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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.246



Koehler, William.  _The Koehler Method of Dog Training_. Howell Books.

Milani, Myrna M., DVM. _The Weekend Dog_.  Signet (Penguin Books USA,
Inc.) (1985). ISBN: 0-451-15731-1 (paperback).
  This book outlines practical solutions for working people with dogs.
  It has excellent suggestions for understanding dog behavior,
  particularly destructive or unwanted behavior.  Gives all kinds of
  practical solutions to the problems of adequate exercise, adequate
  training, housebreaking, and so forth.

Strickland, Winifred G. _Expert Obedience Training for Dogs_.  Third
revised edition.  Howell Book House (Macmillan Publishing Company),
New York.  1987.  ISBN: 0-02-615000-X (hardcover).
  Strickland is a well known dog trainer.  Covers all aspects of
  training and competition including the formal training for AKC
  obedience trials (novice, open, utility, tracking).  Includes some
  general care (health and feeding) tips.  Author has also written
  _Obedience Class Instruction for Dogs_.

Tucker, Michael. _Dog Training Step by Step_.
  Tucker is an ex GDB instructor and his books are easy to read and
  follow. His others are _Dog Training Made Easy_, _Solving Your Dog
  Problems_.

2.  What is best for your dog?

This really depends on the temperament and intelligence of your dog,
and your own ability.  There is no one method that works for all dogs
since breed and temperment plays a large part.

3.  Consistency, Timing, and Patience

Good results in obedience training require large doses of the above.
You must be consistent: use the same word for a particular command
every time (e.g., don't use "Come" sometimes and "Come here" other
times).  You must develop a fine sense of timing when introducing new
commands and later correcting behavior on learned commands.  Patience
is needed: losing your temper is counterproductive.  Get the whole
family to agree on the commands, but have only one person train the
dog to minimize confusion for the dog.

Establish a daily training period, preferably just before dinner.  It
can be as short as twenty minutes, or longer.  Establishing a routine
helps.

Don't expect overnight success.  It can take up to two years of
consistent work, depending on the dog, for a properly trained dog.
(This is where the patience comes in!)

4.  Praise

You must praise often and unambiguously.  A smile won't do it.  Give
abundant verbal praise, scratch your dog on the head, etc.

Try making the command word part of a praise phrase.  In this case,
whenever your dog is in the desired heel position, you could say
something like "Good heel!" in a praising tone of voice.  Note that
you only give the command *once* but that the command word is repeated
in the praise phrase for reinforcement.  That seems to satisfy the
objective of the proponents of repeating the command (i.e. letting the
dog hear the command often) without actually repeating it as a
command.  Further, because it is being said when the dog is doing it
right rather than during a correction the dog doesn't create any
negative association with the command as the latter is likely to
cause.

5.  When should I start?

If you have a puppy -- don't wait!  Enroll in a kindergarten puppy
class once its up on its shots.  Don't wait until the pup is 6 months
old to start anything.

Training before "six months of age" is fine if you see the puppy
having fun with these lessons.  Just remember to keep the lessons
short, don't loose patience when your puppy suddenly forgets
everything it ever knew, and give it plenty of time just to be a
puppy.  In the long term, the time you spend with your puppy
exploring, playing together and meeting new people is probably more
important important than your short "training" sessions, but both
activities are very helpful.

Remember:

  * Make it fun *for the pup*.
  * Expect setbacks.  Just because the pup understood what you meant
    yesterday, doesn't mean he'll remember it today.  This means
    *lots* of repetition.  Teach the basic commands: sit, stay, and
    come for now.

6.  Obedience classes

You may find it well worth your while, especially if you are new to
training dogs, to attend obedience classes.  Most places have local
training schools.  Be sure to check up on these places.  Call the
Better Business Bureau and your local SPCA for any specific complaints
registered with them.  Especially check carefully places where you
ship your dog out to be trained: many of these places are suspect,
because YOU must also be trained to handle your dog.  Beware of
advertising that claim LIFETIME warranties on the training, GUARANTEED
solutions, etc.  It is best for you and your dog to go through
obedience training together, so that you both learn from each other.


