The Release and Levels of Control

What gear is your dog in?

Levels of control

“Gears” represent different levels of control.
This is the idea that rather than there being “training” versus “nothing”, with training being focussed on formal control, there can be several levels of control. The most important are formal, informal and autopilot.

The average pet owner does not care whether their dog executes perfect right about turns and sits perfectly straight. Nor does he or she care whether daylight can be seen when the dog is lying down.  “Spit and polish” is not required in order to walk to the milk bar.  Walking on a loose lead, lying own in a settled way, coming when called and having good social manners at home and in the community are the aims of most pet owners coming to training.  So-called “informal control” can be taught for everyday practical purposes. If people are interested in further training, for competition or for further challenge, a formal level of control can be introduced. Precision and smartness are required at the formal level.  For special performances, you can use “Turbo level”. The dog can also spend time “being a dog” on the “autopilot” level of control. Let’s look at what these entail.

 “Autopilot”

There are times when you allow your dog to just be a dog - for example, when you let the dog run and sniff in the park. However, there are boundaries to autopilot. Points to remember here are:
•    give your dog a release from informal control to autopilot (such as “off you go”)
•    don’t forget about your dog and let him self-select autopilot wander off when you thought you were training
•    use autopilot as a reward for something your dog has done when under your control e.g.come and sit, then release to play; walk without pulling, then release to go and have a sniff
•    autopilot does not mean chaos - your dog should not do anything antisocial, like attacking a person or another dog, and should always come back when you call
You can see then that autopilot does not just mean “no control”. A dog can be running around in the park, sniffing the ground and peeing on trees, but is still required to come when called (or come back into informal control gear) and not to be antisocial. What a difference this would make to dog parks if all dogs followed these rules!

Informal control

Use informal commands for everyday purposes, where effective control is the main aim. Most formal commands can have an informal counterpart. Useful informal commands are:
•    “let’s go” (for relaxed walking on the lead rather than the formal “heel”);
•    “come here” which should include the elements of come, sit and allow the collar to be handled and the leash attached; compared to the formal recall “Dogmatix, come” which includes sitting straight in front of you, and usually finishing to heel.
•    “go and lie down” (more relaxed than the formal “drop”) for use at home;
•    “settle down” (similar to go and lie down, but can be used anywhere e.g. sit or lie down if we meet someone in the street and stop to talk); this is laying a foundation for the stay, as you are rewarding and shaping lack of movement;
•    “wait” (meaning don’t leap out until I say so) or “you wait there” meaning don’t follow me or whinge when I leave you, but you are allowed to move a bit , and you can get up when I return, without being formally released - both are preferable to the formal “stay” for use around the home. 
You don’t need your dog to heel all the way to the milk bar maintaining perfect precision and attentiveness all the way and stop on a sixpence when you get there. A relaxed walk on a loose lead will suffice. If you want your dog to heel attentively during formal training, don’t use it for something else. Practical, everyday use of formal commands such as stay or heel will erode your dog’s performance of the formal exercise. The trouble is, conventional dog training only teaches formal commands. To go to the milk bar you have a choice of formal or nothing. You need to teach your dog relaxed walking, and give this action a different command such as “let’s go”. This functions as a cue to put your dog into the informal level of control.
Although the informal level is more relaxed - spit and polish, speed and precision are not required - a relaxed action does not mean the dog can ignore you. Your dog should be reliable but in a relaxed way that is appropriate for the social setting.
At the informal level, teach your dog to “settle down”, “let’s go”, “come here” and follow me.
This is of paramount importance for general social behaviour and establishing leadership.

