ARTICLE ARCHIVES

Frustration intolerance
Cues for the same behavior vs behaviors for the same cue
Stuck in Litterbox
"I have an aggressive dog and I need help"
Dog in fire
ADAPTATION
Bossy Bella - Bossy Bella UPDATE
Effective Time-Outs
The importance of understanding the Principles of Learning Theory
Help curb herding reflex nipping
Chronic Thief
Handling the High Maintenance Student

Interesting article: Finding the "Perfect Dog"

Which hand to use for food delivery
(from Nov 14, 06 lunch meeting)
Pat brought a great article from WDJ with a question about which hand to hold the food in
when teaching loose leash walking - same side as the dog, or is it ok to hold it in the opposite hand?
Pat pointed out that we should really understand WHY we teach things a certain way, not just
"because we've always done it that way" and that instructors and assistants should discuss
how they will demo the exercise and what options are available to students who need a different
option for a specific dog or person and how to answer those who would rather not do it the way it was explained.)
(We saw Jean doing the cross-over delivery at the seminar in Montana.)

Email your thoughts and I will post them!
I couldn't stay to hear what others had to say, but have been thinking about the topic.

When I first started "food training" I used to always cross over (food in right hand when dog is on left) and still do sometimes when I am clicker training. Mostly, I now keep the food in my dog-side hand and the leash in my opposite side hand. Off leash I tend to keep my "reserve handful" in my right but still deliver individual rewards with my left. When walking and delivering smooth random rewards "on the fly" it's just easier to keep the body straight and not stop and twist, especially with my shorter dogs. It's hard to stand on your head and keep moving! It wasn't such a big consideration with the Dobes, Borzoi, Greyhounds whose heads were at my elbow ...

Same side essential when luring: The food target must be in the dog-side hand when introducing follow-food luring, for the "penalty yard" back-away correction for pulling, and for teaching the circle right and left "finish" line-ups (wax on/wax off). These are all LURING exercises and the lure must be in target position. Dogs learn in pictures and the twisted shoulders and bending become part of the cue. The body should remain in as normal a walking position as possible (bend at knees not at waist for small dogs - keep shoulders square above hips, toes pointing forward, look where you are going.)

Once you begin working on a loose magnet and are marking multiple steps with "yes" or clicker, crossing over is not such a big deal and can be a big 'plus' - especially if the dog is tall and the person is short - to alleviate food focus and develop real handler attention. At this point, the food needs to "disappear" between rewards so it isn't a distraction or a unintentional lure. The hand can be held at shoulder level or chest to encourage the dog to look toward your face between rewards, and eventually held at your belly button with the leash hand or in the right hand - but the food is always delivered in the target delivery point following each "yes"/click.

The primary issue, regardless of which hand the food is held in, is an accurate reward delivery point.

The downside of crossing over: novice handlers have a hard time not twisting their shoulders and end up walking like a pretzel or delivering rewards in front of their bodies. Large or tall students have a difficult time reaching the prime "target spot" as do people with smaller dogs. In both cases, keeping the body straight, bending at the knees and lowering your hand directly down is much easier than crossing over to deliver the food reward, with the added plus that it keeps the shoulders square and the delivery point directly under the shoulder at the seam of the pant leg. Because it's difficult to reach, the handler gets sloppy about the delivery point and their hand wanders to center of their body and then the dog gravitates to the improper target spot and ends up wrapping around, crossing in front of and tripping the handler.

For more advanced work, it's next to impossible to teach tight left turns or circles to the left with a dog who wraps across in front. Most right-handed trainers click with their right hand, so feeding with the left is a natural.

Why do students struggle with putting the food in the dog-side hand? I find that the biggest reason students are resistant to holding the food on the same side as the dog is that with the food in that hand, they are unable to muscle the dog around with the leash. (Another great reason for filling that hand with food!) Leash dependent students will be the most resistant - "How EVER will I be able to correct the dog with a hand full of food in my leash hand??" The other problem for right-handed students is that the left hand may be clumsy in holding a whole handful and delivering just one. (This is why a lot of people go against "tradition" and prefer the dog on their right - because they are right-handed and figure it will be easier to hold the leash in their "smart" hand.) Regardless, they will have a "food hand" and a "leash hand" and the clicker will be in there eventually, too.

The 'plus' aspect of cross-over delivery: Getting the food out of the dog-side hand prevents the dog from being focused on the food. Crossing over exaggerates the "win" of the delivery following the click and stresses the importance of the food "going away" in between c/t. It makes it a "real reward" and helps the handler get to the point where the dog will work "without food". It fades the lure by removing the food entirely from that side of the body. This is why I teach nose-touch targeting an open palm. Food is kept in the right hand or treat tote, the dog targets the empty left palm with a nose touch, click. Food is still delivered with the left hand into target position. This is where the difficulty of having a leash, food and clicker in the right hand AND an empty target left hand becomes a challenge. Off-leash or waist leash resolves the difficulty, or the leash handle can be draped over the right wrist.

