WEBVTT 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:12.380 Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Canine Connection 00:00:12.380 --> 00:00:15.679 podcast. Today, Lori and I are going to talk 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:18.960 about variable reinforcement. So that's just 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:22.679 a fancy word to say being unpredictable with 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:25.379 when you give your cookies or your toy. Humans 00:00:25.379 --> 00:00:32.460 are super predictable. And dogs are desperately 00:00:32.460 --> 00:00:34.539 looking for information, right? Like they have 00:00:34.539 --> 00:00:37.549 no idea what we're doing or why. Like we have 00:00:37.549 --> 00:00:39.929 this end picture. This is what we want the behavior 00:00:39.929 --> 00:00:41.969 to look like, or this is what we want it all 00:00:41.969 --> 00:00:44.609 to look like when we go in the ring and the dog's 00:00:44.609 --> 00:00:46.890 just operating in the vacuum, right? Like it's 00:00:46.890 --> 00:00:49.429 just sitting there and it's like, okay, cookies 00:00:49.429 --> 00:00:53.270 or a toy are on the table. How do I get it? Right? 00:00:53.329 --> 00:00:55.909 So when we teach something, we usually go, the 00:00:55.909 --> 00:00:59.270 dog does one thing. We mark whether we click 00:00:59.270 --> 00:01:01.990 or use a word, and then we give the dog a treat 00:01:01.990 --> 00:01:06.519 or a cookie. And then we. Theoretically, as the 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:09.439 dog gets more advanced, we give fewer cookies. 00:01:09.579 --> 00:01:12.079 I say theoretically because it doesn't always 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:17.120 happen. At some point, when we give the cookies, 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:20.540 it needs to become, A, we have to give less cookies 00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:22.480 first and foremost. That's like a huge thing, 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:26.540 or toys. And B, it has to be very unpredictable. 00:01:27.159 --> 00:01:29.879 So I tell my students it has to be unpredictable 00:01:29.879 --> 00:01:33.810 and tool -y. One, the dog should not know when 00:01:33.810 --> 00:01:36.750 it's going to get a cookie. So it's very common, 00:01:36.810 --> 00:01:39.310 like in obedience. I think it's in a lot of things. 00:01:39.390 --> 00:01:43.030 The dog does an exercise, the dog does the finish, 00:01:43.269 --> 00:01:45.849 and then the dog gets a cookie. So what happens? 00:01:45.969 --> 00:01:49.290 The dog expects a cookie there. If you don't 00:01:49.290 --> 00:01:52.069 give the dog a cookie there, the dog is confused. 00:01:52.129 --> 00:01:54.739 I get so frustrated when people say. they're 00:01:54.739 --> 00:01:56.780 only working for the cookies or they're lazy 00:01:56.780 --> 00:01:59.200 or they don't want to do it unless we pay them 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:01.579 first of all when's the last time you went to 00:02:01.579 --> 00:02:04.159 work and said you know what don't pay me i just 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:07.799 feel like doing it right doubt it right secondly 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:10.599 if all if you get paid every week or every other 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:14.400 week and suddenly your pay isn't there do you 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:17.400 just go a big deal i'll get it another day or 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:21.530 do you go whoa whoa whoa whoa what happened Why 00:02:21.530 --> 00:02:24.750 did I not get my money? You start calling people, 00:02:24.889 --> 00:02:27.370 you start complaining, you start tracking it 00:02:27.370 --> 00:02:30.050 down. Where's my money? Because you've created 00:02:30.050 --> 00:02:33.509 an expectation. You do X amount of work, you 00:02:33.509 --> 00:02:37.129 get paid, right? So we create an expectation. 00:02:37.270 --> 00:02:42.210 And I also think personally that how often we 00:02:42.210 --> 00:02:45.990 reinforce, it becomes part of the picture, right? 00:02:46.069 --> 00:02:48.770 Like the dog is like, oh. this is the picture 00:02:48.770 --> 00:02:53.310 we train and every 30 seconds or every five seconds 00:02:53.310 --> 00:02:56.650 or every how often i get reinforced and it's 00:02:56.650 --> 00:03:00.210 now if you change that suddenly go in the ring 00:03:00.210 --> 00:03:03.830 and get nothing again the picture looks very 00:03:03.830 --> 00:03:07.030 different because instead of like some work broken 00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:10.430 by a reinforcement event then a little more work 00:03:10.430 --> 00:03:13.830 broken by a reinforcement event all of a sudden 00:03:13.830 --> 00:03:16.360 it's just work, work, work, work, work. Well, 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:20.639 that looks completely different. Yeah. And that, 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:24.240 when you say that, like the dogs see it in pictures, 00:03:24.259 --> 00:03:28.979 that's just to me, like they are so good at patterning 00:03:28.979 --> 00:03:32.620 all that stuff. Like they literally, I swear, 00:03:32.780 --> 00:03:35.939 like I would say, say this to my students, like 00:03:35.939 --> 00:03:38.199 they almost become like they have like a clock 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:41.680 on them because we, and that's what we do. Like 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:46.680 we do X. x behavior we reinforce we do y behavior 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:50.240 we reinforce and that constant rate and continuous 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:53.460 pattern develops really quickly in the dogs and 00:03:53.460 --> 00:03:56.439 then like you said that expectation happens and 00:03:56.439 --> 00:04:00.120 then if all of a sudden you just go to no payment 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:03.919 then that's where the dogs get confused so this 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:07.900 is why like this is to me the biggest one of 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:10.080 the biggest pieces that's missing in a lot of 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:13.639 people's training that that mindfulness of starting 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:18.339 that variable reinforcement rate because we I 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:22.240 feel like our emotional state gets involved big 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:25.800 time and we want the dogs to be happy and we 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:28.699 want the dogs to be right. So what are we doing? 00:04:28.779 --> 00:04:32.000 We're constantly paying the dogs. Yeah, like 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:35.220 the minute. So first of all, which is I don't 00:04:35.220 --> 00:04:37.060 want to go too far down that rabbit hole because 00:04:37.060 --> 00:04:39.879 it's a whole nother multiple episodes. But like 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:44.480 the second the dog starts to struggle, I'm not 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:48.339 talking about all out fail like. just struggle 00:04:48.339 --> 00:04:51.199 like the dog is unsure like i just had a student 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:54.779 recently um i was trying to get her to shape 00:04:54.779 --> 00:04:58.439 her dog right so clearly i could tell i could 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:03.060 tell literally within seconds that she doesn't 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:05.579 she says oh yeah i shaped the dog i could tell 00:05:05.579 --> 00:05:08.040 within seconds she truly doesn't shape the dog 00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:10.920 because as soon as the dog got no information 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:14.500 so it would do a few behaviors which were not 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:17.829 the ones we wanted And then it would just stand 00:05:17.829 --> 00:05:20.069 there and do nothing. Like literally, it would 00:05:20.069 --> 00:05:22.870 just do nothing because it was waiting for her 00:05:22.870 --> 00:05:27.290 to help the dog. Right. And because she's like, 00:05:27.370 --> 00:05:30.089 oh, God, I got to help the dog so I could give 00:05:30.089 --> 00:05:33.639 the dog a cookie. So the dog isn't struggling. 00:05:33.740 --> 00:05:35.860 And I'm like, first of all, you know, struggle. 00:05:36.019 --> 00:05:38.519 There's a scale. I don't think that was a real 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:41.100 struggle. But the dog, we're not comfortable 00:05:41.100 --> 00:05:44.579 with the dog having a child. So the dog stands 00:05:44.579 --> 00:05:47.540 there, does nothing. Let me do something. Dog 00:05:47.540 --> 00:05:50.079 looks worried. Let me jump in and give you a 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:53.759 cookie. Dog looks unsure. Rather than take a 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:56.600 second, go, huh, why? Okay, what can I do to 00:05:56.600 --> 00:05:59.959 help this dog grab the cookie or the toy? right? 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:03.819 Take the dog somewhere challenging, dog's distracted, 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:07.600 get a cookie or toy out. Like that's what we 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.079 do. And it becomes kind of like a crutch. And 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:13.240 then my favorite is giving cookies for nothing. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:18.939 Yeah. Why did you just give that cookie? I don't 00:06:18.939 --> 00:06:21.079 know. Well, or half the time they're like, oh, 00:06:21.100 --> 00:06:27.990 I did. So for sure, a big thing to do is take 00:06:27.990 --> 00:06:31.250 the food off your body, right? Because that's 00:06:31.250 --> 00:06:34.029 going to make it more challenging for you to 00:06:34.029 --> 00:06:37.930 just give these cookies or toys that you're not 00:06:37.930 --> 00:06:40.250 even aware that you're doing. Like there has 00:06:40.250 --> 00:06:43.550 to be a reason why. And yes, when I have a young 00:06:43.550 --> 00:06:46.110 dog and I'm teaching a behavior, I'm giving a 00:06:46.110 --> 00:06:48.740 lot of cookies. There's a reason for that. I'm 00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:51.860 teaching it and I'm shaping it. And every time 00:06:51.860 --> 00:06:54.399 the approximation gets closer, I give a cookie. 