ENGAGEMENT VS. ATTENTION: What’s the difference? In the old days we wanted “attention”. Basically, we wanted the dogs to look at us. The dogs “paid attention” because they were taught not to look away. But quite often the dog was conflicted. It WANTED to look at something else but knew it shouldn’t. The dog’s focus was split. Which means their response to the cue was affected. The dog didn’t respond, or their response was slow, or they didn’t meet criteria. I don’t want the dog to just “look” at me. We all know that doesn’t mean the dog is mentally there. We’ve all had a situation where the dog is looking at us, we give a cue, but the dog doesn’t respond at all. Or performs the wrong behavior, or the behavior doesn’t meet criteria. Looking does not mean mentally focused. When a dog OFFERS engagement (i.e. it’s THEIR idea), the dog is fully committed. The environment ceases to exist. The dog is aware of distractions, but they feel good about ignoring them. They know their job! You can’t fool them!! The dog is confident and empowered. Is this easy to achieve? No! Why?? Well, let’s be realistic. A dog has different motivations than we do. Much as we love them…and they love us…. that’s often not enough. When they see something that reminds them of prey, that may be more valuable to them. For some dogs, nothing is more meaningful than food! Some dogs are enamored of the environment. Others love people or dogs. Some dogs are nervous and insecure. All dogs instinctively orient to smell, motion and sound. It’s just how they are wired. We are asking them to ignore everything that makes them feel safe, that’s natural for them…and perform random, meaningless behaviors on cue. It’s not impossible, it’s just challenging. We need to be empathetic and understand what we are asking. If we do, we will be better trainers.
It's our job to make the work SO REINFORCING that the dog WILLINGLY chooses the work over the environment. Part of that is clarity. Clear, consistent information is highly reinforcing. Part of that is success. Personally, I think making mistakes is an important part of learning. BUT if the mistakes outweigh the successes…well, you wouldn’t find that fun either. Success is reinforcing. Success builds confidence. It’s VERY important to keep track of the error/success ratio. Many people are not good at this. Their dog makes multiple mistakes, and they don’t change anything. When I ask the trainer how many mistakes the dog just made, they can’t tell me. Count the errors!! I recommend writing it down. At the very least, count in your head. If your dog makes two errors in a row, it’s a red flag. The dog doesn’t understand what you are trying to communicate. Rather than continue, change something!! Not sure what to do? Abort…get help, think about it… Doing the same thing over and over expecting to get a different result is the definition of insanity I remind myself of that often!!
Part of teaching engagement is not overfacing the dog. I.e. don’t ask the dog to do something that’s to challenging for their current skill level. Humans make assumptions. All the time. THEY think the dog SHOULD be able to do “x” work in “y” environment. That’s great. But just because YOU think it, doesn’t mean the dog can. Just because the dog can do it at home, doesn’t mean the dog can do it at a show n go, or at the park, or at a new training building. We will get into that in more detail.
READING YOUR DOG. Reading our dog is hard. It’s where the majority of trainers struggle. We always look at things from a human perspective. We need to start interpreting behavior from a dog’s perspective. For example, when a dog yawns, newer owners often think the dog is tired. More experienced trainers think a yawn means the dog is stressed. It could be both or either… OR the dog can be adjusting their arousal. Which is neither! We need to look at what happened immediately before the behavior we see (i.e. the yawn) and immediately after. We need to look at the context, our information, the environment, pressure, etc. It’s not as simple as just looking at “the yawn”. When I train, I am CONSTANTLY reading my dogs and evaluating. Which means I can adjust my training IN REAL TIME. That’s so important. It’s why my reactions are quick and timely. Because I’m constantly listening to my dogs…and responding. Was I always this way? Absolutely not. As with anything, it’s a process.
First and foremost, you must be open-minded and willing to change some of your beliefs. Sometimes people label and dog and interpret everything the dog does through that lens. I’ve done that! I labeled Zeal as “nervous, sensitive, afraid”. And that had an enormous effect on my training. Not a positive one. When I changed the label, I became more objective. I actively sought solutions to problems. I learned to read what he was actually saying…moment by moment. My training improved and, over time, he became a confident worker in the ring.
You need to add another dimension to your training. You can’t just focus on “teaching the behavior”. You must add the question “what is my dog thinking right now”…”where is my dog’s focus” and “how does my dog feel”. If my dog is hyper focused on a squirrel, it’s not an optimal time to teach a new behavior. If my dog is anxious or worried, I need to change that state of mind before teaching. We are going to work a lot on this!
If you have multiple dogs, watch how they interact with one another…in the house, in the yard, when playing, etc. THAT is how dogs communicate
Instructor: Petra Ford
