a treat under the ball if necessary, then hold the tin steady while they work to get the goodies.
• Roll out to win – Take a bathmat, old towel or carpet runner and drop treats onto it. Roll it up then give it to your dog to figure out how to unroll it and get the treats.

• Bottle feeder– Puncture a number of holes into an empty plastic water or pop bottle. The holes should be large enough for your dog’s kibble to fall through. Then put some of your dog’s dried kibble or treats into the bottle, fasten the cap, then give it to your dog to roll around to make the food drop out.

So when the weather outside is frightful, there are plenty of activities you can do with your dog to keep cabin fever at bay. These activities are equally good for occupying dogs who are convalescing after an injury. Give their brains a good workout and you could have a dog as equally tired and satisfied as if they had had that hour-long walk.

The post Rainy Day Dog Training: How to enrich and exercise your dog when you can’t go outside first appeared on Paragon Pooch Pet Services CPDT-KA.

The post Rainy Day Dog Training: How to enrich and exercise your dog when you can’t go outside appeared first on Paragon Pooch Pet Services CPDT-KA.

What it is

Humane dog training methods use positive reinforcement and negative punishment. They are also known as reward-based methods, positive reinforcement, or force free methods. They basically involve giving or withholding rewards contingent on the dog’s behaviour.

Positive reinforcement entails adding something of value immediately after a behaviour so that the behaviour is likely to be repeated. Of course, adding something the animal likes such as a treat, attention or play will increase this likelihood. So when we use the term, positive, it means that something is added. Reinforcement means that the behaviour will repeat. For example, your dog comes to you and you give them a food reward (something is added). This consequence has the effect of increasing the frequency of the behaviour (the behaviour is reinforced).

Negative punishment is removing something immediately after a behaviour so that the behaviour doesn’t repeat. It’s negative because something is being removed such as a toy or attention. It is considered punishment because it causes the behaviour to decrease. For example, your puppy jumps on you so you turn your back and move away. You are removing your attention and access to you (negative) to stop the jumping (punishment).

What it isn’t

Humane dog training doesn’t use force, fear, pain or intimidation to teach behaviour. It is not based on the out-dated, discredited dominance theory; the objective is not to be the alpha and show the animal who’s the boss. No electric collars or fences, choke chains, yelling or hitting is employed. Aversive methods are not necessary.  Indeed, they are even less effective in training behaviour. Positive training is also not permissive. Annoying and destructive behaviour is not tolerated. Dogs are by no means allowed to be a nuisance or put themselves or others at risk. 

How it works

In positive, force-free training, the trainer focuses on reinforcing good behaviours from the dog instead of focusing on correcting undesirable behaviours. It teaches the dog what TO DO instead of what NOT TO DO, which is much more compatible with how animals learn best. The trainer manipulates the environment and handles the dog in such a way as to avoid or prevent bad behaviour. The goal is to set the dog up for success as much as possible so that it can practice good behaviour more than bad.  The dog is reinforced rather than corrected, thus being engaged, motivated to learn, feeling safe, and enjoying the training.

What’s rewarding is in the eye of the beholder

For most training objectives, food is the best reward to use. All dogs like food and it’s the easiest reward to access and deliver quickly. Play, such as a quick game of tug or fetch, is also commonly used as a reward for dogs with a high toy drive. Petting and praise are often used in training, but scientific studies have shown that dogs do not respond to praise unless it has been conditioned to a higher value reward. Most dogs like to be petted, but the several studies found that dogs prefer food over petting as a reward in a training situation. Find out which food and play rewards your dog prefers and use those to motivate your dog in learning.  I’ve had some dog clients actually prefer broccoli over liver treats! The point is that your dog is the one who decides what is reinforcing, not the trainer.

When +R doesn’t work

Maybe you’ve tried reward-based training but didn’t get the results you wanted. Like anything else, you have to use it correctly and there are many tricks of the trade to follow in order to have success. 

• Use the right reward for the job -If I’m practicing known behaviours indoors with few distractions, I can use kibble as a reward with my dog. When I’m working outdoors or in another distracting environment and/or training new or more complex behaviours, I’m going to use a much higher value reward such as cooked meats. 
• Have a plan – When training a behaviour, it’s best to know where you’re going and how to get there. Know the target behaviour and the possible steps to achieve it. Set criteria for each step so you know what you are going to reward.
• Clean up your mechanics – If the way you mark behaviour and deliver rewards is slow or sloppy, it muddies the communication between you and your dog and can also cause your dog to become frustrated and disengaged from learning.
• You are bribing instead of reinforcing – If you are shaking the cookie jar to get your dog in from the yard, you are bribing your dog, not teaching them to come when called. The reward should only appear right after the dog has performed the desired behaviour.  And no, you don’t always have to have treats on you or reward every single good behaviour. There is a technique to learning how to work without visible treats.
• What you’re asking is too difficult – It’s very common for us to progress too quickly when training our dogs. Slower is faster.  Slice behaviours down into baby steps and give the dog lots of practice to build understanding and confidence before trying to have them do the behaviour in different environments and contexts. Build in distractions gradually. They pose a considerable challenge to dogs whose senses are much more acute than ours.

Dog training is a learned skill that takes time and know-how to master. Don’t feel ashamed if you’re struggling. You can seek help from a qualified, positive reinforcement trainer to help you learn the techniques.

Why use positive reinforcement in dog training

Many studies by experts in animal behaviour have shown this type of positive training to be much more effective, safe, more ethical and having no mental, emotional or physical ill effects compared to punishment-based training.

The key to working with any dog is the relationship between the dog and the handler. Positive training builds the dog’s confidence, trust and optimism, and develops connection between dog and handler. These all contribute to a healthy, strong relationship with your dog which, in turn, facilitates good behaviour and obedience from your dog.

It’s so uplifting to see more and more dog owners choosing clickers and treat pouches over corrections and choke chains. And our dogs are much happier and better behaved for it.

The post Positive Dog Training: What is it, and Why and How You Should Use it. first appeared on Paragon Pooch Pet Services CPDT-KA.

The post Positive Dog Training: What is it, and Why and How You Should Use it. appeared first on Paragon Pooch Pet Services CPDT-KA.