Last week I discussed how clean loops work. If you have not read last week’s post, you can check it out here. To sum up in a couple of sentences, clean loops require a step that both starts and stops the process. In addition to this, disruptions need to be minimized or, if possible, eliminated. However, we all know that disruptions, both small and large, are part of life. Mistakes and interruptions are often unavoidable, at least in some small way. So, what should you do if your clean loops get “dirty”? Today, I will explain how to fix broken loops both in the moment they happen and in the general practice of training.
Broken Loops During Training
Maybe you are great at keeping your loops clean in training. Then one day, you just happened to have an off day and forgot to position your treat bag on the correct side. This mistake causes you to reach for treats on the wrong side, breaking your clean loop as you try to correct your motion. Not to worry, there is something really simple that you can do to help get you and your puppy on track. As soon as you notice the distraction, toss two or three treats away from yourself (if your puppy is not great at sniffing them out, then you can lay them out next to each other in a line so your puppy can clearly see them) and treat the moment like an end of the loop. Next, get everything in the right place and set up correctly, then start over.
This response can also come in handy when a distraction that is not in your control presents itself with no warning. Distractions like this often pop up when people train outside or work on long-duration movement behaviors such as loose leash walking. If you run into a distraction, it could be a squirrel or a misstep that disrupts your path and causes you to get off rhythm, treat your dog with three to five treats in a row, hand feeding while you are moving. Treat this as an end-of-loop moment, then start with a new loop once the distraction is gone.
To get a visual, think of this as a figure eight. Using the example of drawing, let’s say you are drawing loops to be so clean that no one would notice that there was more than one loop (a clean loop), as they would all be the same and consistent, one on top of the other. Now, using the drawing example, imagine you don’t want to completely stop drawing loops, but you need to end your loop series and start a new one. Easy! Just draw a figure eight, then resume your loop drawing in the new location! In dog training, the series of treat deliveries act as the portion of a figure eight where the lines cross in the middle. Once you get to the new loop, just get back in the rhythm and keep going until your designated time to complete your loop is up.
Broken Loop Habit
Clean loops take practice. Many of us have “dirty” loops until someone points out our loops need cleaning up. I have even been told by teachers or colleagues that they spotted a dirty loop in my training, and I welcome the feedback! We are not perfect; we can always improve our loopy training. But there are some great and simple things you can do to help develop the clean loop habit.
First, practice without your dog. This strategy might sound odd, but trust me; it is extremely helpful! I still do this sometimes to brush up on my clean loop skills. Set up your treat pouch and clicker, and get a bowl and some beads. Once everything is in place, click, grab a bead, place the bead into the bowl, then return your treat hand to your thigh. Repeat this over and over again until you run out of beads. Next, get a friend and have them bounce a ball. Each time the ball bounces, click, grab a bead, place the bead in the bowl, and return your hand to your thigh. Repeat this until you have clean loops.
Second, shorten training sessions. This one is often seen as counterproductive, but I can assure you it is not! Especially when you have clean loops. To help you understand how this can help, let me tell you about Louie. If you have read my blog before, you might be familiar with Louie, the big goofy golden I took to dog training school when I got my certification. Well, Louie didn’t live with me, so I had to go to his house to train. Because of this, I often tried to get in a half an hour to an hour of training, with one ten-minute break in the middle. The problem is that it was really hard to end on a good note because Louie would start making tons of mistakes in the second half of the session. Well, during training school, I came across the lesson on shorter training sessions. So, I shortened them. It seemed to help at first. I did about five to ten minutes at a time, but even then, he seemed to be losing his ability to think clearly towards the end of the sessions. My teacher challenged me to do really short training sessions, three minutes or less! I was so concerned that with that little time, we would be unable to complete all the homework. But I tried it anyways. Lo and behold, it worked! As a matter of fact, it worked so well that I started shortening sessions even more! By the time graduation came, I was working Louie for thirty seconds to a minute at a time, with five-to-ten-minute breaks in between! We got all our homework done, and more, and Louie’s training sessions became better and more effective! What I learned was that, as much as Louie loved to work for food, he was overextending himself to earn the reward. As a result, I started giving him rewards outside of training and in training so he wasn’t as motivated to over-extend himself, and I began shortening sessions, ending with play and some chill time together.
Clean loops in training can have a significant impact on success! But I know it is not always possible to have perfectly clean loops. That is okay. Just keep practicing and make your loops as clean and efficient as possible; you and your puppy will benefit from this change! Have you given clean loops a try yet? Let me know how it went in the comments!
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