Conditioning arousal to the context of obedience

When we acquire a new adult dog, or when our puppy grows to an age when we will begin training it formally in obedience on the practice field, our first task is to train the dog to become aroused in response to the context of the training field. Quite simply, before we ever teach the dog to work on the field, we teach it to play.

The handler arrives at the field and, rather than bringing the animal out on leash and then standing around with it so that they both gradually become bored, he leaves the dog in a crate or in the car until it is time to work. Always be aware that dogs need adequate shade and water and should not be put in cars where ventilation is limited.

When ready, the handler goes to the dog, excitedly brings it out of the car, runs onto the training field and then plays with it vigorously for three or four minutes. The two can wrestle and run, or play tug‑of‑war with a sack, but most of all their play centers around some kind of prey object that will be included in all further obedience training. The authors prefer to use large rubber balls or kong toys.

All retrieving is entirely in play, meaning there is no control of the dog by command. The animal is not heeled onto the field or off, it is not made to stay while the ball is thrown and then sent to get it and it is never told “No!” If the animal must be restrained, this is done by physically taking its collar.

After a few minutes of vigorous play, the handler returns the dog, on the run, to the crate or car. In a while he will return and repeat the whole process. A visit to the Schutzhund club thus involves for the animal a period of waiting punctuated by brief, extremely arousing and gratifying trips onto the field.

After a few days or weeks, the net effect will be to teach the dog an intense arousal response in association with the context of the obedience field. When it comes out of the car or crate at the Schutzhund club, the dog will automatically be in tremendous spirit. This spirit will be our main fuel, our primary source of energy for work.

GOAL 2: The dog will sit on command.

In obedience training, we make use of four major classes of stimuli in order to reward and punish the animal’s behavior:

1. Praise and petting

2. Food

3. Prey objects

4. Physical punishment (correction)

Praise and petting are always used in conjunction with three other classes of stimuli. Taking this into account, we present the schooling of each of the basic obedience skills in three stages:

1. Work for food

2. Work for the prey object

3. Pairing of the prey object with compulsion

The work for food stage is part of the pure inducive phase of training–the teaching phase–in which we bring the animal to understand a command and the skill associated with it. This work is normally performed at home, away from the excitement and distractions of the training field. Food produces a moderate level of arousal and the dog, although excited, is easily managed and manipulated.

The work for the prey object stage begins after we have taught the animal a number of skills, and also after we have conditioned it to become aroused in response to the context of the obedience field. We are still in the teaching phase (the work is still almost entirely inducive), but in place of the desire for food we have substituted the prey motivation associated with retrieving the ball. The dog’s level of arousal is much higher, providing abundant energy for work, but also making the animal harder to manage and manipulate.

Pairing is the stage at which we bring compulsion into the picture–the training phase. In pairing we begin for the first time to use force to correct errors, enforce immediate responses to commands and increase precision. However, the force is paired or coupled with the use of a ball. For example, we might correct the dog sharply three times in a row for slow sits; if, on the fourth attempt, the animal sits quickly and there is no need for a correction, we throw the ball for it. The advantage is that prey arousal desensitizes the animal, making it hard and resilient. As a result the corrections, while retaining their power to alter the dog’s behavior, do not depress its spirit.

Again, in all three stages of training the reward properties of the food or ball are enhanced through being accompanied by a great deal of verbal praise, encouragement and petting.

As we train them, the obedience exercises progress independently of each other–they are taught separately. But there is no need to perfect one before progressing to another. For instance, we may be teaching a particular animal to heel at home for food while we are working it on the finish at the training field and perfecting the sit, down and stand by pairing leash corrections with the ball.

Important Concepts for Meeting the Goal

1. Sitting for food

2. Sitting for the ball

3. Pairing compulsion with the ball

Sitting for food

It is a comparatively simple matter to sit the dog by making use of its orientation toward food. The handler lets the dog smell a very small piece of food in his hand, and then lifts the hand up and over the animal’s head toward its rear, at the same time commanding the dog to “Sit!” The dog will strive for the food, jumping up at it and perhaps pawing or barking. The handler ignores all undesired behaviors (remember, the dog must have free choice in the teaching phase of obedience!) and waits, signaling with his hand and occasionally repeating the “Sit!” command. Eventually–out of puzzlement if for no other reason–the animal will sit and the handler immediately feeds it, at the same time praising and petting it.

It is a relatively simple matter to teach the stay by feeding the dog several times in succession, pausing a moment or two between each reward. Once the animal is sitting the handler commands “Stay!” He holds the food high over the dog’s head to provide a focus for the animal and keep it still. Then, after perhaps three or four seconds, he bends down, feeds the dog and again commands it to “Stay!” The handler performs several of these brief stays and then releases the dog with the command “OK!” and praises it.

As training progresses we can easily prolong the stay to thirty seconds or a minute by waiting a little longer each time before feeding the animal.