Category: How Dogs Learn

How We Feed Our Dogs Can Make Them Smarter

 

Michael Baugh KPA-CTP CDBC CPDT-KSA

Feeding our dogs from enrichment toys, toys that dispense food, can actually make them smarter. It definitely seems to make them happy. Puzzling out the food inspires activity and thought. A lot of trainers liken it to the skills a scavenging dog or a hunting dog would need in order to eat the food they’d found or killed. Other trainers, me included, have noticed that it helps our dogs focus, activating their brains in a way boring bowl feeding simply doesn’t.

Food-Toy-BW (1)It turns out we’re probably right. Animals (and human animals) who successfully learn challenging skills are more likely to be successful at subsequent challenging skills. In other words, succeeding at hard stuff makes us better at doing more hard stuff.

The research actually dates back to the late 1970s. I came across it in Angela Duckworth’s great book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. She cites the research of Dr. Robert Eisenberger from the University of Houston. He showed that rats that mastered a complicated task to earn food pellets, pressing a lever multiple times, we able to master subsequent complicated tasks (like running a maze) more easily. In fact they learned new tasks with more vigor and endurance. He ran related studies with children and college students in the 1980s with similar results. Eisenberger called the process Learned Industriousness. 

Are our dogs learning to be more industrious because we feed them from food-dispensing toys? I think so. The task-based eating process is similar to what Eisenberger used, teaching the animal to work for the food.  It also aligns with what many clicker trainers have observed. Dogs who learn tasks seem to learn how to learn. As they come to understand the process, the learning seems to come faster.

Almost all of my clients report that Mat Work, teaching their dog to lie on a mat, helps the dog become more focused. Mat Work is fairly complicated because it challenges the dog to figure out what do do with the mat (lie down on it) on his own. We don’t provide instructions, only feedback via clicks and treats. It’s a puzzle for the dog to solve. When we set it up properly and provide honest and clear reinforcement the dog figures it out, usually pretty quickly. It’s a hard skill that sets our dog up for more learning – for mastering other hard skills. In the clear light of Eisenberger’s research, all this seems to make more sense now. For a great primer on how Mat Work works, read Fired Up Frantic and Freaked Out by Laura Van Arendonk Baugh (no relation).

How do we teach our dogs learned industriousness? Let’s start with the toys. There are lots of great food-dispensing toys on the market. For beginners I recommend the Bob-A-Lot (pictured above). It’s perfect for feeding dry food. I’m also a big fan of the KONG Classic, which truly is a classic. Both are available online and at local retailers.

Michael Baugh KPA-CTP CDBC CPDT-KSA teaches dog training in Houston, TX. He specializes in helping dogs with aggression and fearful behavior

Three Keys to Coming when Called

Michael Baugh CDBC CPDT-KSA

Dog trainers like to say that coming-when-called is an odds game. If you called your dog right now, what are the odds he’d come? Would you place a bet on it? How much? Now, what if your dog was outside, or playing with another dog, or sniffing a lamp post?

Our job, yours and mine, is to stack the odds in our favor, to make it so we’d be willing to place a big bet that our dog will come when we call him every time anytime. Here are the keys.

  1. Use a clear and consistent cue. I say “Stella, come!” (My dog’s name is Stella). I call it in a clear-throated voice, loudly. There’s a bit of lilt and lyricism to the call. It’s strong but not intimidating. I think of coming when called as an invitation not a demand. Avoid having a conversation with your dog. Don’t repeat the cue over and over. Don’t give multiple cues.
  2. Watch to see if your dog moves toward you. As soon as he does, start smiling, and praising him. Cheer him on as he comes to you (but don’t repeat the cue).
  3. Reinforce generously. Use the highest value reinforcer you can think of and give more than one treat (I recommend 3-4 in sequence). Then, if possible return your dog to play or whatever it was he was enjoying before you called him.

IMG_5680Repeat the process often, at different times, and in different places. In the early stages of training (all stages really) help your dog win the game. Set up your training so that he can succeed. I taught Stella coming-when-called using games. The process was fun for both of us, and easy as a result. We also mixed up the games to keep them interesting. I call Stella to me often when she leasts expects it and I reinforce it with a variety of things: food, play, access to fun activities. (See: Psyching Out Your Dog).

