Do you dream of sharing a sunny afternoon on a patio ALL of your best friends but fear that if you bring Fido along, chaos might ensue? (You're probably right, but we can help!)
Let's talk about how to train your pup to be your partner in crime on all the local patios this Fall.
When most people consider patio manners, they believe teaching their dog a "Down" or a "Settle" cue (variations of lay down,) will suffice in order to bring their pup along to brunch, however once they arrive and attempt to have their dog lay calmly, they often quickly realize that the skills we are requiring from our pup to brunch alongside us include much more than just the ability to lay down.
More important than teaching the actual shape or cue you prefer your dog to be in while
you are brunching together is teaching them the ability to be neutral around a variety of distractions. By being able to be neutral around distractions, your dog will be better able to maintain engagement with you and to build impulse control and duration in their cues.
The very best obedience training means nearly nothing if your pup doesn't have emotion regulation skills. It is our job to give them opportunities to process their emotions, get confident and neutral, and offer them support when they do experience big emotions, in order to set them up for success in such environments.
Consider the simple fact that dogs' senses are enormously more powerful than our own combine that with the variety of smells, sights, sounds, and sensations your pup is likely to be processing in any given moment. Add in the clanging of dishes, fast moving wait staff, the smell of various foods wafting and perhaps even being passed around in close proximity, and you might quickly realize that simply asking our pup to 'Down' under our table is actually a really BIG ask.
So before making those reservations, how DO we set them up for success?
1) Start by teaching a 'Place' cue
We recommend teaching your dog to 'Place' (lay down until further notice,) on a visual marker of some sort. (A blanket, a towel, a mat, a bed, etc. something that is easily transportable and easy to clean.) Teach your dog that laying down on the Place marker is valuable and highly rewarding. If you are starting from scratch and don't have a working 'Down' cue yet, you can simply lure your pup onto the blanket and Mark and Reward the moment their paws hit the blanket. Continue doing this for 5-7 rounds, throwing a piece of kibble away in between repetitions to reset. Then, using a lure again, lure them onto the blanket and into a down shape by passing the treat by their nose, luring to the blanket, and putting it down on the blanket. SAY NOTHING. Hold the treat tight and let them work it out. The moment their belly hits the blanket, Mark and Reward with "YES! Place! Good!" throw a piece of kibble away to reset and repeat 10-12 times.
Practice this often.
Build duration in Place by rewarding your pup for staying on the Place marker.
You can also offer high incentive items, like a special chew or lickimat while your pup maintains the Place cue. If they get up, simply calmly and quietly remove the reward until they put themselves back into Place. This will take a few seconds for them to workout- be patient!!! The second they land in Place once again, Mark with YES!!! Place! and immediately deliver the special treat/ chew/ lick mat back to them.
2) Generalize the Place cue
Dogs do not naturally generalize well. This is partly why we use a visual marker when teaching Place, as it will help them generalize a bit more easily.
Start by moving the Place marker just a foot or 2 away and asking them to Place, rewarding highly when they land in it. Have them remain there for 3-30 seconds before resetting by throwing a piece of kibble away, and then moving the Place marker a bit more. You might change the orientation of the Place mat or continue to shift it a few feet away, repeating the Place cue and rewarding highly.
Begin to repeat this generalization exercise throughout your home, eventually bringing it outside to a low distraction environment to practice. As your pup is better able to go to their Place and maintain it, you can bring this cue to more distracting and busy environments. By practicing Place in a variety of environments while also building their Duration in the cue, you are better enabling them to generalize this skill and be set up for success.
3) Build neutrality
Starting in a low distraction environment, outside, ask your pup to Place on their place marker. Mark and Reward. Occasionally praise them for remaining there and making good choices to maintain the duration that you have built thus far.
If/ when distractions arise, (examples: another dog is in sight, squirrels are nearby, scooters are zipping past, humans are being loud and animated, anything at all is moving in close proximity to you and your dog,) praise often, reward behaviors they are offering that you like, and enthusiastically reward any voluntary check ins/ eye contact with you, especially if they look at the distraction and back to you.
Aim to Mark and Reward eye contact as often as possible while you build neutrality and duration in the Place cue around distractions.
When teaching any new behavior, it is important to remember to break it down. 1) Teach the cue/ behavior in a low distraction environment. Practice. Repetition is important!
2) Generalize the skill. Bring the new cue in a variety of locations, beginning in low distraction environments and slowly increasing the challenge for your pup.
3) Proof the cue. We use the 3D's when looking to Proof a cue (AKA helping your pup be able to perform the cue in a variety of settings, environments, and scenarios.
Remember: Our dogs can only reliably perform behaviors that we have taught and broken down in this way!)
Duration- build the amount of time your pup can maintain their new cue
Distance- teach your pup to respond to you from a distance. Because dogs don't generalize well, they truly believe the meaning of your communication is entirely different if you change your physical orientation. Example: A dog will sit if you are directly in front of them and making a hand motion with a treat in hand, however if you ask them to do it when they are alongisde you, they look completely confused and can';t perform the cue. That is accurate. They literally can't because they don't understand the context of what you are asking, so we must work on sending them to Place from right next to them, and then a few inches away, to a few feet away, etc. Additionally, we must train the flip side. If the Place marker is several feet away while you cue your dog from right next to them, they may be confused. Back up and break it down to tiny steps for them to help set them up for success.
Distraction- teach your pup to be able to perform the cue around distractions. Similar to how we gradually increase the amount of distraction when performing the Place cue, we want to do this with all cues and behaviors. It is very common for dogs to behave one way in their home and entirely different elsewhere, (without training and exposure.) This is why it's so important to offer lots of opportunities to practice building these skills before asking our pups to do something "simple" like accompanying us to brunch.
Engaged Walks were born partly out of the desire to help busy pup and pawrent pairs
proof their pup's skills. During Engaged Walk sessions, pups are given a variety of real world experience to practice and proof their learned skills, thereby better enabling them to be consistent in their behavior.
Unfortunately, what sometimes happens is that if pawrents are not consistent in practicing their pups' learned skills with them, 2 things may happen:
They may only perform the behaviors with their trainer
OR
The behavior may become extinguished.
Behaviors become extinguished when we are not consistent in rewarding the behaviors we like and want to see repeated.
So for example, let's pretend you put in a ton of work to teach your pup great leash manners, but then you go away for 2 weeks, leaving them with a puppy sitter, and when you return, you forget to Mark and Reward all those good behaviors they have been doing that you forgot were once such a big deal when you were first teaching them, things like maintaining a loose leash, not switching sides or tripping you up, offering visual check-ins, orienting themselves to you etc- and suddenly your pup begins to pull, wander, and generally become disengaged. If you allow this to go on for a time without looking for behaviors to Mark and Reward that you DO want to see repeated, your pup will likely continue to gradually lose their learned skills.
Instead, aim to pay them, and pay them often, always looking for the next positive thing they do that you can Mark and Reward.
Dogs are always learning, whether you think you are actively training or not. Might as well use this to our advantage and look for all the good things we can Mark and Reward.
Need some help in your pup's cafe manners? Does your dog struggle with big emotions that make settling into a Place cue challenging?
Reach out and let us help!!
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