To call this thing we do “dog training” is a huge disservice to dogs. We are not “training” we are “educating” and just like with children, education starts in kindergarten and ascends onward from there only with understanding.
The number one reason dogs get into trouble has to do with our expectations as owners compared to the level of education our dog has. We may be expecting university level behaviour when our dog is still in kindergarten.
To call it “training” puts the responsibility on the dog to figure it out… “Well, I trained him, but he still doesn’t get it! Maybe he’s just dimwitted or something.”
“Educating” puts the onus on us. As our dog’s educator, we have the responsibility to make sure he is learning what we think we are teaching. The learning happens in layers, progression through those layers only occurs when our dog shows comprehension. The only way our dogs can communicate that comprehension is through their behaviours.
Below is a video I did for our Free Dog Training Facebook Group, explaining the progression through the layers of learning that sets our dogs up for success. The same applies to us when we are learning anything new. We all need step by step progressions to be successful.
As we covered in my Vlog on the “Circle of Fun”, we learn best when we are interested and excited. Layering the learning will keep our dogs and us interested and excited because there will not be overwhelm, or frustration from lack of understanding.
In the video above, I use the example that is straight from the “Susan Garrett School of Teaching Water Sports” …. which is kind of ironic since I really don’t like the water. Imagine that you have a child and you like water sports. It’s important for you that your child likes the water and water sports too. But, at the moment, your kid is a little bit afraid of water. (Our imaginary kid here was me by the way, and it took me about 30 years to get over that little bit of fear about water). Or our child might not be really afraid, just disinterested.
So we look at where we are, and with some fun and a quick game, our child is now interested and excited by water and even willing to jump off a low platform into the water. That’s a good start, right? But then what might happen is that we now think “well, he is now interested in the water and will jump off a low platform, I’ll enter him in the Olympic Tryouts for High Diving” … and we put our child on the highest dive board and want him to have good form up there for the tryouts. We wouldn’t really do this with our child, or ourselves, would we? There’s a lot of layers that go from enjoying the water to being an elite high diver at an Olympic competition.
To bring this back to dog training… Let’s say that you and your dog have started playing my ItsYerChoice (IYC) Game. Your dog is beginning to make good choices and has more focus for you. It’s fun for your dog. Now you have played the game you say: “okay, now how do I get him to stop chasing deer?”.
Here’s the thing. Everything we do with our dog to get the behaviours we ultimately want requires us to put in the layers of education to set him up for success so he can meet our expectations.
Think of the layers as the rungs of the ladder to the high diving board. Each of my dogs has achieved a lot of success in competition at a national and international level in the sport of dog agility … the equivalent of our Olympic High Diving in my example in the video. I’ve had to put in a lot of layers of learning for my dogs so that eventually we get to a place where the joy and confidence my dogs have playing ItsYerChoice is the same as the joy and confidence they have at a world level agility competition. There’s never any doubt or hesitation in my dogs when they get to the “high diving board” of world championships.
I’ve also put in the strategic layers of learning so that my dogs want to make a great choice not to chase deer … we do come across deer from time to time on our walks. They have joy and confidence in making that good decision because of the layers of education.
ItsYerChoice and the reason for it is because we put in strategic layers of learning in the form of a game to educate our dogs. It is layering one (very small) good decision on top of another… leading to more complex behaviours and more complex decision making in our dogs. That’s how we maintain the joy and engagement and confidence in our dogs every step along the way.
These layers will take your dog to the “Olympic High Diving Board”, no matter what that looks like for you.
If our dog’s behaviours are not demonstrating what we believe we have “trained,” it’s time to turn the microscope on ourselves as the trainers or on the lesson plans we’ve been trusting in to get us there.
The behaviour or misbehaviour of our dog is only a reflection of the lessons we have taught him. Have we gone from enjoying the water in a kiddie pool, straight to the high dive board at Olympic tryouts, with no layers of learning in between?
Misbehaviour equals a lack of understanding on our dog’s part. There must be a missing layer or two in the “training”… it’s up to us to fill in those gaps, then and only then can our dogs live up to the high expectations we have for them!
Today I am grateful for everyone who is educating their dogs to set them up for success and maintain their joy and confidence.
I have a friend that is a high school teacher. He said that when he gives his kids a “test”, if they fail, or do poorly that is a reflection of HIS teaching, not THEIR intelligence. I have always remembered that and applied that to my dog training. If my dog can’t do something, then I need to assess MY skills as an educator, not blame the dog or its genetics. Why doesn’t my dog understand this skill? What have I missed in his education? If I take my dog into a ring and it doesn’t go well, that’s on ME, not the dog.
Thank you for the opportunity to take this online training. I am just starting IYC with my dog. We have a lot of issues with barking in the yard and at people walking by. We also have issues with jumping when people come to the door. I am not really sure how to transition this game to the other issues since they are less tangible. And over time how will we be able to remove the food reward? Thank you!
I , so often, get the ‘oh you are still training your dog!!’ sympathetic look when I say that I am going to Dog Training. So many don’t realise that this is a journey. My dog is pretty great , I am pretty happy but we love growing and extending and we will never stop ‘cos it is so much fun!!
I am a total newbie to this and learning a ton, I see the analogies but the steps are missing for me. My lightbulb/AHHA moment hasn’t happened yet. I am working my way through the program but stuck on restrained recall because no helper. IYC is going pretty well.
