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It’s
Not the Props!
Props are an aid that you can use in training your dog in obedience.
They have become very popular these days to make obedience training “more
exciting”! But, are they
necessary, or is good old fashion body movement and verbal communication the way
to go? Let me take you to a recent
training session with one of my students….
Ann (not her real name) trains a lovely Golden Retriever named Honey.
Honey is young, just over a year. Ann
has been a student of a talented local trainer who uses props.
Ann admires this trainer because she consistently scores in the high
190’s. Ann would like to do the
same thing with Honey so she signs up for the Talented
Trainer’s classes when Honey is just a young pup.
She wants to start Honey out right so she can be a high scoring dog as
well. The Talented
Trainer tells Ann that the first thing she will need is a wooden spoon and
some Cheese Wiz so she can teach Honey to heel.
Ann dutifully purchases this and returns to class, armed with her first
props. Being a typical Golden, Honey
finds it fascinating to lick the cheese off the spoon.
The Talented Trainer shows Ann
how to hold the spoon to keep Honey in heel position.
Honey loves this game and their training is progressing.
Ann needs to teach Honey how to do a recall.
The Talented Trainer tells Ann
to get those canned cheese balls. You
know the crunchy kind. Ann drives
directly to the store to purchase them and the next session involves throwing
cheese balls through Ann’s legs with Honey chasing them in such delight!
“Look at the speed and drive we are creating with those cheese
balls!” exclaims the Talented Trainer.
Honey will be one of those dogs who will do a very fast recall –
Ann is sure. As Honey needs to learn
a straight sit in front, the Talented
Trainer says to Ann, make sure an pick up one of those soft Frisbees so that
you can put it on top of your head when Honey comes into her sit in front.
Ann is contemplating what kind of bag she will want to carry all this
stuff to her next dog training session with the Talented
Trainer. Ann decides on an
Outward Hound bag as that one can carry the most stuff, and it has cool pockets
inside.
Ann decides that she would like to have experiences for Honey in other
training sites, so she visits a class at a local club, of which she is a member.
The lesson tonight is on cueing your dog with body movement.
Honey is confused, because, there is no cheese balls, Cheese Wiz, or toys
in this lesson. Honey stops working
and says – “What’s up here!” Ann
says, maybe a target, or a toy would make Honey work.
But, the lesson here is teaching Ann the proper body movements so that
her dog can heel. The idea is to
show Ann how to move her body, not how to entice her dog.
It occurs to me that Ann has not learned to handle her own movements, she
has not learned how to communicate to Honey where heel position is.
All that Ann has learned is enticement to perform an act.
Ann has taught Honey to do the action for the prop, not because she
enjoys do the action with Ann. Did
I tell you that the Talented Trainer also
suggested the clicker to reward the behavior?
Poor Ann never even learned how
to make her voice sound like praise. The
Talented Trainer said that Ann could
never learn the timing good enough to praise her dog when the action was right.
The clicker would be the only way to do that.
The Talented Trainer was right! Ann
did not learn timing. She also never
learned to communicate to her dog. |
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