Agile-ity Training: Dog Training as an Iterative Process (Part Three)

Did teaching my dog not to jump take time? Absolutely. The entire process is what I would certainly describe as “iterative,” – and because we're talking about an individual living creature with a will of her own and not an inanimate project, there was backsliding, too. So I had to inspect and adapt regularly as we went along.

For instance, one day she would do her sit/stays perfectly; the next, she would act as if she'd never received a day's training in her life (as if she were raised by.. you know -- wolves). Those were the days when it behooved me to be even more consistent, to reinforce even more positively and to get creative. I would make a game of it by getting her into a sit/stay, hiding somewhere, and then releasing her to come find me: doggie hide-and-seek.

So, from the very humble beginning of a basic “sit;” over time and in small, realistic iterations, happily benefiting from the little bit of value delivered along the way, I now have a dog who does not jump on strangers and who has about a 98% success rate with not jumping on her favorite people.  As for jumping on other dogs, well.. I think I'll let that one slide: the other dogs don't seem to mind, after all.

Agile-ity Training: Dog Training as an Iterative Process (Part Two)

After the one- or two-second sit was well in hand, we extended the time and continued adding more until it was no longer an issue – until Liffey could consistently stay until I released her, however long that may take. As more time is added to her stays, my dog is delivering more value.

And as the training progressed, I was able to inspect and adapt both her ability to sit and stay (until released) and the level of distraction within which she had to maintain those stays. As I've mentioned, we practiced at home and in fun and distracting outdoor spaces.  I also increased the challenge at home by going to the door and knocking on it; sometimes the knocking would be accompanied by door rattling or knob shaking - anything to make the sit/stay process that much harder for a happy, excitable dog.

When she showed that she was ready, I introduced the further challenge of an actual visitor.

Now, I'm sure that my dog would tell us, if she could, that one of the toughest challenges she had to face in her young life was to keep her rear end on the floor in the presence of her favorite person in the world: her dog walker. But she did do it. Again, at first it was for a mere few seconds; over time she was able to hold her stay until released.*

*Of course, I should also say that this required the cooperation of our amazingly patient dog walker (we miss you, Tami!): she would essentially ignore my dog until released and free to say hello – and then she would physically lower herself to greet my pup, so that keeping "four on the floor" was much more feasible.

Agile-ity Training: Dog Training as an Iterative Process (Part One)

Recently, after spending a few hours with me and my dog Liffey, a friend asked me how long after I got her did I begin training her?

"Immediately," was my answer. He was surprised that I didn't wait for her to reach some developmental milestone before I began teaching her. I explained to him that he may have been thinking about old-school, traditional (aversive) training techniques, which generally recommend waiting until a puppy is four months old before beginning training.

But thanks to the work and research of animal ethologists, behaviorists, trainers and veterinarians from the last several decades, we know now that puppies are perfectly capable of learning simple behaviors like "sit," very early in their lives. Some service dogs, interestingly, begin their learning as early as six weeks old; a good, reputable breeder begins imprinting puppies even earlier than this.

[My pup came to me at 8.5 weeks knowing the sit,down, leave it and take it, which the fine folks at the East Bay SPCA had taught her and which we use to this very day.]

The fact is, that dog training is an iterative process; as such, the experts suggest we begin training our pups immediately, rather than wait for a select milestone in the project schedule.. er, I mean, a select milestone in their development.

What do I mean, exactly, by "iterative?" You'll recall that I previously quoted The Elements of Scrum:

“a little bit of requirements gathering, a little bit of design, coding and testing, and delivers a little bit of value..”  and then you do it again.

We can certainly think of dog training in the same way.

Let's take jumping, for example. On a regular, consistent basis, I am jumped on by every kind of dog, from 90-pound American field Labs to 5-pound chihuahuas and everything in between. I have been jumped on by every age of dog, as well, including adult and senior dogs who should have been trained otherwise but were not. Let me say to those dog folks right now: it ain't cute. I don't like having to wear synthetic clothing (aka, my “crazy dog lady clothes”) every day because you don't and/or won't properly, positively train your dog to stop jumping on me, a stranger.

But, thanks to those remiss dog people, I have now gathered a requirement – I will teach my dog that jumping on humans is unacceptable behavior. But how?

Well, to start, I didn't teach my dog to "stop jumping;" rather, I taught her to sit, stay and then "say hello nicely."

In reality it was even more iterative than that; I got value in very small amounts: first, the “sit” had to be solid – whether we were at home, at the dog park, along a hiking trail, on the sidewalk in a busy shopping area, etc. Any place that is distracting/fun for a dog is always a good place to practice or “proof” the good behavior(s) you want.

Once the sit was firmly established, we moved on to our “stay” – first, inside the house. Initially, my wriggly dog could only do it for a second or two; she could only deliver a very little bit of value (I took it, happily).

To be continued...