# Cooperative Care



## KarMar (Jan 14, 2016)

@krandall asked that I post this video of my cooperative care work with Brisket to the forum, so here it is! Through free shaping, this has become a behavior that's offered sans force and coercion for both boys, and Brisket needed some liquid medication last night, so I used it as an opportunity to brush up on it and further reinforce the behavior and build a positive conditioned emotional response with the delivery of medication through reward. Fun training for owner, a fun game for the dog to figure out... And he gets his meds! Same can be done for all sorts of often unpleasant aspects of dog care, and while most of this isn't optional, giving the dog some autonomy in when and how it happens in situations where that's possible truly strengthens your bond AND increases the dog's confidence. Brisket is still learning that medication comes with the behavior, so seeing him make the choice to opt back in to interact with the syringe is a huge deal!

Feel free to ask questions, and I'll answer to the best of my ability!


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

Thank you, very interesting and instructional. Couple of questions:


what do you mean by the term, "free shaping?"
what are the specific treats you are giving?
I noticed that you gave some occasional hand commands rather than voice commands. Do you prefer one over the other?

I can see this technique being used for many types of desired behavioral responses, for example brushing teeth. I know this technique will work with Ricky if I am patient but persistent.


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## KarMar (Jan 14, 2016)

DogFather said:


> Thank you, very interesting and instructional. Couple of questions:
> 
> 
> what do you mean by the term, "free shaping?"
> ...


In the specific video I linked, I gave no voice commands or hand signals. That's essentially the basis of free shaping - it's dog led training. Without giving verbal cues, luring, using body or environmental pressure, etc, you work with what the dog offers to begin building a behavior by marking what is essentially a step towards the end behavior and rewarding. The clicker is the marker, which tells the dog when they've done what I want and also tells them a treat is coming. It's a behavior - marker - reward progression.

Both of my boys are very accustomed to shaping behaviors with novel objects, which means their first instinct when presented with something new is to interact with it. For a dog NOT used to shaping, beginning to teach the cooperative care behavior of willingly taking medication might begin with just marking for the dog looking at the syringe, then sniffing near it, then making contact with it, then licking it, then taking it in their mouth, then building duration. After the dog becomes proficient at one step, you up your criteria (essentially the thing you are rewarding). You can see a bit of this in my video as I stop rewarding for fast grabs and begin waiting until he offers a longer or deeper hold. Shaping can be used to teach a multitude of behaviors and tricks beyond cooperative care stuff. I'll see if I can remember to take another video of a very simple behavior I have shaped in my dogs tonight!

As for the treats... Tricky Trainers and Pet Botanics


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

KarMar said:


> In the specific video I linked, I gave no voice commands or hand signals. That's essentially the basis of free shaping - it's dog led training. Without giving verbal cues, luring, using body or environmental pressure, etc, you work with what the dog offers to begin building a behavior by marking what is essentially a step towards the end behavior and rewarding. The clicker is the marker, which tells the dog when they've done what I want and also tells them a treat is coming. It's a behavior - marker - reward progression.
> 
> Both of my boys are very accustomed to shaping behaviors with novel objects, which means their first instinct when presented with something new is to interact with it. For a dog NOT used to shaping, beginning to teach the cooperative care behavior of willingly taking medication might begin with just marking for the dog looking at the syringe, then sniffing near it, then making contact with it, then licking it, then taking it in their mouth, then building duration. After the dog becomes proficient at one step, you up your criteria (essentially the thing you are rewarding). You can see a bit of this in my video as I stop rewarding for fast grabs and begin waiting until he offers a longer or deeper hold. Shaping can be used to teach a multitude of behaviors and tricks beyond cooperative care stuff. I'll see if I can remember to take another video of a very simple behavior I have shaped in my dogs tonight!
> 
> As for the treats... Tricky Trainers and Pet Botanics


If you want to see the VERY BEGINNING of free shaping, you will find it, I'm sure, in Panda's Litter thread, as I did free shaping box work with all the puppies at the MOST elemental level... which is "what can you think of to do with a box?" You can also see me doing shaping work in a number of videos in the "Raising Ducky" thread. (you will find that Sophie and I have very similar ideas regarding training!  )

Sophie and I were talking about cooperative care last night and how useful it is! Kodi needs to take an antihistamine every night. I, LITERALLY, HAND him his Zytec, he takes it, swallows it, and then he gets two little cookies. That's it! No struggle, no need to "pill" him. He just takes it and waits for his cookies! 

We also worked REALLY hard on cooperative care with all the puppies on nail trimming. When they left me, they would all sit totally relaxed in my lap and let me trim their nails as they chewed on a bully stick. But I NEVER forced them. Ducky is still that quiet, and no longer needs a bully stick, a cookie at the end is fine.

Here is Ducky at about 6 weeks working on nail trimming.


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

KarMar said:


> In the specific video I linked, I gave no voice commands or hand signals.


I think I misinterpreted your hand movement at 3:10 in the video as a "circle" command (which is similar to my hand, circle command), when Brisket did in fact circle. Upon watching the video again, I think both simultaneous movements were a mere coincidence.


