Building Drive by 'being' a Bad Dog Trainer

My wild Border Collie "Buzz" performs his favourite demo showing how many 'driven' dogs are created through bad dog training habits. Buzzy is the subject of my book "Shaping Success" (Dog Writers of America Choice for Dog Training Book of the Year in 2005).

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Shaping
• Success
• Buzz
• Susan
• Garrett
• tug
• release
• Say
• Yes
• Motivation
• Drive
• bad
• dog
• trainer
• agility
• border
• collie

[ClickerDogs]

@max2right even though I have never even seen a schutzhund competition nor attended any seminar I have had the honour of having many elite level schutzhund competitors seek out my help --several of them have represented their country at world championship events (one has won the US Nationals).

Not everything in dog training is as tradition would have you believe. There is no strawman here-- just science based training that has produce results across the highest levels of multiple dog sports.

[ipspots1]

@klevadawgz while I respect your right to have your opinion, I use this very technique for building drive in flyball dogs. And what I think you miss is that we only play like this with one object. The TUG! My dogs know what a TUG is and what is NOT a TUG. They are not idiots, they know when we are playing, and when we are not playing. I have 9 dogs who all live in the house uncrated together (I have some very high drive dogs when it comes to play), yet I have no issues like you suggest

[animalobsessed1]

@animalobsessed1

Then I started bouncing the ball on the floor and having her catch it from there. I made the ball bounce less and less until she got to the point where she would just pick it up straight off the ground. Once she got the idea that all she had to do was take the ball in her mouth no matter what, I started actually throwing it.

Then she realized that this game was actually FUN, and now I no longer need ANY treats to motivate her.

Finished.

[animalobsessed1]

When she caught it, I started praising her before she spat it out, and thzen showered her with treats. Then I began throwing non food items more often and treats less often, praising her and giving her treats every time she caught one of the toys. So she learned that catching the toys was a good thing. Eventually I got to the point where I could just throw a ball at her and she would catch it, even if she knew it wasn´t a treat.

[animalobsessed1]

@drumcafe8 You actually care? Explaining it is going to take long though...

Well, I started throwing treats at her, saying "catch" every time I threw it. If she caught it, she got to eat it, if she didn´t, I quickly picked it up again before she could. Eventually, once she started opening her mouth just because I said "catch" even if I hadn´t thrown the treat yet. Then I started mixing in non food items, and since she wasn´t even looking what it was, she caught those too.

[drumcafe8]

@animalobsessed1 Glad that she's playing now! So what's this method that you invented?? Help us out!

[animalobsessed1]

@drumcafe8 Haha! We were told the same thing when we asked a dog trainer, and guess what: It didn´t work!

I had to invent my own method, and now she plays, but what you said only works on some dogs.

[gobil527]

@klevadawgz no, its not an accident waiting to happen. Building drive in a dog does not equate to creating an out of control dog.

Games like this teach the dog how to listen even when highly aroused and excited. Which is actually safer for a dog who's going to spend any amount of time around kids.  I have kids, I have four dogs. We build drive AND we install an on/off switch :)

[drumcafe8]

@ahoedel Depending on your dog, have some version of a "PARTY!" with the toy -within earshot of your dog. They will become intersted in anything you place high value on like that. Then play with them and the toy (any toy, heck a sock or a carboard box would work, too). Your dog has never played with toys before? Fill a pencil case with their breakfast, attach it to a leash, let them see what's inside and then start moving it around a bit so the kibble starts to come out. Have fun!

[EAlexandra73]

@urosca If they only read body language, how is it that millions of dogs respond to verbal cues? What about herding trials where the dog is trained on whistles and responds when they are long out of visual range from the handler?

[PositivePuppy]

What a shame people have to try to make themselves look clever by picking apart a video that demonstrates a fun way to achieve great drive and control through play. It's very clear the dog understands the game - look at how quickly he backs off the toy when the cue to take it isn't given - fabulous. I love playing with my dogs this way, you get wonderful drive and with that drive comes the motivation to perform enthusiastically. Maybe not for the inexperienced but I love it!! :)

[RachelO56]

Very good point you are making here, Susan. I went to a seminar given by a behaviorist where we were shown a video clip of a golden retriever puppy who was a resource guarder. The owner was given some very bad advice by a very bad trainer, telling her to force the puppy to give up whatever he was guarding, by putting her knee on the puppy's back and not giving up on the object until the puppy let go. At the age of 6 months, this puppy was put down, because he became very aggressive.