Drinking From the Toilet: Real dogs, Real training

If you've ever been guilty of overthinking your training, struggling with ring nerves, or generally freaking out about dog stuff… you'll definitely be interested in our guest this week - Andrea Harrison! Andrea describes herself as an educator who is passionate about all species, including both dogs AND humans! Having lived with dogs her whole life, Andrea was an early convert to positive training for people and dogs. She has years of experience working with all different kinds of people, and now specializes in helping dog trainers and sports competitors sharpen their mental game and reduce their own stress and anxiety so they can be the best teammate for their canine partners. Andrea teaches online classes through the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, that help trainers get their head in the game with good planning, coping strategies, and generally making the most of what you have. She also has a new ebook available called "Love the one you are (with)". We talk more about exactly what's in the book and why it matters in our conversation. For show notes, visit: http://www.wonderpupstraining.com/blog/podcast-14-conversation-andrea-harrison

Have you heard that positive reinforcement doesn't work? WAIT what? Of course, positive reinforcement works. It's pretty damn effective and we have decades of scientific evidence behind the concept. Positive Reinforcement isn't even a technique, it's a naturally occurring process. It's a naturally occurring process, like gravity. Operant conditioning is just a way of describing what is naturally occurring in the world. The concept of operant conditioning is that behavior is a function of consequences. Meaning, the strength of a behavior is dependent on the consequences that followed that behavior in the past. For show notes, visit: http://www.wonderpupstraining.com/podcast

This week we are talking with Theresa Mckeon from TAGteach International. If you are in the dog training world, either professionally or as a hobby, and aren't familiar with TagTeach, you should definitely check it out. TagTeach is a really cool way of looking at teaching and learning. It's an approach that applies clicker training philosophy to teaching human learners. Like clicker training with animals, TagTeach facilitates learning by breaking skills down into pieces and giving instant and meaningful feedback, focusing on building behavior and reinforcement, rather than hassling about what not to do. Unlike clicker training with animals, TagTeach also encompasses using positive, and precise language to give clear instructions… but of course, we already know you don't have to speak the same language as your learner to teach them. And that's one of the things that I think is so cool… TagTeach techniques work beautifully even when the teacher and student can't speak the same language at all… I mean literally… like if one is from Finland and the other is Turkish. Or other countries… either way. When the behavior that is being taught is broken down into such small pieces that the goal is completely black and white… either it was accomplished or not… then words don't matter as much, because both teacher and learner can tell if that goal has been accomplished. But of course, it's nice to have clear language to give instructions when you can. And when you do use words, it's super important to be clear and precise. That's one of the topics we discussed… which is particularly relevant for us, I think… because those of us who get very excited about our topics often have a habit of flooding the listener with words. Theresa calls it "passion talking", and I'm certainly guilty of that on a regular basis. We also talk a lot about the parallels between teaching animals and humans. And we discuss our opinions on the worst part about being a grown up. But first, I want to let you know that my new online mentorship program, Zero to CD is officially open for enrollment. Zero to CD is a comprehensive mentorship program designed to help positive trainers just like you earn their first competitive obedience title… even if they don't know the first thing about obedience. The program covers everything you need to know compete successfully in Novice-level obedience. Providing training, support, and accountability to keep you focused and on track. Humans need structure and reinforcement too! And this program aims to provide exactly that. Enrollment is limited, and the next round begins May 1. So if you'd like to find out more, visit: www.zerotocd.com For show notes for this episode, visit: www.wonderpupstraining.com/podcast

Have you ever been trying to train a behavior, or maybe UNtrain a problem behavior, and after making a certain amount of progress... get totally stuck where you can't seem to move forward to the next step? Happens to me all the time. Well, hopefully not as often as it used to. But it definitely comes up. In this podcast, we talk about a strategy to apply when you find yourself stuck while training. Anytime we are trying to shape a behavior, and get trapped on a plateau of some intermediate step... and can't quite push past it to make progress again. http://www.wonderpupstraining.com/blog/podcast-11-what-do-when-you-get-stuck#.WOu2XxIrJsM

