Obedience and the Boxer
Developed as a working dog, the Boxer wants a job to perform. He is easily bored, and often this boredom manifests itself as destructive behavior – chewing, digging, barking, etc. Give a Boxer something to do – and to think about when he’s not doing it – and you’ll both be happier. Obedience work is a good example of such activity.
Even if you are not interested in competing, you should at least complete a Basic Obedience class with your Boxer, and then practice every day – five or ten minutes will suffice! In fact, if you try to work longer than that with a Boxer he may just get bored and "turn off" in the middle of your session. It is for this reason that many people say Boxers are "stubborn" or "hard to train." (By the way, if your Obedience instructor tells you this, get a new instructor!) This is far from the truth – however, Boxers are highly intelligent and sometimes think independently. Too much repetition and your Boxer will say "I’ve learned that already, I’m not doing it anymore." You as the trainer must always be a step ahead of your Boxer – and you must always be interesting. (This is not as easy as it may sound! Sometimes being interesting means being downright silly – jumping, clapping, whatever it takes to keep your Boxer’s attention.)
There are many techniques of training dogs. One of the more popular ones is the positive/negative reinforcement, or "praise and jerk" technique. This is where you have the dog on a choke chain, give it a command, and if it doesn’t comply immediately you yank on the choke chain until it does. My first Obedience instructor taught this way, and after I broke a sweat yanking on the choker and the dog coughed for days afterward, I decided this was not a method I felt comfortable with. After searching and asking other Boxer owners who were successful in competitive Obedience, we found and now recommend "clicker training."
Clicker training is a positive reinforcement training system based on operant conditioning, a set of scientific principles describing the development of behavior in which the animal "operates" on the environment, instead of the other way around. In other words, instead of telling your dog to do something, and then punishing ("correcting") him when he doesn’t, you "catch" your dog doing something you like and then reward him for it.
Remember Pavlov’s dogs? He rang a bell just before he fed them, and soon whenever they heard the bell ring, they started salivating. Clicker training is based on the same principle – the conditioned reinforcer (the click or, in Pavlov’s case, the bell) tells the dog that the primary reinforcer (the food) is coming. After the dog has learned to understand what behavior you want, how to do it, and when to do it, you can replace the click with a word and the food with a pat; a word and a pat, you always have with you.
How do you get started in clicker training? The fastest and easiest way is to find an experienced clicker trainer to teach you the basic technique. Unfortunately, clicker training teachers are in short supply, and you may have to learn on your own. There are several books, videos, mailing lists and website that can help you, a few of which are listed here. A basic first session would go as follows:
Get yourself a clicker. These are available at certain pet supply stores, and some of the websites listed in the Training Resources. You can also use a bottle lid (the ones with the pop-up center, as on baby food jars), a pocket stapler (without staples, of course!), or a retractable pen – anything that makes a sharp, quick, distinctive sound.
You will also need a few treats. These will need to be small – about the size of a pea – so that the dog doesn’t have to take time to chew it. Chewing the treat diminishes the effect of the click and slows down training. To start with, it should be something truly delicious – cheese, boiled chicken, or hot dog pieces (cutting these into small pieces and microwaving for about a minute will get rid of a lot of the grease). Teach the meaning of the click by clicking the clicker and immediately giving a treat, four or five times, in different parts of the room or yard (so the dog doesn’t get the idea that this only works in one place).
Then click the clicker and delay the treat a few seconds; if you see the dog startle and actively look for the treat, you will know the click has become a conditioned reinforcer. Now you can establish a behavior –this is called "shaping."
A good exercise to start with is what Shirley Chong calls "Doggie Zen." Aside from continuing to familiarize the dog with the clicker, this exercise also teaches the dog some self-control. The essence of this concept is "to get the treat, you must give up the treat." With the clicker in one hand, show your dog a treat in your other hand and close your hand around the treat. The dog will sniff, lick, nudge, paw your hand to try to get the treat. Ignore this behavior. As soon as the dog looks away or takes a step away from the treat (no matter how brief of a look or how small of a step), click and give the dog the treat. Repeat this several times, until the dog doesn't try to get the treat before looking/stepping away. When this happens, jackpot and end the session. (A jackpot is a handful of treats given for a breakthrough or particularly desirable action.)
Another easy exercise is the Name Game. Say your dog's name, and click/treat when it looks at you. (Remember, start small - even a brief glance or slight head turn in your direction is clickable at the beginning.) If your dog doesn't look at you, gently tickle his ear to entice him to look at you, then click/treat. Repeat this exercise until the dog is looking you in the face when you say his name. (Sometimes it is difficult, once the dog realizes you have treats, to get him to stop looking at you. If this is your case, throw the treat to the side or behind the dog, so that he has to look away from you to get it. Say his name again while he's still looking away from you.)
In any training session, quit while you’re ahead is the golden rule. Put the clicker away, with lots of hugs and praise, and try again the next day, starting at the beginning; it will come much faster the next time.
These may seem like useless exercises, but they lay the foundation for more advanced commands. The true purpose of this experiment, however, is not to teach the dog the trick, but to show you how to use a conditioned reinforce to shape behavior, and how effective this kind of reinforcement can be.
|
