Raising the Perfect Dog; The Secrets of Law Enforcement K9 Trainers (5 page)

You should be the first one to do everything. What exactly does that mean, you ask? You should be the first one to eat, then you feed the dog. You should be the first one greeted when a family member arrives home, or if you arrive home first, the family members should be greeted and then the dog. Again, you are reinforcing to him that every member of the family is higher on the pack structure than he is. You should be the first one out the door and the first one up or down the stairs. Simply put your dog in the sit position and then allow him to come after you have gone, or hold him back so he cannot pass you. While walking on the leash, your pup should walk beside you, not in front. Again, leaders walk in the front of the pack. Just keep in mind when you start to work with your dog that you and your family should be the first ones to do everything. The dog always comes last.

In military and law enforcement, generally, our dogs do not have any toys that belong to them. This is done for two reasons, one of which I discussed earlier: Your dog will never be motivated for something to which he has constant access. The second reason we do this is to show the dog that he owns nothing; all toys are ours, and he plays with them when we allow him to. He gets them for doing something good, the toy becomes the treat. Many dogs become toy-aggressive because they have learned that the toys are theirs and you are trying to take their toy. Again, you are the leader, so you control everything in the house. Just like my father was our pack leader, so he controlled the remote control, and he only let us have access to it when he wanted to. Just one more small thing of the many that reaffirmed he was indeed the leader of our household. Get in the habit of touching and playing with your dog while he is eating, or has a bone or a toy. This is done to desensitize them to any possession issues that could arise in the future. Again, they learn that you give the food, toy, bone, or ball, and that you can take it away; it is yours and you are just letting them temporarily have it.

Another important thing about which I get asked about is when dogs try to force their owners to play with them or pet them. For example, you are sitting on the couch and your dog comes over and drops his ball in your lap or lifts up your hand to make you pet him. Those are both examples of your dog trying to make you interact. As hard as it may be, never give in to this forced interaction. Once you give in, your dog will always try to force you to interact. If our dogs do this, we simply pay no attention to them. They learn that their efforts did not pay off and they will no longer try to engage. If you feel you must give your dog a toy, and he keeps dropping it in your lap or next to you, simply put away the toy. This shows them that by trying to force you to play, they lost their toy. Again, they will stop doing this because they will equate this action with getting their toy taken. We teach the dogs that
we
decide when it’s time to play, not them.

Never feed your dogs from the table. This is a common mistake. If you do this, you will have a dog that begs, drools, and stalks you and your family at the table. By handing them food from the table, you are teaching your dog that the table is a great source for amazing food. Imagine if every time you hung around the table, your father offered up $100. How much would you be waiting at the table? Your dog has the same mindset as you. If you feel compelled to give your dog table food, wait until everyone from the family has finished and gotten up from the table. Then you can place some of the leftovers in your dog’s bowl. By doing so, you are teaching that food never comes from the table and it will only come from his bowl.

Make your dog listen. I always tell our clients, “Never give your dog a command that you are not going to reinforce.” That is one of the most important things when it comes to advanced training. If you give a dog a command that you know he knows, you must follow through with it and make him do it, with no exceptions. If you tell him to sit, down, or come, you must ensure he does it, even if you have to physically make him do it. Your dog must learn that once you issue a command, there is no way out of it. Just like with kids, if you let them get away with not doing something you told them to do once, they will try to get out of it the next 10 times. I always tell my clients, “You will never hear me tell a dog something that he doesn’t end up doing. Once I say a command, it’s not
if he
will do it, but whether they do it on their own. Otherwise I will make him do it.” To me, this is an essential principal in training and being the pack leader. If my father told me to clean my room, it was getting done and there was no way out of it and I knew that, so I rarely even tried to get out of it. Apply those same principles to training your dog—if you cannot back it up, don’t give the command.

F
irst off, if you have purchased a little $3 or $4 device that makes a little click when you press a button, you have fallen for one of the biggest marketing scams that is sweeping dog training worldwide. What the clicker does is give the dog a distinct click to mark the behavior that he just successfully performed. Does it work? Yes, it definitely works in expediting the dog’s learning process and drastically cuts down on the time it will take your dog to learn a new command.

