Bonnie Bergin recently presented a seminar during our Doggone Good Weekend. For those who didn't have an opportunity to attend, I urge you to see her if an opportunity arises in the future.

PeTS has her book for sale. It's one I believe should be added to your personal library.

I very much appreciated her reinforcement of the basics of dog training (theory and practical) and her fresh perspective to working with dogs.

There are pieces in the puzzle that when put together form the whole picture of how dogs learn. I've always believed if we understand how and why, the "way" will be easier.

Association is the first piece in the puzzle – Bonnie uses the example of the puppy pricking his nose on a rosebush thorn. The pup immediately associates the plant with the prick on the nose. When the pup next encounters a rosebush, he will proceed with caution because of association.

If we take association into dog training and take a look at teaching the sit, we can see how the dog learns to associate the command "sit" with the action of putting his rump on the floor/ground.

Okay – you're gonna teach the sit. You begin by placing Buddy in the sitting position as you command "sit". After Buddy is sitting, you pet him, tell him what a good boy he is and perhaps offer him a treat. Buddy – depending on his temperament, distractions in the environment and your ability – will soon learn to respond to the "sit" command by placing his bottom on the floor/ground.

Now that Buddy has associated "sit" with the action of sitting, you have to "go on the road" 'cause dogs need to Generalize -- which is the next piece in the puzzle of how dogs learn.

Generalization is learning to sit on command anytime, anywhere – not just in the location you taught him.

When we had the dog training school, we heard weekly, "he did it perfectly in the living room". Yep – we were sure he did, the next step was missing – nothing more. Buddy needed to generalize.

The next piece of the learning puzzle is called Patterning. "Whenever behaviours are consistently associated with other behaviours, they form patterns." (Quote from Bonnie's book.) Dogs (and people) are masters at generalizing. If Buddy is heeling beside you and you command "sit" a few times as you stop walking, Buddy will soon "go into business from himself" and begin sitting whenever you stop walking, without a command from you. A pattern emerges – you stop walking, he sits.

Positive Reinforcements (chest rubbing, ear scratching, food rewards) tell the dog "Yep – that's it – you've got it" and serve to lock the command and action firmly in Buddy's brain. The result is a solid sit response – either to your command or whenever he's heeling with you and you stop walking.

Pretty neat, eh?

Boxerdawg and I have been "arguing" lately in that he's now a "teenager". He's testing the limits. By referring to Bonnie's book, I've been able to understand where Buddy is coming from a little better. It's not changing my approach to him – I expect him to respond when I give him a command, but at least I have a better handle on his learning process.

Something that absolutely blew me away was Bonnie's claim that a dog learns a concept after 3 tries. That – by the way – is remarkably lower than any other techniques I've studied. The key, I believe, is in her emphatic "YES!!" reinforcer.

By way of example of its use, whenever Buddy does something correctly, I've been responding with "YES!!" -- not other words first -- but an immediate "YES!!" followed by whatever positive reinforcers I want to use.

The down has been an issue with Buddy Boxerdawg since he was tiny.

Bonnie explained that the subconscious weeds out information that doesn't have impact and wasn't memorable. By reinforcing with a loud, happy "YES!!" when he performed the down correctly, I was making an impression on his subconscious.

Overnight (literally) the subconscious weeds out the "non events" and keeps the "events" – "YES!!" was an event – he remembered and performed the down faster and stronger the next day – - cool!

It's called Overnight Learning. Some of you have probably observed a dog doing a better job on an exercise that appeared weak the day before. It's something we (as trainers) have observed in our own dogs and in dogs we were working with for years. We just didn't have the theory or terminology nailed.

Now I'm working on generalizing the down paired with the emphatic "YES!!". He has the down nailed in the yard but it's weak at Heart's Content. It's really interesting.

Bonnie acknowledges that dogs are of different temperaments and trainers must always be flexible and respond to each dog's disposition if they are to be successful in training. If a dog needs a solid "bonk" he'll receive it, but not unfairly and never in anger.

The clients with whom these dogs ultimately live and work have limited mobility. As a result, the dogs trained for service work are working out of the joy of working often with only upbeat verbal reinforcers offered by their handlers.

Bonnie appreciates what fine creatures dogs are and also appreciates the limitless ways in which dogs enhance our lives.

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