00:06:54.500 --> 00:06:58.639 But at some point, like my dogs jump into heel 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:01.360 position. There is no thought behind that. It 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:04.120 is a habit. It's automatic. It's like driving 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:07.639 a car. I do not ever give my dogs cookies for 00:07:07.639 --> 00:07:09.819 jumping into heel position. Like once they know 00:07:09.819 --> 00:07:12.160 how to do it and they're doing it consistently, 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:17.139 they never get a cookie for that. Yeah. And that 00:07:17.139 --> 00:07:20.459 I. think is the key thing that people aren't 00:07:20.459 --> 00:07:24.240 quite clear about because especially in the teaching 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:26.980 phases you know we get the puppies and we are 00:07:26.980 --> 00:07:29.660 starting to teach them little behavior shaping 00:07:29.660 --> 00:07:32.500 things and the rate and reinforcement is going 00:07:32.500 --> 00:07:35.079 to be higher because we wanted we want to reinforce 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:37.579 every little step every little piece that we're 00:07:37.579 --> 00:07:40.819 shaping and teaching and then we also want to 00:07:40.819 --> 00:07:44.879 put value on all those behaviors right but once 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:48.339 like i just talked to my students this weekend 00:07:48.339 --> 00:07:52.560 about it. Even in my puppies, once I see that 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:56.899 little piece of behavior is totally fluent, little, 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:00.680 I'm talking, my puppies start spinning on their 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:02.899 own. They start offering it. I don't even have 00:08:02.899 --> 00:08:04.680 to say it anymore. They're like, it's just become 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:07.360 self -reinforcing. That little piece is now fluent. 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:11.160 Even in my puppies, I'm mindfully saying, I'm 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:14.040 not going to reinforce that. Like the rate now. 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:17.699 is going to decrease. And I'm going to mindfully 00:08:17.699 --> 00:08:19.980 start even putting that behavior on a variable 00:08:19.980 --> 00:08:23.620 reinforcement schedule. Right. So that I'm starting 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:27.600 to introduce that to the dog. And that's, it's 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:30.319 important. It's like when I watch someone give 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.539 their dog a ton of cookies, like I'm always like, 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:36.860 God, because I know already, even when I have 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:40.120 a seven week old puppy, I know that one day this 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:43.379 dog is going to have to go in the ring on a given 00:08:43.379 --> 00:08:48.110 day. and perform for like nine minutes, give 00:08:48.110 --> 00:08:51.789 or take, and do an enormous number of behaviors 00:08:51.789 --> 00:08:56.629 in an enormously long, very complex chain with, 00:08:56.669 --> 00:08:59.590 you know, distractions, pressure, and so on with 00:08:59.590 --> 00:09:03.389 no reinforcement at all. So that is in my mind 00:09:03.389 --> 00:09:07.509 from day one. And so you should constantly be 00:09:07.509 --> 00:09:10.450 asking yourself, does my dog need this cookie 00:09:10.450 --> 00:09:13.070 or can I get rid of it? Like, can I get rid of 00:09:13.070 --> 00:09:16.370 this cookie? Like maybe sometimes my dog will 00:09:16.370 --> 00:09:19.110 need some cookies for certain behaviors to kind 00:09:19.110 --> 00:09:22.309 of refresh it or to keep it sharp. But certain 00:09:22.309 --> 00:09:24.750 behaviors, there are a lot of behaviors my dogs 00:09:24.750 --> 00:09:27.710 do that like never need a cookie again or very 00:09:27.710 --> 00:09:31.409 rarely need cookies again. Right. And I, yeah, 00:09:31.509 --> 00:09:33.190 go ahead. Go ahead. Well, I was just going to 00:09:33.190 --> 00:09:36.690 jump in because I think that's, that is always, 00:09:36.809 --> 00:09:40.230 and it. It never was when I first started out. 00:09:40.289 --> 00:09:42.350 Like I didn't even know about any of that stuff. 00:09:42.450 --> 00:09:45.370 So of course, like when I had Mary, like I was 00:09:45.370 --> 00:09:48.110 a fucking PEZ dispenser. Like I didn't know better. 00:09:48.389 --> 00:09:51.129 So this is something I think that's just a lot 00:09:51.129 --> 00:09:53.909 of people just aren't aware of. Or they're just 00:09:53.909 --> 00:09:57.389 not being mindful. But it is, you like, you have 00:09:57.389 --> 00:10:01.409 to say, what is my end goal? My end goal is that 00:10:01.409 --> 00:10:03.950 my dog needs to be able to go work for duration 00:10:03.950 --> 00:10:07.450 without that tangible reinforcer on me in a hard, 00:10:07.509 --> 00:10:09.669 hard environment, which is going to be the trial, 00:10:09.830 --> 00:10:13.460 the ring. And also you can layer that on. Like, 00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:16.000 what are your goals? Well, I'd like to do tournaments 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:18.799 or I'd like to do multi -day shows. Like that's 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:21.500 even harder. You're coming out of the ring and 00:10:21.500 --> 00:10:24.019 then X amount of time goes by. You got to go 00:10:24.019 --> 00:10:26.179 back in the ring and that can be over a course 00:10:26.179 --> 00:10:29.179 of two, three days. Right. So that is what you 00:10:29.179 --> 00:10:31.139 have to always be keeping in your mind. Like 00:10:31.139 --> 00:10:33.519 just from the get go, like we said with the puppies 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:36.019 or a young dog that you're starting out, pay 00:10:36.019 --> 00:10:40.679 attention to where those behaviors. are starting 00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:43.440 to be you don't need to reinforce them every 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:46.980 every rep you know and i think too and this is 00:10:46.980 --> 00:10:51.039 a huge misconception right like when things get 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:54.340 hard or to keep dogs in the game or to maintain 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:58.879 effort in people's minds they need to pay a lot 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:02.240 but actually the opposite is true so when i have 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:04.679 someone asking the dog for tricks and giving 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:09.129 a cookie for every single trick right the dog 00:11:09.129 --> 00:11:11.870 doesn't have to work that hard so two things 00:11:11.870 --> 00:11:15.009 happen one if you reduce that rate of reinforcement 00:11:15.009 --> 00:11:17.629 the dog gets anxious right because it's like 00:11:17.629 --> 00:11:20.289 ah what's happening what's happening and it gets 00:11:20.289 --> 00:11:23.450 like stressed out so that's one thing but the 00:11:23.450 --> 00:11:25.889 other thing is the dog doesn't have to work as 00:11:25.889 --> 00:11:28.710 hard because it's getting paid every second like 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:31.159 Why is it going to put in any effort? There's 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:35.139 no reason for it to try hard or to push. There's 00:11:35.139 --> 00:11:38.019 no reason for it. It's not, is the dog lazy or 00:11:38.019 --> 00:11:41.299 not? My dog can be the most motivated dog genetically 00:11:41.299 --> 00:11:44.960 on the planet. If it's getting fed every second, 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:48.039 why is it going to put effort in? So then when 00:11:48.039 --> 00:11:51.039 I say to that person, ask the dog for three or 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:53.720 four or five tricks in a row before giving a 00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:57.259 cookie, right? what happens is by behavior three 00:11:57.259 --> 00:12:02.659 four the dog starts putting more effort in because 00:12:02.659 --> 00:12:05.740 it starts going hey what the heck what to do 00:12:05.740 --> 00:12:08.120 to get a cookie here people all right how about 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:12.419 this how about that right come on and then it 00:12:12.419 --> 00:12:15.960 does and it starts putting in more and more energy 00:12:15.960 --> 00:12:20.759 and effort and you actually get more engagement 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:25.440 so people are inadvertently trying to achieve 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:30.019 those things. And they think by subconsciously, 00:12:30.019 --> 00:12:32.019 I think a lot of times by giving more cookies, 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:34.019 they're heading in that direction and they're 00:12:34.019 --> 00:12:36.899 actually doing the opposite. Right. They're creating 00:12:36.899 --> 00:12:41.779 like a helpless dog that can't do anything because 00:12:41.779 --> 00:12:45.419 every second we're doing it for them. Right. