“Trick-or-Treat”
As we like to say in Natural Dog Training terms, “all behavior comes from emotion.” So this is the emotional foundation for the stay command. By the way, I adapted this exercise from a technique recommended by Kevin Behan in Natural Dog Training. It teaches a dog (at least 5 months old) how to access the feelings necessary to create a calm and steady stay. It also teaches him not to grab food or toys out of someone’s hand.
The primary object is to teach a dog how to wait patiently with calm focus. It’s also the first step to teaching your dog the stay command. Don’t worry about telling him to sit or lie down first. And don’t say anything during the exercise, except to praise him when you give him the treat.
By the way, we use food in this exercise both as a reward and as target material (“prey object”) to activate his prey drive. This is vitally important to the way dogs learn. Don’t skip this part!
The Predatory Sequence (the five stages to the way wolves hunt):
1) The Search (sniffing, scanning the horizon for movement)
2) The Eye Stalk (spotting the prey and holding perfectly still)
3) The Chase (going after the prey when it runs away)
4) The Grab Bite (grabbing the prey between your jaws)
5) The Kill Bite (crunching down hard and snapping its neck)
Most puppies can’t hold still very long to successfully manage the second stage of the hunt—the eye stalk. This exercise activates the prey drive by using a treat as a prey object, and amplifies the same aspect of the hunt that’s crucial to learning to stay on command. It teaches impulse control. But it doesn’t work unless the puppy is only able to take the treat when he stops trying to grab it. Do not let him grab the treat from you.
Begin by showing Muttsy some treats. I like to use diced chicken or Muenster cheese. Give him two treats for “free”. This will give Muttsy the feeling that he can successfully get what he wants. The next step is to stop feeding him treats, and instead to start snapping them away each time he tries to grab them. Start this phase by showing Muttsy a treat, holding it between your thumb and first two fingers. Move it toward him and hold it about an inch in front of his nose, right where he thinks he can easily grab it. When he moves to take it, snap it away, matching the movement of your hand with the movement of Muttsy’s head. Do this several times and you’ll notice that Muttsy will attempt different tactics to get the treat. He might try to jump up on you. He might paw at you with one leg. He might bark. He might spin around in circles. Ignore all these tactics. Instead, just keep presenting the treat, about an inch from his nose, and snapping it away when he tries to grab it.
Be very patient and keep at it. At some point-for just a fraction of a second-Muttsy will stop trying to grab the treat and he’ll sit perfectly still, trying to figure out what you want him to do. That's when you give him the treat. Make sure to do this quickly, while he’s holding still. (This quiet moment will not last; not yet.) Also make sure to put the treat right into Muttsy’s mouth. Do not let him take it from you. You have to give it to him. Now you can talk; you praise Muttsy as you feed him. Repeat this process until you can see that Muttsy realizes that he only gets the treat when he waits, or pauses momentarily.
The next step is to start slowly increasing the amount of time that Muttsy holds still physically. The first session may take three or four minutes. Every other time you do this it should take only two minutes or less.
Do this for three days, two minutes at a time. (You can do it four or five times a day, if you like, but keep each session as short as possible.) Slowly increase the amount of time Muttsy can sit still to about thirty seconds. Next, start to notice any subtle indicators that Muttsy is holding still physically but not emotionally. Some of the usual indicators are a wagging tail, one paw that comes up off the floor slightly, ears that are pinned back, quiet whining, etc. Wait until the tail stops wagging, the paw comes down, the ears prick up, or the dog stops vocalizing, then immediately give him the treat. Soon the dog will not only be holding still physically, he’ll be much calmer emotionally.
Now you start using the word “stay”. Begin by putting the leash on and holding it close to the collar (about two inches or so) with your left hand (or your right hand if you’re a lefty). Give the dog two free treats. Give two more. Give two more. Then on the seventh treat, pull it away when Muttsy tries to grab it. At the same time that you snap it away with your right hand, make an almost imperceptible leash correction with the other hand and say, “Stay...” in a pleasant, inviting tone of voice. When he “obeys”, give him the treat, praise him, and use your other hand to scratch his neck and throat or pet him under the ears.
Continue to do this and the dog will start to feel that a soft tug on the collar means, “stay”. The tug and the soft, encouraging tone of the word “stay” will also create a calm focus. Next, add minor distractions as you play. Shift your weight from one foot to the other, move from side to side, crouch down. As these distractions cause Muttsy to lose focus, remind him with an encouraging, “Stay...”, and a little tightening of the leash, then give him the treat when he settles back down.
The last step is “Dropsy”. Start with two treats in one hand, hold the leash tight, show Muttsy one treat then drop it right in front of him. Before he can grab it, keep his head up, by keeping the leash and collar taut, and say, “Stay...” in an encouraging tone. While you’re doing this also put the second treat under Muttsy’s nose, using it to help guide his head back to its original position, then give him the treat from your hand. Don’t let him eat the treat on the floor.
Now you can start incorporating the game into a play session, using toys instead of treats. Remember, the prey drive is the point of origin of most obedience behaviors, particularly the stay. SDo the more Muttsy’s prey drive gets riled up before playing this game, the calmer he’ll be! This will really pay off with dogs who like to grab other people’s or other dogs’ toys.
Once Muttsy has mastered the emotions of this game, learning to stay becomes much easier! Plus, most dog owners report that their dog is much calmer overall after mastering this game. It’s all in the prey drive.
LCK
The primary object is to teach a dog how to wait patiently with calm focus. It’s also the first step to teaching your dog the stay command. Don’t worry about telling him to sit or lie down first. And don’t say anything during the exercise, except to praise him when you give him the treat.
