Has your dog ever been so overexcited they just can’t seem to listen, and it’s frustrating for you? Dogs who want to go swimming, for a car ride, or a walk might be so intent on what they want they might not even sit when you ask, and you know they know how to sit! There are tools to fix the challenge, and you can use what your dog loves to do. We’re looking at the science of the Premack Principle and how you can transfer the value for what your dog loves to you.
In the episode you'll hear:
- How my puppy could not listen when she was outside with the other dogs.
- The IF and THEN of contingencies in dog training.
- About Premack’s Principle.
- Why to think about all the things that your dog loves that are safe.
- How to use contingencies to your advantage.
- Why the value your dog has for what they love transfers to what you want.
- What my dog Buzz taught me through his love of swimming and water.
- How the value Buzz had for swimming transferred to our relationship.
- Why the low probably behavior needs to be achievable for your dog when you start.
- The reason you need to be clear on what behaviour you want for clarity for your dog.
- The importance of your dog's history of reinforcement for the low probability behavior.
- Why not to repeat cues and how to lower the intensity of what your dog wants with distance.
- How I used Reinforcement Zone (RZ) with my puppy, This! so she could run with dogs.
- About training an excellent recall in all locations.
- How to play my new game called “I Think You Must Be Lost”.
- Why to break things down, so everyone has success.
- What you can easily do today to start premacking.
Resources:
- Book: Shaping Success by Susan Garrett
- Premack's Principle (Wikipedia)
- Podcast Episode 86: How to Train Unmotivated or Overexcited Dogs
- Podcast Episode 53: Stop Your Dog Pulling on Leash and Start Walking Together
- Blog Post: How Do I Train My Dog To Come When Called?
- Podcast Episode 11: The Power of Permission in Dog Training
- Podcast Episode 68: 3 Easy Tricks Every Dog Should Know
- YouTube #shorts Video The Thing Before The Thing (Walking with This!)
- Watch this Episode of Shaped by Dog on YouTube
I’m struggling to understand how the dog coming out of the water relates to Premack? My understanding of the Premack principle is that the high probability behavior is contingent on the low probability behavior. But if the dog is already doing the high probability behavior (swimming) how is it CONTINGENT on the low probability behaviour (recalling)? Thanks Susan.
I object to the end of this podcast a LOT (first time I am saying this about Ms Garret). IMHO, a parent should NEVER “train” a child to eat. If a child is hungry, it will eat. end of story.
HI! I was playing this morning and she was doing great, coming back but I was treating her… are you telling her good girl as she comes back or is turning with you and staying at your side. She doesn’t run past me but at one point, she got frustrated and started digging, running around crazy like “what the $@#$ are we doing and I’m going coo coo!” and then gets distracted by smell. She does not come with one call of her name if she is sniffing something and it does “feel” like “yea, i’m not listening to you you are making me do wierd things.”. any thoughts?
Did you just say that your recall with your pyppy ment “run by me as fast as you can without looking at me”? :-)))
If you don’t recue the behaviour, what do you do?
Does success with “if behavior A, then reward behavior B” require that access to the reward behavior (B) occur ONLY by permission? Otherwise, the request for behavior A is just an interruption of behavior B.
I agree. I want to know the answer too.
Excellent info, now to put the pieces together, Thanks
You are just amazing. whenever I meet someone struggling with their dog or sometimes just in conversation I often will recommend that they check out your podcast or on u tube.
These tips are very helpful and patience and consistency are a big key here. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you very much. These tips are excellent. I have a lot of work ahead of me, put as you say “persistence” is key.
The more I watch, the more I realize we have work to do! Love these tidbits and suggestions for shaping behavior. Thank you for sharing.
Mine gets excited to see dogs. She lays down super fast and wouldn’t move while we encounter another dog on walk. But if I don’t release her to greet with other dogs but play with me in stead, she gets frustrated. And once I made her lay down at the dog(doesn’t matter if I let her greet or not), she anticipates greeting. She just remembers the dog, and she gets more and more excited and it leads to frustration as I encounter the dog. If I move back further away or withhold the greeting by taking few steps away, it creates frustration. If I play tug in stead of greeting, it seems like increasing reactivity in arousal state. She had a very good greeting skills if she was calm state, but as we can’t see socialized calm dogs regularly, she is deprived. Now she just looks for dogs on walk and doesn’t engage as much. I have to feed her all the way on walk at reinforcement zone (but she is allergic so we can use fish kibble only now). It’s yer choice made her so focused on target and stare it. I was letting her to greet when she was calm before and it worked, but letting her greet just makes my dog looks for another dogs on walk. Can I let her make eye contact before greeting, like you do with outs, like asking for permission? And also teach her to walk slowly before greeting? It worked well before. I think I’m creating reactivity as I used dog as a reward, and avoided too. So I stopped walking a dog. I’m trying to teach impulse control with toys in aroused state now . I guess I just taught her to be focus on dog in stead of me. Should I have a play session with socialized dogs under control to remember dog communication or to be less deprived? She was particular with who to play with, and if I let her play in group of dogs at training facility few times few years ago, she only plays with only one fast dog with same play style. She used to do obedience perfectly around neutral dogs when we saw them regularly. Please help.
I really needed this lesson. I want to learn more about how to make this work for dogs that chase squirrels. My Kona goes nuts over squirrels and I live in a town with no off leash areas to walk dogs. Thank you for this great video!
Love all the podcasts… had a question about dogs being so excited when someone comes into the house that they pee. Would perch work fix this?
Thank you…this was just the lesson I needed tonight! Tonight a puppy class, poor Koa was so overexcited that she could not do what we had been doing all week or even eat high value treats…now I have tools to build on what she did have success at tonight. Also better clarity for me & thereby for her about the situational cues (like sitting before the door is opened) that we have been working on. So grateful for everything we are learning here & in Crate Games & Home School the Dog!
Loved this podcast. Thank you. Dogs everywhere thank you too!