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.639 Right. You know, and that, you know, that. Like 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.840 I'm just like sitting there, like it's literally 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:52.919 like the dog. I don't know. I just have this 00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:55.179 weird like vision in my head. Like the dog is 00:12:55.179 --> 00:12:58.600 just like hanging out like by poolside and you're 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:01.519 just like, you know, you're just delivering the 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:04.220 drink poolside every five seconds to the dog. 00:13:04.700 --> 00:13:08.620 Yeah. Why is the dog going to get up early and 00:13:08.620 --> 00:13:13.559 hustle? Right. Exactly. Exactly. When it's like, 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:17.240 hello, where's my, and they will start to say 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:19.500 that, right? Because that you have created an 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:23.419 expectation. Yeah. So if you then go to every 00:13:23.419 --> 00:13:26.559 other behavior by after the first behavior, your 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:30.139 dog's going to go, Hey, what happened? What is 00:13:30.139 --> 00:13:34.759 happening lady? And then Because the dog doesn't 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:37.179 immediately just do the second behavior or it 00:13:37.179 --> 00:13:41.080 maybe does, maybe it gets stuck or maybe it just 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:44.940 starts yelling at you. Or maybe it, you know, 00:13:44.940 --> 00:13:48.799 gets frustrated and you're like, you say spin 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:51.440 and the dogs like sit down and then you're like, 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:54.240 well, you sat me down. So here's a cookie, but 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:57.759 you didn't do what I asked. Right. They panic 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:00.539 and then they give the dog what they wanted. 00:14:00.919 --> 00:14:03.700 another cookie. So you've created this vicious 00:14:03.700 --> 00:14:07.799 cycle that you get kind of stuck in. And then 00:14:07.799 --> 00:14:10.799 when you try and get the dog ready for the ring, 00:14:10.899 --> 00:14:13.779 nevermind, go in the ring, it all comes completely 00:14:13.779 --> 00:14:16.120 unglued. And then people say things like, well, 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:19.559 my dogs, that cookie stuff doesn't work, or they 00:14:19.559 --> 00:14:22.600 only work for the cookies or my dog's lazy. If 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:25.179 there's no cookie, my dog won't do it. No, you 00:14:25.179 --> 00:14:28.299 haven't taught your dog how to be able to do 00:14:28.299 --> 00:14:34.159 it. for less reinforcement right and then some 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:37.200 then what like you said what happens is they 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:40.960 say well the cookie thing's not working or the 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.500 dog's only working for food now so i'm gonna 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:46.500 get rid of all the food like literally people 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:49.480 do that they're like i'm not feeding anything 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:53.330 anymore no cookies until like The whole entire 00:14:53.330 --> 00:14:55.970 training session's done. Like you can't do that 00:14:55.970 --> 00:15:00.490 either. You know, the food, the food or the reinforcer 00:15:00.490 --> 00:15:04.230 is always on the table. Like for my dogs, like 00:15:04.230 --> 00:15:06.789 I'm never going to do like a deprivation thing. 00:15:07.070 --> 00:15:09.470 It's never going to be like never there. Like 00:15:09.470 --> 00:15:12.149 they know it's there. They know it's on the table 00:15:12.149 --> 00:15:15.029 or they know it's in my pockets or they know 00:15:15.029 --> 00:15:17.750 it's laying over on the floor, but it's up to 00:15:17.750 --> 00:15:22.309 us to start to create that. path to the reinforcer 00:15:22.309 --> 00:15:26.350 right so that can look like in the very beginning 00:15:26.350 --> 00:15:30.029 very quick the high rate of reinforcer and then 00:15:30.029 --> 00:15:32.909 you want to start to develop the path being sometimes 00:15:32.909 --> 00:15:36.490 you get a cookie here not always the length of 00:15:36.490 --> 00:15:38.830 time that you work some when are you going to 00:15:38.830 --> 00:15:41.210 get that cookie so that's that variable part 00:15:41.210 --> 00:15:43.990 because i think people get really stuck the big 00:15:43.990 --> 00:15:47.399 thing i see is you know Go and take a class. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:50.179 You're new to this and everybody's got their 00:15:50.179 --> 00:15:53.399 bait bags on. So the cookies are flying right 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:55.860 on every little thing. Cookie, cookie, cookie. 00:15:56.120 --> 00:16:00.460 And then it's never. mindfully talked about or 00:16:00.460 --> 00:16:04.039 taught on how to start to that variable reinforcement 00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:08.059 rate so then by the time people are looking to 00:16:08.059 --> 00:16:11.419 put their dogs in the ring that's where the big 00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:13.980 problem lies and then they're stuck and they 00:16:13.980 --> 00:16:17.059 don't understand why their dogs look like they 00:16:17.059 --> 00:16:21.620 want to die That's the big missing piece. So 00:16:21.620 --> 00:16:24.120 I think the first thing I have my students do, 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:27.159 which helps tremendously, just, it's like, I'm 00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:30.179 not even asking you to variably reinforce. I'm 00:16:30.179 --> 00:16:33.480 just saying, take the food and put it on the 00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:36.059 table. Yep. Just put it on a table. Which is 00:16:36.059 --> 00:16:39.299 great because then it, like, I mean, the big 00:16:39.299 --> 00:16:42.779 thing I see is as soon as the dog starts to look 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:46.129 uncertain. The hands go in the pockets. Like 00:16:46.129 --> 00:16:48.649 I have students who want to live there. And I'm 00:16:48.649 --> 00:16:50.950 like, don't you're not even allowed to wear anything 00:16:50.950 --> 00:16:53.649 with pockets anymore. Like your food cannot even 00:16:53.649 --> 00:16:56.190 be on you because of that. Yeah. And if the food 00:16:56.190 --> 00:16:59.850 is not on you by default, you're not going to 00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:02.269 subconsciously just grab a cookie because it's 00:17:02.269 --> 00:17:04.670 not there. Exactly. That's number one. Number 00:17:04.670 --> 00:17:07.970 two, humans are a little bit lazy. So now if 00:17:07.970 --> 00:17:09.849 you have to go all the way over there and get 00:17:09.849 --> 00:17:12.109 a cookie, you're going to be thinking about. 00:17:12.569 --> 00:17:14.470 why you're getting the cookie. The second thing 00:17:14.470 --> 00:17:17.950 I made them do is put a pad next to your cookies 00:17:17.950 --> 00:17:21.970 with a pen and write down why you gave that cookie, 00:17:22.069 --> 00:17:24.930 right? So I'm not saying don't give any cookies. 00:17:25.029 --> 00:17:27.690 I'm just saying there should be a reason why, 00:17:27.809 --> 00:17:32.029 right? Like my dog usually goes slow for the 00:17:32.029 --> 00:17:33.990 broad jump. It went really fast over the broad 00:17:33.990 --> 00:17:37.549 jump. Great reason to give a cookie, right? So 00:17:37.549 --> 00:17:40.849 go give that cookie. And I'm not saying initially, 00:17:40.970 --> 00:17:44.589 like, you know, Just by default, you're going 00:17:44.589 --> 00:17:47.089 to be given your dog less cookies. So now you're 00:17:47.089 --> 00:17:50.049 automatically reducing how much you're reinforcing. 00:17:50.170 --> 00:17:53.369 Now you're writing down why. So you need to, 00:17:53.369 --> 00:17:58.150 because people are not consciously thinking of 00:17:58.150 --> 00:18:01.690 why they are giving a cookie. There should be 00:18:01.690 --> 00:18:06.140 a reason for it. There's a reason why. I give 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:08.859 every reinforcement I give. And I'm always saying, 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:12.539 do I need to give that here? Right. So, so I 00:18:12.539 --> 00:18:15.200 think that's always like a really good start. 00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:19.339 Then the other little kind of cheat trick I do 00:18:19.339 --> 00:18:23.819 is if my dog is like relatively fully trained, 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.799 for example, and now I just want to like be unpredictable 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:30.500 with where I give a cookie, then again, cookie 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:32.359 shouldn't be on you because you're just a creature 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:34.539 of habit. You're going to do it. But I can tell. 00:18:34.990 --> 00:18:37.470 If you train your dog in front of me, I can tell 00:18:37.470 --> 00:18:40.369 you exactly where you give cookies. Because if 00:18:40.369 --> 00:18:42.809 you heal and you do a halt, your dog's going 00:18:42.809 --> 00:18:45.710 to look at you and it's clear as day with their 00:18:45.710 --> 00:18:48.990 face going to say, cookie now, right? And you 00:18:48.990 --> 00:18:51.890 go, right. And you give the dog a cookie. So 00:18:51.890 --> 00:18:55.470 you don't want to get, so if I do something with 00:18:55.470 --> 00:18:58.269 my dog. And my dog looks at me and goes, cookie 00:18:58.269 --> 00:19:01.210 now, right? I will not give them a cookie. And 00:19:01.210 --> 00:19:04.950 I'll make a mental note. My bad. Clearly, I've 00:19:04.950 --> 00:19:09.170 been feeding here enough for my dog to expect 00:19:09.170 --> 00:19:14.369 it. Now, if I give a cookie in places like the 00:19:14.369 --> 00:19:17.750 middle of an about turn, middle of a right turn, 00:19:17.970 --> 00:19:21.589 middle of a slow pace, and my dog looks surprised. 00:19:22.430 --> 00:19:25.410 perfect it means i don't usually reinforce there 00:19:25.410 --> 00:19:29.630 my dog's like whoa i just got a cookie holy cow 00:19:29.630 --> 00:19:32.910 i didn't know that was even on the table right 00:19:32.910 --> 00:19:37.069 that surprise that's what you want because if 00:19:37.069 --> 00:19:40.549 you surprise your dog routinely your dog's going 00:19:40.549 --> 00:19:43.829 to start giving you more effort more engagement 00:19:43.829 --> 00:19:48.029 right because it's like holy cow i have no idea 00:19:48.029 --> 00:19:50.289 when a cookie's coming it could be coming like 00:19:50.289 --> 00:19:54.150 at any time So like, I'm going to keep trying 00:19:54.150 --> 00:19:56.589 harder and harder and harder. Cause like, surely 00:19:56.589 --> 00:20:01.490 now is it coming now? How about now? Now, now 00:20:01.490 --> 00:20:04.910 is it coming? Like, which is different than I 00:20:04.910 --> 00:20:07.829 expect it now. Cause you always give it to me 00:20:07.829 --> 00:20:11.130 here. Right. Right. And then when you don't give 00:20:11.130 --> 00:20:14.130 it there in the ring, the dog is, and rightly 00:20:14.130 --> 00:20:18.410 so. Disappointed. Very disappointed. Very disappointed. 