March Madness Movement Puzzles

 

March Movement Mania!

We had lots of fun this month with Movement Puzzles in our our groups. I created a short video that shows how 4 different dogs can do the same puzzle and work on completely different skills based on what they needed most!  Check out the video below.

Movement Puzzles are similar to obstacle courses except the main goal is to make the act of moving more reinforcing then the treats or toys we also have to offer. You may start out using treats at every part of the challenge or teach one challenge at a time. By doing the puzzle, one challenge is designed to reinforce the challenge that happened just before it.  For example, if you want the video you will see a bucket followed by the stepping stones then by a pallet followed by the trampoline. The dog gets to race from the starting line around the bucket as fast as they can, then slows down for target practice on the stepping stones and gets a treat. Then the dog waits on the pallet, may shoot through the tunnel if they like, then race to the trampoline for a bounce. This allows the act of racing to the trampoline to reinforce the wait or stay on the pallet as they anticipate the handler telling them when to go.

In the video, Puppy Penny is the youngest of the mix at about 8 months. She is very hyper and easily distracted by the other dogs in the room which is very common at this age. By doing the movement puzzle is learning to focus on her human more than the other distractions and listen closely to the directions the human is giving. The human is learning how to deliver reinforcement in the form of treats in a faster way to keep the engagement higher.

The next dog, Daisy and her human are learning how to use toys as a reinforcement for the high speed racing challenges. While Daisy is very food motivated, she can't walk passed a toy without asking to play. Her human is learning how to use that play time to reinforce the skills he wants such as ignoring the other dogs in the room, climbing over obstacles, waiting patiently for the cue to move to the challenge.

The 3rd dog, Muona, is mostly having fun as he learned the puzzle challenges really fast but needs to work on staying engaged with his human instead of checking out what his brother is doing in one of playpens. This a dog who really loves being told what to do and when to do it!

The 4th dog, is brother Mocho, who is on the slightly shy side. He is building confidence for working with his human to complete challenges, stepping on unusual surfaces, going into and through the play houses. He is also working on ignoring his brother. Both boys are learning how to take turns with one dog watching while the other dog does something fun, then trading places.  This is part of our resource guarding training.

The best thing about Movement Puzzles is they can be set up to practice the skills you really want your dog to be great at and provide a fun way to reinforce those skills more naturally instead of always using food.

There are many more Movement Puzzle videos on our YouTube Channel!

If you are interested in learning more about how games based dog training works, you might enjoy this end of March Madness Special with 10 Sessions for just $450. This is perfect for fearful and fizzy dogs that need to take the slow approach to learning how to remain Safe, Calm & Happy.

This package is only available until March 31st! 

You can schedule your first session and pay for this package via our online scheduler here.

 

March Madness & Movement Schedule

As we kick into spring and start out the month of March we are excited about a few new things happening at Yooper Paws of Love.

Throughout March we will be working on multiple projects that all revolve around the Madness that can happen when distractions enter the environment & using movement to our advantage to encourage more of the behaviors we love. This is going to include some free resources on our social media accounts and our blog, plus a free bonus available for Patreon Members.

Yooper Paws Coffee Hour

To start things out, we are going to bring back the Yooper Paws Coffee Hour on Mondays from 10-11AM at the Training Center. This is for dog lovers to come and connect with other dog lovers without their dogs & for drop ins who want more info about the Yooper Paws Training Center. I'll have coffee available, but you are free to bring your own snacks or breakfast as well.

YP Nosework Club

We are now hosting nosework practice at the Yooper Paws Training Center on Wednesday nights from 7-8pm and a private session for beginners is available at 6pm. The cost is $10 per session to join. Please RSVP with Tammy or Penny the day before if possible.

Movement Mania Thursdays

Continuing on with a Game Night Theme from February we will be doing 2 Movement Puzzle Groups on Thursday nights 5-6:30 PM & 7-8:30 PM. We've had a short taste of spring here in the UP, but we know that we still have some cold weather. If you're racing to get in some movement with your dog by doing fun challenges that build up skills to help you with leash manners and focus around distractions, then this is the activity!

The early group from 5-6:30 will have a staggered arrival time for dogs that need some extra time calming down around other dogs. You'll be assigned an arrival time when you sign up, then you'll leave about an hour later.

The later group will all show up at 7pm, give or take a few minutes but may be working in multiple rooms to help space dogs out a bit.