I've been spending some time lately pondering on how my use of language has changed… or even evolved somewhat in the area of dog training. It sounds like splitting hairs, but I do think the specific words that I use to talk about my training or to my students about their training… makes a difference. One of the words I've spent some time thinking about is "ignore" and how my use of the word has changed. By ignore, I mean when we deliberately, intentionally disregard a behavior. Ignoring is HARD for most trainers to swallow, and even harder to actually follow through on... and it can sometimes be an appropriate behavior management strategy, and sometimes it's not helpful at all! When shaping we are taught (correctly) to focus on one criteria at a time, and temporarily relax other criteria. For example, while focusing on speed, we may ignore errors of precision… *temporarily*, and that's key. Ignoring errors of precision can be quite painful for the type A, obsessive dog trainer, but gets easier with experience. And also it gets easier to tell when it's appropriate to ignore minor errors and trust that they'll come out in the wash.

This week we spend some time hanging out with Amy Cook, PhD. Amy is a fast-talking, tap-dancing, ultra-cool dog geek who teaches with me at the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. Amy has been training dogs for over 20 years. She earned a PhD in Psychology from UC Berkeley. Her research focused on the dog-human relationship and its effect on the problem-solving strategies dogs employ. She is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant through the IAABC, and specializes in working with shy and fearful dogs. In this conversation we talked about: The importance of having empathy with your learner Considerations when working with humans as learners The importance of putting emotional state first, whether working with people or dogs (or both!) A number of other stream-of-consciousness dog training topics (as you do...) Get the show notes at: http://www.wonderpupstraining.com/blog/podcast-09-conversation-amy-cook#.WNo3ohIrL-Y

In this episode, I consider the term "distraction proofing", what it means, how I feel about it, and some considerations we should have when training with or for distractions. Before I started this episode, I didn't like the term "proofing", mostly because it's something I associate with errors and punishment. Ick. Not my thing. I prefer to focus on *building* behavior and keeping the success rate as high as possible and training as error-free as possible. So typical distraction proofing isn't usually part of that. But after some uncomfortable introspection, I admit I may have some room to keep the baby and only throw out the bathwater. I talk about where we should focus our energy, and how to approach distractions from a clicker training perspective, particularly the idea of using the distraction AS a cue itself. For more info, visit: http://www.wonderpupstraining.com/blog/podcast-08-using-distraction-cue#.WNBxBhIrLUY

Shade has the exceptional qualification of being one of the only trainers out there training and competing successfully in the sport at high levels and with excellent scores, all without using physical corrections! She has a creative, yet practical, approach to training, always keeping in mind what's best for the dog and for the relationship. We talked about: :: The challenges of training a traditional sport like Schutzhund/IPO :: How our mindsets have shifted into being more comfortable with mistakes (in dog training). :: The difference between a dog who's frozen in confusion and one who is simply responding to a different cue than the one you thought you had trained. :: What exactly Shade means when she talks about "toy play". For more visit: http://www.wonderpupstraining.com/blog/podcast-07-conversation-shade-whitesel#.WMc1MhIrKt8

Did you know Laurie Luck was my instructor when I went through the Karen Pryor Academy as a student? She was! In fact, she is largely to blame for my current situation, particularly my existence on social media and even this blog! Even after graduation, she just couldn't shake me. And here we are several years later, sharing a drink and talking about dogs. An entrepreneur and social media enthusiast, Laurie delights in sharing her knowledge and experience with dog owners across the country. She is committed to helping improve the lives of dogs through education of the humans at the end of the leash. Laurie's YouTube channel offers free dog training videos, and her blog details training experiences and ideas that every dog owner will find helpful. During this conversation we discuss: What's so hard about living a positive reinforcement lifestyle How being prepared for what might happen is usually the hardest part of that How societal pressure can interfere with even the best-laid training plans What training skills are necessary to jog safely with an on-leash Great Dane

This week we talk about why I consider myself a clicker trainer, what that even means, and what I do when I'm not actually clicking. http://www.wonderpupstraining.com