00:20:18.769 --> 00:20:22.930 And even more importantly. confused yeah right 00:20:22.930 --> 00:20:26.450 fusion leads to lack of confidence and then that's 00:20:26.450 --> 00:20:30.130 going to spill forward into the work and it's 00:20:30.130 --> 00:20:32.089 just going to get worse and worse as the dog's 00:20:32.089 --> 00:20:36.390 not getting any cookies or toy right right and 00:20:36.390 --> 00:20:39.049 that's the thing you know with that constant 00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:42.180 Those consistent spots you're reinforcing where 00:20:42.180 --> 00:20:45.339 you can see the dog is kind of demanding or expecting 00:20:45.339 --> 00:20:48.759 that reinforcer to come. A big one I see is a 00:20:48.759 --> 00:20:51.460 great example is, you know, the dog is called 00:20:51.460 --> 00:20:55.779 front on a recall. And like within a second of 00:20:55.779 --> 00:20:57.759 sitting there, the dog just doesn't auto finish 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:00.799 with that look of expectation of this is where 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.619 I get my cookie. This is where I get my cookie. 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:06.859 That's a big one. Like you said, there's that 00:21:06.859 --> 00:21:09.440 expectancy on the dog. And then what happens 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:13.519 is you can see it clear as day where all that 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:17.380 patterning has happened with the constant reinforcement 00:21:17.380 --> 00:21:20.720 in certain places. Because then when the cookie 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:24.539 or reinforcer is not presented, you literally 00:21:24.539 --> 00:21:30.119 can see the dog's entire expression change. There's 00:21:30.119 --> 00:21:34.299 just... that like total letdown emotional state 00:21:34.299 --> 00:21:37.500 happens and like you said it will it'll spill 00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:40.180 into the rest of the stuff because now the dog 00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:44.880 is confused and worried and so on and so forth 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:48.599 for sure yeah so you have to so i i look at it 00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:51.819 in two ways one is in training i don't want to 00:21:51.819 --> 00:21:54.500 be predictable right now you can literally get 00:21:54.500 --> 00:21:58.240 an app and it can just give you a tone at a variable 00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:01.190 time it'll go beep and then you can randomly 00:22:01.190 --> 00:22:04.339 give cookies if you have a hard time. Because 00:22:04.339 --> 00:22:07.779 you do have to actually pay attention. You do. 00:22:07.980 --> 00:22:10.859 Like you do have to say to yourself, because 00:22:10.859 --> 00:22:13.940 it has to be variable, meaning not, I don't mean 00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:17.140 that every time now you give your dog a cookie 00:22:17.140 --> 00:22:20.099 at 30 seconds, it means sometimes you give a 00:22:20.099 --> 00:22:23.299 cookie at one second, sometimes at 45, sometimes 00:22:23.299 --> 00:22:27.859 at 20, sometimes at 60. Like it truly means it 00:22:27.859 --> 00:22:31.680 is completely unpredictable. There is no pattern. 00:22:31.799 --> 00:22:34.240 We don't know when it's coming. So there's that 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:37.119 within a session. And then there's also session 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:40.680 two sessions. So yes, I do have sessions where 00:22:40.680 --> 00:22:44.180 my dogs will get more cookies in that session. 00:22:44.359 --> 00:22:47.380 So if I'm working on perfecting my fronts, my 00:22:47.380 --> 00:22:50.079 dogs get a lot of cookies for that. Or if I'm 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:52.819 working on like pieces, keeping them really sharp, 00:22:52.859 --> 00:22:55.680 a lot of detail work, I'll tend to give more 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:58.359 cookies. But then the next day, I'm not going 00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:00.940 to do the same thing. The next day, I'm going 00:23:00.940 --> 00:23:04.029 to do something different. going to get less 00:23:04.029 --> 00:23:07.730 cookies in that session and then I have some 00:23:07.730 --> 00:23:10.309 sessions where I work on chaining which means 00:23:10.309 --> 00:23:13.930 I do a long piece and then my dog gets a jackpot 00:23:13.930 --> 00:23:16.930 and in that training session my dog might only 00:23:16.930 --> 00:23:20.920 get Three times, if I do three chaining sessions 00:23:20.920 --> 00:23:23.700 in that training session, my dog's only getting 00:23:23.700 --> 00:23:26.720 three reward events. Yes, they're big events, 00:23:26.859 --> 00:23:29.500 like they're jackpots, but there's only three 00:23:29.500 --> 00:23:32.460 of them in that session. Right, after all the 00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:36.240 chains, yeah. Yeah, so session, so even throughout 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:39.900 the week. There are some training sessions where 00:23:39.900 --> 00:23:42.400 you won't get a lot of reinforcement and there 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:45.160 are some. So even there, it's unpredictable. 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:48.519 Yeah. And that's the mindfulness of, you know, 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:51.099 make that's the mapping out and being paying 00:23:51.099 --> 00:23:53.799 attention to what you're doing. That goes along, 00:23:53.900 --> 00:23:56.140 too, with your training sessions week by week, 00:23:56.200 --> 00:23:57.799 because that's the thing like you don't want 00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:00.779 to have. Every time you train, you're working 00:24:00.779 --> 00:24:02.799 on stuff that the dogs are just getting cookies 00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:05.700 right, left and center for every freaking rep 00:24:05.700 --> 00:24:08.079 because you're working on that. You have to make 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:09.880 sure you're putting those training sessions in 00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:13.119 where you're working on the variable reinforcement, 00:24:13.380 --> 00:24:17.599 which is putting in some mindful duration pieces 00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:21.519 where, you know, the dog might do three recalls 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:24.490 and maybe on the last one, the dog gets. reinforced 00:24:24.490 --> 00:24:26.509 you know so that's where you have to make sure 00:24:26.509 --> 00:24:29.210 that you're really paying attention because if 00:24:29.210 --> 00:24:31.569 you're like for the past three weeks my dog's 00:24:31.569 --> 00:24:34.069 been getting every session getting rapid fire 00:24:34.069 --> 00:24:37.029 rate of reinforcement you're not putting it into 00:24:37.029 --> 00:24:39.069 your training like you have to make sure you're 00:24:39.069 --> 00:24:43.450 putting that in for sure yeah and I start doing 00:24:43.450 --> 00:24:46.230 so like one of the simplest ways to do it early 00:24:46.230 --> 00:24:50.500 on is just with tricks right yeah yeah like i'll 00:24:50.500 --> 00:24:53.339 start doing this with a puppy very young like 00:24:53.339 --> 00:24:56.420 yeah first i teach each trick so it's getting 00:24:56.420 --> 00:24:58.720 a cookie or even when i'm breaking the chicken 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:01.319 to pieces multiple cookies per check but as soon 00:25:01.319 --> 00:25:04.140 as my dog understands the tricks really well 00:25:04.140 --> 00:25:07.579 now i ask for two tricks then give a cookie and 00:25:07.579 --> 00:25:10.480 then i ask for three tricks and then give a cookie 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:12.660 and then i'll ask for four tricks and then give 00:25:12.660 --> 00:25:16.769 a cookie and now My dogs will do five, six, seven 00:25:16.769 --> 00:25:19.609 tricks and they don't even expect a cookie. They 00:25:19.609 --> 00:25:22.269 don't even want a cookie. They don't even care 00:25:22.269 --> 00:25:26.089 because one, I've changed the expectation and 00:25:26.089 --> 00:25:29.069 two, and this is really important, the behaviors 00:25:29.069 --> 00:25:32.250 become inherently self -reinforcing, right? Right. 00:25:32.250 --> 00:25:35.990 And you're developing that path to the reinforcer 00:25:35.990 --> 00:25:38.529 where the dog wants to start to work harder. 00:25:40.110 --> 00:25:42.890 to gain reinforcer. Like you had said, like, 00:25:42.970 --> 00:25:45.450 oh, is it coming now? Let me do this. Let me 00:25:45.450 --> 00:25:47.789 work hard because it's going to come. Eventually, 00:25:47.890 --> 00:25:49.990 I know it's going to come. That's the thing. 00:25:50.069 --> 00:25:52.910 You'd want to teach the dog. It will come. Like 00:25:52.910 --> 00:25:55.349 I said, I never, it's never deprivation. It's 00:25:55.349 --> 00:25:58.500 always on the table at some point. I'm always 00:25:58.500 --> 00:26:01.039 going to pay the dog at some point. And that's 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:03.500 what I want my dog to start to learn. And I think 00:26:03.500 --> 00:26:05.539 the other thing people have to really change 00:26:05.539 --> 00:26:09.480 their mindset about is like that if the dog struggles 00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:12.799 a little bit or works hard, like that's a negative. 