Successful dog training all comes down to recognizing and utilizing what your dog values and transferring that value to whatever you want your dog to do. I've got an acronym that covers four questions I ask myself in my own dog training, so I get that transfer of value, and I ask my students to ask themselves for their dog training. The acronym is the very catchy EGTT - Establish, Grow, Transfer and Test the Value!
So, the first question is “I want to establish what's of value for my dog”. So, I'm going to be going at a place of curiosity. Now, dogs come pre-programmed that they like food and water. That's what's a value. But that value will be different depending on a lot of things.
So, let's say you were just playing Frisbee with your dog and it's super hot. Be careful about doing things like that, playing catch with your dog when it's super hot. But your dogs’ tongues hanging out of their mouth and you say, “Hey, how about some dried popcorn?” “No, thank you.” Right then what's a value is a big bowl of water. Okay. So, the first question is I need to find out, evaluate, establish at this moment what's a value? You can't train unless you know what's a value.
Now, our second is the G. And that is the G of the EGTT, the G is we need to now grow what's of value. So, you need to grow that, because if we only use one thing, then we're asking a dog to say, “Oh, I get chicken wieners at home. Why would I listen to you when you're training with chicken wieners at the park where there's a lot of distractions?” So, we need to establish what's of value, and now we need to grow that.
And that leads us to our third question. It's the T, so we've got the EGTT, the T is we need to think of transferring the value.
What should I be transferring the value to now? And it could be something as simple as transferring the value into something super important that could save your dog's life, their name. It doesn't matter what breed of dog you have. It makes no difference whatsoever. It's all about the transfer of value.
So, any of you who have followed the perch work video where we're talking about getting your dog in reinforcement zone and using the perch, you’re transferring value. And now we're going to our second T, the fourth letter in that quick and catchy acronym EGTT, and that is we're going to test the value.
So, we're going to take our dog who we've been building value for Reinforcement Zone with all that perch work and we're going to go out to our front yard and see if our dog can take one step and get rewarded. But the challenge is what happens is people establish what's of value. “Oh, you like hot dogs. All right. We're using hot dogs for the rest of your life.” And then they jump right through to testing the value, “we're going to go for a walk, and I want to see how much you liked the hot dog.”
“Can you stay by my side cause luring you to stay here.” And that's where the conversation goes bad. And that's when people say “This reinforcement based dog training crap, it doesn't really work.” “No, because my dogs are going to choose the deer over the wiener. So, it can't work.” I'm here to tell you it can, and it does work. It works not just for my dogs and my dogs are as driven about chasing deer as anybody's.
It works for anybody who's willing to say “I want that conversation with my dog from a place of neutrality. I want to approach every conversation with my dog from a place of curiosity”. So, we've got that quick and fancy, catchy acronym EGTT. Now, I did say if you need it, we can make it the acronym PLAY because let's face it, that's what dog training, really good effective dog training, is all about, playing with your dog.
Okay. So, here's that fancy quick and catchy acronym with PLAY. And it is: Please establish value, Lengthen or grow the value, Actually transfer the value, and then, You test the value.
PLAY, see how easy acronyms work? It's just a catchy phrase to help you remember those four questions, no matter what stage of training that you're at with your dog.
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