Lorrie [00:00:08]:
Welcome to the Maximum Fun Agility podcast. I'm Lorrie Reynolds, owner of Maximum Fun Dog Sports. We help your agility team build your relationship, communication, confidence, and fun in training so that you can joyfully succeed on any course. The correct reward placement when you are training your dog can make your training easier. Here are some examples of common questions I get. "My dog will touch the fit disc with his rear feet, but immediately moves forward. What do I do?" "My dog doesn't consistently touch my hand with his nose. Sometimes he touches, but other times he gets close and then looks at me."
Lorrie [00:00:48]:
"I can't get my dog to drive forward after the weave ploes. She gets to the end and turns back." "My little dog is struggling with heeling. She wants to bounce rather than walking." At first glance, these all look like very different problems. One dog needs to learn duration, another forward drive, and the heeling dog might need some self control. Surprisingly, in all 4 of these cases, the solution ended up being the same thing, reward placement that was counter to the behavior being taught. Troubleshooting dog training issues is often a game of 20 questions.
Lorrie [00:01:26]:
For the dog who wouldn't stay on the fit disc, we talked about whether he had any issues with walking on different textures, where the disc was in relation to walls or furniture, and whether she was training using pressure of her body and then moving back. As she walked through her training steps with me, I learned that she was standing a few feet away, and when she clicked for his rear feet placement, she offered him a treat from her hand. The dog had to move forward off of the disc to get the treat. His movement off the disc was in anticipation of moving toward her to get the treat. Once she started moving in and treating only when his feet were on the disc, he started staying in place. She was then able to move further away and toss the treat to him while he remained on the disc. The lack of duration was fixed by rewarding in position. You can create understanding through rewarding where the behavior occurs.
Lorrie [00:02:25]:
Let me explain that statement. The nose touch issue is a very common one. The nose touch to hand is a foundation skill for agility and tricks, so almost everyone teaches it. When you ask your dog to touch your hand, if you reward from the opposite hand instead of the one you are asking the dog to touch, he starts anticipating getting a treat from the other hand. He will, at best, swipe your hand with his nose, and at worst, just move toward your hand and then immediately look for a treat from the opposite hand. Rewarding by dropping a treat into the hand he touched will almost always solve the problem. The dog understands that the nose touch rather than the nose swipe is what gets the reward because when he stays there, that's where he's getting rewarded. When I talked to the handler whose dog was turning back after the weave poles, I learned that she was rewarding success by playing tug.
Lorrie [00:03:22]:
Tug is an awesome way to reward, but it doesn't work in every situation. When her dog went through the poles, she was racing back to play and therefore had no reason to move forward to the next obstacle. Alternating between having the handler at the end of the weaves, tossing a toy forward right before the dog exited and then playing tug, and putting the tug toy after the next obstacle enabled her to cue the dog forward. The dog figured out that the reward wasn't always behind her and started moving ahead. Changing the reward position can alter your dog's focus, so make sure you are rewarding where you want the dog to go. As for the little dog who couldn't stop bouncing while walking next to the handler's side, the owner was rewarding her out of her hand, and the dog had to hop up on her rear feet to reach the treat. The bouncing was a natural reaction to trying to reach the reward. Once she started using a wooden spoon to reward at the dog's level, her dog kept 4 feet on the ground.
Lorrie [00:04:30]:
If you want your dog in a specific position, be sure to reward in that position so they can maintain it. When you reward your dog during training, be mindful of the reward placement. The placement of your reward can set the dog up for the next repetition, reinforce the dog for holding or continuing the behavior, or it can encourage movement toward the position or behavior you want. Rewarding behind the dog in agility encourages him to turn back to you. Rewarding over the dog's head for a down encourages him to get up before being released. Understanding the effect you are having with your reward placement can make your dog training significantly easier. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Maximum Fun Agility podcast. If you want to build a successful agility team where runs with your partner feel flowing and in sync, join us in The Agility Playground.
Lorrie [00:05:27]:
The Agility Playground is a low-cost membership that meets you where you are on your dog agility journey and helps you propel your team to new heights. You can check out The Agility Playground and join our community at www.maximumfundogs.com. See you next time.