00:26:13.160 --> 00:26:16.640 Like, you know, I've written so many blogs about 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:20.640 this. Like when I do something that's challenging 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:23.859 for me and I doesn't have to be like running 00:26:23.859 --> 00:26:27.809 a marathon. i mean like my washer wasn't working 00:26:27.809 --> 00:26:30.230 right my washing machine i don't know anything 00:26:30.230 --> 00:26:32.829 about appliances i'm not good at i don't consider 00:26:32.829 --> 00:26:35.650 myself good at fixing things whatever but i go 00:26:35.650 --> 00:26:39.329 online i google it i'm like okay like i take 00:26:39.329 --> 00:26:42.670 out you know the screwdriver i like i'm like 00:26:42.670 --> 00:26:45.210 i have no idea what i'm doing and i fix it I 00:26:45.210 --> 00:26:48.950 feel so freaking good about that because it was 00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:51.549 hard because it's not something that I'm comfortable 00:26:51.549 --> 00:26:55.029 with. Nobody helped me. I figured it out on my 00:26:55.029 --> 00:26:58.930 own. And I'll be like, I fixed my washer. I fixed 00:26:58.930 --> 00:27:03.970 my washer. I didn't have to call anybody. I did 00:27:03.970 --> 00:27:06.450 it all by myself. I saved money on the repair 00:27:06.450 --> 00:27:10.079 guy. And I'm like, well. Dogs are the same way. 00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:13.240 When my dogs figure something out or do something 00:27:13.240 --> 00:27:15.940 hard, they don't sit there and go, oh, that sucked. 00:27:16.299 --> 00:27:21.180 I hated that. No, if it's done properly, my dogs 00:27:21.180 --> 00:27:25.519 are so proud of themselves. Feels good for them 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:27.779 to problem solve and figure things out. They're 00:27:27.779 --> 00:27:32.039 like, I did it. Look at me. They stick their 00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:34.859 chest out. Zaina barks, of course, because, you 00:27:34.859 --> 00:27:37.079 know, that's how she rolls. But like they're 00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:41.200 just they're happy. So this whole mindset of 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:43.519 like, oh, no. Oh, the dog's not short. Throw 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:45.900 it a cookie. Break it down. Help. I'm not saying 00:27:45.900 --> 00:27:48.720 make your dog fail. Failure and struggle are 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:51.519 two different things. Totally. But a little bit 00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:54.140 of failure is normal in learning. I fail all 00:27:54.140 --> 00:27:57.240 the time when I learn and struggle is healthy 00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:00.470 and struggle builds. confidence and resilience. 00:28:00.509 --> 00:28:04.250 So when my dogs are like, you know, maybe I start 00:28:04.250 --> 00:28:08.089 lengthening and healing. So now I go a little 00:28:08.089 --> 00:28:10.630 further, my dog looks a little unsure, like, 00:28:10.710 --> 00:28:15.309 oh, I'm not sure. And I with my body convey confidence, 00:28:15.490 --> 00:28:17.990 like, nope, you're good. Let's do a little more. 00:28:18.049 --> 00:28:21.029 And we go a little further. And the dog's like, 00:28:21.170 --> 00:28:24.740 I don't know, is this right? and then i go yes 00:28:24.740 --> 00:28:29.400 i see a very different dog right then as soon 00:28:29.400 --> 00:28:31.880 as my dog struggles i go okay here's a cookie 00:28:31.880 --> 00:28:34.940 or let me help you it's not the same they don't 00:28:34.940 --> 00:28:38.960 look the same exactly and you want that you're 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:42.039 taking that away from the dog like you're taking 00:28:42.039 --> 00:28:47.140 away the dog's opportunity to push through and 00:28:47.140 --> 00:28:50.869 to have that feeling like oh I just did that. 00:28:50.930 --> 00:28:55.349 Look at me. Right, right, right. And the ring 00:28:55.349 --> 00:28:59.509 is hard. So you want to develop. They're going 00:28:59.509 --> 00:29:03.410 to struggle. It's going to be hard. And that's 00:29:03.410 --> 00:29:05.609 what you want to build, too, in their training, 00:29:05.670 --> 00:29:08.190 just like you were talking about, like when it 00:29:08.190 --> 00:29:11.630 gets hard in the ring and we can't help them. 00:29:12.730 --> 00:29:14.710 that's where we want that we want to develop 00:29:14.710 --> 00:29:17.630 that push we want the dogs to push through that 00:29:17.630 --> 00:29:20.309 when it gets hard and that that's how we can 00:29:20.309 --> 00:29:21.950 do that in training just like you were talking 00:29:21.950 --> 00:29:25.680 about yeah so another thing you can people should 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:28.660 think of is like, it's this weird thing, right? 00:29:28.740 --> 00:29:31.039 They think of tricks as tricks and tricks are 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:33.359 fun and tricks are happy and everybody loves 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:35.880 tricks. And then they think of competition behaviors 00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:40.059 are serious. Well, if you just treat them each 00:29:40.059 --> 00:29:43.099 piece like little tricks and train it like little 00:29:43.099 --> 00:29:45.839 tricks, then in essence, all your dog is doing 00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:49.579 is putting a series of tricks together. And if 00:29:49.579 --> 00:29:53.619 you make those individual pieces fun and self 00:29:53.619 --> 00:29:56.599 -reinforced, reinforcing then you can use that 00:29:56.599 --> 00:30:00.420 to help your dog initially especially like push 00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:04.440 through to get you know a little bit further 00:30:04.440 --> 00:30:07.759 before you have to give that reinforcement right 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:11.420 or you could throw a trick in so like I teach 00:30:11.420 --> 00:30:15.019 my dogs to bounce in healing so if I'm healing 00:30:15.019 --> 00:30:17.740 and my dog's like oh god I didn't get a cookie 00:30:17.740 --> 00:30:20.740 yet am I right I'm not sure I don't know what 00:30:20.740 --> 00:30:23.460 to do and I don't want to give you a cookie yet 00:30:23.869 --> 00:30:28.329 I can say bounce. My dog goes, oh, I can do that. 00:30:28.569 --> 00:30:30.549 And my dog's like, oh, I love to bounce. I'm 00:30:30.549 --> 00:30:33.529 really happy. That lets me go a little bit further. 00:30:34.089 --> 00:30:37.970 Now I can reinforce. So it lets me, it gives 00:30:37.970 --> 00:30:40.930 me a tool to help the dog go a little further 00:30:40.930 --> 00:30:43.690 before I give the reinforcement. And then the 00:30:43.690 --> 00:30:46.009 dog learns like. Just because I didn't get it 00:30:46.009 --> 00:30:49.269 yet doesn't mean it's not coming. It's just not 00:30:49.269 --> 00:30:54.190 coming yet. It will come at some point, right? 00:30:54.309 --> 00:30:57.650 And the more unpredictable you make it, the more 00:30:57.650 --> 00:31:00.470 it's the gambling effect, right? It's the social 00:31:00.470 --> 00:31:04.430 media scrolling effect. It's the like, the reason 00:31:04.430 --> 00:31:07.490 we keep scrolling is because maybe, just maybe, 00:31:07.490 --> 00:31:10.170 we're going to find that one thing after we scroll 00:31:10.170 --> 00:31:14.319 through 80 things that we find interesting. And 00:31:14.319 --> 00:31:17.579 then that's good enough to keep us scrolling. 00:31:17.700 --> 00:31:20.099 And we're like, then we see something that kind 00:31:20.099 --> 00:31:22.940 of interesting, but now, yeah, it's not as interesting 00:31:22.940 --> 00:31:25.240 as what I wanted. And that's enough to keep us 00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:29.400 scrolling, keep scrolling. So we also want to 00:31:29.400 --> 00:31:32.700 do throw different things in there that are what 00:31:32.700 --> 00:31:34.900 they call when they talk about like gambling 00:31:34.900 --> 00:31:37.839 near misses, right? It's when you see Apple. 00:31:38.750 --> 00:31:41.150 apple and you're like oh my god one more apple 00:31:41.150 --> 00:31:44.529 and i win the jackpot and yeah and you're like 00:31:44.529 --> 00:31:49.309 damn it but you are so close yeah boom you're 00:31:49.309 --> 00:31:51.910 like i'm in it now i'm gonna keep going you're 00:31:51.910 --> 00:31:55.329 hooked so you can do things like praise your 00:31:55.329 --> 00:31:59.029 dog wow buddy that was super i love that that's 00:31:59.029 --> 00:32:00.990 really nice all right let's do a little more 00:32:00.990 --> 00:32:04.279 dog might initially go but i didn't get a cookie 00:32:04.279 --> 00:32:06.740 it's all right buddy let's keep going right after 00:32:06.740 --> 00:32:09.799 a while your dog learns that sometimes it just 00:32:09.799 --> 00:32:13.039 gets praised or sometimes i might go that was 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:16.859 super buddy twist spin bounce wave okay and that's 00:32:16.859 --> 00:32:19.019 all we're doing that's your quote -unquote reinforcement 00:32:19.019 --> 00:32:21.539 event as we're doing that and now we're going 00:32:21.539 --> 00:32:24.759 to keep going so you can put some other things 00:32:24.759 --> 00:32:28.569 in there that become like that are still giving 00:32:28.569 --> 00:32:31.430 the dog positive feedback but they become like 00:32:31.430 --> 00:32:35.069 those near misses those two apples right like 00:32:35.069 --> 00:32:39.349 oh i almost got a cookie but not quite and no 00:32:39.349 --> 00:32:42.190 it doesn't make the dog give up it does the opposite 00:32:42.190 --> 00:32:46.930 it makes the dog go oh like okay let me keep 00:32:46.930 --> 00:32:51.349 trying or let me try harder right and then eventually 00:32:51.349 --> 00:32:54.849 i'll get the quote unquote jackpot, which is 00:32:54.849 --> 00:32:58.009 the reinforcement, whether it's cookies or a 00:32:58.009 --> 00:33:01.009 toy. Right. So I think that's what people need 00:33:01.009 --> 00:33:04.569 to think about. I'm also, I just started this. 00:33:04.750 --> 00:33:10.769 So we have a word. Well, I have a marker. Yes. 00:33:10.789 --> 00:33:12.829 When I say yes, it means that's correct. And 00:33:12.829 --> 00:33:14.630 you're getting a cookie. So that's a contract. 00:33:14.910 --> 00:33:18.309 I can't suddenly break that contract because 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:21.819 I'm lying. And now yes is going to lose its power. 