How do you train? Tell me everything you think/know/do.

Tell me what "no" does for you?  Does it identify the specific aspects of the dog's behavior that you want him to stop?  If he has his feet on the kitchen counter, his nose is sniffing for food, and he happens across some Rx pills, does "NO" mean "No, don't take those pills"?  Or "No, get your feet off the counter" or "NO, stop trying to sniff for and steal food"?  Or "NO, you're not even allowed in the kitchen"?  I almost never use "no", for the classic reason that it doesn't tell the dog what you want them to do.  Teaching "OFF" (as in, feet off that surface) or "OUT" (as in get that thing you're thinking about "out" of your mouth) are far more useful.  I have only said "BAD" to my dog maybe once or twice? in her 7 years.  It just isn't useful, and creates a behavior response counter to what I want from her. 

I am not a purely positive trainer, there are others here who try to be as close to positive-only as possible who can give you the science and behavior explanations behind it that may be more of what you're looking for.  I do occassionally use a modified "EH!" when I expect my dog to freeze and look at me, or come to me to find out what I want.  Did it tonight when she started to sniff at a mud puddle and she might have tried to drink from it (where I could use "out!";), or she might have tried to roll in it ("come", or "heel!";), or who knows what.  The positive trainers here have described that they do, in fact, use an "eh, eh" which means "try again" in their training methodology.

For us, "no" is a no-reward-marker.  I say it in a completely neutral, matter of fact tone, just to cue the dog that he's not getting the reward.  I'm not a purely positive trainer and I do have verbal correction words, but that's how I use "no".

My dogs do not understand the word "NO", and if you said it to them, they wouldn't listen to you. *G*.

Like Miranadobe said, "No" doesn't really teach much, and it can be confusing for dogs. Humans want it to have 15 meanings, and dogs do best with one word = one behaviour. Rather than tell my dogs all the things they "can't" do, I prefer to teach the things they should be doing instead. So "Leave It", "Off", "Let's Go", "Watch", "Place", etc. All these things give a clear meaning to the dog.

I will use "Eh" in very rare cases, and I use it so rarely that it acts a behaviour interrupter - nothing more. If I didn't then give some feedback, the dog would go back to what it was doing. Generally though I can use the dog's name and get their attention very easily, but if it's something that might be dangerous I might choose to use a more "noticable" indication of my intent. However, I do a lot of work on name recogniation and name response so chances are their name would work just as well. *G*

The thing with the overall philosophy is that you set your dog up to be successful. So if you say your dog gets into things when you are asleep, you should set up your dog so it can't get into things when you are sleeping! So laying in its kennel with a good chew, laying on a bed in the same room as you, etc. Not having the freedom to make its own (right now incorrect) decisions, while training for specific things - chewing on its own toys, leaving the garbage alone, staying out of the way when asked, etc - when you are awake and available to teach!

Kim_MacMillan

I will use "Eh" in very rare cases, and I use it so rarely that it acts a behaviour interrupter - nothing more.

I am mostly positive with my training but am not against a verbal correction, or changing my voice tone when needed.

Jewlieee

I am mostly positive with my training but am not against a verbal correction, or changing my voice tone when needed.

What she said! LOL! That's how I train. I also use Self correction. Helps the dog learn that an action as a re-action. Like running full speed to the end of the leash will end you on your butt. Lol

oranges81

Like running full speed to the end of the leash will end you on your butt. Lol

That's a good method.  To end up on YOUR butt or maybe injure a dog's neck. I've also seen dogs snap a collar or lead and they weren't particularly big strong dogs.  That's a pretty old school method and I've done it (regretfully) but it's not something I would ever do now and I don't recommend it. 

  Crating when you can't watch or removing the garbage can to a place the dog can't reach is pretty effective.

 It's something I don't do often. In fact it once in a blue moon. And the dogs that try it are wearing a harness so I'm not to worried about their neck. But I do use self correction a lot in different situations. 

 Some folks feel that a No Reward Marker (NRM) is too punishing. There was an article in the latest Front And Finish about it.... I use one, in my daily training, and feel that it helps my dogs better understand what I want. They both have fairly soft temperaments, and one is not the type to keep pushing. She will just lay down, when she's frustrated. If I *tell* her something, she keeps going. I say, "Try again", when they get it wrong.

jennie_c_d

 Some folks feel that a No Reward Marker (NRM) is too punishing. There was an article in the latest Front And Finish about it.... I use one, in my daily training, and feel that it helps my dogs better understand what I want. They both have fairly soft temperaments, and one is not the type to keep pushing. She will just lay down, when she's frustrated. If I *tell* her something, she keeps going. I say, "Try again", when they get it wrong.

 

It might be too punishing for Kenya, she is SO soft.

But Nikon, no way, lol.  With him I use it to keep the flow going.  He is very "operant" and will work continuously.  I just say "no" very matter-of-factly so that he will try something else instead.

 I don't have a problem with using a no reward marker, though I don't do it very often, but it is said matter-of-factly and is just that - a marker, as if I were saying to you "That isn't it, could you please try again?" and not as a way to interrupt the dog's behavior.  As to what one does when the dog gets into the trash, that is a management as well as a training problem.  The way you set a dog up for success is not to leave the trash bin where he can get it when you are not there (and I have always used the kind with a retractable top, so it isn't open for the dog to nose around in.  You first train a cue for "leave it" and the trash bin becomes a "leave it" item.  Since the dog gets rewarded for leaving it (because he already knows what leave it means), then he can be successful at leaving it many times, so that the behavior becomes habitual, and he is uninterested in the trash bin because it was the "leave it" behavior that he was consistently rewarded for.  One reason my Aussie (who is certainly capable of climbing onto counters, or even leaping onto them) never got to be a counter surfer is that when she was a puppy, one of her two first cues were "come" and "leave it" AND I never, ever left anything on the counter for her to get and thus be rewarded for going up there.  Training doesn't take place in a vacuum at my house, it is always paired with prevention and management to set the dog up for success.

I can't use an NRM with Shimmer, as even a lighthearted "Oops" will make her anxious. With Gaci, I have used one in the past but have come to realize that I don't really need it to teach, so I don't use it much.