Dog Training 101 - Guidebook - The Great Courses - TTC

247 Pages·2018·17.31 MB·english

by  Jean Donaldson

Topic Subtopic
A trainer of trainers demonstrates the most successful ways to teach your
dog based on the latest science. Better Living Hobby & Leisure
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Dog Training 101
“Pure intellectual stimulation that can be popped into o
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the [audio or video player] anytime.” T
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—Harvard Magazine a
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n Course Guidebook
“Passionate, erudite, living legend lecturers. Academia’s g
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best lecturers are being captured on tape.” 0
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—The Los Angeles Times
Jean Donaldson
The Academy for Dog Trainers
“A serious force in American education.”
—The Wall Street Journal
Jean Donaldson is the founder and principal instructor of the
Academy for Dog Trainers, which has trained and certified
more than 700 trainers in evidence-based dog behavior,
training, and private behavior counseling since 1999. She also
founded the Montreal Flyball Association and Renaissance
Dog Training. Ms. Donaldson is a four-time winner of the Dog
Writers Association of America’s Maxwell Medallion, and
her books include Train Your Dog like a Pro; Dogs Are from
Neptune; and Fight! A Practical Guide to the Treatment of
Dog-Dog Aggression.
THE GREAT COURSES®
Corporate Headquarters
4840 Westfields Boulevard, Suite 500
Chantilly, VA 20151-2299
USA
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Phone: [phone] u
www.thegreatcourses.com id
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Professor Photo: © Jeff Mauritzen - inPhotograph.com. b
Cover Image: © Bloom Image/Getty Images. o
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Course No. 9418 © 2018 The Teaching Company. PB9418A k
PUBLISHED BY:
THE GREAT COURSES
Corporate Headquarters
4840 Westfields Boulevard, Suite 500
Chantilly, Virginia 20151‑2299
Phone: 1‑800‑832‑2412
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www.thegreatcourses.com
Copyright © The Teaching Company, 2018
Printed in the United States of America
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rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without
the prior written permission of The Teaching Company.
Jean Donaldson
Founder and Principal Instructor
The Academy for Dog Trainers
i
J
ean Donaldson is the founder and principal instructor of the Academy
for Dog Trainers, which has trained and certified more than 700
trainers in evidence-based dog behavior, training, and private behavior
counseling since 1999.
Ms. Donaldson is a four-time winner of the Dog Writers Association
of America’s Maxwell Medallion. Her books include The Culture Clash;
Mine! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs; Fight! A Practical
Guide to the Treatment of Dog-Dog Aggression; Dogs Are from Neptune; Oh
Behave! Dogs from Pavlov to Premack to Pinker; and Train Your Dog like
a Pro.
Born in Montreal, Canada, Ms. Donaldson founded the Montreal
Flyball Association and Renaissance Dog Training, the first positive
reinforcement–based school and counseling service in the province. Her
own dogs and dogs she has trained have earned numerous titles and wins
in various competitive dog sports.
While a student, Ms. Donaldson worked as an adoption counselor at the
Montreal SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and
later served on its board of directors. Before founding the Academy for
Dog Trainers, Jean dealt exclusively with aggression cases for six years.
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She lives in Oakland, California, with her dog, Brian, adopted in 2015.
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Professor Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Course Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
LESSON GUIDES
Lesson 1 The Principles of Dog Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Lesson 2 Getting the Behavior: Training Mechanics . . . . . . . . . 16
Lesson 3 Getting the Behavior: Sit and Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Lesson 4 Getting the Behavior: Prompting and Premack . . . . . 37
Lesson 5 Getting the Behavior: Verbal Cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Lesson 6 Understanding Your Dog’s Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Lesson 7 Impulse Control: Leave It, Wait, Leash Walking . . . . . 58
Lesson 8 Impulse Control: Increasing Generalization . . . . . . . . 66
Lesson 9 Impulse Control: Deepening Obedience . . . . . . . . . . 70
Lesson 10 Impulse Control: Cold Trials and Finishing . . . . . . . . 74
Lesson 11 Fear and Aggression Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Lesson 12 Proofing Behavior across Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
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Table of Contents
Lesson 13 On the Road: Training in Public Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Lesson 14 Verbal Cues: Developing Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . 98
Lesson 15 Tricks: Wave, Take a Bow, Spin, Heel . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Lesson 16 Tricks: Distance Drop, Frisk, Sit Pretty . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Lesson 17 Building a Conditioned Emotional Response . . . . . 112
