How Does the Dog Know They're Wrong?!

I reward my dogs for errors. A lot of the time!

I do this because my primary goal is to keep the dog in the game. I want their confidence high and that attitude that they can do it!

But doesn't this lead to a dog who happily does whatever they want?!

Doesn't the dog need to know they were wrong?!

No!

My goal is not to teach through errors. This means I don't need the dog to get it wrong in order to show them what does pay. I want to set up my training session to avoid errors as much as possible. It's my job to adjust things if errors are piling up!

That doesn't mean I am perfect and errors don't happen. They happen more than I'd like as I try to break things down. I don't aim for errorless. (Don't be paralyzed by the thought of making mistakes so that you don't even start!)

And I don't worry about whether the dog knows they are wrong.

In many situations, I reward regardless. Then try to set it up better! I call them Pity Cookies and think of it as a "thanks for trying!" reward.

Or I might try to interrupt the dog from the error, especially if I'm in a bigger chain where continuing quickly gets messy!

An interruption I try to do cheerfully, even game-like. I don't need the dog to know they were wrong, I just need to quickly get them back on track.

My general rule is with 2 errors in a row, I think about changing something. 3 errors, then I stop!  

Examples!

An error of Loot alerting to the wrong article. I quickly tell him to touch my hand, then give a cookie!! His routine was getting a reward on the article when correct, plus the reset cookie. And for an error, he got praise and a few cookies but not quite the same reward pattern.

But it doesn't matter if it's the exact same routine for correct reps vs incorrect reps as long as you keep the dog engaged AND have a plan for getting them back on track without the errors adding up.

This is an example of breaking out after an error (Grace doesn't stand on cue) and I do a playful reset move to get her back into a sit and we try again. With a dog newer to it, I would reward on the setup. With Grace, we just break out and try again! I do babble at her, but she doesn't know what I'm saying!

This is an example of interrupting focus errors in heeling. Aero was new to heads up heeling and my goal was to quickly get her back on track when she looked away. I talk to her and change my motion to get her back- often playfully. This compilation is just errors! Make sure your success rate of rewarding what you want is high!

Having a Plan

In most of these examples, I am breaking out after an error. I need to get them back into a position to try again.

If you don't know what to do in the moment? Stop and cue a hand touch or toss a cookie! Anything.

Have a go-to response in your brain that you can do in the moment without needing to process what happened. You don't want to just be staring at your dog! The longer you're stuck, the more the dog is getting stuck too.

After that quick reset moment, if you need some more time to think, that's ok! I like to put my dogs in a down stay if I need time, but a mat or even a snuffle mat work really well to occupy our dogs and make it clear we aren't looking for focus in that moment. And then when we get back to work we have a clear plan for the next rep!