H.  Attention

An important aspect of obedience training is getting your dog's
attention.  Your dog will not perform as readily if it isn't paying
attention to you.  There are a number of things you can do to get its
attention, and you should be sure to praise it for paying attention.

The Monks of New Skete stress this a lot in their book (with the
addition that in turn, you've got to pay attention to what your dog is
communicating to you during training).  If there's one piece of
definitive advice about dog training this must be it.

1.  Umbilical cords

Put your dog on a medium-to-short leash and tie it to your belt.  Now,
go about the house on your ordinary business.  Do not pay attention to
the dog.  It will quickly learn to pay attention to you to determine
when you are going to get up and walk around, or where you are going.
This is an especially effective exercise with puppies and also lays a
good foundation for learning to heel later.  Start with short periods
of time, say 15 minutes, and work up as your puppy gets older and more
familiar with this exercise.

2.  Watching

If you look up and catch your dog watching you (this is different from
the staring contests mentioned above because the dog is not "staring"
at you when it is watching you move around), praise it.

3.  Food in your mouth, spitting it at your dog

An excellent exercise for teaching attention.  It gets the dog to
concentrate directly on your face, not your hands or pocket.  Do this
as a separate exercise, until your dog understands that it must watch
your face.  Also, DON'T let them pick up the food from the floor or
ground.  If you do, they will learn that they don't have to catch the
treat.  They can just wait and pick it up.  And don't let them come
back later to clean up.

Do not, however, use food in general when obedience training.  See
Using Food below.

4.  Talking softly

Talk softly to your dog.  It will have to pay more attention to you.
This is especially effective when younger, and is a good habit to get
into.


I.  Corrections.

You should never correct when you yourself are upset, angry or
downright mad, especially at your dog.  Good correction depends on
timing, a keen awareness of what the dog is thinking, and quick
switching between correction and praise, all of which are difficult
when you are upset.  Stop the exercise until you regain your
equilibrium.  You will have much difficulty training your dog if you
continually get mad while doing it.  In fact, if you always or often
get mad when training your dog, someone else should train it.  You
will get absolutely nowhere yelling at your dog.

1.  Young puppies

The dictum "don't train before 6 months of age" doesn't make any sense
unless you're talking about the *correction* involved in formal
obedience training.  If you think about it, you train your dog all the
time whether you realize it or not.  Dogs are great at picking up your
body language and tone of voice.  Even if you're not trying to train
them, they're "training" themselves using the clues we give them (and
many "problems" are classic cases of the dogs misunderstanding their
owner's signals).

If possible with a young puppy it is best to use the "correction" of
distraction.  When you deny the puppy something, try to replace it
with a positive activity rather than just being negative and oppressive
all the time.  Otherwise, limit your corrections to a verbal "no."

2.  Older dogs

There comes a time in training any dog that it must do what you ask
just because you asked the dog to do it.  You have been helping your
dog with this particular task for a while and you see the look in its
eye that says, "Yes, I know what you want, but I don't want to do that
right now."  This is very different than the look that says, "Huh???"
You do have to know the dog you are training and be able to tell the
difference between these looks.  That is just part of being a trainer,
and no one can really teach you this skill, but you do have to learn
it.

Always praise the dog immediately when it listens to your corrections.
Again, this gives the "jekyll and hyde" feel to dealing with your dog.
But it is very important to immediately praise your dog for listening
to you.  This helps build confidence and keeps the dogs from having
that "hang-dog" look when performing.

3.  Proofing

Proofing is a method where you make sure your dog understands a
command, *after* you have taught the dog the command.  It isn't fair
to proof a dog on a command when it is still learning what it means.

