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Welcome to Hall Kennel's Breeder of German Shepherd Dog's
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Training
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~Basic Obedience Training~ The beginning of basic obedience
training is were your puppy/dog learns how to sit, stay, down, heel and come. If your puppy/dog is not use to a
collar and a leash. The easy way to get the puppy/dog use to them is by letting the puppy/dog wear them
around the home while supervised by you the owner. Training Sit- (use lots of treats) Kneel down and place the puppy infront of you. Make sure
the puppy is standing and place a treat infront of his nose guide the treat slowly behind the puppy (do not raise
the treat to high or the puppy will try and jump at it). Before the puppy's butt touches the ground say sit soon as the
puppy sits give treat and praise. Repeat this three or four times. You can teach this command about two times a day until
the puppy understand the command sit. Training Stay- (if you puppy/dog is not relaxed or is to excitied this command will be hard
to teach. It is best to teach this command when they are settled down) Put the puppy/dog in a sit position on the left
or right of you. Push your open hand directly infront of the puppy/dog, while watching for any attempt to move. If the puppy/dog
moves put back in the sit position and repeat the stay command. When the puppy/dog does it right give praise and a treat.
Only do the stay command for a few seconds starting out. Each time you give the stay command you can up the stay time. But
do not increase the distance between you. When your puppy/dog can stay for a few minutes this is when you can increase the
distance. Training Heel- Place the puppy/dog on your left or right side of you. Place the leash tight
in your right hand and let it loose in your left. Now give the command heel, give the leash a tug as you give the command
and start walking say good boy/girl when they start to move. Walk in different directions and different speeds all the while
saying heel with a quick tug on the leash and saying good boy/girl while the puppy/dog stays at your side. If the puppy/dog
starts to wlak a head of you give a tug at the leash while saying heel. Repeat the tug heel if the walking a head of you persist.
If your puppy/dog attention starts to focus on something else this is when you should make a turn in a different direction.
A couple of times with this kind of turns it will not belong until the puppy/dog realizes that they must that they must pay
attention to where you are at all times. This is basically the forum of heeling (paying attention). If the puppy/dog seems
to be getting the hang of it start going straight and making left turns and right turns. By doing this you probably will have
to do the tug heel a couple of times before the puppy/dog gets to hear praising from you.The
first session of the heel commmand should be done about 15 to 20 minutes. This should be done once or twice a day for two
weeks for the puppy/dog to remember what to do. Training Down- (This is when a treat or a favorite toy comes in handy) Put your pupp/dog in
a sit position. Give the command down, help the puppy/dog into this position by offering
the treat or toy. Move the treat or toy to the ground between his front feet near his/her chest, then toward you while you
say down. The puppy/dog will follow the treat/toy. Praise the puppy/dog when it's all the way down and offer the treat/toy
as the reward. If he/she has the down command try adding the stay command along with the down command. Training Come- (you will need a six foot leash and longer for this command) This command means to come and sit infornt of you or on your left side of you. Start out by having the
puppy/dog sitting on your left or right side. Give him/her the stay command while pushing your hand in fornt of the puppy/dog
face, step in front of him/her. Repeat with your hand in the puppy/dog face and say stay. Back up a few steps and stop.
Say come as you give a tug on the leash. As soon as the puppy/dog gets close to you give the command sit. Don't give praise
until he/she has sit all the way down. Do this for a week. If the puppy/dog is doing well you start backing up more,
until you are at the end of the leash. If you have made it at the end of the six foot leash with no problem now you can
go up a leghth on the training leash. In the end the puppy/dog should come to you and sit in fornt of you or on your left
side of you with out any trouble. Operant Conditioning Operant Conditioning is the term used by B.F. Skinner to describe the effects of the consequences of a particular behavior on the future occurrence of that behavior. There are
four types of Operant Conditioning: Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement, Punishment, and Extinction.
Both Positive and Negative Reinforcement strengthen behavior while both Punishment and Extinction weaken behavior. A process of behavior modification in which the likelihood of a specific behavior is increased or decreased through positive
or negative reinforcement each time the behavior is exhibited, so that the subject comes to associate the pleasure or displeasure
of the reinforcement with the behavior. Dogs and humans are alike when it comes to operant conditioning. They prefer pleasure to pain. This type of behavior
also helps us to survive and procreate. Operant conditioning is how we teach dogs to respond to our commands.
Let's look at operant behavior. Operant Behavior Operant behavior, whether responses occur in the future depend upon the nature of the contingency. To an organism that
is hedonistic, if the stimulus is appetitive (feels good), it is probable that it will occur again (reinforcement).
If it is aversive (feels bad), it is not probable that it will occur again in the future (punishment). Therefore, our actions that may have an effect on the environment can lead to one of these events being added (positive)
or withdrawn (negative).
