Whenever we have an idea about HOW an animal should execute a behavior, that IS criteria. We are the ones deciding how we want the
dog to walk or heel, that is our criteria for "walking" and "heeling." If we turn the dog loose or let her walk on a long string without our interfering, then we are walking "without" criteria (in the sense of precise behavior or the performance of a behavior.)

Since we manage pretty much every aspect of our dog's lives, we actually have "criteria" for everything, whether we make a conscious
effort to identify it or not.

In training terms, we speak of criteria as the performance level we require to consider it "correct." This is purely a human contrivance
and most animals have no idea what WE mean by "correct" unless we are rewarding or punishing or the environment is rewarding or punishing, which are consequences that the animal uses to sort out the "criteria."

Every behavior has inherent "criteria," if we want to get right down to it! Even a wild animal trying to acquire a meal, has certain
criteria s/he must meet to procure that meal. The environment, in this case, is what "sets" the criteria.

>Carol: What do you think would happen if, instead of telling your>dog she's wrong, you hinted to your dog what's right - using a cue>that >dogs respond to easily as an invitation to come closer?
>Karen: I think she would ignore me. I *know* she would ignore me.We're not there yet.

This is where we, the human, have to observe "where" are we, so that we can choose criteria the dog can easily meet. If we select
criteria where the animal can succeed, "be correct" (and earn reward) most of the time and can choose her own steps to arrive there, we get the behavior very quickly!

This is a factor of the basic laws of behavior...organisms tend to repeat behavior that results in something they want. Behavior that
is rewarded gets repeated, plain and simple. Basically, to get an animal to meet our criteria (do what we want the way we want it,) we
have to convince the animal that she WANTS to do what we want her to do.

What makes an animal want to do something, anything, inlcuding, what *we* want? If what we want can be communicated to the animal and is well worth the animal's while, and within the realm of the animal's possible behavioral repertoire, the animal might be quite willing to
do that thing, even if that thing is sometimes very difficult and complex.

If "what we want" becomes in line with what the animal wants, we are well on our way, heck, we have even already arrived!

When I "teach" loose-lead walking (with horses and dogs and a few other species too, actually,) I begin with no lead on at all (no
possible way I can pull!) in a low-distraction environment as possible.

With a dog, this probably means right in our kitchen or living room. With a horse, could be in the living room (though only a couple of my horses have been in there!) and mostly will be in the pasture where they are comfortable, maybe in their stable, maybe even
in the evening, which is a time the barn is generally very quiet and horses typically mellow out from the days busy-ness.

I use a kissing sound, most all healthy-hearing animals will perk up their ears or look at this. Reward. Or, the animal comes toward me
when he hears the sound, (as many dogs will from the get go) reward. (The reward is "earned" for a response, at first, any response that the animal has acknowledged *I* made a sound and the reward is something the animal WANTS, is willing to repeat behavior to get more of it.)

Dogs and horses both have a predilection to follow when we invite. So once the dog is responding to the sound, probably coming
to us standing there for the reward, all we need add now is to back up a step and see if the dog follows.

When I work with skittish dogs, like a rescue sheltie we called Coyote Boy because we only saw him dart from one room to another very
briefly for the first few months, the following to the sound may only be from twenty feet away, so the reward I am likely to use is food
treats I can easily chuck out to where the animal can reach it, or a toy and, for some animals, many skittish animals, simply "end
session" is the primary thing they want to happen for a while, until they can build up some trust.

Using the My Dog Pulls "method" of the sound, and rewarding the dog turning toward me to look, pretty soon he was taking steps toward, and soon after (within a week, and this is with only doing this exercise once a day one or two times, just as an opportunity presented itself) following from room to room. Soon enough, walking behind at twenty paces shortened to ten and five and finally, walking
with me.

When the lead was added, we started all over again on a long light string at about fifteen paces, then quickly, once he no longer
worried the string, he was back up next to me within a few days.

With a dog who has no fear of her person, we don't have to break down criteria into as many minutiae of steps as with a dog like Coyote
Boy, who severely distrusted humans and very much distrusted restraint, because he had been abused with it in his first life.

I keep adding "gradually," a bit of criteria. I am still in the house or yard, with low distraction, in fact, the least likely possibility that anything will come up in the two minutes I am working with the dog, and when I see the dog is walking away from where I am, I make the sound and take steps backward and the dog turns and follows and I reward.

Then I repeat, maybe a couple days later, by turning and walking 4 steps and the dog follows or catches up to me, and I reward. My reward is likely to be quiet praise or a neck scritchies if the dog likes those things, as many do. Some dogs "live" for their food treats, so I might use those. We have to listen to what the dog says he WILL work for.

