The Binary Dog – Robert Cabral’s Dog Training and Approach to Canine Communication #3
I want to talk to you now about a real
simple concept that I wrote an article
about years ago called the binary dog
and the binary dog is a real simple
concept in explaining what I want to the
dog through a simple series of two words
the words are yes and no that means when
our dog is doing something he’s either
doing the right thing or the wrong thing
if he does the right thing I say yes I
released the dog and he’s free to do
whatever he wants if I tell him for
example to sit and he sits and I I want
that I’m gonna release him from there so
the opposite approach is generally
taught by pet dog trainers pet dog
trainers will teach you to get your dog
to sit and to feed them and to feed them
and those dogs a lot of times will have
problems in holding that sit so when I
tell a doctor sit it means sit until I
tell you to get up if I want my dog to
sit he has to sit until I tell him to
get up because I don’t use the word stay
the stay is implied throughout the
command so if I tell him down down means
lay down until I tell you to get up so
telling him down and stay is another way
that he can subjugate your command so a
real simple approach on this is goofy
come here good boy
so watch I’m gonna hold the toy and I’m
gonna do just a couple series of real
simple command so watch coming good sit
yes as soon as he sits I release him
right out good down good yes good boy
yeah out down good boy
here good yes as soon as he follows the
command he gets his reward that can be
taught in a series of exercises they can
be taught in one single exercise so for
example come here bring it here good out
no goofy brain here bring it here cuts
it out so for example here’s a little
bit more complicated exercise stand good
back good good and if I tell him from
here to down yes he gets the toy real
real simple if I teach him something and
he doesn’t do it I’m gonna use the word
no so if he does the wrong thing
I give him a no and I withhold the
reward so bring it here come on good sit
good let’s let’s try to get him to do
something wrong okay so I’m gonna use a
hand signal for down and let’s see if he
does it okay he did it if I tell him to
okay that’s the sit command and that’s
the Sandman so I can’t really fault him
for that no no so here yes good boy
so you’ll see that when he makes his
mistake I tell him no and I repeat the
command whether that’s a hand signal or
a verbal I still repeat this the command
but I interject the word no so the word
no means you’re doing the wrong thing
try something different a real easy and
fair way for the dog to understand
exactly what you want so for example if
I tell him here go around good
yes again he gets it real simply and on
the yes means he’s finished so he
doesn’t have to hold that so watch here
if I take him through a series of play
and command exercises ready goofy yep
good good don’t yes good boy now to
build duration into the exercise I’m
going to use one extra word which almost
kind of takes away from a binary
approaches binary is only supposed to be
a one zero yes or a no but i interject
this word because it’s my system and I
can and that word is good that word
builds duration where yes is the release
no is the try again good is the bridge
that connects the command to the yes so
before I say yes I’m going to say good
to build duration good can almost be
like the stay word but it’s not another
command it’s a connection between the
command and the release so watch for
example if I let him play talking about
hey good boy out good so now I’m gonna
put some duration in his exercise and
you’ll see how that works
ready don’t go down good down now here I
can walk up to him glue it down and I’ll
introduce a distraction so I’ll put the
toy down now he knows he can’t get up
because I said good down but as soon as
I release him from this you’ll see him
get up yes and he brings the toy because
he knows it’s time to play it’s time to
have fun and it’s time to Train
so understanding a simple concept of
yes/no and good gives you the tool to
communicate with your dog in a very
clear and concise fashion a system of
communication that’s fair to you fair to
your dog and fun it allows you to teach
your dog through a series of simple
exercises you connect the exercise
together and you put a whole obedience
routine together and you’ll see that
goofy has a complete
simple obedience routine that looks
quite complicated so if I tell I’m here
Foose he understands if I come forward
he understands Foose he can walk
backwards he can just go to the side he
can go to the other side he can come
forward he can walk in a circle to the
left he can walk in a circle to the
right now as you see this is all through
luring and shaping with the toy
everything will be done with a toy and
food to teach your dog what’s fair and
exactly what you want now if I tell my
dog now from here goofy here good now
let’s try the same thing on the other
side goofy Besht’s no you went around
goofy here right goofy ESTs no goofy
here let’s put the toy over here try it
fresh and there he gets it so now right
away I want to release him on that yes
good boy and then we can do it again and
add a little bit of duration into it so
good boy down out now goofy is also
trained in English and in German so
you’ll see me sometimes interchangeably
use German words and English words
goofy fished Besht’s no ashed good so
here he can heal as well heal all around
and he can heal around to the other side
as well
real simple now let me take some steps
back and now nope crashed good watch
this little extra as I taught him in
weaving through my legs MIDI through
through good through through through yes
good and all he wants is that toy so in
the beginning we used a toy constantly
everything is done with luring and
shaping toys treats everything then
we’ll take the toy away so for example
here if I say to him down out good boy
and let’s put the toy away so the toy is
not in the picture now the toy is
somewhere but he can’t see it he may
know where it is but he’s not working
directly for the toy there’s no toy huh
so now when I tell I’m here here good
the focus comes to me through good here
good down No down good stand steak good
let’s so let’s do the whole series in
German which is where he’s trained with
state plots stay-stay
plots sits stay and now I’m going to
release him from here yes and he gets to
play which is all he’s really looking
for
you
