I open my bedroom door and Barley bolts down the hallway eager to start his day. I bite back a scream of frustration. How many times have we practiced waiting at thresholds?……Evidently, not enough times.
I consider letting it slide. Freshly Ground Mead Barrel aged coffee beans are sitting next to my french press waiting for me in my kitchen just past the hall way in the direction Barley bolted. However, what if this had been the threshold at my front door instead of my bedroom door? Barley would be in the street in danger. The thought of the potential consequences to allowing Barley to rush through door ways spurs me into action. In this instance my coffee must wait and we will reset. I gather Barley back to the door way to await my permission to pass the threshold.
Dog caring is patience, more patience than feels possible at times.
Habits We Build
In dog caring we constantly build. Not, the building of Place cots, or A-Frames, and weave poles. Though, for many there is plenty of that sort of building. We are constructing solid foundations, or more adeptly put we build good habits. From these habits we can establish better habits.
You know that saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? It’s like that. Good thing we have patience and management tools. Oh, and coffee….coffee helps.
The Tools We Use
Management tools are like having bumpers on a bowling lane as you first start out. They are there to physically help you succeed, and let your dog get into the habit of winning by practicing important skills, but if used effectively will naturally fade away.
Kennels are fantastic management tools for potty training. Puppies and dogs often don’t like potting where they sleep. A kennel that’s the right size, frequent chances to potty in the right place, and being rewarded for taking advantage of that chance act together to encourage a dog to choose to go to potty outside. Once a dog is actively choosing to go out side they can have liberty in the house with a decreased chance of soiling the rug.
Slip leads are fantastic management tools when it comes to practicing impulse control at thresholds. A slip lead is a leash that can slip over the dogs head and tighten in a loop. They are quick to get on and apply evenly distributed pressure if a dog pulls lessening the chance of the dog pulling so hard it damages its neck muscles, but preventing the dog from being able too pull you.
If a dog isn’t familiar with waiting at thresholds we put a slip lead on our dog. The slip lead prevents a dog from bolting out the door. Slip leads act as an alternative to using spatial pressure, or having to repeatedly go get your dog and reset at the threshold.
By giving you a medium to give directional and situational information to the dog, the slip lead can turn management into training. The directional information is stop now, and sit. The situational information is about the habit. At door ways we stop and sit.
You can use leash pressure to accomplish a sit, or use the leash to keep them with you as you lure, or give the verbal cue for a sit.
The awesome element to training impulse control at thresholds is we have a built in reward. The dog wants to go through the threshold. This means when we get eye contact we can mark “Yes!” And have the reward be getting to move forward through the threshold.
A management tool allows us to be more conscientious of common errors regarding spatial pressure. In teaching a dog the habit of waiting at thresholds, or impulse control, it’s key to understand that a closed door or physically blocking the door is way less tempting than an open unobstructed doorway.
Allowing the dog to think it has the choice between respecting the threshold or blowing past it is key to fully establishing the habit of waiting at thresholds. Management tools like slip leads are a great way to maintain the illusion that the dog can go through the door way with out the frustration involved in actually sacrificing control of the situation.
Another great management tool for training impulse control is Place with a tethering. Place is this great command that teaches a dog it doesn’t have to, or get to be involved in whatever we are doing all of the time. However, this can be a hard lesson to teach and dogs may be tempted to test this boundary if they think we aren’t paying attention. Using a Tether to keep the dog on place in the beginning as you add duration will take away the self rewarding behavior of freedom, getting to beg in the kitchen ect…So the habit of breaking Place isn’t created. Whilst the reward for staying in place is made evident by us as we always reward what we like. As we build duration on place we gradually increase the amount of time between rewards.
It’s important that if you use a tether or Tie Down whilst your dog is on Place that the sensation of hitting the end of the tether does not cause panic or immense distress to the dog. We always need to have a reasonable degree of supervision whilst the dog is tethered. You can do other tasks around a tethered dog, but leaving a dog tethered unsupervised for any amount of time can be dangerous to the dogs well being.
At the start of a place a leash may even be a sufficient management tool.
Management Tools Evolve
Management tools will flex and change to meet the situation. When training recall around distractions we start with a short leash on the dog, then as the dog proves to us it understands recall at that distance we move onto a longer leash we hold, and eventually a long line clipped to the dog but dragging, then a dragging short leash. None of these leashes or uses of them are better than the other ones. All of them helped establish the habit of responding to recall.
Kennels, slip leads, and tethers for Place are all fantastic management tools to have when guests come over. The management tool a situation requires is not stagnate, but rather fluid and the tool and method you use will be determined based on the dogs ever evolving established habits.
Management tools will allow you to build and reward good habits around guests like calmly laying in place and not jumping around or on guests.
Management tools are awesome because they allow you to show a dog your expectations by rewarding them for making good choices and limit the chances to make bad choices.
However, if you truly want to be a skilled bowler the bumpers have to come down at some point and the consequences of the game need to be clear. The same goes for a lot of these management tools. You won’t need them for the dogs entire life, but it’s key to allow enough repetition and reinforcement 1In establishing new behaviors or habits always reward frequently so the dog begins to see the habit as worthwhile of the behavior that it becomes a habit before introducing consequences.
“We are what we repeatedly do, Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Will Durant
References
| 1. | ↑ | In establishing new behaviors or habits always reward frequently so the dog begins to see the habit as worthwhile |