Responsible Pet Owner Month - Learn Your Training Terms

Have you ever been to a training class where the trainer mentioned a term and you didn’t know exactly what it meant? One of the most confusing parts of dog training can be the lingo used in training classes. As Responsible Pet Owner Month continues, one of the essential parts of training is in knowing the key terms and words pet trainers use. With an understanding of the most commonly used definitions, success in dog training is easily achievable. 
 
While there are many useful terms in training, first let’s focus on the basics. These terms are methods of teaching dogs to perform or learn a behavior, and are important for every dog owner to understand before they begin basic training. 

Luring
Luring is a term trainers use to describe a method where the dog follows a treat (or toy) to exercise a behavior.

Example: Pulling a treat up over your dog’s head for sit or pulling it forward for stand. Like a fish following a lure, the dog's body follows their nose and their nose is following the treat. Lures should be very quickly faded into rewards. A lure is used to PRODUCE a behavior. A reward is used AFTER the dog offers the behavior.

Capturing
Capturing is a term coined for when you just happen to catch your dog practicing a behavior and click/reward it. For capturing you’ll need to keep a clicker and small treats close at hand.

Example: To use capturing to teach your dog to lie down, simply wait for your dog to lie down then click/reward it. Capturing is also a great way to have fun actions on command. You can capture things like yawning, sneezing, begging - pretty much anything your dog does that you think is really cute and that you want them to do on cue.

Shaping
Shaping is rewarding incremental steps to a final behavior. With shaping, you’ll need good timing too, because you must click at just the right moment. Shaping also requires that the dog is clicker responsive.

Example: You can use shaping to get a dog to pick up and hold a light dumbbell. First click for the dog looking at the dumbbell, then up the ante to having the dog touch it with his nose, then licking it, then taking it in his mouth for a moment, then holding it, then picking it up from the floor.

Modeling
Modeling is the option least used by modern trainers. Modeling uses physical positioning to teach the dog a behavior. 

Example: Pushing a dog’s rear into a sit to teach the sit command. Try to avoid modeling, as it's the slowest and least effective way to train. Because the dog is physically put into position by their handler, it’s unlikely that the dog will remember or offer the behavior on their own. It's always better to get the dog to freely offer a behavior rather than forcing the action on the dog. Modeling makes for very unreliable behavior.

When training your dog, it is important to learn all of the terms associated with dog training. Do your best to educate yourself on additional terms. Words and phrases like “threshold”, “replacement behaviors”, and “impulse control” can often be heard during training. If you are unfamiliar with any language used by your trainer, don’t be afraid to ask! You can also always learn more about pet training by attending one of our Orientation classes. Register for one of our upcoming classes here!