Positive Reinforcement: Rewarding your dog for correct actions. A stimulus which increases the frequency of a particular behavior using pleasant rewards. A doggy treat can pleasantly
coerce your new puppy to sit (positive reinforcement) just as a pull to the choke collar can achieve the same affect
(negative reinforcement). Positive reinforcement focuses on good behavior rather than on undesirable behavior. POSITIVE PUNISHMENT- In an attempt to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring in the future, an operant
response is followed by the presentation of an aversive stimulus. This is positive punishment. Negative Reinforcement: Punishing your your dog for the bad actions. Negative reinforcement increases a behavior by ending or taking away Something Bad or aversive. By making the animal's
circumstances better, you are rewarding it and increasing the likelihood that it will repeat the behavior that was occurring
when you ended the Bad Thing. In order to use negative reinforcement, the trainer must be able to control the Bad Thing that is being taken away. This
often means that the trainer must also apply the Bad Thing. And applying a Bad Thing might reduce whatever behavior was going
on when the Bad Thing was applied. And reducing a behavior by applying a Bad Thing is positive punishment. So when
you start your Bad Thing that you're going to end as a negative reinforcer, you run the risk of punishing some other behavior.
One of the major results of taking away Something Bad is often relief. So another way to think of negative reinforcement
is that you are providing relief to the animal but of course, this makes it an example of positive reinforcement
- you are providing Something Good - relief. Confusing? Positive Reinforcer- A positive reinforcer is an appetitive event whose presentation follows an operant response. The positive reinforcer increases the likelihood of that behavior occurring again under the same circumstances. NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT- In an attempt to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring in the future, an operant
response is followed by the removal of an appetitive stimulus. This is negative punishment. Negative Reinforcer A negative reinforcer is an aversive event whose removal follows an operant response. The negative reinforcer increases the likelihood of that behavior occurring again under the same circumstances. Classical Conditioning A process of behavior modification by which a subject comes to respond in a desired manner to a previously neutral stimulus
that has been repeatedly presented along with an unconditioned stimulus that elicits the desired response. Classical Conditioning is the type of learning made famous by Pavlov's experiments with dogs. The gist of the experiment
is this: Pavlov presented dogs with food, and measured their salivary response (how much they drooled). Then he began ringing
a bell just before presenting the food. At first, the dogs did not begin salivating until the food was presented. After a
while, however, the dogs began to salivate when the sound of the bell was presented. They learned to associate the sound of
the bell with the presentation of the food. As far as their immediate physiological responses were concerned, the sound of
the bell became equivalent to the presentation of the food. Classical conditioning is a process in which an animal learns to associate one event that comes
immediately after another event. The animal does not have to do anything in order for this association to take place. Clicker training is considered Classical Conditioning because you rewarding the dog with the sound of the clicker. You can classically condition a clicker by clicking it and delivering some desirable treat, many times in a row. Simply
click the clicker, pause a moment, and give the dog the treat. After you've done this a few times, you may see the animal
visibly startle, look towards the treat, or look to you. This indicates that she's starting to form the association. Some
clicker trainers call this "charging up the clicker". It's also called "creating a conditioned reinforcer". The click sound
becomes a signal for an upcoming reinforcement. As a shorthand, some clicker trainers will say that the click = the treat. Classical conditioning is used when training a dog for the hearing impaired. Classical conditioning takes place all the time whether we want it or not. The
door bell rings, your dog jumps up and runs to the door - why? The association between the door bell ringing and the showing
up of people right after that was made after many times this happened - this is classical conditioning at work. Your dog hears the noise that a collar, tags, and leash make (you know
those noises) - he turns around and looks for a dog. Why? An association was made between those noises and the appearance
of a dog. In classical conditioning, behaviors are increased in one of two ways: Classical conditioning being an emotional response. Operant conditioning is an analytical response having to do with cause and effect. They are four types of drives in dogs.
~Teaching Puppy Bite Inhibition~ Ian
Dunbar, Ph.D., MRCVS, is a veterinarian, animal behaviourist and dog trainer based in Berkely, California. In addition to
selectively breeding for disposition, all dogs should be actively trained to be friendly and trustworthy. It would be folly
to sit back with the blithe assumption that a puppy dog will necessarily and naturally develop a super disposition,
since all breeds are capable of being unfriendly. Moreover, many breed standards actually forewarn us that protective, dominant
or even aggressive - especially towards strangers. Temperament training
is an active process that involves a number of specific and initial exercises to continually modify the puppy's developing
temperament to ensure that it always remains friendly toward all people. A temperament training program has three stages;
1) Teaching bite inhibition. 2) Socializing the pup with all sorts of people, so that the dog likes the company and actions
of people and would not want to bite them 3) Friendly training, which means specifically training the puppy dog to 'act' as
if This type of training
is designed to assuage people's fears and help them feel at east around the dog, so that they don't' display fearful actions
and mannerisms and unnecessarily spook, the dog. Bite
Inhibition Without a doubt,
teaching bite inhibition is the single most important item on the educational agenda of any pup. Consequently, bite inhibition
training should head the syllabus of any kindergarten or comprehensive puppy-training program. The pup must be taught to inhibit
the force of its biting behaviour so that it develops a soft mouth. It must also be taught to inhibit the frequently of it's
now gentler mouthing, so that the adolescent dog learns to keep its jaws to itself and never mouth any person or their clothing. It is as unrealistic
to expect dogs never to be frightened or annoyed by people as it is to expect people never to frighten or annoy each other.