For example, you teach your dog to stay.  After making it stay in a
relatively distraction-free environment, you step up the pressure.
You throw balls up in the air and catch them, squeak toys, have
someone stand near your dog and talk softly to it.  If your dog gets
up, gently put it back.  If after doing this for a while, the dog
still gets up, then you start putting him back less gently, i.e.
taking your dog roughly by the collar and putting it back, escalating
to picking your dog up by the collar so that its front legs come off
the ground and VERY slowly putting it back in its place, escalating to
picking the dog up by its skin so that its front legs come off the
ground and VERY slowly putting it back.  Some dogs get the idea more
quickly than others; stop your correction when it stays down.

When your dog passes this step, increase the pressure by throwing
balls all around him, bouncing them on the ground, etc.  Also, someone
else should try to offer him food, make strange noises such as
clapping , barking like a dog, meowing like a cat, using toys or
things that make strange noises.

When your dog passes this step, increase the pressure by putting it on
a stay and having someone shout in a loud voice "ROVER, COME!" (do not
use your dog's name), "OK", "DOWN" (if doing a sit stay).  If at home,
put him on a stay and go and ring the doorbell.  It should take
several months (6-8) to work through all of these distractions and
care must be taken to not blow the dog's mind by putting him in a
situation that he is not ready for or by never letting the dog "win"
(i.e., successfully perform an exercise).

Always let the dog "win" on the last exercise in the session.  That
is, end the sessions on positive notes, with much praise.  This keeps
your dog interested in the work.


J.  Using Food.

According to the last chapter of Diane Bauman's book _Beyond Basic Dog
Training_ there is more to dog training and to trainer-dog
relationships than just the dog performing for food and toys.  The dog
should have a relationship with you and work to please you and work
for your praise.  That should be the important thing in your training,
the relationship.

Remember, the goal in obedience is consistency.  If you have a
hard-charging dog when you train with treats and toys, but have a
slow, depressed dog when you take the treats away, getting any kind of
consistent performance out of the dog will be VERY difficult.  Sure,
with a slow dog you may loose a few points for lack of "Utmost
willingness" but if the dog does every sit correctly, every front
correctly and works confidently, you will still do well in the show
ring.

Further, there are many cases of dogs trained using these techniques
that are "ring-wise."  They know they will not be corrected nor will
they be rewarded "properly" for their performance, so why should they
work?


K.  Training and Corrective Collars.

There are several kinds of collars.  There are the plain flat buckled
ones for everyday use available in a wide variety of colors, sizes and
fastners (from buckles to quick-release).

Note that puppies do not need corrective collars.

For training purposes, there are choke collars (also called training
collars), pinch collars and prong collars.  Used properly, there is
nothing wrong with any of these collars, although they often look
rather alarming.  The point is that these collars are for control, not
for pain infliction.  Yanking savagely on these collars is
counterproductive; firm corrections get the point across without
injury.  Try this experiment: wrap each of the collars around your arm
in turn and have someone experienced with corrections give a
correction to your arm.

The Monks of New Skete have a very sensible discussion about choke or
training collars.  In _The Art of Raising a Puppy_, they emphasize:

   "A combination of related elements must all work together [to make
  leash corrections properly]:

      -a properly fitted training collar that is put on correctly
      -a leash that is held so that there is always some slack
       between you and your pup
      -a three step correction consisting of a "No" with a leash pop,
       repetition of the command, and immediate praise upon compliance.

  ...for most breeds we recommend a soft braided nylon training
  collar that is snug going over the pup's head and which rests
  comfortably high on its neck.  Because nylon collars are lightweight
  and flexible, they do not tend to slide down to the bottom of the pup's
  neck as many steel collars do, so you can make easier, more effective
  corrections."

To prevent your dog from injury from corrective collars, do not leave
them on when you are not around.  Its usual collar should be a plain
flat bucked collar; save the choke and prong collars for actual
training and when you are around.


