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A Dog Training Game For Stubborn Humans | Positive Reinforcement Pet Training Week

4/6/2015

18 Comments

 
A Positive Reinforcement Training Game For Stubborn Humans: Teach Your Dog Something New In Ten Minutes
Typist: Bethany
For many years I have complained about how terribly the dogs behave when someone comes to the door. Those same years have included me doing nothing consistent about teaching them how to behave as I would like them to. Bad trainer. In my defense, it seemed to me that teaching the dogs to behave when they hear someone on the porch was a two person job. So not only would I need to consistently train alternative behaviors to going bonkers when someone is at the door but another person would have to be patiently available to help me. That sounds like a lot of effort, doesn't it? Lazy trainer. Well, I am just physically lazy. My trainer brain is busy. For example, I had literally a million ideas for what I wanted to train for the Positive Reinforcement Training Week Teach Your Pet Something New In Ten Minutes challenge. When I settled on doing some practical training, as opposed to tricks or competition work, training polite someone at the door behavior was the most nagging, hence, obvious choice. It would be easy to schedule someone to help me with just one ten minute training session, right? Even "training is your hobby" Jason could be coerced to be briefly available. So yesterday, treats in one pocket and a clicker in another, I spent ten minutes on training the dogs to behave when someone comes to the door. After years of laziness and inconsistency, ten minutes changed absolutely everything. I am honestly shocked at how much I learned in ten minutes. Oh, and the dogs learned something too.

Training Dogs To Behave When The Doorbell Rings: Positive Reniforcment Training Week
What I want the dogs to eventually learn is to go to their beds either when they hear someone at the door or when given the "bed" cue. They are pretty good at "bed" under less distracted than the prospect of a visitor circumstances so what I want ought to be a simple step up from our usual target training. I'd also like the dogs to remain on their beds until released so our visitors don't always have to be bombarded by crazed barking dogs. Oh, and the barking. It would be nice if "bed" when someone is at the door was enough mental stimulation, otherwise known as a dog job, to help curb the welcome to our house pack bark. Obviously the beauty of three quiet dogs patiently waiting on their bed when the doorbell rings in not something I could teach in ten minutes. My hope for our ten minute training session was at least an improvement on total chaos. I broke the brief training session down into three parts.
  1. Our ten minutes began with reinforcing something the dogs already know, the "bed" cue. I am always back and forth on whether it is best to practice this as a group or individually. I chose to do a group session and I think that really helped me to see the merits in both practicing as a group and individually. During yesterdays session I truly saw the benefit in the dogs helping each other to learn. When only one dog was getting treats for having all four paws on the bed, the other two dogs corrected themselves much more rapidly than when I waited for all three dogs to "bed." Amazing.
  2. About two minutes into our session, I asked the dogs to "remain" on their beds. My "remain" cue is a loose "stay." While "stay" means do not move at all, when I give the "remain" cue the dogs are free to change body position but they must remain in the general area, like on a bed. I upped the distraction levels relatively quickly with this practice. Giving a jackpot treat to the one or two dogs that obeyed best helped the others figure out what we were working towards much more quickly.
  3. Finally, the something new part of the training session began when I opened the door. Did I mention I ended up doing most of the session alone? Yeah. Jason was available for the last two minutes but I am actually thankful for the solo time. In teaching the dogs something new in ten minutes by myself, I learned that I could teach them to behave when the door opens alone. Before the session was over, Jason and I were both able to go in and out of the house, pretend to exuberantly greet someone, knock on the door and stomp on the porch with a great deal less dog wildness than usual. While all three dogs never remained quietly on their beds simultaneously, each dog was rewarded for doing as expected at least once. Success!
Bizerk Dogs When Visitors Come Behave When Given An Appropriate Job To Do: Positive Reniforcment Training Week
One important thing I learned during our teach your dog something new in ten minutes training session was that Wilhelm's door bark is triggered by the opening of the storm door. I am not sure if this is due to the desensitization work I had already done on knocking, porch footsteps and the actual front door or if there is something about that door sound that he doesn't like, but this epiphany has us well on our way to actually achieving quiet when someone comes to the door. Best of all I learned that in just ten minutes a day I can achieve peace when a visitors come. Deep down, I already knew this. Anything can be taught to any dog with consistent ten minute per day positive reinforcement training sessions. However, there are certain skills it takes two to train. I am thrilled to have learned that I am enough of a distraction for the dogs in the beginnings of teaching them to be calm on when the door opens. I have no more excuses for being a bad, lazy trainer. Even a stubborn human like me can learn something new in ten minutes.
Have you ever had a dog training epiphany?
Did you play the Train Your Dog Something New In Ten Minutes Game?

