Are you overwhelmed trying to come up with or at a loss for new ideas to stimulate your furry friend’s little mind? Is the weather too hot or miserable outside but your dog has too much energy to stay inside? Well, it's time to unleash their inner Einstein with our class on teaching cognitive skills to dogs! We'll show you how to train your pup to read, yes READ! They'll be reading War and Peace in no time. Okay, maybe not War and Peace, but we'll definitely start with some basic words and build from there.
We'll also teach your furry friend how to discriminate shapes like a pro! No more confusing squares with circles or triangles with rectangles. Your dog will be able to identify THEIR shape with ease and find their target spot with precision each time – even lessen conflict over who gets which bed.
But that's not all! Your dog will also learn how to name their objects, precisely their toys like a champ. No more barking at the generic "ball" or "toy". Just ask your dog to get his XYZ to start the play. Plus they'll learn to show you which COLOUR you just asked for – of course, we’re only working with the colours our dogs have no difficulty differentiating. They do after all see colours differently to us humans.
We’ll also include some other brain cognition concepts as well for you to try out. These concepts are all about how our dogs learn in different ways as individuals and puzzle through everyday life.
Let’s turn your pup into a cognitive mastermind!
Teaching Approach
The class material consists of short lectures and specific cognition games/exercises. Material is provided in both written and video form for visual examples. Videos do not have voiceover. Students will be able to work through materials at their own pace and receive individualized feedback on their progress with time referrals to points in their video submissions. The majority of exercises will be released in the first 4 weeks of class, sometimes twice a week depending on the general progress within the class.
The majority of the exercises can be accomplished in a small space, requiring minimal handler and dog movement.
Heather Lawson (she/her) is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Skills Assessed (CPDT-KSA) and also a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP), a CGN evaluator and a free-style judge. She has been training dogs and their humans for more that 20 years after deciding that...(Click here for full bio and to view Heather's upcoming courses)
Dogs should have basic obedience training and be able to follow simple cues: wait, and have a go to mat/station behaviour
Dogs should have a basic understanding of SINGLE WORD cued behaviours such as: sit, down & even a few more to draw on if you have them such as spin, touch, stand, bow, paw, pretty (sit pretty)
MATERIALS or EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
- Reading materials such as white flashcard squares approx. 12" x 12" with the ability to write simple words as directed – written in large black letters
- Flat geometric shapes approximately 10” or so in size for shape discrimination exercises, such as Circle, Square, Triangle, Star or Daisy Flower shapes. Examples to make or acquire will be provided.
- Two coloured hard discs - ex. plain frisbees; yellow & blue
- Multiple toys/objects for naming that your dog can pick up if needed
Only click when the dog has done or is doing the correct behaviour according to the criteria.
Dog will be rewarded every time we click or mark a behaviour
No specific marker locations need to be used.
Your dog is free to chase or move toward the reinforcement depending on your preferred reward option OR what is stated in lectures OR logical for the behaviour being trained.
No stay until released is required to chase the cookie
Generally, we will have the dogs return to a mat/station and assume a default position and wait for next cue.
WHICH TYPE OF CLICKER/MARKER SHOULD I USE?
We’re not going to go down the rabbit hole on markers and location-specific markers. Save all that for another class. We’re going to keep it as simple as possible. This means using a mechanical clicker OR a verbal marker to convey to your dog he is correct, and a reward is coming whether you toss it for them to chase, you deliver it to them or they come to you for the cookie.
For instance, if I click and immediately follow with a verbal GET IT, my dog understands she’ll be able to chase the cookie. However, I can also simply click and without further information she will come to me or I can deliver the cookie to her. If I use a verbal GOOD my dog understands she should stay put, that I will deliver the cookie to her.
USE the marker/reward location best suited to the type of behaviour you’re training. In most cases for the exercises we’re teaching the dogs will be moving from their station/mat to perform the task so using a cookie toss or having them come to you will likely be the best option. This allows for either the clicker or verbal marker to be used. However, if you’ve trained a verbal marker word to mean your dog needs to remain in position to receive the reward you may want to opt for and train a different word to let your dog know they can move to come and get the reward from you. If you’re stuck for a new marker word, try YES, CLICK or even BINGO to let the dog know they are free to move to get the food reward.
CLICKER RULES
As most of you who do reward-based marker training you know the clicker/marker will always lead to primary reinforcement - for this class FOOD
1 Click = Cookie
YES = Cookie
CUES we give to our dogs should always lead your dog to perform the behaviour which once completed leads to the CLICK/MARKER which is followed by the primary reinforcement – again for our purposes will be FOOD REWARDS.
MAT= dog goes to mat = Click = Cookie
TOUCH = dog touches nose to target = Click = Cookie
YOUR MECHANICS & TIMING
The hardest aspects of training with markers and food – MECHANICS & TIMING. If these are off we can quite literally stop our dogs in their tracks, taking their focus away from the behaviour they are being marked for doing. We can even take our training plan in the wrong direction and complicate the steps, adding frustration to the process for both parties – dog & human.
Getting your timing right within the sequence and when delivering the reinforcement after the mark is important. We want to reward ASAP. However, we don’t want predictors or gunslingers; that hand creeping towards or moving towards the treat pouch, pocket or bowl in anticipation of the behaviour or the click. We only want the dogs thinking about what they are/were doing when they received the marker – verbal or clicker – not what your hand was/is about to do.
