Articles Key Skills

Key Skills Seeing with New Eyes ➤ Key Skills Life with Dogs Puppies : First Year Connection Collective Every Dog Every Day Book Teaching with Reinforcement Book Training with Food Skills have a direct impact on the life of our dogs We can learn to do better. We can learn with a different mindset. Likely to expand your horizon, make you ask questions of yourself, your understanding and your expectations. For browsers, for passers-by and of course for training geeks. Living well through movement “The purpose of learning is to get more or better rewards” W. Shultz Can we assume that the more we learn the more rewards we can enjoy? Often these... read more... What We Get Right About Dogs We can learn from remarkable people who have worked with remarkable dogs: training and learning are not the same thing at all. read more... Herding Games For All Dogs? The wrong herding game is like trying to make a tennis player succeed at football read more... Teaching People: more than rewards and reinforcers Familiarisation with the behaviourists’ models of reinforcement, punishment, shaping, extinction, can prevent us from looking outside the windows for either dogs or people … read more... Cognitive Approach for the Dogs Training is something done TO the dog. Learning that is something done FOR the dogs. read more... Location is Their Cue We begin teaching the dog to go to a target, such as a mat or platform and in this process our focus is on the outcome – the dog can place feet on the object or settle down. But at the same time this learning is happening the dog is also noting the location: where this is happening in this room, in the house, relative to the food-machine (you). read more... Cue Seeking is Connection Connection is very individual and to be authentic we have to observe, slow down, understand our dogs and meet them where they are. read more... Back to Basics? The word “basic” is often derided as synonymous with “shallow,” but in its origins it is the very opposite: foundational, profound, supportive. read more... Do you see what I see Doing better is the reward from doing the work. This work needs to be the right work at the right time with the right intent done in the right way. read more... What’s Cooking? A Warning About Recipes Recipes for “training” dogs are so prevalent in how we live with and talk about them that their existence often goes unquestioned. read more... Dogs are Born To Learn We can build tremendous learners when we get beyond the idea that “dogs are trained”. read more... Why add fun? When an activity gives intrinsic pleasure we do n

ot need to add fun. read more... No room for mechanics If your ambition is to have good mechanics in communication to animals then you may find yourself blocked into a tight corner read more... Evidence of learning When we use the words “teach” or “train” child, person or dog, the operative term implies that the process is under the ownership of the teacher or trainer. What your teacher thinks you have learned may not be what you actually learned. read more... One dog watching The other dog working or ….how to train the spectators to quietly rest and watch whilst you work, play, teach a single member of the group read more... Shaping by rewards When I see a dog showing a behaviour that is heading towards potential conflict, my first question is “what rewards are available?” read more... Preparation Preparation: before moving house or a training session, a key to stress free learning read more... More than words We expect our dogs to understand the meaning of words and signals, but if you have ever worked with computers you will know that what you say doesn’t always turn into an actionable response. read more... Not all lures contain food “the direct use of the reinforcer to elicit the behaviour” This should always be foremost in our mind, in that many alternatives lures are available. read more... Remote lures Lures at a distance, separated from hands, pockets . Using reward stations, patterns, containers read more... Luring: Hand lures Learning the skills for clear communication with hand-lure: collect, engage, follow, feed. read more... Duration: sustaining movement Continuing and maintaining a specific movement read more... Cue Seeking Being an active learner and seeking opportunities for more rewards read more... Going Shopping This is a joint travelling adventure. It completely resets the learning and can easily extend the reinforcement process. read more... A teaching plan The pathway ahead, a road map for success. Details of what, why, when, how. read more... A Cue or not a cue? With thoughtful planning and a good understanding of the relevance of antecedent selection we can teach the dog the skills of sorting the wheat from the chaff, finding the bones of the exercise. This skill is critical to being able to distinguish between distractions, which are just cues for an alternative reward opportunity, and cues which signify a guarantee of success. read more... When we train a dog it grows Most training starts from necessity. Management is a necessity but it usually benefits all parties by a reduction of conflict. Are they expanding their skills to

benefit us or for their benefit? read more... The choice of lure Luring teaches trainers essential skills: how to use suggestion and guidance, explain dynamic movement in the cues from our hands. read more... Duration or is it Breakfast in Bed? Teaching duration has become a very muddied understanding or what it is and how to teach it. This is partly due to how we use words that are the same but have entirely different meanings. read more... Fast does not mean better We are becoming surrounded by a culture of fast. We are being sold that immediate gratification is the only solution. read more... Stop doing that …. Can we teach an effective Cease That Behaviour? Absolutely. We can teach that positively, without harm, and we should teach them the skills of stopping that and doing this instead. read more... Nose Target. No thanks Nose target is a popular behaviour taught to many dogs, and other animals. It seems easy to teach and have practical application, but it is often not such a pleasant experience for all dogs. There are many other options available that give the same practical benefit, without the unpleasant extremes. read more... Release cue or stay cue Many of us begin with teaching sit or down, and this is one of the earliest experiences of training with reinforcement. Is the sit, or down, going to be a terminal behaviour, or a temporary position? read more... The Fade-in Protocol Even though today we are surrounded by many available protocols for teaching with positive reinforcement, there is still a persistence that a dog should be set-up to make an error. An error is simply the difference between my expectation and the dog’s response. No more “distractions”, but faded-in environments. read more... Reasons to use a clicker The concept of “being a clicker trainer” is always going to lead to argument and misunderstanding because it cannot exist alongside the science and technology. It is a “fakery” of our time. The clicker itself is a simple tool that when used in conjunction with technology provides clarity and understanding in teaching. read more... It’s Not Training A carefully planned learning pathway, paced to suit that particular learner for their life ahead. Read More Be-toothed Learning Machines The thing they don’t tell you is that raising a puppy is DANGED HARD WORK. Biting everything, peeing everywhere, eating anything; not for the faint hearted. Read More Dogs are Born To Learn We can build tremendous learners when we get beyond the idea that “dogs are trained”. Read More The Value of Experience The non-experienced, or current generati

on of imposters, have attended a course, read a book, got a certificate and have yet to gain experience to deepen their knowledge or understanding of the subject, protocol, method … Read More Science Doesn’t Have All the Answers We lean on science in our efforts to bridge the gap as though it provides the answers to how things should be rather than describing how things are understood. Read More The Cost of Cherrypicking When we admit that the ideas we’re sharing are derived from the work of others, we demonstrate our own commitment to learning Read More Construction or suppression Looking at the way the behaviour is carried out is the most important element, and that is the product of all the considerations. Read More Ear Myths There is a myth surrounding Border Collies that ear shape, coat colour or texture, and even eye colour are indicators of that dog’s personality,... Read More The Need to Correct an Error When learning is littered with costly mistakes we will carry anxiety and avoidance. Errors are feedback. There should be no fear of error just opportunities to learn. Read More Do We Want Impulse Control? Teaching your Collie “impulse control” is the wrong way of thinking about their urges, and certainly an unhelpful way of dealing with them. Read More Learning is not for spectators Are you an Active Learner? Or: Are you getting your money’s worth for online courses? It would not matter what subject we are talking about:... Read More