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:24.740 And now I'm not being honest with my dog. Good 00:33:24.740 --> 00:33:27.359 means that's correct. Keep going. You'll get 00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:30.480 a cookie like eventually. So that word means 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:33.839 something else. I'm creating a word now that 00:33:33.839 --> 00:33:37.240 I'm calling my jackpot word. That means you might 00:33:37.240 --> 00:33:40.279 get a cookie. You might get a toy. You might 00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:43.319 get a game. You might get praise like you're 00:33:43.319 --> 00:33:45.940 going to get that. So it's basically saying what 00:33:45.940 --> 00:33:47.900 you just did is correct and you're going to get 00:33:47.900 --> 00:33:51.509 something. But I don't know what. So now I have 00:33:51.509 --> 00:33:54.490 a word that I could use it in the ring as well 00:33:54.490 --> 00:33:57.609 because I'm not lying. If I say to the dog, wow, 00:33:57.950 --> 00:34:02.289 and then I just praise the dog, that's fair because 00:34:02.289 --> 00:34:05.410 I do that sometimes in training. Right. But again, 00:34:05.549 --> 00:34:07.950 you have to use the word mindfully because you 00:34:07.950 --> 00:34:10.309 have to kind of say to yourself, well, the last 00:34:10.309 --> 00:34:14.329 three times I said I praised, then I did some 00:34:14.329 --> 00:34:17.190 tricks. Well, OK, the fourth time I'll give a 00:34:17.190 --> 00:34:20.090 cookie and then maybe next time I'll do some 00:34:20.090 --> 00:34:22.590 trick. Like it has to be very unpredictable. 00:34:22.989 --> 00:34:26.530 Right. So that means now I think what you could 00:34:26.530 --> 00:34:28.949 potentially do, especially when you're first 00:34:28.949 --> 00:34:32.090 doing this, is just write it down, like write 00:34:32.090 --> 00:34:35.530 down the sequence you're going to use. But it's 00:34:35.530 --> 00:34:39.010 a nice little way to kind of practice consciously 00:34:39.010 --> 00:34:44.690 being unpredictable in just like one small area. 00:34:44.949 --> 00:34:48.090 Right. And I think that's key because there's 00:34:48.090 --> 00:34:51.269 a lot of people who become aware of the fact 00:34:51.269 --> 00:34:54.420 that at this point. They have been just giving 00:34:54.420 --> 00:34:57.900 too many cookies all the time and haven't developed 00:34:57.900 --> 00:35:01.460 any sort of variable reinforcement schedule with 00:35:01.460 --> 00:35:05.300 their dog. And then they get stuck on how to 00:35:05.300 --> 00:35:08.179 change that. So that's a really good point. And 00:35:08.179 --> 00:35:11.289 I even. Well, and I do this myself sometimes. 00:35:11.389 --> 00:35:14.789 I just tell students to like, just write down, 00:35:14.929 --> 00:35:18.449 even just write it all out. Like some, just a 00:35:18.449 --> 00:35:21.789 simple little sequence of things, whether it's 00:35:21.789 --> 00:35:24.510 just tricks or just simple obedience behaviors, 00:35:24.949 --> 00:35:28.230 whatever it is. And then you can literally write 00:35:28.230 --> 00:35:31.349 down, like plan the whole thing out. I'm going 00:35:31.349 --> 00:35:34.679 to do this. And then I'm going to do this. And 00:35:34.679 --> 00:35:37.559 on a third one, I'm going to reinforce. Like, 00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:40.519 so sometimes that helps just to have it written 00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:43.360 out a little plan you can follow so that you 00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:47.639 can start really mindfully paying. It's really 00:35:47.639 --> 00:35:50.920 just paying attention to where and how you're 00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:53.960 reinforcing, but, and it can be done. Like people 00:35:53.960 --> 00:35:57.079 get really kind of dismayed by the fact that 00:35:57.079 --> 00:35:59.829 they think like they've ruined their dog. Now 00:35:59.829 --> 00:36:02.550 the dog's only working for that constant rate 00:36:02.550 --> 00:36:05.610 of reinforcement, but you can change it, but 00:36:05.610 --> 00:36:08.929 it has to be done. It has to be done, you know, 00:36:08.929 --> 00:36:11.969 really mindfully. You know, you can't just all 00:36:11.969 --> 00:36:15.670 of a sudden rip food away because you have to 00:36:15.670 --> 00:36:18.090 teach the dog. They don't know, you know, they 00:36:18.090 --> 00:36:21.650 don't know any other, any other way. And the 00:36:21.650 --> 00:36:23.829 other thing is do it in the middle. Like people 00:36:23.829 --> 00:36:27.329 are so stuck on like doing something at the end 00:36:27.329 --> 00:36:31.929 of the series or the end of a behavior or the 00:36:31.929 --> 00:36:35.949 end of whatever. Like just, if you just simply 00:36:35.949 --> 00:36:39.349 do it in the middle, like if you're healing, 00:36:39.610 --> 00:36:43.760 don't feed the sick. Like I almost never feed 00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:48.320 my horse. Right. Right. I feed at weird, unpredictable 00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:51.940 spots where I'm like, I'm in the middle of a 00:36:51.940 --> 00:36:54.119 fast. I'm like, I haven't fed here in a while. 00:36:54.199 --> 00:36:56.219 And I just spit a cookie like in the middle of 00:36:56.219 --> 00:36:58.340 the fast, just here's a cookie. Like, and the 00:36:58.340 --> 00:37:00.639 dog's like, Whoa, I wasn't expecting that. Or 00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:03.980 on a transition, like do your exercise, start 00:37:03.980 --> 00:37:07.760 moving to a new spot. And in the middle of doing 00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:12.139 that feed there, right. Or feed. the middle of 00:37:12.139 --> 00:37:16.139 an exercise or some part of the exercise where 00:37:16.139 --> 00:37:20.179 you almost never feed, right? And like I said, 00:37:20.340 --> 00:37:22.539 if your dog, just test it out, because if your 00:37:22.539 --> 00:37:26.420 dog looks surprised, then clear as day, you are 00:37:26.420 --> 00:37:28.800 not feeding there, right? Because your dog's 00:37:28.800 --> 00:37:31.760 like, whoa, I didn't even see that coming, right? 00:37:31.800 --> 00:37:33.840 Sometimes they don't even see the cookie. And 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:36.579 I'm like, oh, wow. Certainly don't feed there, 00:37:36.760 --> 00:37:41.420 right? Just think about being unpredictable and 00:37:41.420 --> 00:37:45.320 tell yourself, I am never feeding the end. And 00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:49.219 just make a habit out of feeding or reinforcing 00:37:49.219 --> 00:37:54.239 in other spots, in weird, unpredictable spots. 00:37:55.019 --> 00:38:00.000 And same as, like, I was listening to a podcast 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:01.980 about this. It was talking about, you know, when 00:38:01.980 --> 00:38:05.739 the scent wore. okay you can't feed in the middle 00:38:05.739 --> 00:38:08.960 there but you don't have to feed after every 00:38:08.960 --> 00:38:11.860 single search let the dog do two and then feed 00:38:11.860 --> 00:38:14.199 let the dog do three and then feed let the dog 00:38:14.199 --> 00:38:17.639 do one and then feed and then therein you have 00:38:17.639 --> 00:38:20.820 to is where you just need to become like unpredictable 00:38:20.820 --> 00:38:24.380 and you could literally like you could go online 00:38:25.639 --> 00:38:28.699 and look it up or get an app there's apps that'll 00:38:28.699 --> 00:38:32.039 do it for you like and write it down okay i'm 00:38:32.039 --> 00:38:34.699 gonna feed after the fifth rep after the ninth 00:38:34.699 --> 00:38:38.440 after the second after and then this way you 00:38:38.440 --> 00:38:41.400 don't have to go oh i don't remember all right 00:38:41.400 --> 00:38:43.019 i'll just give them a cookie because that's what 00:38:43.019 --> 00:38:46.099 you do right we're gonna go oh i'm not sure okay 00:38:46.099 --> 00:38:50.179 and like i said when the dog is unsure don't 00:38:50.380 --> 00:38:55.239 panic just okay I created I inadvertently created 00:38:55.239 --> 00:38:59.239 this so now I'm teaching the dog the rules have 00:38:59.239 --> 00:39:02.719 changed is my dog going to be confused of course 00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:07.420 it yeah my dog will be confused okay what am 00:39:07.420 --> 00:39:10.360 I going to do when my dog is confused well I'm 00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:12.539 certainly not going to like start getting all 00:39:12.539 --> 00:39:15.440 worried and panicky and fumbling around I'm going 00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:18.389 to stand up tall I'm going to look confident 00:39:18.389 --> 00:39:20.949 like i know what's going on i'm going to look 00:39:20.949 --> 00:39:24.150 at my dog and i'll i can even if you feel like 00:39:24.150 --> 00:39:26.909 you need to you can say i'm sorry buddy i did 00:39:26.909 --> 00:39:30.769 this to you we're just gonna go a little bit 00:39:30.769 --> 00:39:34.309 further so come on have a little faith in me 00:39:34.309 --> 00:39:38.309 let's do a little bit more and even if the next 00:39:38.309 --> 00:39:40.929 thing the dog does is a little bit slow or a 00:39:40.929 --> 00:39:44.349 little bit hesitant or a little bit sucky whatever, 00:39:44.449 --> 00:39:47.730 who cares? Just get the dog to do it, right? 00:39:47.849 --> 00:39:52.030 Do a little bit more and then say yes. And what 00:39:52.030 --> 00:39:54.630 in essence, in that moment, you're teaching your 00:39:54.630 --> 00:39:59.349 dog is when you're not sure, keep going and then 00:39:59.349 --> 00:40:03.329 the reinforcement is going to come. That is what 00:40:03.329 --> 00:40:05.349 you are teaching the dog in that moment. And 00:40:05.349 --> 00:40:08.730 that is a super valuable thing to teach. So if 00:40:08.730 --> 00:40:12.269 you just expect that this is going to happen. 00:40:12.309 --> 00:40:15.170 You have a plan. This is what I'm going to do. 00:40:15.329 --> 00:40:18.050 I'm going to confidently help my dog through 00:40:18.050 --> 00:40:21.289 this. And then when my dog gets past that point, 00:40:21.429 --> 00:40:23.969 I'm going to reinforce it. Then you're not going 00:40:23.969 --> 00:40:26.929 to get stuck in spiral. Your dog's panicking. 00:40:27.010 --> 00:40:29.130 You're panicking. Your dog's like, oh God, mom 00:40:29.130 --> 00:40:31.250 or dad are panicking. Now I'm panicking even 00:40:31.250 --> 00:40:34.230 more. Yeah, which is what people do. They start 00:40:34.230 --> 00:40:38.309 to have a freak out over it. When their dog starts 00:40:38.309 --> 00:40:40.949 to look sucky and sometimes it'll even go the 00:40:40.949 --> 00:40:43.010 other way. Then they start getting mad at the 00:40:43.010 --> 00:40:45.809 dog. Like you can't, the dog doesn't understand 00:40:45.809 --> 00:40:48.710 it. So this is just teaching opportunities, right? 