AJ Vargas works with a reactive dog named Rose on recall and a "break" command that lets her explore independently. Rose learns to make eye contact during recall, not just run toward the handler. The trainer conditions an e-collar over several days and discovers that affection consistently outweighs play as Rose's primary motivator.
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Bang! We're back. All right, do a quick session with Rose. So, so far right now I'm going to work on a conditioned reinforcer and a good break command. So Rose already has these elements in place. She understands what a recall is, she understands what a sit is, she understands what a down is.
Right?
So I don't have to go about the process of teaching her. And because I took the past, uh, few days to really establish a bond with her, you know, I feel comfortable with applying a little bit of aversive techniques, as in, you know, collar pops, to get her to do what I want. Now, one thing I do want to note is, if you watch the last video, I was talking about prepping her with an e-collar. So I got the e-collar on her. I'm gonna have her wear it for a few days. Maybe I'll need to use it, maybe I won't. I think either way, um, the plan is to at least get her conditioned, at least to understanding what it means. So when she does go home, client decides she wants to use, utilize the e-collar, she can. Absolutely. But, um, let's talk about this conditioned reinforcer, right? Essentially, some people call it a marker, but all I'm doing is I'm just letting the dog know that she did good, right? You did a good job. Um, when I want to reinforce a behavior— and when I talk about reinforcement, when I reinforce a behavior, I'm making it stronger, right? I wanted to reinforce a wall, I'm making it stronger. I'm going to reinforce a vehicle, You know, I'm gonna put bulletproof glass on it, make it stronger. So in terms of conditioning and behavior, reinforcement means making it stronger, right? So I'm just going to teach her. And honestly, what I've found that really motivates her, you know, yeah, she'll play with a toy or whatever, but what truly motivates her is she just likes love, right? And this is This is nice. She's came up to me and giving me some affection, or she's just getting what she can out of me. But I'm going to use for this is I'm going to praise and then I'm going to give her some love. Right. And I'm going to do that and classically condition it so that she understands when she hears that praise, something good is about to happen. Right? And I'm going to mix in some recalls, and then also I'm going to give her a release, or what I'm going to use is break, um, that release command to, hey, go do your dog stuff, right? It's important to remember that dogs are animals and they got certain things that they want to fulfill, and it's important to let them do that. We don't want a dog that's stuck and glued to our side at all times. What some people call a Velcro dog, but I want a good break or release command where she's not checking in with me, she's just going off to do her stuff, right? Then when I call her back and I call her back into control, she's zippy zap. And the good thing about it is, you know, when you have a good break and you give that dog the opportunity to go explore and be themselves, that could be a reinforcer within itself, right? Hey, you did really good. Go sniff some stuff, right? Dogs like to explore. They like to check out their environment. This is really nice. I like this. So one thing to know is I got students over there at the gazebo as well, and, uh, she's doing pretty good. She's not really honed in on what's going on over there. It's more focused in this parking lot area, which I got nothing going on. But we'll go ahead and get started.
Come on.
Sit.
You got a girl. Come on, got a girl. Yeah, that a girl.
Come on, here, here. Good girl. Sit. Here. Here. Sit. Sit.
That a girl!
Come on, come on.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, that a girl, that a girl. Good mama.
Getting a bit distracted now. I'll let her explore though. It's good she's not checking in over here to see what I'm doing. Now let's get her to come back. Rose, here! I'm going to deliver a pop. Good girl. Here. Good. Sit. Sit. Sit.
That a girl! Come on.
Well, that's not really doing much. We got the dog out again. So I got that same dog she was barking at earlier. She's not paying him no attention now. Rose, here, here. Good.
Sit. Oh, that a girl!
Come on, come on. There's a mama. Oh yeah.
That's a good girl.
Okay, break. And give her some time to go ahead and get away from me. No, break. Come on. Do a little bit of running, just get her moving. It's going for the toy. So there's a lot going on. People are breaking for lunch right now, and she's just super hyperfixated. So it's not a good environment for her to learn necessarily, but it's a good environment for her to be exposed to. All right, here. Good. It's very savvy to the leash. Here, here. Good. That a mama? That a mama?
Yeah.
Here. Boy, that a girl! Come on, here. Good. Come on, here, here.
Come follow me.
So she's kind of looking past me.
Oh, that a girl!
That a good boy! Yeah, I want that engagement and that eye contact. Even though she's coming to me, you know, it's not that point. It's It's not the point. It's not that I want her— a good recall doesn't just involve the dog coming towards us in our direction. Sometimes you see them, they kind of look through us, right? I want her looking at me like, hey, what's he got going on here? Good girl, that a mama. And I'm also, with the break command, I'm teaching her how to control her impulses, right? Because you see how she would come to me, she'd get some love, but then she'd go off and do her own thing. But now I want to have, um, control over that aspect. I'm going to call you here, but you got to learn to stay by me. And you're not going to go until I release you. Rose, here, here. Good girl. Here, here, here. Hey, Mama! Yeah! Well, I'm looking for is that eye contact. I want that eye contact, and I'll start praising that. Okay, break. All right, she's going off camera here. She's sniffing. What I may do is wait for her to get fixated on something. Good girl. Yeah, girl. Good mama. You see how I moved a little bit that last second and then she adjusted where she was going? She saw where I was going. She's like, let me go ahead and readjust. But how I tell her to break, I give her the release and she's off. Right, she's not being too glued to me, but I think that's just in her nature. She's pretty independent. Here.
Oh, that a girl!
That's a mama. Good mama.
Break.
See, this is something that she finds rewarding and could be a great reinforcer. But when it's— when there's things in the environment that are competing with it, or there's high amounts of insecurity, you know, that value goes down, right? So we'll keep trying it. Keep trying to up the value of the play. But I will say something that's been consistent in what I've seen out of her is she does like the affection. She is a big fan of that. Here, her.
Good girl.
Oh yeah. All right, we'll end it on that one. Huh, maybe you want to play a little bit? Either way, good set, good set.
