PUPPY TRAINING VLOG DAY ONE (perma)
February 18th, 2008 · 6 Comments
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
Tags: Obedience Training · Puppy Training · Vlog Puppy Training
6 responses so far ↓
1 Amy // Feb 18, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I am doing this a bit differently. Is it wrong? I’m basically doing the same thing, but also using the clicker. Should I be holding off on the clicker right now?
2 David Harris // Feb 19, 2008 at 9:06 am
No, you can introduce the clicker now. Cindy just relies on her voice more than the clicker at this point. And some very young, or timid puppies may shy away from the clicker at this point in the training. But, it is never to early to start conditioning a reinforcer.
3 David Harris // Feb 19, 2008 at 9:27 am
Just a little additional detail about the dayone Vlog. It is an important beginning step to first get the pup to eat from your OPEN hand so they know where the food comes from. Second, get the pup to take the food gently by holding the food in a CLOSED hand, holding your hand still, not moving or opening it until the puppy touches your hand gently with no teeth. Once the puppy stops biting, then immediately open your hand and praise the puppy. Some puppies will get this immediately and some will persist in biting the hand for a bit, but they will all get it eventually. If not, then we will provide you with some tips on balancing your training with just a tiny bit of correction to discourage the puppy from putting his teeth on you.
David
4 Amy // Feb 19, 2008 at 9:45 am
From what I’ve seen and heard so far, I don’t think any of these puppies will be shying away from the clicker noise. They all seem to be pretty bold.
5 Sandi // Mar 20, 2008 at 11:34 am
I will have had my new GSD for one week on Saturday. Do you feed the puppy some of its food in a bowl or do you feed all of it with this method. Also my puppy is much more hyper (she runs and jumps and eats with great gusto) is this little one unusually calm or what can I do to get mine to calm down a little?
6 David Harris // Mar 20, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Your puppy will calm down if handled correctly. The trick is not to reward this hyper activity with attention. Wait calmly until the pup gives up, calms down ever so slightly and then quickly praise and reward. Repeat, but this time expect just a little more calm before you treat. Your pup will soon realize that jumping and biting do not get the response they are looking for, but being calm does. Take just a little, but then expect more and more.
I feed all my puppies food from hand, but I have the time to allocate to five or six short training sessions per day. You can adjust this to suit your schedule. But, just be sure the puppy is hungry when you are ready for a training session. If you can’t training then just feed the puppy normally and pick up where you left off in your next session.
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