"Capturing" takes advantage of the behaviors your dog does naturally.
Capturing a behavior means rewarding a dog's action when it happens without prompting, then pairing a word with that action. This method works wonderfully for basic cues like "sit" and "settle."
First, some good news! Your dog already knows how to sit (and lie down, and come to you, and pay attention to you). If she does it sometimes, when she chooses to, she knows how to do it. She just doesn’t yet know how to do it when you ask her!
The capturing method of training uses these two facts to your advantage: capitalizing on what your dog already knows, so you can focus on teaching her how and why to do it when you request it.
Though there are a number of ways to teach your dog to do a behavior when asked, one of the easiest is by "capturing" that behavior.
How to capture a behavior
Reward the behavior you want (Example: "Sit")
- Get some treats that your dog likes and set up in a quiet area.
- Decide on the behavior you want to teach, such as sit.
- Wait for your dog to sit on her own, and then immediately mark the behavior with the word 'yes' or a click if you’re using clicker training followed by a treat.
- Please do not push, press, or pull on your dog during this training, as that can hurt, scare or intimidate him. Simply wait for your dog to do the behavior, mark it and then reward him.
- Repeat this several times, and your dog should start to repeat the behavior more quickly.
- You are then ready to give the behavior “a name” - usually a word, or hand gesture. This is called the "cue" - it lets your dog know when to perform the behavior, and gives you a way to request the behavior when you’d like your dog to do it!
Give the behavior a name (called a "cue")
- Once your dog is consistently and repeatedly sitting during the training session, say the word "sit" as she is in the action of sitting. Mark the completed behavior with a vocal marker word such as 'yes' or a click and then give her a treat.
- Repeat this several times. Your dog should soon make the association between the word and the action.
- You can then start to say the cue first and wait! When your dog does the behavior, mark it with a clicker or a verbal marker, and give her the reward. If your dog doesn’t do the behavior, she just hasn’t learned yet. Repeat the beginning steps a few more times.
- You can also use hand signals instead of verbal cues if you prefer. Although all dogs learn at a different pace, if you are consistent, observant, and patient, your dog should learn the behavior pretty easily.