L.  Learning to Sit.

Command, "Sit!".  Pull straight up on your leash (do not jerk),
simultaneously push (do not hit) down on the dog's rump.  After the
dog knows the exercise, a tap on the rump is appropriate if the dog
refuses to sit.

Another way is to have the dog focus on your hand.  Say "sit," move
your hand over its head so that it must sit to keep it focused.
Praise it when it is sitting.


M.  Down, Stay, Off.

One caveat is to be sure that you are consistent with "down" and
"off."  Do not use them interchangeably, you will only confuse your
dog.  "Down" should be the classic "lie down on the floor" command,
"off" needs to be "get all your paws on the ground (and off me or off
the chair) NOW!"

Traditionally, you start by putting the dog in a sit position.  Then,
using your hand, or a toy, guide its nose down until it's in a down
position.


N.  Heeling

To make the process of learning to heel easier, start when your dog is
a puppy.  Don't expect it to heel, but discourage from the beginning
any forging (lunging) or lagging on the leash.  Keep the puppy focused
on you when on leash.  This may mean constantly talking to your pup to
keep its attention.  Pretty soon, you'll have a pup that stays pretty
close to you on leash and doesn't pull in any direction.  The umbilical
cord approach suggested for attention can be a good way to start and
maintain this.  Don't worry about "perfect heeling" for several months
yet; it is too much to ask of a puppy right away.

When you and your dog are ready to learn heeling, there are several
approaches to take.

  * Try binding, where you have only a few inches of slack on your
    leash.  Hold the lead like a baseball bat handle, with your hands
    almost on his collar.  "Plaster" you arms against your body.  When
    you start off (with your left leg) tell him heel and hold him
    right there at your side.  If he pulls ahead, add pressure in the
    lead backwards and say "get back".  Once he stops pulling tell him
    "good boy". Stop and do about four straight lines first (no turns
    yet). Just counter any way he pulls with either "get back",
    "get-up" "get-in" or "get out".  When he is in the right spot,
    tell him he's good.  Just do a few short heels first and increase
    length. As he learns where heel is, he should stop pulling then
    you can let more leash out and do the same thing.  If he starts
    pulling again, go right back down to just a few inches.

  * Put your dog on a 6 foot leash with either a choke collar (not
    prong) or flat collar.  Hold the loop of the leash in your right
    hand and keep your hand against your waist.  Loop the slack over
    the thumb of that hand.  Walk around the back yard and when your
    dog walks past you and is not paying attention, turn 180 degrees,
    drop the slack from the leash and RUN!  Your Dog will get turned
    around and will have to follow.  As soon as the leash is slack
    STOP moving.  Say "good <name>," pick up the slack and walk around
    the yard again.  Whenever your dog goes ahead of you and it can't
    see you, drop slack, turn and RUN again.  Don't jerk the leash
    like a correction.  You want a constant pull and if you keep your
    hand against your waist a jerk on the leash won't happen.

  * Practice your foot work.  Make sure you are clear with your
    about-turns, left-turns and right turns.  Bauman illustrates the
    way to turn with photographs in her book.  Being clear with your
    turns helps clue your dog into when you are going to turn.

  * Along with foot work is timing - count out loud "1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2"
    and keep each pace the same length.  When going slow it's "1 and 2
    and 1 and 2" same length paces but at 1/2 time.  Fast is "121212"
    again but twice as fast and with the same length paces.

  * Simple direction changes help as well: do an "about-face" turn
    whenever the heel starts disintegrating.  That way, your dog has
    to stay closer to you to watch where you're going.


O.  Learning Recall.

First of all, the golden rule of recall:

*******************************************
NEVER PUNISH YOUR DOG WHEN IT COMES TO YOU!
*******************************************

It will not want to come to you if it associates that with punishment.
*Always* praise a dog for coming to you.  Remember its associative
powers are limited, and it will only understand that it was punished
for coming to you, regardless of what it just did before that.