If it works, and it works well, why is it a scam? It is a scam because the inventors of the clicker took an old dog-training secret and turned it into a way to make money. We use what we refer to as “marker training.” A clicker marks the behavior with a distinct click. Marker training marks the behavior with a verbal command. The marker word I use is “Yes” (said excitedly). Why is marker training better than clicker training? To be honest, clicker training has no advantages whatsoever over a verbal marker. The clicker trainer does have many shortfalls to it, though. Some of the shortfalls to clicker training is that you have to carry this little plastic device everywhere you go in order to mark the behavior, another shortfall is that they are small, so if you lose it, you have to buy another one. The biggest shortfall of the clicker (in my opinion) is that it’s something else you have to hold in your hand while trying to teach the dog something, while also holding a treat in your other hand. It can become very complicated to juggle everything at once. The verbal marker training is free, you can do it anywhere, and you never have to fumble with anything extra.

How does marker training work? It works exactly the same as clicker training. First, let me explain how clicker training works. First you must charge the verbal marker. Start by getting your dog to associate getting a treat every time he hears your verbal marker (we will use the word “yes”). So, in order to teach your dog that the word “yes” means something good, start by saying the dog’s name. When he looks at you, immediately say yes (excitedly) and give a treat. Repeat this drill. The treat should come immediately after the verbal command is given—literally after one second or less. Tell the dog to sit (assuming he knows the sit command). As soon as his bottom hits the floor, say “yes” and immediately give the treat. Remember, use small pieces of treats when doing the training, that way, your dog will not fill up as fast and will be more motivated to perform for a longer period of time. Also, it helps if you do these training sessions before your dog has eaten, increasing motivation for the food reward. If he knows more commands, give those commands, and say “yes” and immediately give another treat each time a command is obeyed. This is what we call “charging the marker.” This gets the dog in the routine of knowing that the word “yes” means something good is immediately going to follow it.

Once you start expanding and go on to teach your dog new tricks that you have learned in books, on television or the Internet, start applying the verbal marker when teaching new tricks. It will vastly decrease the time it takes to learn the new command. If you want to teach your dog to down (lie down), when he does it on his own, mark with a “yes,” then immediately give a treat. Your dog learns, “Whatever I did right then is exactly what was wanted of me.” That is how it really expedites their learning process.

Marker training is a very fast, easy, effective, and cheap way to train your dog in obedience and you can teach them some pretty neat tricks. When using marker and treat training, be as creative as possible when it comes to thinking of new things to teach the dog. Remember, a bored dog is a destructive dog; this is a great way to keep him entertained. You would be amazed at the number of things they can learn using this training method.

Teaching the “Come” Command

1. First, find a high-valued treat. A high-valued treat is simply something that your dog really loves. To give you a good hint, most dogs love hot dogs. I always use the chicken or turkey hot dogs just because they are healthier.

2. Create a distraction-free environment for your dog (no TV, no kids running around, no other pets around, etc.). Start charging your marker as described earlier. Say your dog’s name. When he looks at you, give the verbal marker “yes” and immediately give a treat. This will help get your dog in training mode.

3. Walk a little bit away from your dog, bend over, and have a treat in your hand at your dog’s eye level.

4. Call your dog’s name, and follow it by the word “come.”

5. As soon as your dog gets to you, immediately mark the behavior with the word “yes” and give the treat. Repeat this process. Note: Even if you do not have a treat to give your dog every time, still praise him for coming when called. This way, he will always associate coming when called with something positive.

Teaching the “Sit” Command

1. First, find a high-valued treat—something that your dog really loves. To give you a good hint, most dogs love hot dogs. I always use the chicken or turkey hot dogs just because they are healthier.

2. Create a distraction-free environment for your dog (no TV, no kids running around, no other pets around, etc.). Start charging your marker as described earlier. Say your dog’s name. When he looks at you, give the verbal marker “yes” and immediately give a treat. This will help get your dog in training mode.

3. Put a treat close to your dog’s nose.

4. Move the treat up over your dog’s head, as if you were pushing it between their ears, and lure your dog into the sit position as you repeat the command “sit.”

5. As soon as your dog is in the sit position, very quickly mark the behavior with a “yes” and give your dog the treat. Repeat process three to five times until your dog has mastered the sit command.

6. To teach your dog to stay in the sit position until released, put him into the sit position, wait a few seconds, and then mark it with a “yes” and give the treat. Then, wait 10 seconds before you give the marker and the treat. Then 30 seconds, one minute, and so on. If the dog gets up before you give the marker, immediately put him back into the sit position and try again. If you notice he is constantly getting up, you may be trying to progress too fast for them. Shorten the time you make them sit before you give the marker, then build the time back up again.