Teach 'Off', meaning Don't Touch, is vital when teaching Bite Inhibition and extremely useful for teaching dogs not to worry at food lures while training. Additionally, "Off" has many other useful applications such as, not to touch human food (in the hand, on a plate, or counter), the contents of handbags and other people's bait bags, baby animals, human babies (sniff but don't touch), unfamiliar cats and dogs, animal feces, or the television remote. We teach "Off' with food in the hand and when we say, "Take it", the dog reflexively takes the food.
Dogs, understanding the instructions "Take it", "Hold it", and "Thank You" facilitate teaching Fetch and Tug for companion dogs and when training hunting, obedience, and sport dogs.
"Thank You" means 'let me take the object in your jaws', so that I can praise, offer a couple of treats and then usually, say, "Take it" and give the object back, i.e., The Token System. When you yo-yo "Take it" and "Thank You", your dog soon learns to promptly, willingly, and happily surrender the object on request, confident and secure in the knowledge that they will get lots of praise, maybe a couple of treats, and then probably, they'll get the object back.
And as an added bonus, when teaching "Off", you often get free Sit-Stays!
To teach "Off", we use another Positive Reinforcement Technique — Wait & Reward Training: You simply watch your dog and WAIT for what you want and then, REWARD your dog — obviously the easiest training technique on the Planet!
04.00 Wait & Reward Training "Off"
Ollie's first lesson (on stage). Simply hold the food in your fist, let your dog lick, paw, and worry at your fist and simply wait for your dog to cease contact for a micro-second and then, immediately, say "Take it" and open your fist so your dog may take the food from the palm of your hand. On the second try, wait for your dog to pull his muzzle away for a whole second before offering the food. Then progressively increase the noncontact time required for a food reward — two seconds, three, five, eight, 12 and 20 seconds. Initially you may have to wait a while for the first couple of non-contacts, but then you are off and running. And the most wonderful perk when teaching "Off' — you always get a free Sit Stay."
This was filmed during OPEN PAW's 1st Shelter Dog Behavior and Training Conference. The entire Open Paw program is available at Dunbar.Academy.com
04.01 Mr. Mousie & Mr. Carcass with Dune and Hugo and Cameo by Claude
Just running through "Off", "Take it", and "Thank you" at home with Dune and Hugo, and a cameo by Claude. Did you spot my MASSIVE training error right at the beginning? I was preoccupied and Dune took the toy before I instructed him to do so. I prefer to show unedited training videos, so you can see my mistakes, but most important, how I correct them. I didn't 'dislike' Dune's performance but rather, I didn't like my performance, so I just restarted the sequence. But there were a couple of other errors that I didn't respond to. Did you spot them?
04.02 Teaching "Off "& "Take-it"
First with food in the Hand (very easy) and then with food on the floor. Actually, teaching the latter is NOT so easy because it requires exquisite timing. If your dog snaffles up just one piece of food from the floor, it will set back training substantially. I never let the dog take the food from the floor, instead I always pick up the food to hand to the dog.
04.03 Why Teach Off and Take it?
First with food in the Hand (very easy) and then with food on the floor. Actually, teaching the latter is NOT so easy because it requires exquisite timing. If your dog snaffles up just one piece of food from the floor, it will set back training substantially. I never let the dog take the food from the floor, instead I always pick up the food to hand to the dog.
04.04 Teaching "Off" Increases the Reinforcing Value of food
Teaching dogs not to worry at food lures massively accelerates and solidifies luring Sit, Down, and Stand. This is Jambo's first session — notice the free Sit-Stay.
Teaching "Off" stops your dog from worrying at the food lure and significantly increases its reinforcing power. Saying, "Off" increases the food's allure and really makes your dog want it more, which substantially increases your dog's focus and engagement.
Also... teaching Off facilitates the transition between 'luring with food in your hand' and using empty-handed Handsignals, i.e., phasing out food lures.
04.05 Teaching "Off” with Food
Handling error again! It would have been better if I taught "Off" with the food in one hand but then, as per Kelly's instructions, always reward from the other hand'. I should pay more attention to Kelly's instructions. But if you pay attention, no doubt you'll see me do it again. Old habits die hard.
Many instructions, including, 'to feed from the other hand', are to make it easier for owners to master the exercise. However, when I demo, I often neglect to follow these owner-instructions because the various exercises are so familiar and commonplace for me. A huge trap for dog trainers, (and for ski, golf, and tango instructors) is that they forget that their students may not have the trainer's experience and expertise and so, they don't explain exercises sufficiently well, or when demonstrating they skip many little, but vital, steps that make it easier for their students.
04.06 Teaching "Off" in Class
Teaching Off will quickly control the wriggles and create solid stays and ardent attention. These class-videos are so useful because they display common problems and how to correct them, whereas a trainer's perfect dog teaches very little, other than the trainer's dog is pretty good. I love watching these videos because every difficulty that owner's experience advertises my lack of better explanations.
04.07 Teaching "Off" for 5-seconds (almost)
Learning not to touch will transform Atticus by building impulse control and increasing focus. He has been overfed chicken immediately after he Comes or Sits. Much better to reward Atticus after he Comes and Sits and remains sitting and paying attention for a while.
As almost always, we get a free Sit-Stay and with Atticus, a free Down-Stay. Count out the seconds in 'Good Dogs' and progressively increase the Stay-duration before rewarding.
04.08 Blue's Owner Teaches Off
A 5-seoncd Off and a 5-second Sit-Stay. Well Done! At this stage, anytime the dog nose-bumps your hand, repeat "Off" and start the count from 'Good Dog One' again.
Obviously, Blue's owner has mastered what I haven't...feed from the other hand!