1.  Starting young

Understand that teaching a 1 year old dog the recall is not the ideal
situation.  Your dog should be taught the recall by 4 months or so,
and when the dog is younger, it is much easier.  By the time the dog
is a year old, and starting to exert its dominance, the recall should
be a well-established habit and a few relatively minor corrections
should re-establish that habit in case there are minor lapses.

2.  On leash

Make a fun game of it, get your dog to understand what that command
is.  With a puppy, call its name and "COME".  Get down and open your
arms wide as your pup comes in to "funnel" it toward you.  Make a big
fuss over it.

Sit your dog down, on a lead, and make it stay.  Walk to the end of
the lead and say "<name>, COME" and give it just a little pop and run
AWAY from your dog.  As your dog gets to you, make it sit in front of
you.  PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE!!  Work on this way until your dog starts
coming before you can give the little pop.  Then get a long lead (15
feet or so) and do the same thing.  Then progress to letting it drag
the 15 foot lead around.  Call your dog as you are working in the
yard, or doing other things.  Always praise.

Make your dog sit every time it comes to you.  This avoids the later
common problem of the dog running past you when you call it.

3.  Off leash

Don't start off leash until you know that your dog understands recall
on a leash.  The proofing techniques outlined below are only for
correcting dogs (NOT puppies) *that understand* but *choose not to
obey*.  This is very different from the case of trying to get the dog
to understand what you want it to do in the first place, and applying
these kinds of corrections to a dog that does not know what you want
will probably ruin it for obedience training.

3.1.  Starting off leash

Take off the leash, sit the dog, and tell it to stay.  Walk away about
6 feet and call your dog.  If it does not come, calmly and slowly walk
up to it, take its collar in your hands, and then back up to where you
were when you called your dog, pulling it gently along with you.  When
you get to the starting point, tell it what a good dog it is.  Keep
doing the exercise.  If it still refuses to do it, lift its legs off
the ground while going to the starting point.  You will escalate the
unpleasantness of not coming without injury.  Each time you return to
the starting point, praise your dog.

3.2.  Friend nearby distraction

Have a friend offer to play with your dog when you call it.  If it
doesn't come (because playing is so much more fun than doing a
recall), go over to your dog (don't run over to it, or yell at it
while doing so) and pull it back to the starting point.  Always back
up to your starting point, to emphasize to your dog that it should be
in front of you and to let you look at it during the correction
(staring is alpha behavior).  For each failure, you need to escalate
the dragging back (again, without injury or anger, if you find
yourself getting angry and frustrated, stop the exercise until you
calm down): hold the side of the face, both sides, the ear, the lips,
the skin on top of the head (in escalating order).

This dog knows beyond any shadow of a doubt at this point what you
want it to do, but when the offer of a friend with a toy or with food
is more important than obeying you command, the correction must be
sufficiently severe.  Then, it will ignore the offer of food or a toy,
and he will come to you.  When it does, without being dragged, praise
the dog enthusiastically, as lavishly as you can.

With some dogs, the exercise is not over yet, but you need to repeat
the exercise to make certain the dog has it.  With others, you get one
good response, and you quit.  Again it all depends on the dog.

3.3. Increased area

When the dog is reliable in your enclosed training area, then to to a
larger enclosed area and make sure the dog understands when the
distances are greater.  When you are up to several hundred yards,
you've pretty much got it made. Add as many distractions as you can.
If your dog likes to play with other dogs, use dogs as a distraction
and make your dog interrupt a play session to do a recall.  If your
dog ignores you, correct the dog.

Only call your dog once.  If the dog disobeys, don't call again,
just correct the dog.


P.  Beyond Basic Obedience.

It is, of course, beyond the scope of this article to discuss any more
advanced obedience exercises in any kind of detail.  However, there
are many resources if you are interested in further obedience
training.

1.  Classes

There are a number of classes, public and private, offered for more
extensive obedience training.  Especially if you get to know an
experienced handler/trainer well, you can learn a lot from that
person.

