[NAGDU] Using positive reinforcement instead of punishment

[Tracy Carcione]

My last dog from GDB was very good at overheads, because they really
worked on it.  They had an obstacle course set up in the garden, with
overhead bars that fell down with a clang if one bumped into them, so we
could actually practice.
That was 20 years ago now.  Does GDB still really work at avoiding
overheads, or does any other school?  I know they can be tricky, as dogs
don't really look up very high.
Tracy

> This is such a good conversation with good ideas.
>
> On Jan 21, 2018 15:07, "Dan Weiner via NAGDU" <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> very interesting, I honestly have never found that, right out of the box
> so
> to speak, the dogs do well with overheads, it takes a lot of reinforcement
> and consistency, even then I'm not convinced that dogs are able to look up
> when they're looking forward, right and left--smile. I'm tall enough, six
> four, 193 cm, and even if my dog does it well, sooner or later something
> will happen--smile. All of my dogs did great at it in  familiar
> environments where they were expecting overheads that they were used to,
> but in unfamiliar areas it could be a problem.  Yes, tapping or showing
> the
> dog  the object, maybe shaking it a bit if you won't hurt yourself   is
> fine.  But I just warn you, in my opinion, sooner or later you will hit
> something from overhead.
>
> On the thee hand, I can tell you a story--smile. you were afraid of that,
> weren't you.
>
> When I was taking a summer course at Middle bury college I stayed in the
> dorm and there was a staircase which would be partially in the way of my
> face--smile. when I walked with Evan, dog at the time he always took me
> around it. but one day there was going to be a loud party  with dancing
> and
> I left Evan to sleep in my room and sallied forth with the cane....well
> not
> knowing that that particular staircase would indeed cause resistance to my
> head if passed--smile I banged right in to it...Evan had always taken me
> around it...that definitely woke me up. The moral of the story is, I bet
> for every misjudgement our dogs make even with overheads that there are
> plenty of things they are keeping ous safe from.
>
>
> Dan the man with Parker the hound
>
>
>
>
> On 1/21/2018 2:49 PM, Bianka via NAGDU wrote:
>
>> Hi Jiska and all,
>>
>> My current school does not usually teach to rework a situation like this
>> but I know it from my previous school and have used it with all my dogs.
>> Personally, I found that leash corrections are not the right way to
>> handle
>> these kinds of situations. I feel asking the dog to stop, turn around
>> and
>> rework the situation is disrupting the flow in such a way that usually
>> the
>> dog will be motivated to do it right next time. Now, if I see the same
>> mistake a second time I usually drop the harness handle and show my dog
>> the
>> overhead obstacle or the curb he/she missed if it‘s safe, that will
>> usually
>> do the trick. Even with my black lab who was sometimes hard to motivate
>> a
>> leash correction would only shut her down in those situations.
>>
>> As for the clicker, I have conditioned a praise word and I do use treats
>> if I know it will help my dog stay on track. I find the clicker very
>> helpful in training really specific behaviors but you have to be very
>> careful as to the timing of the click. On route I use a conditioned
>> marker
>> word and treats. As for a no reward marker, I think it‘s a question of
>> attitude. Dogs are very good pattern matchers. So you could either use a
>> non-reward marker or just use a command to tell the dog what he/she
>> should
>> do. In fact, my school teaches a non-reward marker or verbal correction
>> has
>> always to be followed by the thing we want our dog to do in that
>> particular
>> moment.
>>
>> Just my two cents, hth,
>>
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Bianka
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> NAGDU mailing list
>> NAGDU at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> NAGDU:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/dcwein%40dcwein.cnc.net
>>
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> NAGDU mailing list
> NAGDU at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> NAGDU:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/ichoosech
> rist2%40gmail.com
> _______________________________________________
> NAGDU mailing list
> NAGDU at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> NAGDU:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/carcione%40access.net
>