MANAGING MOTIVATION
Training is not about how to control your dog. It is about controlling what motivates your dog.
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Would you go to work if there was no pay cheque at the end of the week? Would you participate in an activity someone else was telling you to do, that you would not naturally have considered and initially found difficult to understand? It’s what you’re asking of your dog when it comes to training so you’d better make it worth his while, at least in the initial stages of learning something new.
So what gets your dog all fired up and ready to work?
The best way to get a dog invested in your training plans is to make it fun according to what your dog perceives as fun ─ to do this you have to tune in to what he's going to find instinctively motivating.
What does your dog enjoy?
We’ll call this the “reinforcer”. It could be food, toys, going for a walk, sniffing scents, stealing socks, finding a way up to the table to scrounge for leftovers, unrolling the toilet paper all the way down the hall, chewing up shoes (what your dog enjoys is not necessarily what you're going to find amusing), and praise. I’m not saying the sock stealing or shoe chewing should be encouraged. The idea is to tune in to what motivates your dog (sniffing, chewing, food, treasure hunting, etc.) and channelling these natural behaviours into activities you do find useful and amusing.
You’ll notice I’ve listed praise last. As much as we would prefer our dogs to work exclusively for praise, it really doesn’t rank all that high as an effective motivator, not on its own. Praise is important to build trust and to convey to your dog he has successfully provided the behaviour you’ve asked of him. It should however, be paired with a higher ranking reinforcer. In addition, praise will rank a little higher or lower depending on your dog’s breed.
In my time as a dog trainer, I’ve been told on more than one occasion that an owner’s dog is not motivated by food, only to have the dog leap to attention when I bring out the cooked stewing beef. Choice of food matters too. Dogs can tire of “sameness” just as we can.
Here's an example of shaping a dog's natural behaviour
As a puppy my Jack Russell Terrier, Sadie, loved to steal socks. She was small and fast and I got tired of chasing her. I also got tired of buying new socks so instead of trying to train this natural inclination out of existence, I shaped the “Drop it” command so she could still acquire the socks but would have to drop them at my feet rather than destroying them, for a treat pay off. I considered it a win/win situation since the sock collecting saved me time and energy in rooting them out myself on laundry day and my task motivated pup was allowed to continue the game she loved so much (how you want to handle shoes is up to you).
Restricting your dog’s access to top reinforcers
If your dog finds a specific toy particularly appealing, restrict his access to it. Keep it only for training. If the reinforcer is a specific food, keep that food only for training. Note also that training reinforcers (treats) should not be bigger than the end of a pencil eraser.
Controlling the reinforcers
Simple reinforcers like food or toys are easy to control because you can offer or withhold them.
Complex reinforcers (an activity a dog is naturally drawn to) like sniffing, is harder to control. If you feel you spend too much time waiting for your dog to stop sniffing, put the activity on cue. You can do this by shortening her leash. And don’t make this a tug of war. Just stop and wait while she pulls toward an area you know she wants to sniff, wait for her to look back at you. When she does, tell her to “go sniff” and lengthen her leash to allow her to do so. Work this into your walking routine and over a period of time, she’ll wait for the “cue” which allows her to go sniff.
Obviously, you have to allow these natural inclinations at non-structured times like off leash time in the backyard. Be a good coach by being fair.
You can use this technique for a number of activities. If you train your dog to perform an activity on cue, over time they tend to engage in those activities only when given the cue from you.
I tested this theory with my own dog, Sadie (the sock thief), who, as an adult, would kick up a fuss by barking and growling whenever someone exited or entered the house by the front door. For years I’d managed the trigger by sending her into the bathroom until all the front door activity had ceased.
Now, instead of banning her to another room for those few moments, I just tell her to “Speak” when she goes for the front entrance, and very quickly she makes a 90 degree turn away from the door, and heads toward me. This is a new cue so she’s still getting a food reinforcer but eventually I will fade the lure out completely. Yesterday she surprised me as my husband was leaving for work, by coming right to me without any front door fuss at all. It just goes to show you that old dogs can learn new tricks (myself included). Sadie’s 12 and she’s just as trainable now as she was in the earlier years. Maybe more so.
