Teaching Your Dog how to Learn!

Low Arousal Luring

In this low arousal luring exercise we are going to teach our dogs to follow something in a controlled manner with their nose 1-2" away from the object. In the videos I am using a fly swat but you could use a target stick or wooden spoon, just be mindful of other behaviours you have taught your dog with the items so as not to cause confusion. If you have taught your dog a nose touch then for clarity I would use another object.

Your timing of the mark needs to be really good here as if your dog goes to touch the object and you mark that instead of the distance away then you will cause confusion. I also use placement of reward away from the target to help too.

Shaping Skills - Go Round

We are going to use shaping as a technique to teach our dogs to go around an object. In the video I use a jump wing but you can use any object like a cone, chair, tree...

Remember to mark approximations towards the behaviour you want and reward placement for clarity. So in this example mark any movement towards or around the object and use reward placement to encourage more movement in the right direction.

Shaping is a great skill for building a dog's confidence in offering behaviour and to work out what you want. It can also help the dog to learn how to work through small amounts of frustration which will have a knock on effect in to other areas of their life they may experience frustration.