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18 Comments
Molly The Wally link
4/5/2015 07:02:59 pm

You are so good to make so much time for training. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly

Reply
Bethany
4/6/2015 08:10:51 am

It's nice of you to say that Molly since I feel like ten minutes isn't much. It is amazing how much dogs can learn in such a short time though!

Reply
weliveinaflat.com link
4/5/2015 07:09:11 pm

Great topic! The same questions get asked every time a family adopts a dog for the first time. It doesn't get old and we really need to get the message out there that telling them No and forcing them to stay or whatever may not be as efficient when their heart is in bounding to that door! :P That is, until we show them there is something better on their beds or wherever we want them to go ;)

Reply
Bethany
4/6/2015 08:14:54 am

Deep down, every dog just wants to please humans. It makes people so happy to have a dog greet them at the door so why would the dog not be there? Like you said, if there are treats and a human that is pleased about the dog doing something besides bombarding the door, an annoying problem is positively solved!

Reply
Emma link
4/5/2015 08:25:03 pm

We all love to hound guests at the door, and Mom has the same issue, no second person to ring the bell or knock when training us. We have gotten better. When we know someone is coming she gives us something to do like a Kong. We don't even bother getting up for a delivery guy, so there is progress, but with two it could be fixed so much faster.

Reply
Bethany
4/6/2015 08:18:10 am

I am glad I figured out that just me going to the door and opening it is enough of a distraction to teach some sort of calm. I will need help upping the distraction eventually and the barking at every single car door closing on the entire street thing can only be solved with another person to help. You are very good to accept a treat in lieu of delivery guy barking... no such deals can be made around here! Sometimes I wish I hadn't socialized Wilhelm, Brychwyn and Huxley into such overly friendly monsters! ;)

Reply
Taryn link
4/6/2015 01:02:09 am

I should work on the same thing you did. My guys go completely bonkers when someone comes to the door. Jimmy flips out even further when I pick up the keys to unlock the door. But alas, I am very lazy and haven't tried to train a better behavior.

Reply
Bethany
4/6/2015 08:20:00 am

Blaming yourself is the first step! :)

Reply
Leah link
4/6/2015 03:53:56 am

Ha, I'm happy to hear I'm not the only lazy trainer! You give me incentive to try it myself. 10 minutes is not too much of a commitment at all, a lot less scary than thinking of training until success. I also like your idea of 'jackpot treat' :->

Reply
Bethany
4/6/2015 08:23:31 am

It is always a good idea to keep training sessions short and look for success in baby steps. I am pleased with how far we got in ten minutes but we have a very long way to go. My treat bag is always full of a variety of treats. Keeping the dogs guessing on what might come out of it means they'll stay focused on working hard!

Reply
Kari link
4/6/2015 06:50:18 am

Getting Isis to go to her bed when the doorbell rang was probably my biggest success in helping manage her reactivity. Now I just stick Leo in the crate if I have to answer the door to a stranger. Lazy trainer.

Reply
Bethany
4/6/2015 08:25:47 am

Maybe it is just the positive aspect of this hop but it makes me feel so good that I am not alone in my lazy training ways!

Reply
Lauren Miller link
4/6/2015 08:33:43 am

That's awesome that they learned the door behavior so quickly! Smart pups! :D I love the 10 minute training game. It's easier for me to do this with Zoe because she's so much more mellow. Phoenix can take at least 10 minutes to calm down. She can get pretty hyped up over stuff so we are working on that. I'm finding the more I work on reactive work, the more I should also be spending on calm behaviors, too. We are also working on FF vet procedures.

Reply
Tenacious Little Terrier link
4/6/2015 03:03:50 pm

That's on my training list too. Your dogs made a lot of progress! I can't fool Mr. N though. He knows if we're fake knocking or if it's me at the door.

Reply
Jan K link
4/7/2015 06:59:59 am

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that has to handle the training alone. This is something we really, really need to work on. We've worked with Luke, but with the girls still out of control it hasn't helped much. He'll go to his bed, but getting him to stay there is another story. At least you give me hope it could happen!

Reply
KB link
4/7/2015 10:40:55 am

Wow! I am going to get to work on this. I didn't think that I could practice this without someone else to help me. You've inspired me. Thanks!

Reply
Lara Elizabeth link
4/9/2015 11:48:07 pm

I haven't done much door behavior training because I haven't quite decided how I want them to behave. Living alone, I appreciate the watch-dog quality of barking at the door; however, it would be nice to have release cue to let them know "okay, I've got this" and to let people in. Normally, I just put them behind their dog gate when I'm letting someone in. It is incredible how routine and consistency in training can pay off, and of course the simple act of getting started which can sometimes be the most challenging!

By the way, I love the giveaway entry bar you put at the top of your page! Great idea!

Reply
speedyrabbit link
4/10/2015 01:46:52 am

any amount of training is good,great post,xx Speedy

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