So agree Susan. In a world where everything happens almost straight away i.e. I can buy your videos on Amazon and have them deleivered tomorrow! Dog training takes time, patience and is filled with an abundance of rewards. Enjoy the journey Peps
Totally agree. I had never thought of this until a few years ago…still working thru my own layers!
Hello
I know I am not being clear for my dog,BUT,how do i get him to drop or sit at a distance?He always runs back to me to complete the instruction.
How do I layer him into understanding what I mean?
Thank you wise dog trainers
One step at a time, literally. Proof one step away from your dog, proof 2 steps, 3 steps and so on till you have the distance you want. Be patient and don’t forget your positive reinforcement whether it’s tugging, treat or playing. Have fun!
The dog must fully understand the sit/down. Then you start in increments. Like the high dive at the Olympics, you must have baby steps. Start the dog to sit/down when they are a foot away from you. Then work it like a clock. Dogs don’t generalize so you must move to a different position remaining close and as for the behavior. Then when the dog shows competency at that distance incrementally bump out another foot or two feet and ask for the behavior. Again, work it like a clock, ask for it at every hour on the face of the clock, The dog being the middle of the clock and you are the outside numbers. You can send the dog away to the box but don’t lump the sit/down. The sit down comes only after the dog understands the concept of stepping away to the box/pallet. Some people use pizza boxes, small pallets, and ask the dog to step to that target. There would be layers here too. Think of a sentence with one verb. I want the dog to hup. I want the dog to down. Well, if you say I want the dog to hup then down you’ve lumped your training. So, take a step back, – you know if your dog will go away from you for a step or two; verbal praise, click or whatever your training style is. Another idea,and this is a bit advanced but I don’t know your dog or the dog’s quirks, you could put the pallet/pizza box between you and the dog. Call the dog forward to step on the box. Praise when it steps on the box. Work it like a clock. The dog will be praised rewarded each time they step on to the box. Don’t ask for the sit/down until the dog is competent in moving to the box.
Don’t up the ante, don’t change the rules. Have your goals and objectives written down on what you are training and stick with it. Train that behavior until you think the dog is a professional and then bump out the distance.
I absolutely agree – I was thinking about “expecting” things from my dog just the other day so this is timely and useful input. You have the best approach to dog training Susan!
Each time I go out to train
The number one gem is I am in charge of my dogs confidence
I go till I see her confidence is fine then I go to the next level thank you Susan and Handling 360
Their is never by this time you should be their–I see to many working to fast 😒
Susan, I am wondering if you could re-send me the video lesson from the beginning of “it’s yer choice” regarding dogs “helping themselves” from the table, counter, etc. My girl is still doing this, and I desparately need to refresh. Thank you so much!
Hi Jeanne, here’s where you can find out all about Susan’s ItsYerChoice game:
https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2018/06/why-choice-is-the-critical-key-to-a-great-dog/
Have been doing training for nearly a month now.Ifound it rather over whelming initially .We have progressed to game 15 which is fun and easy ! Games we find harder like RZ 360 Spin we broke down into bite sized chunks with lots of tugging between.
We both are more confident and are enjoying some Eureka moments ! More importantly we are closer and are having great fun.
Great discussion!
Wondering how much is breed specific?
My German Shepherd & Border Collies learned IYC early and so can make good decisions about wildlife (coyotes calling)… our neighbor has a 1-year old rambunctious golden retriever that they describe as “clueless” for chasing wildlife, same with diving in to water…. is that breed-specific challenges or lack of early-training???
Thank you for doing so much to help us humans, learn as well! I find I can apply much of this to everything in my life. Working with my employees and my horses ( if I could only teach my horse to tug 🤔). Great stuff.
I agree. I personal continue to gain nuggets of knowledge with each class or blog or book I have seen the same with my dogs. What is easy for one can be hard or the other one. However the funniest example is shaking our dog Sadie’s paw. For years my husband would call her dumb because when he asked her to shake she would just look at him like he didn’t know what he was talking about. My husband would say look our lab will do it why won’t this Border Collie. Well after years of this going on I read a training book about teaching the dog to shake with both paws and naming the differently. It occurred to me that I tell our Border Collie to shake when she gets out of the water or bath. The minute I changed the name to paw instead she would give her paw for a shake. This explains the look she gave my husband each time he would ask her to shake. She wasn’t wet. Why would she do that. It all comes down to communication and understanding
This happens all the time! Border Collies seem to have to have a separate word for everything. When we first started scent work, I told him to “search.” This resulted in a lot of sniffing and looking at the floor. I finally realized that “search” to him meant “look for the cookie” I just tossed. When I switched to “find” as my scent command, he totally got it, and has been super ever since!
The word “education” comes from Latin meaning to “draw forth” and this is what I see in the way that Susan teaches her human and her canine students–drawing forth knowledge and understanding. Thank you so much Susan. Kate
So timely! Just got home from a very frustrating “training” session at the pond!
I was trying to teach my young dog to do 4 things at once: take a straight line into the water, stop to the whistle and take accurate arm cast directions. All of that on top of wanting him swim along the shoreline.
We had two of those skills down – but not the other 2 or 3!! As a result, the skills we did have in place are now gone!! We now have to work to get those back before attempting to add the other ones.
Just when you think you know what you’re doing…….
I love learning more and more about the layering.. Such an important principle to set us up to succeed! Thank You!!
First I build relationship. Then I begin layering the education. Without a good relationship with my dog, I don’t believe he/she can learn how to learn. Hard to expound on this one.