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## KarMar (Jan 14, 2016)

DogFather said:


> I think I misinterpreted your hand movement at 3:10 in the video as a "circle" command (which is similar to my hand, circle command), when Brisket did in fact circle. Upon watching the video again, I think both simultaneous movements were a mere coincidence.


Ah, ok I lied... That time I actually DID give that command. He was checking out a bit, so I did a trick he finds very exciting but knows very well to get him back in focus and excited to work!


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

KarMar said:


> Ah, ok I lied... That time I actually DID give that command. He was checking out a bit, so I did a trick he finds very exciting but knows very well to get him back in focus and excited to work!


Now I find that instructional! At times mine will lose focus during a training session. I hadn't thought about giving him one of his trick commands (he LOVES to do tricks) to get him engaged again. Sometimes when I'm eating something (he LOVES a piece of my plain bagel, sugar cube size) he will stand in front of me and voluntarily do a trick of his choice to entice me to give him a piece - maybe a sit pretty, "OK Popi you didn't like that one, how about this!", then a roll over. "OK Popi, you didn't like THAT one, HOW ABOUT THIS!!!", then a tight circle........by this time I am laughing so hard, I give him a piece of my bagel. This is NOT a good response on my part, but he has me twisted around his little paw! He does a good job of training ME.


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## KarMar (Jan 14, 2016)

DogFather said:


> Now I find that instructional! At times mine will lose focus during a training session. I hadn't thought about giving him one of his trick commands (he LOVES to do tricks) to get him engaged again. Sometimes when I'm eating something (he LOVES a piece of my plain bagel, sugar cube size) he will stand in front of me and voluntarily do a trick of his choice to entice me to give him a piece - maybe a sit pretty, "OK Popi you didn't like that one, how about this!", then a roll over. "OK Popi, you didn't like THAT one, HOW ABOUT THIS!!!", then a tight circle........by this time I am laughing so hard, I give him a piece of my bagel. This is NOT a good response on my part, but he has me twisted around his little paw! He does a good job of training ME.


Believe it or not, that's almost EXACTLY what free shaping is, just on a less formal level! He is offering behaviors, looking for the one you want, and getting the reward when he finds that behavior!

We use the "do a trick to get your dog back" a lot in agility training. It's not uncommon for a green dog to get frustrated when they don't totally understand what's being asked of them, which can cause even the hardest dog to lose confidence. Bringing out a trick they know WELL that's fun for them (usually a spin because it's easy but active) gets them back in the mindset of "Hey, I know that! I'm a smart doggie!"


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

What’s really interesting to me is how similar this is to using positive reinforcement to shape behavior with children! Looking for approximations of appropriate or desired behavior, and strengths that we can build on, and rewarding those instead of rewarding only “perfect,” end-goal behavior. It requires letting go of that human impulse to try to control the behavior or feel in charge, which can be kind of scary and feel like a relinquishment at first, but it’s truly rewarded.

The way you both describe their interactions with novel objects (like the boxes) really clicked with me. It gave me the idea to try and make a point of reinforcing natural curiosity, I think that will be really good for Sundance and i feel like it could generate a lot to build on.


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## KarMar (Jan 14, 2016)

Another thing I wanted to note that I feel is vital to shaping... When watching the video, go to the little sequence that begins around 2:42. At that point I had "upped my criteria", wanting him to hold it in his mouth while he was only offering a quick mouth of the syringe. He offered it twice, I waited for him to offer a behavior that matched my criteria, and he tried something completely different and attempted to offer paw touches. This was good communication on his part that he was frustrated and unsure of what I wanted, so I met him where he was comfortable and did mark and reward the next time he offered that quick mouthing. After I reward, he's ready to offer a longer hold (which I wasn't able to mark in time, so he offered again).

It's fun to watch these training session videos back. Sometimes I kick myself, but I'm pretty happy with my performance this go around. And his, of course!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

EvaE1izabeth said:


> What’s really interesting to me is how similar this is to using positive reinforcement to shape behavior with children! Looking for approximations of appropriate or desired behavior, and strengths that we can build on, and rewarding those instead of rewarding only “perfect,” end-goal behavior. It requires letting go of that human impulse to try to control the behavior or feel in charge, which can be kind of scary and feel like a relinquishment at first, but it’s truly rewarded.
> 
> The way you both describe their interactions with novel objects (like the boxes) really clicked with me. It gave me the idea to try and make a point of reinforcing natural curiosity, I think that will be really good for Sundance and i feel like it could generate a lot to build on.


Exactly! And it’s really fun to see what they come up with! I will alway remember working with Peeps/Parker, about 5 weeks old at the time, with the box. He had been putting his front feet in (click treat) and I was waiting to see what else he would do. Suddenly he stopped dead and just looked at me. I just waited. Then he JUMPED into the box and peed! Not what _I_ had in mind, but good thought, little one! I practically fell over laughing!

Oh, and then I needed to find a new box! LOL!


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