DOGGIE DOG BLOG

Text by: David Harris

Video and Training by: Cindy Jacobs

Featured puppy: Gus von Prufenpuden

www.vonjacobs.com

This is the start (DAY ONE) of Cindy’s video log. Here you can

see the fundamentals of training and developing with her new puppy—Gus von Prufenpuden. This will be the first in a series of videos designed to help people SEE the process that they have heard and read about, but not had a chance to view with their own eyes. The methods she will be using are mostly shaping techniques. I will be writing a post about shaping verses modeling techniques and how they are applied to modern dog training in the near future. For now, realize that Cindy has a goal; a vision of what she would like her puppy’s behavior to look like when complete. But, instead of insisting on a perfect response immediately, she is teaching the puppy in very small, easily learned steps. Each step is designed to move the puppy’s behavior slowly but surely, towards the end goal or vision. This first video shows and talks about an all important first step if you’re going to use shaping techniques. The first step is called Targeting. The puppy must learn to put his nose to your hand to gain a reward. In this case the reward is a food pellet. Not extra food, just part of the puppy’s daily ration. The purpose of Targeting is simple. It’s designed to make it possible to manipulate the puppy into positions without the need of physically touching the puppy. If the puppy will touch his nose to your hand, then you are in control of that puppy’s body. In this first video, you will see how Cindy starts the training process by simply allowing the puppy to eat food from her hand. Once the puppy gets the idea she will start to move her hand about, forcing the puppy to move to gain a reward. Touch the hand, get the reward; it’s that simple, but it is also that important. Without targeting, you will not be able to use shaping techniques to quickly move the puppy forward into learning new behaviors. Later, once you have developed better communication, the targeting becomes less and less important. In this stage however, it is critical that your puppy is motivated (wants the food) and understands the importance of following and touching his/her nose to your hand. The other goal Cindy has at this stage is to start making an association between a sound (spoken word or click) and the arrival of the reward. This conditioning is critical for the development of advanced training and communication. “That’s It,” = Food. Good timing of rewards is good communication, and good communication between you and your dog is of the utmost importance. Enjoy the video and please post your comments and questions. Cindy or I will do our best to reply to your questions as quickly as possible.

David Harris

http://www.animalresortstc.com

http://www.doggiedogblog.com