Tips for Training a New Behavior

There are lots of behaviors you'll want to teach your pet: sit, come, stay and so on; perhaps some fun tricks! While the exact method for teaching each cue varies from behavior to behavior and pet to pet, here are principles that apply to almost everything you'll want to teach your pet. (For help with training specific exercises, contact us.)

​1) Show, Don't Tell

​Let your pet know what you want. You can lure him into position with a treat or a toy, a gentle physical prompt, shape the behavior by reinforcing increasingly accurate approximations of the behavior, or just wait to capture the behavior (I find luring to be the simplest, unless your pet doesn't respond to the lure; prompting is my last choice). Remember, your pet speaks no English (or Spanish, or Chinese, or any other human language), so you can say "sit" until you're blue in the face--it won't help your pet figure out what you want.

​2) Mark the Behavior

Help your pet understand when she got it right and did what you wanted. You can use a physical marker (like a clicker) or a verbal marker (such as the word "yes"). Use your marker the second your pet does what you want. For example, if you want your pet to sit, mark the exact moment she puts her bottom on the ground. Remember, a marker is ALWAYS followed by a reinforcement.

3) Reinforce the Behavior

Right after you mark the behavior, you want to reinforce it. A reinforcement is anything that will make it more likely that your pet will repeat the behavior. You can use anything that your pet loves. I'll say that again: you can reinforce a behavior with anything your pet loves. This could be food, a toy, a massage--anything your pet wants enough to work for. You want to reinforce your pet as quickly as possible after she performs the behavior.

4) Phase Out the Lure/Prompt

You don't want a pet who won't perform without seeing that cookie first. As soon as your pet is performing the behavior reliably (for example, as soon as you make the luring motion for "sit", he plops his bottom into a four times out of five), it's time to phase out the lure. Make the same luring motion, but without the treat in your hand. When he sits, reward him from the other hand. He'll see that he doesn't need to see a treat up front in order to get his reward. If you're using a physical prompt, start doing it a bit less each time until you're not doing it at all.

Fading the lure/prompt should happen quickly, preferably within the first 20 or so repetitions. The luring motion can then be turned into a hand signal. Hand signals are much easier for your dog to understand than words.

5) Add the Cue

Notice that we haven't used words yet? Now it's time to start. Say the cue, wait one second, then follow with the hand signal. Your pet will learn that the word predicts the signal, which, if they perform correctly, predicts a cookie. They'll start "jumping the gun" and performing the behavior as soon as they hear the word. Now you have a pet who can sit on a verbal cue, a hand signal, or both. IMPORTANT: make sure the word and the hand signal happen separately. If they happen simultaneously, your pet will block out one of them (probably the word!).

6) Raise the Criteria (Gradually)

Many behaviors need to be taught in stages. For example, when teaching "stay", we just start with staying for very short periods of time. As your pet progresses, we'll ask for longer and longer stays. You can work on getting sits to happen more quickly, or more precisely. Just remember to do it in small increments. If you have your pet doing a 30 second stay, and then try to jump right to a one minute stay, you're probably setting yourself and your pet up for failure.

7) Generalize (Proof) the Behavior

A behavior isn't really trained until your pet can do it anywhere, anytime. Unfortunately, pets often don't generalize well. What this means is, what he knows how to do in the living room, he may not know how to do in the back yard. For most pets, every time the context changes, it's a whole new ballgame to him. Whenever you change the context, you'll need to make some aspect of the exercise easier; for example, if he can do a one-minute sit-stay inside, once you get outside, try for a 20-second sit-stay, or maybe even less--take as many steps back as your pet needs to succeed. 

Distraction is a huge factor as well. Up the distraction levels gradually. It's relatively easy for your pet to focus on you when it's just the two of you in your living room. It's harder when you're competing with other people, or pets, or squirrels, etc. Try to avoid going directly from working a behavior inside to working it on a busy street. Find some intermediate steps, such as a hallway, a lobby, or a back yard if you have one. Start on the street during a slow/quiet time of day.

8) Phase Out the Treats

Once your pet understands the behavior, and can do it anywhere, anytime, it's time to start phasing out the rewards. That doesn't mean they go away completely! How long would you keep working if your paycheck went away completely? However, if the treats happen randomly, every now and then, you can actually make the behavior stronger. Your pet will be eager to work: "Is this the time I get the treat? Maybe this time?" (it's the same mental mechanism that keep people glued to slot machines--that payout could always be just around the corner!). One note: cats tend to need more regular reinforcement than dogs, so don't go crazy and stop the reinforcements for too long a time!

When you begin phasing out treats, don't go too long without one at first. For example, ask for three sits, one after another, and give a treat after the third sit. We want them to understand that rewards are still possible. And don't be stingy with the praise! Even if they don't get the "big payout," we still want them to know they're doing the right thing. A "good boy!" or "thank you" is always appropriate. 

[Please Note: information on this site is not intended to be a substitute for professional guidance or advice. We recommend consulting a professional trainer before implementing any training or behavior program.]