FE165 Magic Mats: Where to be, When to go, and What to do
Welcome to the cool world of placement props!
Course Details
Do you wish your dogs could be polite when you eat dinner? Do you want your dogs to enjoy taking turns in training? Are you interested in TEAM Foundations skills? This is perfect!
In this class we'll use mats, platforms, targets, and stations of various kinds. You'll be able to find, buy, or make placement props sized for your own dog. Even plastic shelving can become a platform, and even a canvas chair can be a station. It just depends what you want your dog to do with it.
First, we'll work with your chosen props to create attraction for them. Then we'll build value for assuming certain positions on them. We'll use shaping techniques and we'll play games designed to get behaviors without fuss or stress.
Learn all about my favorite ways to teach tricky stuff. Simple things like patience in front of company. Complex things like "Go over there and do the thing I taught you on that prop, then come here and put yourself on this prop just so and look up at me with your cute face." Hard things like hurry up and wait. Frustrating things like "Wait here while all the fun things happen in front of you." And cool stuff like "Ready? It's your turn to GO!"
There are NO prerequisites for the class, but please check out the ideas for stations which I posted in the Prerequisites & Supplies tab.
This class makes difficult concepts feel easy and fun, all with the use of placement props.
Teaching Approach:
This class is largely hands-on training with practice and coaching. There will also be critical thinking about how to use stations along with back-up information about what different stationing procedures do for the dog's mind. There will be a lecture released on the first day of each week, and supplemental lectures released during the week. The foundations of the first week are very important even if your dog "already knows how" to station! See the sample lecture for more info and videos on how I build magnetized stationing. If you start from the beginning you'll get the most from this course.
Syllabus
MAGIC MATS - Where to Be, When to Go, and What to Do
WEEK 1
- Magic Mat Steps 1 and 2
- Taking Turns Step 1 - One Dog
- Attraction to Stations
- Stand Platforms for Front and Side
- Orientation and Reorientation - Quick and Clean
- Creating 4-Way Practice Quadrants for Fluency
WEEK 2
- Magic Mat Step 3, the most important concept
- Taking Turns with Two Dogs
- Sit Targets for Front and Side
- Intro to Stationing
- Reward Delivery Cues and Practice Drills
- Learning when to GO!
WEEK 3
- Magic Mat Step 4
- Taking Turns with Cookie Bowl
- Front Feet on Target
- The Many Faces of Perch
- Station Duration
- How to Use VI Reinforcement Schedules
WEEK 4
- Using Mats in Other Training
- Taking Turns on Stations
- Rear Feet on Target
- Using Momentum Wisely
- Getting Stillness!
- 4-Way Fluency Practice on the Road
WEEK 5
- Boundary Training
- Taking Turns in Sports Training
- Send to Target
- Backing Up Cleanly
- How to Express Energy on Stations
- Limbic Reactions are FAST!
WEEK 6
- Combining Platforms and Perches
- Backing Up to Stations
- Cone Games and Fly
- Zen Keeper for Duration
- Two Dogs and Two Stations
- Eager Patience - Keeping the Balance
Prerequisites & Supplies
Sample Lecture
ATTRACTION to 4-PAW PLACEMENT PROPS, by Julie Daniels
Who Uses Stations?
Once your pet learns the value of requesting work or attention by reporting to a station, your life will never be the same. Check out my cat Chime asking for some loving. He was trained to use his cat scratcher pad by being rewarded with praise and attention. That consistent pattern saved the furniture, and it also taught Chime how to train his humans. So nowadays, when the household is busy but Chime wants attention, he is likely to take up a station on his scratch pad in hopes of drawing attention to himself. This behavior has become stronger and stronger. Why? Because it works! We are quite well trained to pay attention to him when we see him patiently waiting on his station.
Chime Using Station for Attention
And what about training for husbandry requirements? Stations to the rescue. What might have been a difficulty or a chore becomes a dog's choice game. Here is Koolaid reporting for a nail trim.
Koolaid Reporting for Nail Trim on Ottoman Station
What about the 'settle' factor? Can a 4-paw placement prop be used to teach patience in daily life? Well, Zhora staying chill on her comfy bed would be a very boring video, so here's a still shot of that. Mat work is the key to station work.
Zhora duration down on mat
A station can be used as a place to settle and wait during work sessions as well. Here is Tiffany waiting her turn on a placement prop made from a wooden pallet. It has yoga mat padding and a well-defined mesh bed piece on top.
Tiffany chill on station
STATIONS in SPORTS TRAINING
There is no finer use of 4-paw placement props than to add them to your dog sport. Precision behaviors benefit immensely from the use of placement props!
Stations can also help your dog love going from chill to GO! Some dogs prefer the "chill" part and others prefer the "GO" part, but all dogs benefit toward the middle ground of "hurry up and wait."
Station work is a wonderful way to help your dog learn when to wait and when to GO! Placement props help all dogs find the fun in both waiting and going on cue. Waiting BY CHOICE builds anticipation, and that means value for when to GO.
Here is Koolaid practicing her tuck sit. I'll be using her mat as a familiar station and a piece of yoga mat prop as a brand new sit target. This is a first session video. Familiar station (mat work), familiar task (tuck sit), but a brand new placement prop. Therefore the first step is Attraction for Placement Prop. The first step is NOT the final behavior of tuck sit on the new prop! Watch carefully and see if you agree with how I use both props and the clicker to begin the process of building a beautiful tuck sit in front position on this little piece of yoga mat.
Koolaid Mat to Sit Target
CRATE TRAINING as STATION TRAINING
Now I will kill you with cuteness. Even little babies love station training. Want to make sure your puppy loves to be in a crate? Here's one fun idea using an experienced dog and a Treat and Train. An open crate can be just another station!
Tiana Crate Training with Big Sister and Treat N Train
ALL AGES and SIZES!
Here is Tiana, barely 4 months old and under 10 pounds, learning Attraction for a placement prop. This one is made from plastic shelving with a piece of yoga mat glued on top.
Tiana's reinforcement cookies are coming from the now-beloved Treat and Train. This time it is placed on the counter above her. Notice that I do not activate the Treat and Train when she is staring up at it. It is attraction for the prop that I want to reinforce.
Tiana Attraction to Placement Prop
I cannot think of any dog or any trainer who could not benefit from all sorts of Placement Props. We have games with one paw, two paws, and four paws. We have all sorts of props and all sorts of ways to use them. Your own ideas and problems are welcome here. We will put our heads together and build general concepts that pave the way for precision behaviors. Get ready for a very useful class, with lots of ideas and lots of help as you begin or advance your goals in the wise and wonderful world of MAGIC MAT!
Julie Daniels
Deerfield, NH
Instructor
Julie Daniels
Faculty
Julie Daniels (she/her) won her first award for writing in the fourth grade, and she was training dogs long before that. Today Julie Daniels is one of the foremost names in dog agility in the United States. She was one of the early champions of the sport and helped many clubs throughout the country...