Through the week I answered a question here on my blog… and the answer was a bit of scroller explaining the ABC’s of dog behaviour. After I replied I thought “I should post about this”. So here we are, and this comes with a big shout out to Mary for her question. All of training comes down to A-B-C, and I’ve got a quick video to explain.
We’re geeking out a bit here, but stick with me…
ABC’s of Dog Training
Antecedent: What happens immediately before (it could be a trigger, a cue, a distraction like a bunny).
Behaviour: The behaviour of the dog (that we can describe).
Consequence: What happened to the dog immediately after.
In the video I shared last week of transitioning Tater to walking off lead, he stopped and sniffed the ground, and then ran to catch up with me and came into reinforcement zone. Let’s look at how the A-B-C of dog training can work for us, or against us, in this situation, and how knowing our ABC helps set our dogs up for success.
In the example, Tater was sniffing the ground. Possibly he dropped part of his cookie there, or just found something good to sniff. The “why” he was sniffing is something only Tater knows for sure, so I can not say “he thinks a dog peed here” or “he thinks I dropped two cookies here”… all I can do is describe what I observe in terms of A-B-C:
- A= The Antecedent was Tater being off-leash away from me, and me walking away growing a large distance between us, which lead to his choice of…
- B= The Behaviour he chose was to run to catch up to me (I didn’t call him or lure him with a cookie).
- C= The Consequence of Tater choosing to leave the sniffing and catch up to me (without a prompt) was that he was praised and rewarded with a cookie.
Now, if I had called Tater when he was sniffing rather than waiting and evaluating his choice, I would have created a new set of A-B-C:
- A= Something good to smell and Susan getting further away.
- B= Ignore what Susan is doing and continue to do what you want to do (sniff).
- C= Susan calls YOU, making it easy for you to continue sniffing anytime you want, because the reward will be coming to you regardless if you pay attention to her on walks or not.
Can you see the difference between the two A-B-C scenarios? On the first, the choice Tater made to catch up with me was reinforced, making that choice of paying attention to me far more likely to be repeated. In the second fictional scenario, the ignoring me would have been reinforced, making that more likely to be repeated.
So, if you have a dog who sniffs on walks, or is not showing motivation to move, you just need to change the A-B-C… but I caution you to think small… split this down into small, achievable accomplishments for your dog. Possibly start with a walk that begins 5 steps from your house and ends with a big party at your house. Then build from there.
To make A-B-C work for us in our training, it starts with awareness and observation. I’ve got a PDF download for you so you can begin your observations in your life with your dog. I want you to really notice the “A”, the Antecedent, when you are keeping notes. Here’s what it might look like when you fill it out.
The ABC’s have been on my mind a lot lately. Awareness of ABC is going to exponentially increase dog training success for anyone, and grow the understanding of why a dog is behaving a certain way. We’ve decided to run a dog training masterclass for our Recallers members, and I’ll be looking more into ABC. We’ll be inviting the world to join us in the masterclass for free, so stay tuned for details coming up soon. ABC might seem a bit geeky, but we’ll be turning it into one of the biggest mind-blowing assets for success in your life with your dog.
Remember, download the PDF and start filling it in with your observations. Let me know in the comments what you are noticing about your dog’s A-B-C!
Today I am grateful for the science of behavior, and how understanding that science makes life so much better for our dogs, and for us.
Hello, thank you for sharing. The ABC makes complete sense. I love geeking out on this stuff!
I’ve been playing the IYC game with Hera (a border collie taken away from a backyard breeder, where she picked up some nasty habits that I can’t seem to help her overcome) since she was a puppy, but for some reason it never transitioned to her leaving stuff she randomly finds on the ground, so I had to resort to “leave it” (like, she would ignore any food I drop and wait for permission/reward, but everything else is “freebie”) because my main concern is that she might eat something that was poisoned (yeah we have such excuses for humans here) and I’d do whatever to prevent that. I don’t know what to do anymore (I do keep playing IYC with her in hopes it will . Also, she keeps going where she wants instead of following me or at least staying close, and she thinks that when I say “ok” to release her from a position it actually means “ok, go and do whatever you want”. Gah!
