My mentor, Jean Donaldson, taught me there are two parts to review when a dog is disinterested in training. If it’s not motivation, then it’s criteria.
What is criteria in dog training? Criteria is the contract we have with the dog about the behavior he needs to perform to get the reinforcement. The level of difficulty of criteria increases as the dog matches his behavior to the current criteria we are looking for.
For example, when teaching a down stay, we may be working on duration. Our dog can stay for 5 seconds before getting up. When he manages to execute that 5-second stay criteria at least 4 out of 5 times, we can increase the duration one second or two. That’s fair. But if we decide to double the time to 10 seconds, we will be setting the dog up for failure. Every step the trainer takes needs to be done in increments the dog can handle.
The bell curve for Criteria vs Performance looks like this. If we make the criteria too easy, the dog isn’t challenged, and performance is stunted. If criteria is too difficult, the dog is going to quit out of frustration, ending both performance and the training session. Efficient dog training happens in the center of the curve. When criteria is properly set and motivation matches the dog’s fancy, performance blossoms through efficient and effective learning.
Finding the motivation each dog will work for and setting criteria at the appropriate level is important to keep the dog interested and enjoying training time. Here’s an example of two sets of incremental criteria successfully implemented so the dog succeeds.
For professional dog training in Broward county, contact me.
By Helen Verte
Certified Pet Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed, Certified Trick Dog Instructor
Motivational Dog Trainer, South Florida
