We incorporate shaping into a training game. This game is how we train our dogs from the very first training session throughout their life. This game is not just a part of the training session. The game is the entire training session. It’s a part of everything we do when training. We never train unless we are playing this game. The Shaping Game turns the work itself into fun.
Shaping is the most used training tool in our Shaping Game which is why we named it thus. However, the game is much broader than simply shaping behavior. We incorporate other training tools that support shaping when needed.
This chapter discusses general information about the Shaping Game and how to apply it to all training. Details for how to use it to train various specific behaviors will be discussed throughout the book.
What is The Shaping Game and How Do You Play It?
The Shaping Game is simply a game primarily composed of one shaping event after another. Each shaping event consists of two parts: offered behavior initiated by the dog followed by a reward event initiated by the trainer. The trainer might temporarily interrupt these shaping events by inserting muscle memory building training techniques. However, the Shaping Game always reverts back to its normal cadence of altering between offered behavior followed by a reward event.
The Shaping Game is characterized by a shifting back and forth between the dog being in work-mode and reward-mode with these two modes always having a clear ending and a clear beginning. Initially, the game is a quick shifting back and forth between the two modes. However, as the dog becomes more fluent in his work, more is expected from the dog during work mode and the reward events become longer and more exciting.
As we talk about the details for training individual behaviors and as you watch our videos, the game will become more clear.
Goals of the Game
Our goals for this game in order of importance are the following:
1. To classically condition the dog to love the work by transferring the value of the food or play to the marker and then from the marker to the work itself.
2. To build confidence, self-control, resilience, and handler focus.
3. To teach the dog good behavior.
Role of Dog and Handler When Playing The Game
Our training sessions are a game that we set up and our dogs play. We have very specific roles in this game and the dog has specific roles. It is important that we as trainers stick to our own role and don’t jump in and try to perform the dog’s role.
The trainer’s role in the game is to set up the game to reach our goals, to be a cheerleader for the dog, to establish criteria for success, to evaluate if criteria has been met, and to reinforce correct behavior when criteria is met. The trainer is the judge, the referee, and the reward giver. However, the trainer does not have a role in actually playing the game. The trainer does not initiate the game. Neither does the trainer take ultimate responsibility for the game. It is the dog’s responsibility to either earn or fail to earn his own reward.
The dog’s role in the game is to initiate the game and to offer behavior with the hopes of earning the reinforcer. The dog, in a sense, is the sole player of the game and the dog must feel like he is in control of the game. The dog chooses if he wants to work for the reinforcer or not. From the dog’s point of view, this is a game where the dog works to manipulate the trainer into saying the marker word which the dog knows will earn him the primary reinforcer.
Though the dog feels like he is in control of the game, the trainer knows that ultimately the trainer is in control. Dogs are smart, but trainers need to be smarter. The trainer has it in his power to set the game up in such a way that the trainer’s goals are met while the dog strives to do what feels like to him nothing more than manipulating the trainer into giving the reward.
This attitude of manipulating the trainer in no way reduces the dog’s respect for the trainer. It builds respect. While the dog is actively engaging in trying to manipulate his trainer, he is always aware that it is the trainer that evaluates the dog’s performance and that he must please his trainer in order to attain reward. He is manipulating the trainer essentially by pleasing the trainer in order to earn reward.
Rules of The Game
1. The dog must initiate the game. If the dog doesn’t engage with you, wait initially. If waiting doesn’t work, make yourself interesting by running back from him. Don’t try to entice him with food. Do not even show him the food.
2. You must mark before you reward in order for classical conditioning to take place.
3. Timing is always very important with the marker. Timing is initially important for the food or toy, but as the dog gains proficiency in marker training, the giving of the food or toy can be delayed and the timing of food or toy delivery no longer has to be precise.
4. You must create the circumstances so that your dog is successful. Then the instant your dog offers the correct behavior, say “yes” or use a clicker or other marker sound, and reinforce his good behavior. To set your dog up for success, do the following. Set your dog up initially in a non-distracting environment. Train when your dog is hungry. Train when your dog has the correct amount of energy. Don’t set the game up so that it is so difficult that the dog will fail.