Practice throughout your dog’s lifetime to keep the behavior strong. It’s a powerful skill for keeping your dog safe from harm. But really, it’s nice just to show off that your dog is under some sort of control. How cool, right? My bet is that you’re going to love seeing your dog running towards you with that big goofy grin. Yeah, I’d put my money on that any day.

Michael Baugh CDBC CPDT-KSA teaches dog training in Houston, TX

Speed Up Your Training

We want stuff fast: food, coffee (definitely coffee), replies to our emails – the faster the better, right? We want to feel better quickly, advance in our careers quickly, stop being sad and get happy – quickly. We’re in a hurry, zipping, weaving, taking short cuts and cutting people off (not you, I know). But here’s the thing about fast. It’s often sloppy. And a lot of the time it actually slows us down when we hurry up.

Here’s my advice, especially when it comes to working with your dog: Slow down. It will help you speed up your training. That’s a great paradox, isn’t it? It’s sort of like jumbo shrimp but, it’s true. If we dial back the rush and get out of our own way (and our dog’s way) we can actually step up the rate of our success.

IMG_4904We’re all guilty of this (me too). We want to teach a task, let’s say coming when called, and it feels like we’re on some sort of time crunch. So, we do two or three reps with our dog in the house and we get bored. Let’s go to the dog park and practice there. We call and call and call and she doesn’t come. Then we get frustrated. This isn’t working. We blame the dog. But, it’s not her fault. We’re rushing.

Here’s how you really speed things up. Break down all your training goals into small steps. For coming when called we may begin by reinforcing our dog for looking when we call her name – just a look (click/treat). Then we build to her coming short distances inside – then longer distances – then out in the back yard – and so on.

We do this when we teach our dog to lie on a mat. We reinforce her for looking at it, then stepping towards it, then stepping on it, then sitting, then lying. Those are all small steps with clicks and treats along the way. We could actually break down the steps even smaller to progress even quicker. That’s how you can train your dog to lie on mat in a matter of days – sometimes faster.

Breaking the task down may seem cumbersome and even boring. But, don’t be fooled. The key is to keep the process moving forward. As our dog masters each small task, we advance to the next one. Let’s not go too slowly and get stuck reinforcing one step for too long. But, let’s not move too fast and leave our dog in the dust either. Better to stay mindful and keep our dog (and ourselves) engaged and progressing. We can move very quickly that way.

Okay, but what if training falls a part and our dog just isn’t getting it? Tap the breaks. Go back to an earlier easy step at which your dog was successful. Jump start the process. Show her how to win again. Motor forward. Before long you’re building some speed once more.

IMG_4543Breaking things down as a key to winning is not a new concept. Trainer educator Laura Van Arendonk-Baugh (no relation) talks about it a great deal in her book, Fired Up Frantic and Freaked Out.  Clicker training is all about teaching skills quickly (sometimes very quickly) in incremental steps. It works well for us humans too. Psychologist Angela Duckworth researches grit, that human quality that keeps us passionate and persistent in our life goals. She’s found that the grittiest of very successful people split their big goals in to many smaller ones. They thin-slice tasks and push speedily towards their own personal finish lines. I highly recommend Duckworth’s book, Grit: the Power of Passion and Perseverance.

Now a quick note about urgent dog behavior matters, the ones in which people and other dogs might be in danger. Dog who bite need to stop biting, right now. The same is true of dogs who might be a danger to themselves. We can take action to prevent dangerous behavior that can stem the problem right away. Baby gates, closed doors, leashes, and such all play a role. That kind of management of our dog’s environment is, in fact, essential. It’s an quick fix but, still, it’s not sufficient.

Training and behavior change plans complete the story. Can we teach our dogs to behave differently (better)? Yes, of course. Can we do it quickly? Yes, if we’re willing to slow down. When create a plan that breaks our big objective down into smaller ones, we speed up the process – one task at a time – one win at a time. All the while we are narrowing the distance to our goal, faster than we might have ever imagined.

Michael Baugh CDBC CPDT-KSA teaches dog training in Houston, TX. He specializes in behavior problems related to fear and aggression.