We want our dogs to respond to us in any kind of situation. When training their dogs to behave in the face of big distractions, people tend to make a few key errors and throw their dogs in over their heads. A solid understanding of the principles of positive dog training might also help Sarah Palin prepare for interviews.
Error #1: Training distraction before precision, latency, and speed.
It’s tempting to use distractions and distance in your dog’s training, but first, your dog should be fluent in the behavior in a low-distraction environment. It’s repetitive, boring work (for the human), but it’s important. Your dog should be able to do a behavior 15-20 times per minute, with little or no error, before you start adding more distractions. In class, we have distractions. Other dogs, different treats, people walking around, etc.
Your biggest tool to combat distraction is to practice with your dog over and over and over without distractions until they’re completely fluent. Example: If there were a hidden camera in your house, and there were no distractions, could go on Ellen’s show with your dog’s amazing performance? Would she would be impressed by the speed and precision of your dog’s sit, down, heel, etc.? If so, you’re ready to add distractions. If not, aim for more training practice at home first.
I often apply techniques that I learned as a dog trainer to myself, usually when I’m learning unfamiliar tasks or motivating myself for unpleasant responsibilities. So it’s natural for me to apply dog training to politics, too. Here’s a non-dog example of the importance of training fluency before adding distractions:
Let’s say that you have just started running for Vice President of the United States and you have not trained much for that amount of scrutiny and questioning. Your coaches have helped you memorize some talking points. But even in front of the mirror, you stumble sometimes and are unsure of the phrases and names (I have to admit, I would stumble a lot more than she’s doing!). Is it wise to start doing interviews with an unbiased interviewer at that point? No! It will just decrease your confidence and do nothing to help you memorize your task.
The best starting point would be to rehearse over and over and over and over until you are letter-perfect in front of the mirror.
In our parallel universe of dog training, that means that you should rehearse for a few minutes every day until the dog is speedy and accurate at home, and make sure your cues are clear.
Error #2 Jumping into the Deep End of the Pool.
After you have precise, speedy behavior with low latency at home, start adding distractions. But don’t throw all of them at your dog at once!
Back to our human public speaking example… Although they did initially make a mistake to send Palin out to do real interviews before she was ready, the McCain/Palin campaign seems to have gone back to the drawing board, to begin gradually adding distractions.
That’s a good strategy with your dog, too. If you find that your dog doesn’t sit, lie down, etc. with distractions, you need to find an easier setting to rehearse in.
If you were training a VP candidate, you’d avoid interviews until your candidate was fully prepared. You’d do well to have her start rehearsing at home until she’s close to perfection. Then have her practice with her husband or people from her party, in many different locations. Then you might have her perform a stump speech in many places without taking questions.
Then you could have a Palin-friendly person ask her easy questions, like Sean Hannity from FOX asking Sarah Palin, “Are you going to take him [McCain] moose hunting?” and build up to relevant questions that match with the answers she’s practiced.
Given enough time, you could have the real “media elite” journalists start asking her questions, and she could continue to discuss talking points, and with practice, build up, hopefully, eventually, to answers that she’s made up on the spot to questions from hard-hitting reporters.
So back to dog training. With your dog, that would be: Train to perfection at home. Gradually add more distractions, never more than the dog can handle. If the environment is too challenging, make it easier – block views with barriers, get better treats, exercise the dog before class, go back to practicing skills the dog is better at in that level of distraction, etc.
Gradually add more distractions. In our dog training classes in the Seattle area, we are teaching humans all of the steps in quick succession. But your dog may not be up to the task of changing criteria so rapidly, especially if you had a busy week and didn’t do much homework. If so, just take the lesson home and practice fluency first, then work on distractions when the time comes.
We usually say that training is about, “Progress, not Perfection,” because neither humans nor dogs can be perfect. But to flip that around, it’s also important to get close to perfection before you progress to distractions.
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This is in no way meant to imply that I think Sarah Palin is a dog or needs to be taught to sit!
psssst….Don’t forget to mail in your ballot to VOTE before November 4th, 2008! Seattle / King County has already mailed their absentee ballots. Click here if you didn’t get yours.