Prime point - mark the behavior, THEN the food hand moves to deliver the reward in target position. The marker "yes"/click is given with the body in a normal posture, hands and body quiet, THEN your reach for the food reward from pocket, treat tote or deliver from other hand.

Instructor/assistant communication: Be sure that you are both on the same page before you start. Tell your assistant how you'd like demos done. It's not just confusing, it's unprofessional to correct your assistant or debate a point in front of the students. Keep it Simple. Better to give one clear demo of the most optimal way than to offer too many options. They don't know enough to decide which is best for them and multiple options only gets confusing. A simple "if that isn't working for you, holler and we'll come help you" is adequate. Give the "optimal" technique a chance before making alternate recommendations.

Don't be wedded to "the way we've always done it" without knowing the pros/cons/benefits and down-sides of everything you teach. Have lots of extra tools in the tool box ready to bring out for individual students as needed!

RUFFIAN RESPONSES:
From Kim:
Okay, I am gonna reply to the RH topic of which hand to hold food in for llw, before I read your reply.

I teach, in HS, to have treats on the same side basically for a couple reasons. First, we are teaching the dogs about luring and to follow food. If we reward from the opposite hand we may actually encourage the dog to cross over in front of us as they follow our hand back to our other side. Secondly, we want to mark the behavior as we want it in the position we want it. Take a 'picture' with our yes and treat. So the picture of us walking with our dogs is our body facing forward with our dog in position at our side, not our bodies folded over on themselves (as they would be luring and delivering treat). However, I think as the handler and dog advance and with clicker training you can reward from the opposite hand. Click in proper position and then deliver treat from elsewhere, i.e. the other hand. I think that this could help with generalization that "lets go" or whatever verbal cue you want to mean "walk at my side regardles of what I do" (like sit means butt on the ground, not butt on the ground-looking up at mom-while in the kitchen-infront of the fridge). Make sense?...okay, now gonna go read your post. - Kim

From Kathie W:

I was “classically” trained with the old jerk and pull method; I was so ready for positive methods that when Kimberly introduced “Choose to Heel” and when I took my first positive training classes with “The Family Dog” I was jumping for joy. I learned food on the dog side, and I think learned it very well. “Choose to Heel” is a very definite and precise way to train. CTH also seems to me to be more geared to advanced level training or previous trainers who want new and better ways to teach old “tricks” When food moved to the tote on the off side and right hand delivered to the left hand it was a wonderful transition for me.

As I have watched the students in my classes this last session (after the discussion) I realize that for the “non-handler”, and/or beginning trainers, food, dog, leash, praise, thinking, talking, remembering…. Etc… is VERY difficult for the novice handler. It does not come naturally for most, of course there is always the exception, but the folks in most classes are looking for fun and a pooch that is easier to live with. I started to not worry as much about the hand and delivery, and watch and see what happened. I let a few of the folks struggle, and then look for help when they got a bit tangled. It seemed to me that when they were ready to have it be a bit easier, and I recommended that the treat be on the dog side, that it became easier for them. The beginning level classes all struggled with the opposite hand delivery. It was great to have 3 levels of classes to work with this session, and observe each level. It was pretty standard that the farther along the handler was in the journey of learning, the easier to make recommendations, and I found that I used both, depending on the dog and handler. Both methods offered great success.

Thank you Pat for sharing the article, and Carol & Elin for your input.

From Lisa:

I think it is most advantageous to the progression of training from luring to heeling if the food is in the hand closest to the dog. I agree, that it becomes a problem if the dog is focused on the food and the student is simultaneously dependent on luring. I have had success overcoming this dilemma by instructing the students to hold the food up near their shoulder or in a closed fist on their lower chest/upper belly area (which becomes a nice hand signal for “stay close”). I am aware of the fact that Jean thinks the average pet dog students can’t do this, but she clearly hasn’t seen my students.

I have had students indicate a discomfort in holding the leash in the opposite hand from the dog and usually the discomfort is due to the fact that they feel the need to correct the dog or hold a tight leash. I handle it one of two ways. (1) I either have them hold the leash in the hand near the dog and cross-over to treat, but at the same time I instruct them on keeping a loose leash. I then tell them all to go home and practice without the leash in their hallway. I can’t imagine they are crossing over to feed in their hallway when there is no leash to hold. So, they come back to class with an added level of comfort feeding from the hand closest to the dog. (2) I set up barriers in class and have them walk with dogs without a leash, feeding from the hand closest to the dog. This seems to switch the light bulb on. They begin to see that it isn’t a leash work exercise so much as a targeting and relationship exercise.

The bottom line is the position of the treat delivery. But, I also think we have a responsibility to prevent the students from developing unnatural or unrealistic cues, such as shoulder twisting. Sometimes I will have the students isolate a body cue they don’t realize they are doing, such as bending over for a down, and instruct them to do the bend alone. They are amazed to see their dogs respond and it goes a long way to helping them be more aware of the cues their dogs are actually learning. Lisa .