Helping Fearful Dogs Feel Safe Club

We will continue to see clients both in-person and virtually in private sessions as we prepare for the Group Walk Season that will soon be here.

In the mean time you can join the ​Helping Fearful Dog's Email Club​ for a 5 day free email update that will share info about resources that are available to help you + one bonus email a month with training tips. And you can sign up for the YP Patreon Membership for ​Helping Fearful Dogs Feel Safe​ with 20+ posts in that collection. If you like that and want more, the Turning Struggles Into Strengths Collection has 15+ posts available loaded with 1 hour workshops you can watch at your own convivence. Both Memberships will have access to the Confident Canines Collection that will be available in April!

Sign up on the ​YP Patreon Memberships​ now so you have time practice training skills before the summer vacation season is upon us!

To sign up for our in-person classes, please email us at 

​yooperpaws@gmail.com

FAD Workshop will take place in our FREE Patreon Membership March 24th-28th! Each day members will get an email with a video and written text filled with tips to help develop teamwork and teach your dog to focus on you around distractions.

This workshop is open to family pets and working dogs!

Sign up for FREE at the C2C Patreon Membership page.

Delivering Reinforcement Tips

So many times we get in the habit of asking our dog to sit, then handing them a treat for compliance and we don't think about what we are doing or add any variety to what we are doing. This would compare to working in a factory....important work, but very much the same every day with no real learning happening after the initial training period.

Eventually we want to move away from always having to deliver a treat when our dog sits and start to train new behaviors. It doesn't matter whether you are sticking with basic training skills or moving on to advanced training skills required for working dogs or working on skills somewhere in the middle. Our goal should always be to use reinforce to increase the behaviors we love until they become such a strong habit that our dogs choose to do the behavior with or without treats present. That's not to say that I will never reinforce a simple sit once my dog has moved on to advanced training, but I don't want to have to reinforce every single sit.

For positive reinforcement training to work, we have to always be increasing the challenge level of the training or at least keeping up on on maintenance reinforcement to keep our favorite behaviors strong.

When I first started with positive reinforcement training, I used treats in a very transactional way...Dog does Behavior, Human Rewards! Dog doesn't do Behavior, Human doesn't Reward! This often leads to one of these issues:

• The dog who will only do behaviors if the human holds a treat in front of them and refuses to do the behavior without treats.
• The dog becomes full and will no longer "work" or make good choices.
• The dog loses interest in food reinforcers because there are so many other great reinforcers in the world.

Instead of a transactional relationship with my dogs, I want a teamwork based relationship where we all do what is best in the situation for the good of the team. This may sound like a pipe dream to some dog owners and I never plan to totally phase out food reinforcement for the behaviors I love but I do want to use the food reinforcement I give to teach new behaviors and reinforce the really hard behaviors.

Inevitably, we all struggle with delivering food reinforcement effectively and efficiently at some point in our training. Here are some things that I've found helpful over the years.

Delivery Methods

Delivery is often the most important aspect of using food reinforcement effectively and efficiently! In the video below I outlined some of my favorite ways to deliver food reinforcement during training sessions, then I showed you how I select which deliver method based on what I'm planning to do next in the session.

Patreon Members will be able to see a deeper dive into these deliver methods. There are 5 simple ways to deliver treats.

1. By hand directly to the dog's mouth.
2. Placed on the floor near the dog to impact the direction they turn or look.
3. Tossed for the dog to catch.
4. Tossed on the floor for the dog to chase.
5. Scatterfeeding with multiple pieces of food tossed.

I will use the first approach of delivering directly to the dog's mouth if I want the dog to stay engaged with me and move quickly to the next cued behavior and I will drop the food at the dog's feet if I want them to stay connected with me, but free to engage in the nearby environment. Placing food on the floor/ground near the dog, one piece at a time helps the dog to learn to keep checking in to see what is next, perfect for the Look At That Game! 

I will use a treat toss for my dog to catch if we've been working on something hard and I want my dog to take a short break and have a bit of fun before resetting and practicing the hard behavior again.

Tossing treats on the floor/ground for the dog to chase is best used in distracting environments when you need to get the dog's attention or you have a dog that enjoys the movement more than the act of eating the treat. This is also great for fearful situations as it gets the dog to move away from whatever is scaring them.

Scatterfeeding is best at the end of a session or if you need take a long pause, perhaps to have a discussion with your trainer or a neighbor.

There are lots of other tips on reinforcement in previous blogs found in the "Focus On Behaviors!" page!  Be sure to check them out!