WHAT STARTS THE REWARD SEQUENCE? Basically, the moment there is any physical movement that can possibly predict reinforcement – the COOKIE. As I noted above, it can be as simple as your hand moving toward your treat pouch, pocket, bowl, or even toward your dog. Even where you look in anticipation of rewarding your dog – the cookie bowl on the table – all these ” micro-movements” interrupt the flow of your sequence and thus the behaviour loop.
For “CLEAN SEQUENCING” we want each piece of the sequence to be separate: it’s important that your timing mechanics be in proper order Marker followed by Reward sequence, not as fellow instructor Shade Whitsal so eloquently puts it we don’t want a “REmarWARDkerSEQUENCE” – all mushed together and out of order. If your hand is already moving towards your pouch as you’re about to mark where do you think your dog’s focus turns? Yup, what your hand is doing, and not at all listening to the marker or pairing the marker with what he was doing when the click occurred.
Not only is the reward hand NOT moving important, so is your clicker hand not moving important. It’s not necessary to move your clicker hand all around or even point the clicker at your dog. Keep your hands as neutral and as natural as possible
Your timing sequence needs to be YES, pause, THEN the physical movement toward treat delivery. Don’t beat yourselves up this can be a hard skill to learn, especially if you’re very animated when you speak or are like most people trying to get the reward out as fast as possible. It’ll only be evident to you – if you’re watching for it – when you play back your training videos. I’m always surprised at the times when I thought I was “still” and find out I’m not. Don’t panic! Speed isn’t totally necessary. As long as you do your best to follow the marker with a cookie in the shortest time possible you’ll be fine.
Even though you may believe your “clicker skills/mechanics” are solid, humour me, and go ahead and practice clean mechanical skills before we get our dogs involved. A good solid review never hurts and will do wonders for the exercises ahead when our dogs are involved and we move about.
NO PRACTICE DONE: Here’s an example of what can happen when we’re in the position of multi-tasking and we haven’t set ourselves up for success. I have slowed down one small segment to highlight what happens from our dog's perspective. It was quite enlightening to see that Harbour was already back and waiting for her handler to be ready. You'll also see a lot of indecision from the handler, especially with how to hold an object. Notice how all the extra handler movement even draws Harbour to the bench and away from work. Harbour was on leash due to the class setting - we needed to be able to catch her)
HOME BASE: Something we haven’t talked about thus far but important withing the scheme of your sequence. This is the neutral location your hands will return to after feeding. Options for the home base can be hands down at your sides if standing or resting on your thigh if sitting - your choice - except NEVER behind your back. Home base location practice should also include switching your treat pouch locations and being able to use either hand to C/T/feed. In this example, I’m not clicking anything really from Piper as I work through neutral position, treat pouch locations and which hand I feed with.
JUST FOR FUN VIDEO: This is a kids toy but should actually be classified as a training tool for dog trainers to develop hearing, hand, eye coordination. The high score is actually mine. It’s a longish video but think of this from your dog’s point of view – THINGS GOING ON that they have to filter, including us as we teach them and they learn.
HOMEWORK: This homework exercise is an important refresher.
STEP 1: Put your dog in another room. Get out a small bowl/coffee mug. Click, pause and place a cookie in the mug. Change the location of the cookie; treat pouch location, cookies in your pocket, cookies in a bowl off to your side.
Video yourself practicing this exercise – all without your dog. Then review your video before you post it. Take special notice of your clicker or verbal marker vs. when there were physical movements/signals. Not quite there yet? Did your hand end up moving at the same time as you marked? Run through the exercise and video again. What happened this time? If you think you’ve got it post your video in your thread.
STEP 2: Do the same exercise but now insert and feed your dog instead of the bowl and video. Your dog does not have to be doing anything – they’ll just be getting cookies after every click. What happened? Did your timing take a nosedive with the insertion of your dog? How did it feel? Review and when you’re ready post your video.
A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...
What I found most valuable in this course are Heather Lawson's video and written material of how she breaks down steps to teach a skill. As well, I further developed my observational skills and ability to read my dog by following her feedback to gold students. These are lessons that I can generalize to all training that I do with my dog.
I signed up for this course with my 14yo dog, and we both had a lot of fun with these special tasks. I'm absolutely amazed by my dog's ability to think, to combine and to observe, especially because she's a senior. Heather's instructions are always very detailed, and her feedback is precise, helpful and motivating.
I would definitely recommend this course. It sets up a progression and includes important details for training these types of behaviors.
I like these types of classes. This class was something that is a little different than the typical class. I've always wondered about the details for training a dog to read and now I have those details, as well as the details and method for teaching other impressive behaviors. I will continue to work on the behaviors taught in this class.
Heather Lawson's videos and written material were helpful and clearly demonstrated each step so I feel confident that I can continue forward and go back to the course material to teach my dog these skills.
I would recommend this course. I had to teach my dog some foundation skills before progressing and Heather's feedback to the gold students was helpful for this. My dog struggled with reading so we are still working though that and look forward to doing more!
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Instructor: Heather Lawson