00:40:48.829 --> 00:40:52.429 So that's when we just. help them you can help 00:40:52.429 --> 00:40:55.969 them verbally it's okay doing a great job let's 00:40:55.969 --> 00:40:59.050 go do it again because the minute you go down 00:40:59.050 --> 00:41:01.730 that rabbit hole like then it's just gonna spiral 00:41:01.730 --> 00:41:04.070 out of control for sure yeah and then they're 00:41:04.070 --> 00:41:06.289 gonna go down that rabbit hole right and it's 00:41:06.289 --> 00:41:12.610 expectation like I expect my dog to go huh what 00:41:12.610 --> 00:41:16.510 why didn't I get a cookie so I expect that so 00:41:16.510 --> 00:41:18.710 when my dog looks at me like that I'm not like 00:41:19.070 --> 00:41:23.010 but i go and then i'm like okay let's keep going 00:41:23.010 --> 00:41:26.110 good job buddy you went a little further and 00:41:26.110 --> 00:41:29.489 again so my dog could spiral in one or two ways 00:41:29.489 --> 00:41:32.789 it could get um a little bit what we would call 00:41:32.789 --> 00:41:36.210 sucky like slow or you know unsure it doesn't 00:41:36.210 --> 00:41:38.849 look like we want don't worry about it initially 00:41:38.849 --> 00:41:42.360 just Let them do it that way. And then reinforce 00:41:42.360 --> 00:41:45.059 them. That goes away once they understand and 00:41:45.059 --> 00:41:47.699 they get more confident. Or the dog can spiral 00:41:47.699 --> 00:41:52.219 and go up like Zaina and start screaming at me. 00:41:52.280 --> 00:41:56.619 Hey, you know, I'm sure she's cursing up a storm. 00:41:56.719 --> 00:41:59.639 Then I just put my hand on her and I just say 00:41:59.639 --> 00:42:02.860 to her, like, calm down. You're fine. It's all 00:42:02.860 --> 00:42:06.000 good. We're going to go a little further. So 00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:09.079 stop screaming at me. Right. So I'll calm her 00:42:09.079 --> 00:42:13.599 down. And then I'm like, let's keep going. We 00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:16.900 go a little further. Oh, look, now you're getting 00:42:16.900 --> 00:42:19.739 your reinforcer. And then she's like, oh, OK. 00:42:19.960 --> 00:42:22.719 You know, and like I said, yeah, like anything 00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:25.360 new, they're not going to get it in one session 00:42:25.360 --> 00:42:27.639 or two sessions. Right. There's going to be a 00:42:27.639 --> 00:42:32.000 period where you're learning. yeah the new rules 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:35.880 they're learning the new schedule right but then 00:42:35.880 --> 00:42:39.219 once they understand you will see that the dog 00:42:39.219 --> 00:42:42.820 actually works harder right because it's like 00:42:42.820 --> 00:42:46.179 understands that it's coming i just have to keep 00:42:46.179 --> 00:42:48.539 pushing and keep pushing and keep pushing and 00:42:48.539 --> 00:42:52.530 then eventually I get that reinforcer. Right. 00:42:52.570 --> 00:42:54.969 And just be careful. Like when you start this 00:42:54.969 --> 00:42:57.090 out, like if it's something that like, you're 00:42:57.090 --> 00:42:59.190 like, oh gosh, this is the light bulb moment. 00:42:59.269 --> 00:43:01.130 This is definitely what I need to start putting 00:43:01.130 --> 00:43:04.429 into my training. And your dog has, has not had 00:43:04.429 --> 00:43:07.429 any of that done. Like you can't just go from, 00:43:07.550 --> 00:43:09.570 okay, now you're going to work for 30 minutes 00:43:09.570 --> 00:43:11.610 straight and then I'm going to give you reinforcers. 00:43:11.650 --> 00:43:13.889 So you need to do this in incrementally over 00:43:13.889 --> 00:43:17.010 time, building that, that understanding up for 00:43:17.010 --> 00:43:19.750 your dog so that you can eventually the dog. 00:43:19.789 --> 00:43:21.789 dog can go longer and longer and longer they 00:43:21.789 --> 00:43:23.769 start to push harder and harder and harder so 00:43:23.769 --> 00:43:26.949 just be careful when when you do start that that 00:43:26.949 --> 00:43:29.289 you're not going all of a sudden all right well 00:43:29.289 --> 00:43:31.750 today we're starting the variable reinforcement 00:43:31.750 --> 00:43:35.269 so you're going to do 15 minutes of whatever 00:43:35.269 --> 00:43:37.969 without a cookie because that's how we're going 00:43:37.969 --> 00:43:39.710 to start teaching it so you can't do that because 00:43:39.710 --> 00:43:41.829 the dogs really they don't understand and then 00:43:41.829 --> 00:43:44.210 you're going to have a dog that they're definitely 00:43:44.210 --> 00:43:47.820 going to panic on you yeah Yeah. You have to 00:43:47.820 --> 00:43:50.360 do it mindfully. And then people also say, and 00:43:50.360 --> 00:43:52.460 we're not saying, cause we're not yet really 00:43:52.460 --> 00:43:55.960 talking about getting rid of reinforcement. We're 00:43:55.960 --> 00:43:59.579 just saying there be unpredictable. It has to 00:43:59.579 --> 00:44:02.260 be unpredictable, but in that being unpredictable, 00:44:02.360 --> 00:44:05.960 there will be some spaces that are bigger or 00:44:05.960 --> 00:44:09.119 longer. So yeah, we can't go like huge, like 00:44:09.119 --> 00:44:11.260 right out of the gate because the dog won't be 00:44:11.260 --> 00:44:13.880 able to do it. So again, if you write it down 00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:17.969 and you're like, okay, typically I give. a cookie 00:44:17.969 --> 00:44:21.769 every five seconds or every one behavior, right? 00:44:21.849 --> 00:44:25.690 Okay. So two, three, maybe four, like one rep 00:44:25.690 --> 00:44:28.449 of four is realistic or maybe one rep of three 00:44:28.449 --> 00:44:31.489 is realistic. So let me figure out now, let me 00:44:31.489 --> 00:44:33.929 draw my little chart and let me figure out how 00:44:33.929 --> 00:44:37.110 I'm going to mix it up so that my dog's not going 00:44:37.110 --> 00:44:40.889 from one cookie, one behavior to five times. 00:44:40.949 --> 00:44:42.889 They're only getting a cookie for every four 00:44:42.889 --> 00:44:45.030 behaviors. And one time they're getting a cookie 00:44:45.030 --> 00:44:49.309 for one behavior, right? So again, yeah, it's 00:44:49.309 --> 00:44:53.090 planning it out and writing it out so that you're 00:44:53.090 --> 00:44:56.369 doing it in a mindful way. And again, it doesn't 00:44:56.369 --> 00:45:00.250 mean that all my training sessions are where 00:45:00.250 --> 00:45:04.710 my dogs are doing 20 behaviors or more for a 00:45:04.710 --> 00:45:08.630 cookie. Like I literally will have some sessions 00:45:08.630 --> 00:45:12.230 where they will get a ton of cookies that session. 00:45:12.760 --> 00:45:16.059 Because of what I'm working on, but that's not 00:45:16.059 --> 00:45:20.380 every session. All my sessions are variable as 00:45:20.380 --> 00:45:23.340 well. So, you know, cause people go, well, mom, 00:45:23.380 --> 00:45:26.239 it's not fun. My dog's never going to get hardly. 00:45:26.320 --> 00:45:29.889 No, there's no, you know. it's always about the 00:45:29.889 --> 00:45:33.889 middle right yeah it's always about balance balancing 00:45:33.889 --> 00:45:37.210 everything out session to session and balancing 00:45:37.210 --> 00:45:41.210 it out within a session and starting to do that 00:45:41.210 --> 00:45:45.230 as early in your training as you possibly can 00:45:45.230 --> 00:45:49.630 ideally starting that with your puppy yeah you 00:45:49.630 --> 00:45:54.349 know going very quickly to not giving a cookie 00:45:54.349 --> 00:45:58.250 for every single behavior or every little behavior 00:45:58.250 --> 00:46:03.710 certain behaviors become like habits right so 00:46:03.710 --> 00:46:06.130 like that's the other thing i want to reward 00:46:06.130 --> 00:46:11.440 my dogs for effort right so If I take, if I take 00:46:11.440 --> 00:46:14.059 some cookies out and I get one of my dogs and 00:46:14.059 --> 00:46:15.739 I bring them into the sunroom and they're like, 00:46:15.820 --> 00:46:18.599 oh, we're training. And my dog jumps into heel 00:46:18.599 --> 00:46:21.619 position. I'm not feeding that because that required 00:46:21.619 --> 00:46:24.820 zero effort. It's like a habit. They do it like 00:46:24.820 --> 00:46:27.539 automatically. Like there's no, why am I even 00:46:27.539 --> 00:46:30.639 feeding that? Like, I don't need to. Right. So. 00:46:31.360 --> 00:46:34.159 Again, it's like, well, if my dog starts, so 00:46:34.159 --> 00:46:37.280 if they, then I say, okay, you need to do way 00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:41.519 more than that to get like a cookie, right? And 00:46:41.519 --> 00:46:44.760 then they have to work even harder to get something 00:46:44.760 --> 00:46:48.000 that's worth a little more like their toy. And 00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:51.360 they really have to work hard to get like a jackpot, 00:46:51.420 --> 00:46:54.679 like their meal, for example, right? So you're 00:46:54.679 --> 00:47:00.119 always want to, you have to just be mindful about. 00:47:00.679 --> 00:47:03.860 why are you giving these cookies or this toy 00:47:03.860 --> 00:47:06.880 what am i trying to achieve what am i trying 00:47:06.880 --> 00:47:11.420 to accomplish and am i headed towards my end 00:47:11.420 --> 00:47:16.500 goal which is that this dog must do x amount 00:47:16.500 --> 00:47:20.300 of behaviors in the ring before it comes out 00:47:20.300 --> 00:47:22.820 of the ring and can get a reinforcement right 00:47:23.230 --> 00:47:25.829 and i think people just that's something they 00:47:25.829 --> 00:47:28.969 don't mindfully think about and then you have 00:47:28.969 --> 00:47:33.070 to remember that we are just like our dogs we 00:47:33.070 --> 00:47:36.269 are creatures of habit so i find this happens 00:47:36.269 --> 00:47:39.730 people start with food off them they start with 00:47:39.730 --> 00:47:42.889 variable reinforcement they do it for like a 00:47:42.889 --> 00:47:45.670 week and then they're like oh for this session 00:47:45.670 --> 00:47:48.289 i kept the cookies on me and they'll have like 00:47:48.289 --> 00:47:50.880 a good reason for it and all of a sudden Cookies 00:47:50.880 --> 00:47:52.619 are back on the body and they're reinforcing 00:47:52.619 --> 00:47:57.719 the same old way. Yeah, totally. Like, what happened? 00:47:57.940 --> 00:48:00.820 Why is it on you again? Because it's a habit. 00:48:00.880 --> 00:48:04.639 And I find when I have a puppy and cookies are 00:48:04.639 --> 00:48:06.980 on me a lot. And then I'm like, all right, cookies 00:48:06.980 --> 00:48:10.480 off me. I'll find myself reaching in my pocket. 00:48:10.639 --> 00:48:14.110 Yeah. Even have the food on me. Yeah. And then 00:48:14.110 --> 00:48:17.050 that always is a good reminder for me. I'm always 00:48:17.050 --> 00:48:20.469 like, wow, like, boy, did that happen quickly? 