However, just as it is reasonable to expect people to resolve their disagreements without physical violence, it is both realistic
and perfectly feasible to teach dogs never to physically harm a person when scared or provoked. Dogs suffer incessant
provocation from people, especially from children and men, and a large proportion of dogs are involved in some kind of aggressive
altercation with humans at some time in their lives. but in such instances, both the prognosis for rehabilitation and the
fate of the dog are almost always dependent on how much damage the dog inflicted - that is, the dog's level of bite inhibition. Damage
Done Ideally, all dogs
should be taught never to respond aggressively to any kind of provocation, but this is impossible in practice, especially
in instances of extreme and unexpected provocation. Case 1. An 8 year old struck out during a baseball
game and hit the dog's muzzle with a baseball bat. The dog yelped and ran. Case 2. A woman tripped, dropped a cup of hot
chocolate over the dog and fell headlong into the dog's face while it was gnawing on a bone. The dog nipped the woman on the
cheek but did not puncture the skin. Case 3. A woman hurrying to answer the phone pierce
the dog's thigh with her high heel. The dog bit her on the ankle, causing three punctures barely 1/4 inch deep. Case 4. A man grabbed the dog's cheeks with both
hands, shook the dog vigorously, flipped it on it's back and screamed obscenities in the dog's face. The dog sliced the man's
ear with two punctures - little damage but a lot of blood. Case 5. A 3 year old toddled up to the dog and
reached out to pat it on the head. The dog bit the child in the face five times. In each case, whether
the scared and/or provoked dog ran, hid, growled, snarled, snapped, nipped, bit or savaged depending primarily on the degree
of leaned bit inhibition established in puppy hood. Because the dogs exercised remarkable restraint and demonstrated fairly
solid bit inhibition in the first four cases, these were resolved easily with basic, commonsense people education and dog
training. However, in the fifth case, the dog was euthanized and the child was physically Inhibit
Force Before Frequency A puppy's needle-sharp
teeth and it's often-rapacious penchant for biting are essential for the establishment of bite inhibition and the development
of a soft mouth. Puppy biting hurts but seldom causes appreciable harm. In fact, puppy-biting behaviour is the way a young
pup learns its jaws can hurt. It is important puppies learn to inhibit the force of their biting before they acquire the blunt
yet formidable teeth and strong jaws of an adolescent dog. Although the abrupt
and total curtailment of puppy biting (if possible) offers immediate relief to most owners, it often reflects only a short-term
gain and does not always augur well for the future. If the puppy is forbidden to bite, it will not have sufficient opportunity
to learn that its jaws may inflict pain. Thus, if it is ever provoked to bite as an adult, the resultant bite is likely to
be a hard one, causing sever damage. Certainly puppy biting must be controlled, but only in a progressive, systematic manner,
where by the pup is taught to inhibit the force of its bites . To inform the puppy
that biting hurts, it is not necessary to hurt, frighten, punish or even Learning
Through Play As when playing
with their littermates or Mom's teats and tail, puppies quickly learn hard bites lose playmates. Return after one or two minutes
time out and make up by having the puppy come, sit and calm down before resuming play. Once the pup's
mouthing n longer hurts, pretend it does. Greet harder munches with a yelp of pseudo-pain. The puppy will begin to get the
idea, thinking, "Whooahh! These humans are super-sensitive. I'll have to be much more gentle." The force of the puppy's biting
will progressively decrease until biting becomes mouthing and eventually, mouthing succumbs to gumming or slobbering. NEVER allow the
puppy to mouth human hair or clothing. Hair and clothing are not innervated and therefore can feel neither pressure nor pain.
Allowing a pup to mouth hair, scarves, shoelaces or gloved hands inadvertently trains it to bite harder, extremely close to
the human flesh! Once the puppy's
mouthing no longer exerts any palpable pressure whatsoever, then and only then can you teach the pup to reduce the frequency
of its oral proclivities. Teach the meaning Nip
It in the Bud Some
dogs learn to inhibit the force and frequency of biting quickly and naturally, whereas for other dogs bite inhibition must
be actively taught as a specific exercise. After just a few weeks of instruction, the 'mouth' breeds and their puppies from
hell characteristically curtain hard biting fairly quickly, since the owner is immediately aware of the problem and takes
appropriate action and the puppy has more than ample opportunity to learn its biting hurts. It may seem paradoxical, but puppies
that are mouthing maniacs ad/or puppies that grow up with children are much more likely to develop gentle jaws and a soft
mouth as an adult. On the
other hand, shy, reserved and/or fearful dogs, witch often do not play as much and therefore seldom roughhouse or bite their
owners, and breeds that have been bred to have soft mouths, seldom present much of a puppy problem to their owners and therefore
do not receive sufficient feedback concerning the power of their jaws. All too often, when a dog has bitten severely the case history reveals the dog was 'fine' as a puppy. This is the
major reason we go to great pains to encourage shy and standoffish dogs to play in puppy class. The most important survival
lesson for a puppy to learn is that when it bites, it causes pain. Of course, the pup can only learn this lesson if it bites
and if the bitee give appropriate feedback.
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