Training Techniques

I've been asked to share the techniques that I used to help Shadow during his rehabilitation. There is nothing startlingly revolutionary here, but the main thing was that Shadow governed the pace and that he was never forced to do anything that he didn't want to. Some may say that I was wrong to take that approach and that his progress would have been faster if I had 'shown him who was boss'. I disagree, GSDs are sensitive souls that don't need dominating, bullying or intimidating, if you ask them to do something, they will willing comply. If I had tried to force Shadow to accept handling or tried to 'flood' him by taking him into a crowded place to solve his fear of people, I would have ended up with a dog that did serious damage to me and would have most certainly been put to sleep. With a dog that has people aggression issues, the rehabilitation MUST go at the dog's pace and mustn't use force as this will undo the human dog trust and put the dog in a situation where he feels the need to defend himself. To be honest, the previous statement is true for all training problems. We are much better to use positive methods to show the dog what we want him to do, than to punish him to getting things wrong.

Collar touching

The improvements had been made using positive training methods. Basically touching his collar was paired with a treat. I started off by just moving a hand towards his collar and if he didn't react, he was rewarded. This was progressed until I could touch his collar, then I began moving my hand faster towards his collar, and then finally to grabbing his collar and giving a little tug.

Fear of people

The barking and lunging at people was dealt with in a similar way and the presence of a person was paired with food. Shadow found it easier to cope with people walking away or standing still. People who approached from behind or who walked directly towards him were still very scary and would trigger the lunging and barking. I used counterconditioning and desensitisation with him. We started off with people beyond his critical distance (i.e. before he got to the fixed staring and elevated body posture). When he saw the person, he was rewarded and verbally praised and also asked to sit. If the person was approaching too fast or too close, then I got Shadow out of the situation as the last thing I wanted to do was have him practising his lunging and barking. Gradually the distances were decreased and stationary stooge people were used so that Shadow could approach and withdraw as he preferred. People were instructed not to touch him or look at him in the beginning and then we introduced them looking at him, and also feeding him a treat.

Once he was more relaxed about people, we started to work on people walking in the opposite direction to us, but at a distance to us so that they would pass 6 - 10 feet away and then gradually reducing the distance. The plan was to progress so that people were walking straight at us, but to be honest that sort of just happened. Further progress on getting strangers to greet and touch him have been put on hold for the time being.

He has however been taught a hand touch. This was taught by marking the required behaviour with a clicker and a clicker word 'Good' (I don't always have a clicker with me or enough hands to be able to use one). The behaviour was build up steadily and he will now happily move several feet in order to touch my hand. This behaviour is very useful as a means of focussing him when he gets excited, and has also had knock on effect on his recall. The idea behind this is that many people when they want to greet a dog will hold out their hand for a dog to sniff. By asking Shadow to go and touch their hand and then come back to me, I have effectively removed any conflict he may have about approaching a stranger that he isn't sure off just because they have food. I do need to teach him a 'hide' so that if he is unhappy about a situation then he can go behind me and let me deal with it, without him feeling that he has to.

There is more work to do in this area, but for now I'm happy with the stage that we are at and he can cope with being put into busy situations such as flyball tournaments.

Self control around toys

This had to be worked on as Shadow was simply too dangerous to play with and it would have been awful to deprive him of the pleasure of playing fetch, find and Frisbee. The training involved the use of about 6 Frisbees, which meant that Shadow could have one and we had no need to battle in order to have another one to throw. To begin with the Frisbees had to be held above head height to stop him snatching them. He was cued to sit and as soon as he sat another Frisbee was thrown. He would automatically drop the one that he already had so that he could chase the thrown one. After he dropped it, I picked it up as he ran to get the next one, but if he charged back quicker than I could get to it, I left it and used the other Frisbees that I had to get him to sit again. That's why I needed so many Frisbees. That and the fact that I'm a rotten shot and at least one Frisbee would disappear over the fence during these sessions and I'd have to retrieve them later.

As his control improved, the toys were held in a more natural position. If he attempted to snatch them, the game was ended for that session, much to his disgust. Gradually he could hold the sit for longer and longer and would even down before the toy got thrown. Once we had reached this point, I changed the rules slightly to help him learn to calm down from an excited state. Usually he had to sit before a toy was thrown, but sometimes as he returned with one toy, I would ask him to leave whilst he was running back to me, and as he dropped the toy another was thrown. This was a much more exciting game for him, and had to be handled carefully so that he didn't get too 'over the top'. A couple of throws like this and he would start to anticipate the toy being thrown as he returned, I then asked him for a sit before the toy was thrown, and did several of these controlled retrieves before allowing the 'two toy' chase came to continue. This technique has certainly reaped huge rewards with regards to Shadow's self control, and I would recommend it to anyone who has a dog that is easily frustrated or over excited.

Timeouts

This is defined as timeout from the chance to earn a reward, and can be very effective as long as you know which rewards are most important to the dog. For Shadow, being able to play 'fetch' and also having my attention were both high on his list of reinforcers. If he forgot his manners during our play sessions, then play stopped. I also used this technique on him one day when he refused to come in from the garden. There was no point forcing him (he'd got that 'make me' look in his eyes), so I just shut the door and left him out there on his own for a good 30 minutes or so. When I asked him to come in later, he did so happily and quickly.

Building focus and concentration

Clicker training has been fabulous for this. I would work him in short bursts so that he didn't become too tired or bored. He would happily work for Frolic and James Wellbeloved MiniJacks. We worked on hand touches, touching a cone, stays and 'watch'. I also used the '300 peck chicken' approach to gradually build his stays and I will be using the technique to teach him loose lead walking. Further information on this can be found at here and http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1056

I am also using the training levels by Sue Ailsby which are a fabulous resource for training any dog.

Management Strategies

The use of a butcher's glove was a godsend and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has a dog that will bite in certain situations, but that you need to handle him in those situations. Its a very effective management tool and one that enabled me to have confidence in handling shadow. It has to be used as part of an on-going desensitisation and counter conditioning programme and not just as a means of making the dog do what you want. I used it when I needed to get Shadow in and out of the van with a lead and also at the end of his play sessions (as he tended to guard the toy that he had). Every time I held his collar, either to put his lead on to come out of the van or to have his lead put on at the end of play time or to take his lead off before he got back into the van he was given a treat.