PLAY!!!
"So there is no point in teaching them obstacles, if they lack the basics. So instead of training them, I started to get to know them better, and most of all – we started to play. Just play, no strings attached. And pretty soon, things started to change…"
Motivation Puzzle
~~~
I love to be inspired. In training dogs, there are so many who are giving advice, but some "speak" to us, so well! Little nuances of underlying approach and respect for who a dog is, comes through to me in what I see in training. I want the shining eyes and heathen pup, with not so much perfect self-control...not having any issues with motivation in my dogs, but always looking for new ideas to improve our bond and fun in training. Polona Bonac is brilliant and I am glad to be in her newest running "Let's Play" online class.
If we like to have fun, why wouldn't our dogs? WE see them do silly things like tossing a toy into the air to catch it, a game! That joy and game can be brought to "training" too. Learning is stressful, there is a difference of a dog who is working and a dog who is playing, bringing the two together to strengthen our fun together, is what I hope to accomplish. They feel us, as much as we feel them, hard to ignore the invisible bond that exchanging energy brings.
You can't explain sentient training to a shock collar trainer, because they don't get into the emotion and the why of who a dog is-they want results of a behavior, trained with force. Yes, this is my opinion-if you want to push a button to get your dog to cooperate or work with you, you are a lazy and abusive trainer. I think it is the video game/smart phone era kids and the backlash of a younger generation resisting the whole Positive training movement, that I saw as it took hold in the 1990's. Learning theory and getting inside a dog's mind, or breaking down a behavior and building it with REWARDS, is very different than zapping your dog, or continuous applied "stim" to get what you want. Ewephemisms don't change what you are doing to your dog, be a good trainer-don't suck! You may think trainers that use food rewards suck, well so be it. You are not my people!
So...back to what inspires me, happy dogs with sparkling eyes and naughty, want to try anything attitudes. I want a dog who is not perfect. I want a dog who shines when we work together. Some dogs are softer and this may be a lot of pressure for them, but chasing games and/or toss food games/chase can ignite them too. Creative training requires energy and effort on our part. If I'm not into it, why should they be? Boring trainers are boring! I am too quiet at times in training, but underneath that is a smile!
Working with my Papillon is different than working with a terrier or my herding dogs. He is a tiny Einstein, but he is also tiny and more sensitive about some things. He doesn't mind jumping in the pond or getting covered in mud or running through tall, wet grass three times his height, but in rain he might melt :) He has a sensitive and tiny little belly too, so food rewards are tiny...I am too generous with rewards sometimes (yes one of those sucky food trainers 😉). He loves to tug and his ball, but in new places this is harder for him-like many dogs. So, with this online class it is reminding me not to ask him to "work", before we have learned how to "play" better together and let him Win the toy too. His ball is "his" when outside (inside he brings it back), he is happy to take it off to the edge of the field and keep his own council, so making retrieves and the game of interaction more rewarding for him is #1 on our To-Do list! We have started with Polona's cookie toss and run game, already see results of him driving back to me. I will use this in our retrieve too.
The days are getting shorter, and soon the time will change with daylight savings-but until then we are using every outdoor minute we have free to Play and train and play some more. Winter gets here so quickly, but then we have other things can work on indoors too. For now we Play!
Motivation Puzzle
~~~
If we like to have fun, why wouldn't our dogs? WE see them do silly things like tossing a toy into the air to catch it, a game! That joy and game can be brought to "training" too. Learning is stressful, there is a difference of a dog who is working and a dog who is playing, bringing the two together to strengthen our fun together, is what I hope to accomplish. They feel us, as much as we feel them, hard to ignore the invisible bond that exchanging energy brings.
You can't explain sentient training to a shock collar trainer, because they don't get into the emotion and the why of who a dog is-they want results of a behavior, trained with force. Yes, this is my opinion-if you want to push a button to get your dog to cooperate or work with you, you are a lazy and abusive trainer. I think it is the video game/smart phone era kids and the backlash of a younger generation resisting the whole Positive training movement, that I saw as it took hold in the 1990's. Learning theory and getting inside a dog's mind, or breaking down a behavior and building it with REWARDS, is very different than zapping your dog, or continuous applied "stim" to get what you want. Ewephemisms don't change what you are doing to your dog, be a good trainer-don't suck! You may think trainers that use food rewards suck, well so be it. You are not my people!
Working with my Papillon is different than working with a terrier or my herding dogs. He is a tiny Einstein, but he is also tiny and more sensitive about some things. He doesn't mind jumping in the pond or getting covered in mud or running through tall, wet grass three times his height, but in rain he might melt :) He has a sensitive and tiny little belly too, so food rewards are tiny...I am too generous with rewards sometimes (yes one of those sucky food trainers 😉). He loves to tug and his ball, but in new places this is harder for him-like many dogs. So, with this online class it is reminding me not to ask him to "work", before we have learned how to "play" better together and let him Win the toy too. His ball is "his" when outside (inside he brings it back), he is happy to take it off to the edge of the field and keep his own council, so making retrieves and the game of interaction more rewarding for him is #1 on our To-Do list! We have started with Polona's cookie toss and run game, already see results of him driving back to me. I will use this in our retrieve too.
The days are getting shorter, and soon the time will change with daylight savings-but until then we are using every outdoor minute we have free to Play and train and play some more. Winter gets here so quickly, but then we have other things can work on indoors too. For now we Play!