00:48:20.829 --> 00:48:23.130 Yeah, because you don't even realize you do it. 00:48:23.210 --> 00:48:26.010 Yeah. And I'm like, because with my adult dogs, 00:48:26.130 --> 00:48:28.590 food's not on me. Right. So I don't ever even 00:48:28.590 --> 00:48:30.969 go in my pockets. Right. Because my body's like 00:48:30.969 --> 00:48:33.909 conditioned. It's not there. Yeah. Yeah. But 00:48:33.909 --> 00:48:38.050 when I have a young dog and I feed a lot, a lot, 00:48:38.110 --> 00:48:40.650 and then I go to put the food off me, I'm like. 00:48:40.989 --> 00:48:44.750 Holy Hannah. Yeah. Fall into that trap quickly. 00:48:44.769 --> 00:48:50.269 And our minds want us to be efficient. Yes. So 00:48:50.269 --> 00:48:53.929 therefore our minds say food in my pocket is 00:48:53.929 --> 00:48:57.889 the most efficient thing. Yeah. Right. And so 00:48:57.889 --> 00:49:01.269 that's where we go. And it's not even a conscious 00:49:01.269 --> 00:49:03.949 decision many times. So you have to make this 00:49:03.949 --> 00:49:05.849 conscious decision and just say to yourself, 00:49:05.969 --> 00:49:08.869 food will not be on me anymore, which is perfectly 00:49:08.869 --> 00:49:11.489 fine anyway, because dogs got to learn to work 00:49:11.489 --> 00:49:14.710 with food off you. Yeah, absolutely. And then 00:49:14.710 --> 00:49:18.329 you just have to go over to where it is. And 00:49:18.329 --> 00:49:22.610 just that simple act alone will make you more 00:49:22.610 --> 00:49:26.050 thoughtful. you know about your reinforcement 00:49:26.050 --> 00:49:30.550 schedule and um how often yeah i'm being unpredictable 00:49:30.550 --> 00:49:35.449 yeah yeah it's how often and it's being predictable 00:49:35.449 --> 00:49:38.949 right and like i said the sooner you get your 00:49:38.949 --> 00:49:42.449 dog used to that the sooner you know the easier 00:49:42.449 --> 00:49:44.489 it's gonna be for your dog and the easier it's 00:49:44.489 --> 00:49:46.929 going to be for your dog later when you have 00:49:46.929 --> 00:49:51.269 to you know do super long chains for no reinforcement 00:49:51.269 --> 00:49:55.389 at all right that's not gonna be like what yeah 00:49:55.389 --> 00:49:58.530 yeah and that's the end goal you know that's 00:49:58.530 --> 00:50:01.769 really i mean for what we do with our dogs that's 00:50:01.769 --> 00:50:04.030 what we're that's what we are preparing them 00:50:04.030 --> 00:50:07.530 to be able to do so yeah don't be a pez dispenser 00:50:07.530 --> 00:50:09.829 except do you know what this is how old i am 00:50:09.829 --> 00:50:11.670 like a lot of people don't even know what a pez 00:50:11.670 --> 00:50:14.849 dispenser is what i've said that and people are 00:50:14.849 --> 00:50:19.349 like oh what and i'm like oh god yeah go look 00:50:19.349 --> 00:50:24.230 it up Google it. But yeah, basically it's just, 00:50:24.309 --> 00:50:28.690 you're just rapid fire rapid. You're just a vehicle. 00:50:28.869 --> 00:50:32.230 You're just a thing that gives cookies constantly. 00:50:33.079 --> 00:50:36.280 yeah and keep in mind that i think this whole 00:50:36.280 --> 00:50:40.920 concept of like making the behaviors self -reinforcing 00:50:40.920 --> 00:50:43.579 like if you're giving cookies constantly then 00:50:43.579 --> 00:50:46.739 the behavior is not becoming self -reinforcing 00:50:46.739 --> 00:50:50.480 right the dog has to do the behavior and then 00:50:50.480 --> 00:50:54.719 start enjoying do to do the behavior and do it 00:50:54.719 --> 00:50:57.760 a whole bunch of times without like This is what 00:50:57.760 --> 00:51:00.079 I find so fascinating. Like, for example, my 00:51:00.079 --> 00:51:02.780 dogs bounce a lot, right? Because I teach it 00:51:02.780 --> 00:51:05.099 and, you know, I make it valuable to them. They 00:51:05.099 --> 00:51:10.000 bounce constantly and I never reinforce it anymore. 00:51:10.179 --> 00:51:14.179 Right. And it doesn't go away. Yeah. Like they 00:51:14.179 --> 00:51:17.800 don't stop bouncing. Right. I can't remember. 00:51:18.199 --> 00:51:21.079 Literally, it's been years since I fed Zesty 00:51:21.079 --> 00:51:23.840 or Zaina's bounce, like inhale position, and 00:51:23.840 --> 00:51:27.320 they bounce constantly. constantly in training 00:51:27.320 --> 00:51:30.780 and in the ring. So like it hasn't gotten weaker. 00:51:30.980 --> 00:51:33.800 If anything, it's gotten stronger. Like it's 00:51:33.800 --> 00:51:36.860 become inherently self -reinforcing. So if you 00:51:36.860 --> 00:51:41.059 can do that with a bounce, why can't you do that 00:51:41.059 --> 00:51:45.579 with other behaviors? Why are there not other 00:51:45.579 --> 00:51:49.739 competition behaviors that the dog does that 00:51:49.739 --> 00:51:52.880 the dog can learn to think is like, oh, this 00:51:52.880 --> 00:51:56.090 is just a super fun trick. And if your dog can 00:51:56.090 --> 00:51:59.969 do that, then that piece within the chain is 00:51:59.969 --> 00:52:02.210 becoming inherently self -reinforcing. The dog 00:52:02.210 --> 00:52:04.610 doesn't even need a cookie there. Right. Exactly. 00:52:04.769 --> 00:52:08.150 So I think people just need to really think about 00:52:08.150 --> 00:52:11.030 this and like anything with training, like, you 00:52:11.030 --> 00:52:13.889 know, training should be thoughtful. Training 00:52:13.889 --> 00:52:17.849 requires us to think. And so this is something 00:52:17.849 --> 00:52:20.630 that we really need to think about and we need 00:52:20.630 --> 00:52:23.309 to think about what we're doing. when you know 00:52:23.309 --> 00:52:26.309 within a training session over the course of 00:52:26.309 --> 00:52:29.409 time like don't do this for a week and then stick 00:52:29.409 --> 00:52:32.429 the cookies back in your pockets right exactly 00:52:32.429 --> 00:52:35.650 i think it's definitely like this is gonna be 00:52:36.090 --> 00:52:38.789 I'm hoping this is super helpful because I find 00:52:38.789 --> 00:52:41.829 as an instructor, this is a big piece that people 00:52:41.829 --> 00:52:45.010 get stuck on or they're not sure. Well, most 00:52:45.010 --> 00:52:46.750 of them actually know. Like I'll be like, well, 00:52:46.789 --> 00:52:49.329 why do you think this is going on? And usually 00:52:49.329 --> 00:52:52.869 most people will go, well, I think it's because 00:52:52.869 --> 00:52:56.369 I use cookies all the time for everything. I 00:52:56.369 --> 00:52:59.889 think, you know, people kind of know that they 00:52:59.889 --> 00:53:03.050 created that, but then they don't know how to 00:53:03.050 --> 00:53:06.409 get out of it. That is exactly, they don't know 00:53:06.409 --> 00:53:10.369 how to fix it or how to, you know, teach the 00:53:10.369 --> 00:53:13.369 dog. And I think it's from feeding a lot, then 00:53:13.369 --> 00:53:15.769 you have to switch to a variable reinforcement 00:53:15.769 --> 00:53:18.510 schedule. Right. And the dog has to be on that 00:53:18.510 --> 00:53:22.300 consistently. Right. after that which would be 00:53:22.300 --> 00:53:24.920 another episode you know we have to teach the 00:53:24.920 --> 00:53:27.980 dog how to do long chains of behavior for no 00:53:27.980 --> 00:53:30.260 reinforcement and to understand that that means 00:53:30.260 --> 00:53:32.639 they're right because dogs just think they're 00:53:32.639 --> 00:53:34.940 wrong when they don't get a cookie but the first 00:53:34.940 --> 00:53:37.519 step is you have to switch to variable and you 00:53:37.519 --> 00:53:40.619 have to stay on a variable schedule and i think 00:53:40.619 --> 00:53:43.360 yeah i think people panic when their dogs struggle 00:53:43.360 --> 00:53:46.460 and their first thing is get a cookie out so 00:53:46.460 --> 00:53:49.739 don't do that just convey confidence get your 00:53:49.739 --> 00:53:52.670 dog to Keep going. Don't worry about it. If it's 00:53:52.670 --> 00:53:55.269 a little bit sucky, don't, you know, go, oh, 00:53:55.269 --> 00:53:58.250 just get your dog to go a little bit further. 00:53:58.730 --> 00:54:02.030 Then mark and be like, look, you did it. Good 00:54:02.030 --> 00:54:05.829 job. And, you know, and when I first do this, 00:54:05.889 --> 00:54:08.889 if my dog looks confused and they keep going 00:54:08.889 --> 00:54:11.550 and then I give them the cookie, I make it a 00:54:11.550 --> 00:54:13.409 little bit more valuable, right? I won't just 00:54:13.409 --> 00:54:16.570 go click cookie. I'll go click. Wow, buddy. See, 00:54:16.769 --> 00:54:19.500 that was so good. you did it. So I'll add a little 00:54:19.500 --> 00:54:23.139 extra because you worked a little harder. So 00:54:23.139 --> 00:54:25.059 I'm going to make it a little bit more of an 00:54:25.059 --> 00:54:28.199 event initially. Right. Until the dog, now my 00:54:28.199 --> 00:54:30.179 dogs are just like, yeah, whatever we get it. 00:54:30.239 --> 00:54:32.519 But yeah, that's important. That first step, 00:54:32.559 --> 00:54:35.440 that variable reinforcement and you have to plan 00:54:35.440 --> 00:54:39.250 it out. You have got to plan it out. Yep. Until 00:54:39.250 --> 00:54:43.489 that becomes a habit. Right. And you just have 00:54:43.489 --> 00:54:45.869 to constantly hold yourself accountable and be 00:54:45.869 --> 00:54:48.190 like, Oh God, did I do that thing again? Was 00:54:48.190 --> 00:54:51.570 I predictable again? Gosh, darn it. Okay. Back 00:54:51.570 --> 00:54:54.090 to, you know, and whatever that looks like, whether 00:54:54.090 --> 00:54:56.530 it's writing it out, whether it's using an app, 00:54:56.590 --> 00:54:58.610 I think they literally have apps that will give 00:54:58.610 --> 00:55:01.610 a tone. It'll go beep at like variable times. 00:55:01.849 --> 00:55:05.929 Wow. Yeah. And then you can go cookie now. Right. 00:55:06.010 --> 00:55:08.559 And if it's. In the middle of something where 00:55:08.559 --> 00:55:10.900 you're like, I never give a cookie here. Good. 00:55:11.280 --> 00:55:14.239 Yeah, who cares? Yeah. Perfect. That's what you 00:55:14.239 --> 00:55:17.119 should be doing. So there are things that can 00:55:17.119 --> 00:55:20.300 help you if you need that help. Yeah, that's 00:55:20.300 --> 00:55:24.880 super important. Younger, you start that, better 00:55:24.880 --> 00:55:28.179 it'll be for your dog. But if your dog's older 00:55:28.179 --> 00:55:30.239 and you've never done it before, it's not like, 00:55:30.340 --> 00:55:33.679 oh, well, now you're sunk. Right. You can still 00:55:33.679 --> 00:55:36.289 do it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. This was good. 00:55:36.369 --> 00:55:38.469 Hopefully it helps you guys. It's a big one. 00:55:38.590 --> 00:55:41.769 Yeah. All right. So thanks everybody. Thanks 00:55:41.769 --> 00:55:45.070 for listening and happy training. Thank you. 00:55:45.130 --> 00:55:46.469 Bye. Bye.