Susan Garrett’s Dog Training is literally the best dog community anywhere.I read it everyday and i am also greatful
Love this vlog. Such a reminder to reward the good choices of my dog. I will start today with being aware it and refresh my mind. Looking forward to the upcoming masterclass.
Cannot wait for the Masterclass 🙂 thank you Say Yes team for making it free.
Working on my ABC list I think I am going to need more than one page 🙂
I just got a new puppy and would like to share the masterclass with the other owners of the litter 🙂
My team is very appreciative of all the great stuff you have provided free of charge. I have two dogs that benefit from your generosity of sharing to those of us with limited money. Our dogs deserve the best we can provide.
I thoroughly enjoy reading everyone’s comments but how do I see the answers?
Wow! Thank you. I have been doing it 100% incorrectly … only rewarding when I call and not when they make the choice to come running. Great thoughts and easy to remember, but now I have to retrain the trainer (me).
I have a recallers dog that I have put back on leash who had an incident like Tater ,I am slowly leting him off again .
When they are sniffing and return is there any limit on the time you let them continue sniffing or do you go back and get them
I can’t wait for the Recallers Masterclass. I love Recallers although some of the games are limited with lockdown and a mud patch of a miniature lawn after full lockdown with 2 adult BCs and a new BC puppy!!! My question now is at what point does the dog learn in IYC not to steal from the kitchen counter and in Hot Zone when to stay on the bed. My puppy has a perfect IYC when I give her something but is permanently stealing from the counter with no apparent feelings of naughtiness when discovered. I am also busy with the Bring Me programme going slowly I have to say..
I would love the answer to counter surfing too – and Bring Me works beautifully when we are working, but when she steals something – not so much!
Your insight is always right on. Can’t thank you enough for being an influence in my life and dog training adventures.
So simple, But explains A Lot, I see some of my mistakes on the walk.
I am excited to hear about a Recallers Master Class! Thanks Susan! Keep us posted!
Our big challenge is recall, we could call and he is still running to lake. That worries us.
Yes, I am in the same boat
So useful. My beagle sniffs a lot and when I call her she finishes sniffing before she comes. Will try to change this
Wow…… fridge……. biscuit tin….rustle of plastic bag ..,….. opening a plastic container……. result food treat. Really looking toward to joining this one and learning how to maximise my dogs’ responses to help us increase confidence and reaction when we’re out and about.
Very nice vlog. As you know (since I participate to your online lessons most of the time) I have two JRT with different temperament. My ABC is with my Orion not when we are in the park or at home but in agility training, he is brilliant but most of the time want to just play alone for example I say tunnel and show very clear to him and chooses to go weever which is near in the course or in a jump I ask for out of the wink jump and does inside jump just because he is awesome hahaha
OK, so I didn’t think this would work. After all, my dog loves the forest scents and might spend ages sniffing before he even thought about where I was. I tried it on our evening walk. It was hard to be patient and not call, but he did come back. I think it seemed like it was longer than it actually was. We did this a few times with lots of praise and cookies but then he started to blow right by me. I think I need to reduce the distance and / or increase the value of the rewards. Does this sound right?
I would love a Masterclass. I have learned so much from Susan already. Thanks.
Thank you Susan for your valuable lesson to me. I realized I was creating more bad behaviour by rewarding at the absolute wrong time. It’s starting to sink in and I tried changing it today. I can see I’m on a new level of understanding. Thank you so much, Mary
This example is absolutely true. I wondered why my dog was getting further and further behind me on walks – even though she came when called. Then I started rewarding only when she got just in front of me without being called. Like magic, she now walks just in front of me off lead; just where I want her. It’s as easy as ABC!
Yes… and it works…rewarding the right choices when you have not even asked for them…wow…have an 8 month old Golden Retriever male who was off the charts rude and bitey until we started doing this. He is mellowing out and becoming much more enjoyable to be around which of course makes him happy, too. Thank you, Susan for spelling it out so clearly!!! And always reminding us to help our dogs DO what we want them to do, not scold them for not doing it, in small enough steps to always put them in a situation where they can succeed.
I am grateful for learning more about how to help my Jeb through his rough adolescent months!