Lesson 18 Husbandry: Handling and Object Conditioning . . 121
Lesson 19 Husbandry: Limb Handling and Toothbrushing . . . 124
Lesson 20 Puppies and Senior Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Lesson 21 Housetraining, Chewing, and Digging . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Lesson 22 Crating and Alone Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Lesson 23 Managing Barking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Lesson 24 Training Challenges and Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
176
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
188
Training Plans Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
192
Image Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
236
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Dog Training 101
COURSE SCOPE
T
he objective of this course is to provide comprehensive instruction in
basic dog training so that you will be able to:
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teach your dog the most commonly desired obedience behaviors;
f
troubleshoot common behavior problems;
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understand key principles underlying modern dog training and
extrapolate these to teach other behaviors not covered in the course;
and
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understand and appreciate the normal—and fascinating—behavior
of your dog.
The scope of the course is broad and will include both detailed how-to
information on training obedience and tricks as well as information on how
dog training works so that the process is demystified. By the end of the
course, you will be a competent trainer, able to teach any dog—young or old,
of any breed or variety—basic obedience, troubleshoot training problems,
solve common behavior problems, and more accurately interpret behavior.
The course is based on the latest science about how animals learn and uses
the most modern and efficient evidence-based methods.
Topics Covered
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Translation of animal learning principles from laboratories to best
practices in the messy real world
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Course Scope
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Step-by-step field-tested plans to train the following:
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sit, down, sit-stay, down-stay, come when called (including from
distractions), leave it (“don’t touch”), wait at doorways, walking
nicely on leash, watch (make and maintain eye contact), stationing
(stand-stay), heel, and a variety of tricks
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Proofing of basic obedience so that the dog performs reliably in a wide
variety of contexts, including around common distractions
D
Explanation, demonstration, and rehearsal of key technical skills and
tricks of the trade, including motivation, criteria setting and criteria
change, timing and physical mechanics, and the adding of cues
D
Instruction of when and how to employ respondent conditioning to
affect emotions rather than behavior
D
Dog behavior, including how domestication has affected action
patterns, breeds and behavior, the predatory behavior suite, and play
D
Fear and aggression in dogs, including prevention exercises and the
adaptive significance of the fight-or-flight response
D
Troubleshooting of common behavior problems, such as barking,
chewing, house soiling, and digging, as well as the latest environmental
enrichment options
D
Best practices in puppy rearing and socialization, dog development,
and the behavioral wellness of senior dogs
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Teaching of husbandry behaviors so that dogs are relaxed, comfortable,
and happy participants in grooming and basic veterinary care,
including the vitally important toothbrushing (which can add years
to a dog’s life)
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Lesson 1
THE PRINCIPLES OF
DOG TRAINING
T
his course will teach you to train your dog so that
he’s a more enjoyable companion . This lesson will
lay some foundation by introducing you to 3 core
principles of dog training, which will be woven throughout
all the practices in this course . The craftier you are at
leveraging these 3 principles, the faster and more effectively
you will be able to train your dog .
Lesson 1 The Principles of Dog Training
Principle 1: There Is No Free Lunch in Dog Training
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There is no free lunch in dog training. This principle is all about
motivation. You’re going to have to motivate your dog—and not with
magical energy or a cult of personality, but concretely. All successful dog
trainers motivate dogs concretely; they’re just not all very transparent
about it.
a
All behavior has cost. And there must be offsetting benefit. This is
a fundamental principle of evolution. Animals that behave willy-nilly—
in animal training, it is called wasting your behavioral dollars—are
outperformed on the evolutionary playing field.
Research suggests that we
should employ much broader
spacing than was traditionally
taught to trainers—that training
once a week is more efficient
and produces better retention
than more frequent sessions .
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