In my last post “Always Training, All the Time”, we explored the concept that your dog is always learning from you and his environment with every interaction and activity that he partakes in. The take away from this was that you should always consider what your dog is learning from his day-to-day activities. Is it what you want him to learn? If not, how can you change it so that he is learning good habits and behaviors?
This idea is very useful for teaching good manners and how to behave in certain situations. For certain skills or behaviors though, you will need to set aside time for a more intentional training session. I have several different types of training sessions that I use with my dogs. Of course there are an infinite number of ways to incorporate training into your life, but here are some of the ways I do it.
You can think of the different types of training sessions on a scale of formality. The most casual being “Always Training, All the Time” all the way to very structured, explicit training sessions.
Always Training, All the Time
We have covered Always Training, All the Time in our last post, but this type of training should be ongoing and you will need to think about the behaviors you want to reward and what to reward them with on the fly. In a way, this is more challenging than a very structured setting because you have to respond to your dogs behavior (or predict it) quickly.
Impromptu Sessions
The next type of session is probably the one I use the most. I think of these as Impromptu Sessions. This is when I have a few minutes and my dog is hanging out with me, looking at me like “well, what next?”. I grab a handful of treats or a toy and do 2-3 minutes of intense training. Then we play a little and I move on with my day. To make it easier to be ready for these sessions, I keep stashes of treats all over the house. We have a jar on the kitchen counter, sometimes I use kibble from the dog food bin (or cat food!), and there are containers in the dining room, my office, and the basement.
For an Impromptu Session, it is easiest to practice behaviors your dog already knows. We do rapid sit, down, stay, come, heel, sit, etc. It is a good chance to mix up the order and ask your dog to practice these familiar behaviors in a new setting. This also keeps those older behaviors fresh while working on new ones.
However, you can also use these sessions to teach a new behavior. If you do this, it is important to remember where you left off with your training so that you can pick up next time in the same place. To make this easier, I usually pick one new behavior to work on in Impromptu Training sessions and get it mastered before doing another one. Right now, Dan is learning to “Turn” which means he should turn away from me when he is sitting at my side. The last one he learned was “Back up” which has turned into an impressive leap backward – all four paws leaving the floor! Both of these are fairly simple behaviors so they are great for this type of training session.
Again, I do this with the cat too! He is learning to touch a target with his paw.
Here is a video of an Impromptu Training session with Dan working on “Turn”. You can see he has it when he is on my left but still is unsure when he is on my right. There are times where I use a lure or prompt with a hand signal and times when I try it without. If he isn’t successful, I take a step back so that he can have success and later try the harder version again. I ended with him on my left so we could end on a good note.
Structured Sessions
The third main type I use are structured training sessions. For this Structured Sessions, I plan out what I will work on, divide my treats into piles so that I use 10-15 at a time with breaks in between, do the training session, take notes and data, and often video tape.
These sessions are great for any behavior of course, but they are almost necessary for new or complex behaviors. It is also easier to work on more than one behavior at a time because you give yourself the time to create clear data and take good notes so that you can see how your dog is progressing and remember where you left off.
Usually these sessions take 30-40 minutes for me to complete, but I am actually training my dog for about 15 minutes of that time. The rest of the time is set up, planning, recording and playtime. Currently with Dan I am working on calm behaviors on the front porch and front sidewalk in these type of training sessions (instead of lunging, barking, pulling me down the steps!). We just finished introducing a new type of harness. He has also learned “go to mat”, “heel”, and “target” in these type of sessions.
“Target” was one of the first behaviors he learned. I decided to use structured sessions with teaching “target” so that he could learn the routine of our structured sessions. The other behaviors are pretty complex. “Heel” and “go to mat” both have many steps and component behaviors that I taught separately then put together.
For example, with “Heel” I first worked on having Dan sit in heel position, then we added the word “heel”, and then I worked on taking single steps while he heeled. We worked on turns with one step, turning in both directions, walking across a room, stopping often or not, working on leash and off leash. This would be pretty complicated to keep track of in your head or to just work on without a written plan. So, Structured Sessions were our best bet.
Now that Dan knows “Heel” well, we incorporate it into our Impromptu Sessions often.
Dan Practicing “Go to Mat” at the Vet’s Office.
When choosing which behaviors to work on in which session types, you might want to consider the following:
Is the behavior complex?
- For more complex behaviors, start with Structured Sessions.
- When he masters it, use it in Impromptu Sessions.
- If it is a day-to-day behavior, think “Always Training, All the Time”.
Is your dog an experienced learner?
- If not, begin with Structured Sessions and move towards Impromptu Sessions
Are you good at remembering what you did last? Do you need to write it down? (Be honest!)
- If you need to take notes to remember what you worked on, you might want to use Structured Sessions more, or maybe something between Structured Sessions and Impromptu Sessions (video tape or take short notes).
- For Always Training, All the Time, it might help to keep a journal. Write a few sentences every day about what you were working on.
How well does your dog know the behavior you are working on?
- For new behaviors, Structured Sessions might be best, but it depends on you and your dog!
Try each type of session with a few familiar behaviors and a few new ones to see what works for you!
Happy Training!
**Stay tuned for the third post in the Training Sessions series: Setting up a Session for a discussion about planning and taking data**