I keep adding some steps until, maybe even the same day that the dog"gets it" in two minutes what the game is, walking around the house with the dog walking near me. This is already "loose leash walking even if we have no lead on yet. The dog hears the sound cue and walks with me, reward.

I wait until the dog is walking Away from me, I give the sound, dog turns to walk with me, reward.

That is basically it.

You see the conditioning pattern here! The dog is enjoying this little game by now, of turning and walking with us when we give the
sound. It is worth her while because there is something in it for her.

This is where the Lassie Myth really gets us because plenty of handlers get to this stage, and suddenly drop the rewards and say
"well, the dog KNOWS what to do now, and should do it because he loves me and wants to please me," then the behavior falters because
it is not being rewarded any more, and unrewarded behavior gradually extinguishes~ and then the person decides (if the person falls into, say, a dogegory of "pack theory" or the dominance model) that their dog is now blowing them off and trying to be the "boss," or is willful and so forth. The person is no longer seeing the dog's behavior is a direct result of the consequences of the behavior.

On the other hand, there are some dogs, maybe lots of dogs, who find it so rewarding just to be doing something WITH their person, that it
is easy to attribute their behavior to things like complete devotion. I find this to be a perfectly reasonable description, in that, if the dog so wants to be with us as to figure out what "being with us" entails, then this seems, to me, quite heuristic description. And quite typical of domestic animals as the dog and horse in particular.

Back to loose leash walking, now I might try to do some steps in the yard with a little bit of distraction. I add the leash if I have to work in a place not safe off leash or to manage the range of what the dog can do. Though usually I endeavor to not even add the lead until freewalking next to me is the norm.

If the dog does not respond to the sound by now, and goes to the end of the lead, I do nothing for a second, then I make the sound and
step back and reward the look or the follow.

Each time we raise criteria in one way, say, distraction level, we typically reduce criteria in another, so the animal can readily succeed. So if the distraction means the dog is able to respond to the sound by turning and walking with us 3 steps, but not 10, this tells us we either are asking for too many steps or we have added too much distraction. In real life, it is sometimes most difficult to raise criteria was gradually as we would like in one area, but we can compensate often by reducing criteria temporarily in another.

I also live with dogs bred to work, in fact, the theory is, they have been bred to work far out away and very independently of us
humans. However, with a few minutes of sound and reward for turning and walking with me, these dogs are very happy to be with me!

The newest dog I have has been here six months or so now. He is a heavy puller in his harness, and at 90 pounds, can pull me down easily if he really gets going. Now that he has mostly settled into our routines and rituals, I have begun this sort of teaching, just
the sound and reward for turning toward me and he likes to follow already, so that part goes fast for this dog.

For this dog, he has to learn the distinction between forging ahead as he is supposed to do in his work, and walking nicely on lead when he is not working. This is actually asking quite a lot of a young dog. Really, very conflicting behaviors, as he needs to forge ahead part of the time and walk lightly part of the time.

I believe I will have to do a lot of conditioning using the sound cue and keeping a very high reinforcement rate, to such a time he can respond to the sound in the face of the Main Distraction!

Ironically, he is actually much better at meeting criteria of loose lead out in the forest, because he earns the opportunity to track. So he is quite willing to do it to get what he wants!

He also has to have an opportunity to play a little bit with his friends or take a little sniffing and running in the meadow before we
work on learning this looseleash at home. Much like turning out a colt before riding him, so he can get his kicks out before we climb on his back. It is hardly fair (or safe!) to ask the colt to have enough self control to contain himself when he is bursting at the seams.

Later, when he is more educated, he will be able to go right out and work despite any extra energy (and often it is as much mental energy as physical) that builds with a common practice of stabling and confining an animal that would normally venture ten or more miles a day in grazing and moving about for food, water and avoiding predators on occasion.

I have rambled and even digressed a bit here, but hope there is some semblence of the idea that by lowering criteria, to say a location, time and opportunity where the dog is likely to respond to us giving the sound, we CAN tease out the behavior we want. If the dog is"tuning out," this can be intentional signal or it can be the environment is too distracting and our criteria is set too high for Where the dog is, for Where We Are.

I do love this, Karen, the idea of really studying and observing"Where We Are," as it occurs to me that is exactly what we do first
thing when we try to brainstorm possible ways to teach (communicate) what we would like an animal to do.

Barbara and the Symphony of Hounds

"It's spring again and I wasn't finished with winter. That's what I said at the end of summer too."

Gretel Ehrlich