By the way, we use food in this exercise both as a reward and as target material (“prey object”) to activate his prey drive. This is vitally important to the way dogs learn. Don’t skip this part!
The Predatory Sequence (the five stages to the way wolves hunt):
1) The Search (sniffing, scanning the horizon for movement)
2) The Eye Stalk (spotting the prey and holding perfectly still)
3) The Chase (going after the prey when it runs away)
4) The Grab Bite (grabbing the prey between your jaws)
5) The Kill Bite (crunching down hard and snapping its neck)
Most puppies can’t hold still very long to successfully manage the second stage of the hunt—the eye stalk. This exercise activates the prey drive by using a treat as a prey object, and amplifies the same aspect of the hunt that’s crucial to learning to stay on command. It teaches impulse control. But it doesn’t work unless the puppy is only able to take the treat when he stops trying to grab it. Do not let him grab the treat from you.
Begin by showing Muttsy some treats. I like to use diced chicken or Muenster cheese. Give him two treats for “free”. This will give Muttsy the feeling that he can successfully get what he wants. The next step is to stop feeding him treats, and instead to start snapping them away each time he tries to grab them. Start this phase by showing Muttsy a treat, holding it between your thumb and first two fingers. Move it toward him and hold it about an inch in front of his nose, right where he thinks he can easily grab it. When he moves to take it, snap it away, matching the movement of your hand with the movement of Muttsy’s head. Do this several times and you’ll notice that Muttsy will attempt different tactics to get the treat. He might try to jump up on you. He might paw at you with one leg. He might bark. He might spin around in circles. Ignore all these tactics. Instead, just keep presenting the treat, about an inch from his nose, and snapping it away when he tries to grab it.
Be very patient and keep at it. At some point-for just a fraction of a second-Muttsy will stop trying to grab the treat and he’ll sit perfectly still, trying to figure out what you want him to do. That's when you give him the treat. Make sure to do this quickly, while he’s holding still. (This quiet moment will not last; not yet.) Also make sure to put the treat right into Muttsy’s mouth. Do not let him take it from you. You have to give it to him. Now you can talk; you praise Muttsy as you feed him. Repeat this process until you can see that Muttsy realizes that he only gets the treat when he waits, or pauses momentarily.
The next step is to start slowly increasing the amount of time that Muttsy holds still physically. The first session may take three or four minutes. Every other time you do this it should take only two minutes or less.
Do this for three days, two minutes at a time. (You can do it four or five times a day, if you like, but keep each session as short as possible.) Slowly increase the amount of time Muttsy can sit still to about thirty seconds. Next, start to notice any subtle indicators that Muttsy is holding still physically but not emotionally. Some of the usual indicators are a wagging tail, one paw that comes up off the floor slightly, ears that are pinned back, quiet whining, etc. Wait until the tail stops wagging, the paw comes down, the ears prick up, or the dog stops vocalizing, then immediately give him the treat. Soon the dog will not only be holding still physically, he’ll be much calmer emotionally.
Now you start using the word “stay”. Begin by putting the leash on and holding it close to the collar (about two inches or so) with your left hand (or your right hand if you’re a lefty). Give the dog two free treats. Give two more. Give two more. Then on the seventh treat, pull it away when Muttsy tries to grab it. At the same time that you snap it away with your right hand, make an almost imperceptible leash correction with the other hand and say, “Stay...” in a pleasant, inviting tone of voice. When he “obeys”, give him the treat, praise him, and use your other hand to scratch his neck and throat or pet him under the ears.
Continue to do this and the dog will start to feel that a soft tug on the collar means, “stay”. The tug and the soft, encouraging tone of the word “stay” will also create a calm focus. Next, add minor distractions as you play. Shift your weight from one foot to the other, move from side to side, crouch down. As these distractions cause Muttsy to lose focus, remind him with an encouraging, “Stay...”, and a little tightening of the leash, then give him the treat when he settles back down.
The last step is “Dropsy”. Start with two treats in one hand, hold the leash tight, show Muttsy one treat then drop it right in front of him. Before he can grab it, keep his head up, by keeping the leash and collar taut, and say, “Stay...” in an encouraging tone. While you’re doing this also put the second treat under Muttsy’s nose, using it to help guide his head back to its original position, then give him the treat from your hand. Don’t let him eat the treat on the floor.
Now you can start incorporating the game into a play session, using toys instead of treats. Remember, the prey drive is the point of origin of most obedience behaviors, particularly the stay. SDo the more Muttsy’s prey drive gets riled up before playing this game, the calmer he’ll be! This will really pay off with dogs who like to grab other people’s or other dogs’ toys.
Once Muttsy has mastered the emotions of this game, learning to stay becomes much easier! Plus, most dog owners report that their dog is much calmer overall after mastering this game. It’s all in the prey drive.
2 comments:
Another great post, Lee. I also use this technique extensively - in teaching sit/down/stay - will probably be addressing that on the ol' blog at some point. That automatic settling always seems to surprise clients of mine, but it's the best proof that even "staying in place" is a hunting behavior, I think.
Can I suggest that we adapt the word "Zing" for that quick-just-at-the-right-moment-treating? So when they go for the treat you whisk it away (maybe we need a word for that too?), and then, as soon as they settle, you Zing 'em.
Very seasonally appropriate title, too :)
-Neil
The Natural Dog Training Blog
Thanks for the kudos, Neil.
I don't know that I'd use the word "zing," though. It sounds more like a punishment than a reward.
As for "whisking" the treat away, I always call it "snapping" it back. But if you've got a better word than either of those, I'd be happy to hear it.
lCK
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