Category: Getting Started ¤
  Author: Dani Weinberg ¤
   Title: Getting Started ¤

Welcome, Trisha!  It really is fun, isn't it!

> >     But, being brand new at this I have a hard time not saying ANYTHING
while I am shaping a new behavior.>>
 
On training "without saying anything," here are a few thoughts.  First of
all, you can smile - and that starts to feel like you're "talking" to your
dogs.  In fact, you *are* - or, at least, communicating in a more general
sense of the word.  I've noticed how little J&P trainers smile when they're
training or showing.

Next, there's nothing wrong with a little friendly chatter to the dog
("How did you do that, get that treat?  Can you do that again?  Do you
remember?  Can you figure it out?  Of course you can!  You're so clever!").
   I do a lot of that when I'm training, and I know others do too.  I think
of smiling and chattering as "incompatible behaviors" with giving premature
verbal cues, so they can be helpful to what some people call a "crossover
trainer" (which is what many of us on the list are, 
having grown up in J&P and moved into OC).

>Plus, both dogs are still unsure about the shaping part of the training
because they do not know to offer behaviors yet (they do LOVE getting
treats for things, and not getting any negative reinforcement/corrections,
however).

A common early problem with "crossover" dogs.  We have to poke and prod
them a little into being creative.  
  
>I have shaped going and touching a target/plate (which will
eventually be to solidify hitting contact zones in Agility), and they are
progressing nicely.  I think it worked so well because they naturally were
curious as soon as I put the plate on the floor.  But I seem to keep
hitting a brick wall when I try to start shaping something new and they
start staring at me for a few minutes on end, sitting perfectly still.
Then I give them a command they already know (beg, down, etc.) and they do
it instantly.

A good way to get their creative juices (and yours!) flowing is to start
shaping spontaneous behaviors that they offer - anything at all such as ear
twitches, head turns, scratching, sighing, pawing, play-bowing, stretching,
pushing a ball around - and to start teaching them tricks that you choose
based on their own natural behaviors.  For example, if your dog frequently
rolls over, you teach Rollover!  If she does a lot of paw-lifting, you
teach Shake or Wave or High Five out of that natural behavior.  And you can
always build on the target training you've already started successfully.
Targeting is a wonderfully versatile behavior.
 
It's good to start this whole process by getting as far away as you can
from formal, serious "obedience" behaviors - or in fact anything they
already know.  Oh, and BTW, when they stare at you, don't stare back!
You'll just freeze them in position.  Move yourself and your dog will move
too  - thereby offering you a behavior to "catch" with the clicker.
 
>Dani,

>It often works that way, but never trust "single trial learning" when
working with something so crucial -- The real goal is to get to the point
where the reinforcers are all positive, and that takes a bunch of repetitions!
  
>Regards,
>Gary 

p.s. You just broke a bunch of dictums of modern psychology – you heretic,
you!