Unexpected Plans

Or a lesson in "maintaining criteria"

I had planned to write about our latest homework today, but after our session this morning, I decided to write about something else that happened instead. It's a typical tale of how the best laid training plans can be changed by unexpected events, that cannot be ignored.

It seemed like a simple enough request.

Like most mornings, we were out on the field, the dogs taking turns working, and resting in their appointed place (crate or cot) in between their turns on the field, picture below.


Notice that the crate door & gate are open, pictures above & below. The cot has no walls, the boundaries of each (crate, cot & gate) are respected as a rewarded choice the dog makes through use of the "Crate Game" (click on game for link) which has long been a regular lifestyle with the dogs here at our place.

Back to my story, the work on the field was going great, dogs taking turns, it had been Bungee's turn to work. After an energetic tug game to finish I attempt to send her back to her crate, through the open gate, and into the open crate you can see her sitting in, below.



Well it seemed like a simple enough request! I had moved both dog's (crate & cot) into the shade of that Birch tree, about 7 or 8 feet back from where they 1st were, when the sun came out. I did this as I let her out to work this round. What a difference 7 or 8 ft. made, at least today!

When I sent her to her crate, newly located in the shade closer to the tree, she raced through the gate and in the direction of her crate like a shot. But when she got as far as the crate had been before, she stopped, turned around to face me and planted herself in a stand. That's as far as she was going.

I was a little surprised. Not wanting to repeat my command I went to her, not saying a word, gently took her by the collar, put her in her crate, closed the door and walked away.

I pretended to do something for a second or two, went back & released her to come back out to the field with me. Again I attempted to send her back to her crate.

But again she did not go in to her crate. Once again, she flew through the gate and into the same area, where her crate had been before, stopped, turned toward me, tail wagging, mouth open panting happily, and flopped into a down on the grass.

Knowing I had some "pressing" crate work to do with Bungee, I again put her in her crate, closed the door and took Guinness back down to the lower field to finish up his stuff and then sent him inside to relax.

Obviously, work on my previous homework plan for Bungee had now stopped as I had no choice but to address this little breakdown of crate criteria. In this case, that criteria being I say "crate" and she goes directly into crate, no half-way efforts accepted, and preferably does so eagerly at a fast pace, too.

Bungee started learning the Crate Game at 9 weeks old, so she has a pretty good handle on how it works at this point, and I was not too keen on backing up into baby steps to get her going in that crate.

So this time, I went to her crate, opened her door saying nothing, walked out onto the field, called her out to me with her release, really revved her up and attempted to send her to crate again. But again she raced back to the same old spot on the grass and laid down. (?????)

I went back to her again, took her to her crate and she went in. Leaving her in with door open, I moved the cot to a totally different location and successfully sent her to the cot, rewarding that. Next sending from the field to the cot, rewarding that, then from the cot to the crate, and back to the cot, rewarding each. After that from the field to the cot, rewarding, and finally from the field to the crate, definitely REWARDING that!!! Bungee eventually worked through everything and from the place we started on the field, directly into her crate in it's position under the tree. But not in time to go back and finish our original homework plan.

Once I got her driving back into her crate once, I could have gone back to our original homework plan. But it was more important to me at that moment to work on that crate success and re-load some value into going into that crate, than it was to go back and finish our lesson. By the time we had done that she was tired and my time was up, we had to wrap it up for the morning.

The way I see it, there is no point moving forward with new lessons if you cannot maintain what you have already taught your dog with your previous lessons.

Maintaining criteria is not just the good habit of a purely positive trainer, this is the smart habit of any great trainer. As we have learned from many examples, both good and bad over the years, it's very easy to teach new behaviors, but the real challenge is maintaining them with the original criteria you taught.

Ignoring a breakdown in a behavior at any point in your training when one occurs, is simply not an option for the purely positive trainer with performance goals in mind. It's one thing to decide you no longer want that criteria, it's quite another to just let an incorrect behavior slide, AS IF, it won't happen again. This is where a lot of people get into trouble with some of the simplest behaviors.

The experts probably have a much more scientific definition of maintaining criteria but my understanding is simple: to accept nothing less than the correct behavior from the dog each time you ask for one. So, if you ask the dog to sit, then the dog needs to sit on one command, every time. If your criteria of a sit is also that the dog quickly sits squarely between it's haunches, head up, feet still, then that is also part of the criteria you are expecting when you ask the dog for a sit. If the dog does not sit, then you need to stop whatever else you had in mind to do and get the dog to sit. Depending on the level of difficulty you are have getting the dog to sit, you may need to stop everything, go off to another quieter and less distracting place, where you can get success getting the dog to sit on one command, and work your way back into the flow of training as you can maintain that criteria of you saying "sit" (once) and dog sitting quickly and correctly. Of course you are rewarding the correct choices (sitting) every time the dog is doing the thing you asked, from the first time it does it correctly, and every time thereafter as you move back into the working area. So it goes with each and every command you give your dog.

A view from the dog's side of things...


Below, Bungee driving out onto the field after being released from her crate to a toy, this time a Hollee Roller Ball, a favorite.