Many of us are busy and overwhelmed with our ever-growing to-do lists. Devoting extra time in our already-jam-packed day to train our dogs can feel totally impossible. If you’re reading this blog, it’s because you care about your dog’s welfare and want to train and provide mental enrichment for your dog. So how do busy, caring humans find the time to meet our dog’s training needs throughout the day? Here are some tips for building behaviors and giving your dog mental enrichment without adding extra time, plus a few easy-to-train behaviors that get you the most bang for your dog-training buck.
Capturing: a simple-yet-effective training technique
Capturing is a training technique that refers to marking and rewarding a behaviour that your dog offers naturally, without being prompted. Think of capturing like taking a photo of the behavior you want, but instead of a camera you are using a clicker (or verbal marker) and a treat or other reward. Examples of behaviors you might capture include: lying down at your feet when you sit on the couch; checking in with you on a walk; bringing you a toy to play with; keeping four paws on the floor while you’re prepping food in the kitchen; going into their crate by themselves; etc. Capturing is a time-saver because you don’t need to set aside additional time to train: you are simply watching for your dog to perform a desirable behavior on their own.
There are several benefits to capturing:
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- No need to shape complex behaviors: capturing takes advantage of behaviors the dog offers naturally, which allows us to build desirable behaviors quickly and easily
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- Helps us hone our observation skills, making us better trainers in the process
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- Focuses on positive reinforcement: instead of waiting for our dogs to make a mistake, we are proactively reinforcing our dogs for behaviors we like
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- A great relationship-building exercise: capturing focuses on clear, concise, positive-reinforcement based communication with our dogs
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- A great way to integrate a new dog or puppy into the household: no need to put added pressure onto your new dog by asking them to perform behaviors they may not be able to do yet
Kathy Sdao’s SMART x 50 Protocol is a structured training protocol that uses capturing to build desirable behaviors quickly and easily. SMART stands for See, Mark, and Reward Training, and the “50” refers to 50 times a day: the protocol asks us to observe our dogs throughout the day and look for 50 rewardable moments each day. You can portion out 50 pieces of kibble or treats that you plan to “capture” behaviours with each day; set up some reward stations around the house (kitchen counter, near the front door, etc.) and mark/reward your dog for any behaviors you like!
“People should learn how to be a skilled, generous, creative “feeder.” That is, they should understand and embrace the fact that their main role, if they want to be a great trainer, is to reinforce repeatedly any dog behaviors they want to see more of.” – Kathy Sdao
Easy, Valuable, and Versatile Behaviors to Teach Your Dog
Shaping complex behaviors with your dog can be a lot of fun, but if you’re struggling to find time, focus on teaching your dog a few functional and useful behaviors instead. The two behaviors below are extremely versatile: you can use them with your dog in a variety of ways and they are relatively simple to train!
Whiplash Turn
If you only teach your dog one behavior , it should be this! Instead of training separate cues for recall, leave-it, eye contact, and redirecting your dog, you can train just one behavior that covers it all. The Whiplash Turn, from Leslie McDevitt’s Control Unleashed program, is all about getting your dog’s attention fast, Bonus: it’s very easy to teach!
The key to success with this behavior is choosing a novel, unique recall cue that your dog a) hasn’t learned to ignore yet, and b) cuts through background noise and is easily perceived by the dog.
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- Stand with your dog facing you
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- Place a treat behind your dog and let them turn away from you and eat it
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- As they are eating it, step behind them
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- Click/treat for head turn and re-orienting back to handler
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- aim for 5-8 reps
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- Repeat the exercise but add your verbal cue just before they turn back to you
Hand-Target
Hand-targeting (aka the “touch” cue) is easy to train because it takes advantage of our dog’s natural curiosity: if you hold your hand out, your dog is likely to investigate. Why not put that behavior on cue? Below are instructions on how to teach this behavior, plus some new and novel ways to use it.
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- Hold your hand out, palm flat and facing your dog, away from your body
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- If your dog investigates/moves towards your hand/touches it with her nose, click and treat
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- Aim for 5-8 reps
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- When your dog is reliably touching your hand every time it’s presented to them, add your verbal cue: say “touch!”, present your hand, click and treat
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- Gradually layer in distractions: ask for “touch” in different environments (e.g. in the yard, on a walk, etc)
Other uses:
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- loading in and out of the car
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- passing by distractions
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- greetings! (keeping 4 on the floor) (INCLUDE LINK)
Additional time-saving tips
hire a professional (link to day school and private training)
train on walks or during play (e.g. fetch)
keep sessions short