04/06/2026
Currently I’m teaching my dogs Rally moves. Some are easy because they are based on competition obedience foundations. My dogs love doing these little pieces! They think they are super fun. The signs they don’t know we are working on in tiny pieces. Just like I teach all my behaviors. Teeny tiny. For example, back up three steps. I’m just shifting my weight back, mark, reinforce. That’s it. Why? High success rate. Dog feels confident. Dog masters that, maybe a quarter step or half a step. And so on. Because my dogs can master these steps quickly and easily, they feel confident. I don’t stay on any one step for too long. I progress relatively quickly. My dogs know how to shape and they love solving problems. Which makes the entire process fun…for all of us.
In general, people either progress to quickly or to slowly. Progressing to quickly or teaching bigger chunks of behaviors causes insecurity. The dog is never sure if they are correct…or not. Their foundation is not solid. And if they are questioning, they will be insecure. And that’s not what we want. Confidence is the name of the game. If the dog understands the behavior inside and out, they can’t wait to show off. Look at me! I know what to do!! And that will serve you well in the ring. Regardless of your sport. If you stick with one step for too long the dog thinks that’s the end behavior. Progressing will be a challenge. And often the dog becomes bored. It’s too easy. Or we stop reinforcing too early. Before the behavior is fully fluent. And now the dog is insecure again.
My plan is to teach each sign as a fun trick. Reinforce it heavily initially. Then randomize the reinforcement to keep the behavior strong. I’ll train mostly the pieces. I won’t do a lot of courses. Why? Because running a full course will make all the behaviors weak. If they only ever get reinforced at the end, what’s the point? For some dogs, why put in the effort? For most dogs it leads to insecurity. Reinforcement is information. It tells the dog “that’s correct!”. If the dog gets no information for an extended period of time, they started questioning. Is this right? Am I doing something wrong? Why is mom/dad not saying anything? Ugh, I’m so unsure right now…. They just want information! Imagine if as an instructor I watched you perform a full run (could be any sport…obedience, rally, agility, etc.) and gave you no information. None. When you were done I said “good job”. That’s it. Would you feel good? Or would you be a bit frustrated? Confused? Unsure? Would you want to come back for more lessons? Probably not. You want information. So does your dog.
Training is a balance between reducing reinforcement and reinforcing enough. Reinforcement is valuable information. Use it wisely. Have a plan. What are you trying to accomplish? What does your dog need? Are you supporting your dog? Giving them enough information? Is it information the dog actually understands? Or are you making a bunch of assumptions? If you say “my dog knows this” but the dog isn’t doing it…sorry, you’re wrong. The dog needs help. The dog doesn’t know it well enough. Or maybe they do but only in your living room. Think about how frustrated you get when you are trying to learn something and you can’t figure it out. When you don’t know the answer. You are not sure what to do. Think about how good it feels when someone helps you. Gives you the answer to fix it. What a relief!! The dog feels the same.
Read your dog. Are they confident? Awesome! Stay the course!! Is the dog worried? Unsure? Inaccurate? Displacing? Change something. Give them better information. Often, we think we are being clear. But it only mattes what the dog thinks. When I was teaching Zayna to back up three steps, I was saying “right here” and tapping my hip…and she would jump back, but behind heel position. Huh. Then I realized, I wasn’t using her “heel” word. Duh. Added the word, and oh look, she was in position. Seems pretty simple. But we make mistakes like this all the time. And that’s ok. As long as we realize something isn’t working and change it. Figure it out. Solve the problem. Instead of getting annoyed with the dog for not understanding what we want.
Our dogs are trying. Desperately. They want to make us happy. They want to earn the reinforcer. We need to get better at reading them. We need to be better at giving them information they understand. Information that supports them. That builds their confidence. We need to do a better job of balancing reducing reinforcement with giving the dog enough reinforcement so they are confident and motivated. It’s all about balance.
With so much talk about reducing reinforcement we often lose sight of the fact that REINFORCEMENT drives behavior. We need reinforcement! It's important information! And information is motivating. To often we are not reinforcing enough. This topic started out with discussing Rally...but quickly grew...
