Dog Training 101 – Ep. 1: How to Get Started with Training
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welcome to how to teach your dog to do
practically anything in this video
series I’m going to show you a few
training techniques and once you
understand how to use these techniques
you’ll be able to teach your dog to do
pretty much any trick or obedience
command you want and not only that but
you’ll also learn how to avoid common
problems like the classic my dog only
listens when I have a treat in my hand
these methods work for all breeds and
all ages of dog you can even use them on
your cat bird killer way a horse or
house me the training methods we’re
going to go over in the next couple of
videos are lower reward and shaping lure
reward or just alluring is where you
take a treat
stick it from the dog’s nose and lure
them into the position you want it’s
really simple and easy and that’s the
method I recommend for most dog training
beginners
good girl
shaping is where you wait for the dog to
perform a tiny tiny step in the right
direction and you reward each tiny step
until eventually the dog is performing
the desired trick you can think of
shaping as a guessing game where the dog
is guessing what you want him to do
do you think
shaping can be a little bit tougher to
get used to than whirring but it has two
benefits number one that’s how you get
really cool impressive tricks and two
once they understand the game most dogs
really love shaping unlike with a lot of
other methods they’re not being pushed
or prompted to do something they’re
using their own brains to come up with
their own ideas this results in an
engaged enthusiastic dog shaping is
really good for stubborn dogs who are
harder to train with other methods
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you’re gonna need a way to tell the dog
the exact moment he does the thing you
want especially if you’re using shaping
you need to be able to tell the dog
exactly which of his guesses was correct
to do that you need a marker which is a
quick distinct sound that tells the dog
yes I like what you did your reward is
coming you can use a marker word like
yes or good or you can use a clicker I’m
not gonna click this right now because
my dog is watching and he’ll freak out
why bother with a marker at all why not
just hand the dog the treat when he does
what you want clarity of communication
my friends dogs can do a lot of
behaviors in the space of like two
seconds by the time you have handed the
treat to the dog for say touching a
target with his nose he could have also
looked away lift the paw backed up
started barking how does he know exactly
which one of his behaviors earned the
reward with a marker to bridge the gap
between the behavior and the reward the
dog learns quicker doesn’t get as
frustrated and therefore you succeed
faster now sure technically for you know
the basic lure reward stuff you don’t
need a marker you can teach your dog
stuff like sit stay lie down
spin in a circle without a marker I mean
I’d still use one especially if you
eventually want to work on cooler tricks
or more advanced obedience but hey it’s
your life do what you want how long do I
have to use the clicker forever no
common misconception actually the marker
is just for the teaching phase of a new
behavior you use it just long enough for
the dog to understand how the behavior
works once he knows the trick you don’t
have to use a clicker anymore so no you
don’t have to walk around with a clicker
in your pocket for the rest of your life
I pretty much do like that’s just me so
what is it about the sound of the marker
with the clicker let the dogs like so
much well nothing there’s nothing
inherently special about the sound of
this thing so you got to take about five
minutes to do what we in the business
call charging the marker
this means teaching your dog that the
sound of marker means that a reward is
coming first pick your marker either an
actual clicker or a word I use yes but
you can pick whatever you want
as long as it’s short get your dog in a
quiet room with no distractions get a
container of about 30 really small like
pea sized treats click the clicker or so
your market word and then immediately
put a treat in the dog’s face you’re not
waiting for any particular behavior at
this point you’re just creating the
association between clicker and food
to make big for the day ahead
in cross
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use up all 30 treats and you have the
basics of a charge marker and you’re
ready to start training when you’re in
the beginning stages of teaching a new
behavior we’ll use a lot of food rewards
why food because food is fast and easy
to dish out most dogs working thews ask
me for it and you can get a lot of
repetitions in in a row and therefore
make fast progress what foods should you
use whatever is going to keep your dog’s
interest some dogs especially puppies
will work just fine for pieces of kibble
but most dogs will want something more
interesting your best bet is something
soft and chewy and whatever you use you
should break into really small pieces
your dog needs to be able to eat it in
one bite and then quickly move on to the
next repetition start in an environment
with as few distractions as possible
somewhere that your dog won’t have a
hard time focusing over time and as your
dog’s understanding of the behavior
develops you can start adding in more
distractions like you start in your
house and then you go in your back yard
and then your street and in the park and
then the dog bark it has to be a gradual
shift in difficulty so like don’t go
straight from your living room to the
dog park keep training sessions short if
you’re working with a puppy or maybe an
adult dog who hasn’t had much training
and seems to get frustrated quickly keep
your training sessions to two minutes
tops
with other dogs you can try for five to
ten minutes always try to stop before
the dog or you gets bored you can do as
many training sessions per day as you
want three five ten whatever just make
sure you give your dog enough of a break
in between each one the number one rule
of the marker one mark or one click
equals one reward in order for it to
maintain its effectiveness the marker
has to be followed by a treat every
single time so even if you make a
mistake and you click at the wrong time
you still have to give the dog the
treats alright so that does it for our
introduction the next video is going to
be a step by step guide to lure reward
so go charge your marker and then I’ll
see you in the next video
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