The Behavior Road BlockEver work with your dog, feel like you're making good momentum, and then get STUCK somewhere in the process? Me too. In this blog post, I'm going to share some pro tips with you to help you assess what might be going on and how to start making progress again Let's look at the 4 different ways you can EVAL where things are not working... Before we jump in, I do want to stress the importance of having your Veterinarian on board and aware of any sudden behavior changes in your dog. More often than not, sudden changes are linked to underlying medical issues that show up in our dog's behavior before showing up through physical means. A recent study shows that "Musculoskeletal but also painful gastro-intestinal and dermatological conditions are commonly recognized as significant to the animal’s problem behavior." Source That being said, assuming that your dog has had a Veterinary check-up and was cleared, sometimes the only way to determine whether to go down the road of further testing is by trying to shift the behavior plans to see if that brings further progress. So let's take a look at the EVAL Process... ExperienceExperience refers to the how often your dog has had experience not only performing the behavior in question but behaviors in general. What kind of learning experience has your dog had with you, or in life and what has that experience paid? How full or empty is the learning and trust bank? Every time your dog learns that a particular behavior or skill leads to something of value, that's value put into the bank and it increases the chances of your dog performing that behavior again. For example, if you pet your dog on his favorite spot when he comes over to see you, you are likely reinforcing your dog's attention on you. Every time a behavior or skill leads to nothing - no value is added to the bank. This is actually pretty rare, as most behaviors have some sort of reinforcement or consequence to the learner. Every time a behavior or skill performed leads to the removal of something your dog wants, value is taken from the bank. For example, if your dog comes when you call and you put the leash on. That's removal of freedom and agency. So here are some things to think about:
Remember, the goal is to fill up the reward bank so that when there needs to be a withdrawal, you are still well into the positives! ValueNext, you'll want to evaluate the Value of the reward you are using or reinforcing your dog with. The value of the reinforcer lies in the opinion of the learner, not the teacher. This means that while you might assume something should be valuable, it may not be to that learner. For example, when trying to teach your dog to fetch a ball, many people ask their dog to drop the ball and then they chuck it way out in the distance? Well, what if your dog doesn't value the chase? What if your dog would prefer to play a little game of tug or would like to lie down and squeeze the life out of the ball for a few minutes? Then, when you throw the ball out in the distance for your dog after he just brought it to you, chances are good that he won't be bringing it to you again. So here are some things to think about:
ActionAction is a critical part of the EVAL method, and it refers to how quickly and CLEARLY you are taking ACTION with your dog. If there is a gap of time between when your dog performs the behavior and when you clearly let your dog know that you liked the behavior, through both marking AND rewarding it, then your dog will either disregard the reward or will pair the reward with something else. For example, if you ask your dog to STAY and then call your dog to you and give him a reward - which behavior are your rewarding? Likely the recall. But if your goal is to work on a longer duration of stay and not tempt your dog to break the stay and come running to you before the release, then you'll want to mark and reward the STAY by going back to your dog while he's still in position. You can pair the Stay with the Recall later on when your dog is more advanced. So here are some things to think about:
Learning happens best under predictable and clear conditions! LevelFinally, you'll want to look at the LEVEL. This may refer to the level of difficulty for your dog or the Level of awareness that your dog has. A dog who is in an emotional state will have very little awareness of what you're asking and won't be able to perform a learned behavior, especially if it's fairly new. Be sure to keep a check on your expectations so that you are not making assumptions about what your dog can handle at that time. Just like people, dogs can get easily overwhelmed by the either the difficulty of the ask or by the environment in which the ask is made. For example, if you have taught your dog to walk nicely on a leash in your neighborhood and then assume he can do the same on a trail walk, around all the tempting smells, sights, and sounds, your expectations may be a bit high. So here are some things to think about:
Remember, you must teach the skills needed before you need them. If your dog seems overwhelmed or frustrated, it may be time to adjust the difficulty level of your training sessions. Which part of the EVAL do you think you and your dog struggle with most?Watch the video below for even more information about what this may look like. Then hop on over to the Virtual Membership to get support not only on what and why you might be stuck but HOW to actually take the next steps forward! Or contact me today to set up virtual or in-person coaching and consulting for your family dog
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