5. As much as possible, work with your dog’s natural inclinations and instincts rather than against them.
6. You must train at a level that will keep your dog successful.
7. Use the correct Rate of Reinforcement.
8. Your initial goal must be to get your dog’s mind off of OBTAINING the reward and onto EARNING the reward and listening for the marker.
Tips for Getting Your Dog’s Mind On EARNING the Reward and Off of the Reward Itself
1. Teach your dog that the reward NEVER comes before the marker. I recommend that even a dog’s meal should never come prior to some kind of marker or release.
2. Teach your dog that the reward will always come after the marker, unless it is one of those few cases where it is necessary for the marker to be given simultaneously with the reward. We will discuss those cases later.
2. Wait for the dog to initiate each play of the game by offering behavior. The food is never presented until after the dog offers behavior and after the mark is given.
3. If at all possible, use marker training along with shaping with successive approximations. To use shaping, simply wait on the dog to initiate something that closely resembles the behavior you are after. Then, mark it and shape the dog into a more complete performance with reward placement.
4. Use luring sparingly if at all. Luring will un-do this work to some extent because it encourages the dog to focus on obtaining the reward instead of earning it.
5. Initially, keep the food out of sight. Once the dog works willingly with the food out of sight, hold food with your hands held out to your side until your dog looks away from the food and at you. Reinforce when the dog remains focused on you. We’ll discuss details on how to do this in a later chapter.
5. During reward time, bring the reward to the dog and don’t allow the dog to snatch it on his own. Push the reward into the dogs mouth to encourage his instinct to not move forward when something pushes into him and to discourage his instinct to chase what’s moving away from him.
6. Hold the food in your hand next to your thumb so that you are pushing the food into the dog’s mouth with your thumb.
7. Don’t worry about the fact that we are heavily reinforcing the dog. Gradually, your reinforcement schedule will go from continuous to what I call “selectively random” to totally random. We’ll discuss this more later when we talk about incorporating longer periods in between reward events. With classical conditioning, complete weaning off the food should never be a goal. You should always be working on building value into the marker and then into the work. In the end, when your dog goes into the ring, you cannot take food or corrections with you. BUT, if your dog has been classically conditioned to love the work, you won’t need anything else. The goal should be having a dog who loves the work. I NEVER wean off of the food. Instead, I continue building value and fun into the work right up to trial time.
8. Get the food off your body and use remote rewards as soon as possible.
9. It is super important that the trainer understand the order of the game and who does what work when. There must be a clear delineation between work time and reward time. During work time, the dog must understand that there is no point in looking for the food. During reward time, the handler must understand that he must give the dog his reward without asking for more work.
Common Mistakes
1. Initially, the most common mistake is marking at the same time as the trainer is delivering the food. For classical conditioning to occur, the mark must come BEFORE the presentation of the food. There are times that we will use what I call “rapid rewards” where the reward is given almost simultaneously with the mark. However, these “rapid rewards” are faded once a habit is created for not looking away from the handler. (There are exceptions to almost every rule in training!)
2. A mistake that many trainers make is turning reward placement into a time to ask a dog to do a second behavior before giving the dog his reward. This practice will negate the marker, and will in essence be stealing the dog’s well earned reward for the first behavior.
3. Another mistake that many trainers make is in rewarding while the dog should be working and before the trainer gives the mark. It is very common practice with lure based trainers to be feeding the dog at the same time that the dog is heeling. This practice will create a food focused dog and classical conditioning will not take place. For classical conditioning to reach its maximum potential, there must be a clear division of the time for the dog to work and the time for him to freely take his reward. The time for the dog to work is ended by trainer when he makes the marker sound. The time for the dog to take his reward is ended by the dog initiating a new play in the game by giving the handler his attention and offering behavior. It should be a back and forth game between work and reward.