2.  Books

There are a several books available that devote a good deal of
discussion to training dogs, above and beyond what most dog books do.
These are:

Bauman, Diane L.  _Beyond Basic Dog Training_.  New, updated edition.
Howell Book House (Maxwell Maxmillan International), New York.  1991.
ISBN: 0-87605-410-6.
  Emphasis is on training a "thinking" dog rather than a
  pattern-trained dog.  Extensive manual on obedience training.
  Communication and understanding are discussed.  A well known and
  often recommended book.

Strickland, Winifred G. _Expert Obedience Training for Dogs_.  Third
revised edition.  Howell Book House (Macmillan Publishing Company),
New York.  1987.  ISBN: 0-02-615000-X (hardcover).
  Strickland is a well known dog trainer.  Covers all aspects of
  training and competition including the formal training for AKC
  obedience trials (novice, open, utility, tracking).  Includes some
  general care (health and feeding) tips.  Author has also written
  _Obedience Class Instruction for Dogs_.

3.  Magazines

4.  Mailing list

There ia an electronic mailing list devoted to dog obedience issues.
This is not for the novice, but for the person starting on advanced
obedience training, as well as those experienced with these
techniques.  It is a good forum for discussing particular problems
that may come up in the course of training your dog.  The list's
volume is moderate, with occasional peaks and valleys, depending on
how "hot" the current topic is.  For more information, send email to
the list maintainer at [e-mail].

----------------
This file is Copyright (c) 1992 by Cindy Tittle Moore.  It may be
freely distributed in its entirety provided that this copyright notice
is not removed.  It may not be sold for profit nor incorporated in
commercial documents without the author's written permission.

Cindy Tittle Moore
Internet: [e-mail]  UUCP: ...!ucbvax!ucivax!tittle
Bitnet  : cltittle@uci        USmail: PO BOX 4188, Irvine CA 92716
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Subject: rec.pets.dogs:  Companion and Working Dogs FAQ
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Archive-name: dogs-faq/working
Version: 2.4
Last-modified: 25 September 1992

This is one (of ten) of the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Lists
for rec.pets.dogs.  It is posted on a monthly basis: updates,
additions, and corrections (including attributions) are always
welcome: send email to one of the addresses below.

The ten parts are all archived at pit-manager.mit.edu (18.172.1.27) in
the directory /pub/usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq.  The files are:
introduction, new, health-care, medical-info, training, working,
AKC-titles, misc1, misc2, and references.  To obtain the files, first
try ftp to pit-manager.mit.edu and look under that directory.  If ftp
does not work from your site, then try the mail server: send email to
[e-mail] with

send usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/introduction
send usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/new
send usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/health-care
send usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/medical-info
send usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/training
send usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/working
send usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/AKC-titles
send usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/misc1
send usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/misc2
send usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/references

in the body of the message (leave the subject line empty).  If you
don't want all of them, include only the lines of the ones you want.
You do have to repeat the path information for each file.

This is still rough in some places.  In particular, I would like:
1) additional information on water rescue
2) additional info on dogs & frisbee & any other "game" activity

VI.  Companion and Working Dogs.

  A.  Dogs for the Blind
  B.  Hearing and Signal Dogs.
  C.  Canine Companions for Independence.
  D.  Therapy Dogs.
  E.  Search and Rescue Dogs.
  F.  Water Rescue Dogs.
  G.  Narcotics and Evidence Dogs.
  H.  Schutzhund.
  I.  Police Dogs.
  J.  Sled Dogs.
  K.  Gaming Dogs.


A.  Dogs for the Blind

My thanks to Rusty Wright for the information on Guide Dogs.

Dogs can be trained to accompany and guide blind people.  Most
commonly referred to as "Seeing Eye Dogs" or "Guide Dogs," there are
actually several organizations within the US and many abroad that
train dogs to guide the blind.