K9 Conservationists

Clean Training for High Drive Dogs with Sarah Owings

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In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Sarah Owings from Cyber Dog Online Training about clean mechanics for training and working with high drive dogs.

Science Highlight: Detecting small and cryptic animals by combining thermography and a wildlife detection dog

Why do mechanics matter?

  • Clarity shapes all learning. The clearer you are with your dog, the more successful they will be.
  • Before you blame the dog, be sure your mechanics are clean and communication is consistent and clear.

    • What problems can poor mechanics cause?

    • Dogs may steal food or toys from you, bark, whine, zoomie, etc.
    • This is all from a lack of communication

      • What are some human-end behaviors that can cause miscommunication?

      • Lumping criteria (ie. jumping too many steps at once)
      • Having no criteria/winging it
      • Sessions that are too long
      • Lack of reinforcement strategies

        • What are some mechanics or exercises to improve handler to dog communication?

        • Make sure the criteria is doable and raise the criteria slowly over time
        • Reinforcement pattern games; can you give a dog a reward and they will know exactly where it’s going to be (in the mouth, tossed, on the ground, etc.)?
        • If your dog is sniffing around a lot for the rewards, treat in a dish on the ground to clean up the loop

          • Are there situations where switching up the type of food or toy is a good idea?

          • Switching to a lower value reward may just be a crutch. It is important to find what was causing the frustration, because chances are it wasn’t that the reward was too high value.
          • If you are having issues, you may be holding out longer than the dog can handle. The dog needs to know how to earn the reward, no matter what.
          • Choice of reinforcement can make your delivery mechanics better or worse.

            • Links Mentioned in the Episode:

            Where to find Sarah Ownings:  Website | Tromplo | Facebook

            You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

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            K9 ConservationistsBy Kayla Fratt
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