DOGGIE DOG BLOG

Posted and written by: David Harris

Jose ask:

I saw a video on youtube with a 4 month old dog named Gus Prufenpuden doing articles .I would like to know how soon did you start eliminating food off the track??
Also did you start the articles on the track or off the track??

Jose thanks for your questions.  The answer varies somewhat depending on the dog and the age of dog I am working with.  With Gus, Cindy had done an awesome job in his puppy training and he had a strong “Verbal” down command.  Most puppies at this age will down easy enough with a hand signal, but Gus was ahead of the pack thanks to Cindy’s work.  Most puppies or dogs I will start article indication off the track.  Just using shaping methods and a clicker I teach them to find and lay their snout on articles wherever I toss them.  It takes a week or so to get a good indication.  Then I incorporate the article onto the track.  In this case I chose to utilize to very tall grass that would virtually eliminate the chance that Gus would miss an article and give me the control I wanted over his movements.  From there it was just a matter of developing a new command for down.  As discussed he already knew down, he was already moving forward on a track, now he was learning that finding an article meant he was going to be commanded to down and rewarded.  So very quickly he started to associate the article with the command to down and a chance to earn a reward.  Like I say on the video you can have many cues for any behavior.  I have a whistle command for down, a hand signal, two different verbal commands and now a leather article signal for down.  So, depending on your dogs level of obedience training this method will or will not work well for you.  The important thing is that the dog finds the article and associates it with something good and not something bad.  If he believes finding articles will make you yell commands at him he will soon learn to avoid them on purpose to avoid the stress of the down command.

As far as weaning the food off the track goes that varies as well.  Depending on the level of drive the individual dog has for finding food.  Some dogs don’t even need to be hungry to want to find food or follow trails.  It’s just a strong instinct to trail and find food.  Some dogs require a stronger motivation.  But, the important point always is that your dog “THINKS” there is food on the track and “THINKS” the food is ahead on the very next step.  If he believes the food is on the step he just found it on he will stop tracking as soon as he finds food. If he thinks the food is at the end of the track he will race down the track, head up, nose in the wind, to find the food at the end of the track.  I base my reduction of food on the track on the individual dogs behavior. If his head is down, he is checking each step and moving forward steadily then I will wean him back off the food a bit.  If his head comes up, his attention wavers or he starts to hurry ahead then I will add more food to the track.

As you can see there are no cut and dried answers when it comes to dog training.  Trainers that try to follow one method of training and make all dogs fit that method are doomed to have failures since not all dogs are the same.  In my case as a professional trainer and training coach I have to vary my methods not only based on the dog, but on the owner as well.  Their level of skill, level of physical ability and motivation all play into my decision as to what method of training I chose for them.  The best trainers have a wide range of knowledge in their training bags and in addition are not afraid to learn more.  I am always open to suggestions.

I hope you and others will continue to ask questions and learn.  We and our dogs will always benefit from us keeping an open mind and learning new skills.

Here is a link to the tracking video referenced in this article: http://tinyurl.com/667fkt

David Harris
www.doggiedogblog.com
502-542-9747
Midway, Kentucky