Formal level of control

The formal commands are the ones we think of as constituting traditional “obedience training”. Formal commands should not be taught until you have the informal ones under control. Formalising allows you to polish the dog’s response, introduce and shape the non-essential elements such as straight sits, finishes etc. It also allows you to modify signals -introducing sharp, precise hand signals, working on attentiveness and precision.
At the formal level of control, we require a prompt response to basic commands such as “sit”, “drop”, “stand”, “stay” and “come”. This is all behaviour that normally doesn’t have to be shaped - it is in the dog’s natural repertoire. However, the formal aspects, especially speed, precision and accuracy can be shaped. The formal level of control should communicate to your dog “pay attention, do it and do it now, I really mean it”. Reliability and alacrity of response are, to my mind, the essentials elements of the formal level of control. The ornamental elements of precise position usually follow as a result of attentiveness and some selective rewarding. It is important that the intensity of the formal gear should be achieved by motivational means, in other words, coupling the actions with highly motivating rewards.
Formal gear is not only used for trialling. It can be a good thing to have in your kitbag for several reasons.
It provides a “bottom line” so that informal cues are not too relaxed. For example, “go and lie down” (informal) allows your dog to walk across the room, turn around three times and eventually settle ... however, having a quick “drop” (formal level) can help prevent the informal behaviour being eroded to nothing.
It can also be used for short bursts when more precision and attentiveness is needed. For example, walk on a loose lead to the shops (informal control) and change up to formal control (“close” - formal gear) to go past a group of pedestrians, then release back to informal control when you leave the shops.

“Turbo” level

The Turbo level of control is used for a final performance - for exaple if you are competing in obedience trials. It must be highly motivational. Taking your dog through different levels is like changing gears.  You want the dog to be relaxed coming up to the exercise, liven up, do the exercise at full throttle and then release the dog to a lower level. This gives the dog energy for competition or performance level. No-one can work at 100% performance level all the time. If you want that level from your dog, you have to communicate that “this is it”.
If you use “heel” as a control command, or worse, as a reprimand (to stop the dog from pulling, or bring the dog back to you) you downgrade the command. You can use a formal “by my side”, then change up to Turbo level, do the exercise, then change down.

The release

The Release is based on the idea that for every control command, there is a cue that releases the dog from it. So for a “sit” there is “up you get”, for “come here” there is “off you go” and so on.
I suggest using variations of “The Release” not only to release the dog from a specific command, but to “change gears” from one level of control to another.  This becomes part of the strategy of having your dog under control for practical purposes, without denying the dog’s opportunity to “be a dog”.

It also safeguards formal commands from being eroded in everyday life. For example “you wait there” as you walk to the letter box is different to “stay” when you are competing in the obedience ring. Most formal commands have informal counterparts.  When you are in the park, you and your kids can say “come on, Flipsy, this way ...” without unravelling your dog’s response to “Flipper, Come” as a formal recall.

How to get your dog into gear

The dog can be “cued in” to the command level by various conditioned signals. One such signal is the dog’s name. The dog’s name should have a meaning. At the informal level, it is something like “hey you”, at the formal level it is “pay attention I am about to tell you something important”, and at the turbo level, it means “psyche yourself up, we are about to do a burst at 100% capacity”. It is wise, if you want to achieve performance standard from your dog, or even reliable formal responses, to have another name to use when you are talking about your dog.  This is merely an example of the principle that you should not use commands when you don’t mean them. Don’t say “You’ll never guess what Fido did today” if you want “Fido” to be your dog’s cue to look at you and attend to your next command, or psyche up to peak performance.

When you are working, a command or signal out of the blue may by missed by your dog. You can use various devices to “cue the dog in”. This means telling your dog that something is coming up, get ready for it. It can be a gear change to another level of control, or anticipating an action.

1. Use your dog’s name

You can have several names for your dog - a pet name (“c’mere Smoochy-poochy, time for walkies”), a formal name (“Smoocher, come”) and a competition name (“Zapper, front”). Always release your dog to informal control after a formal exercise (“All right, Smooch, relax.”) This is not a release to “autopilot”, just to informal control. Then back to formal (“Smoocher, come. Are you ready? Zapper heel.”).

2. Cue your dog in with body language, but be careful that your dog does not depend on one handler posture to work. This frequently happens in  formal training. At the informal level of control it is important for your dog to respond to a variety of casual body postures, not just “training posture”.

3. The vocabulary of the commands themselves become a cue to a formal or informal attitude.

4. Use the levels of control - e.g. vary between go sniff, relaxed walk and heel.

5. Don’t forget to tell your dog when a training session is starting and finishing.

What the release should mean

“The release” is a way of letting your dog know that a command is no longer in force. In the case of a Long Down, the dog can now get up. After coming when called, the dog is free to go - not just automatically released, but given freedom on cue. A control exercise such as come, sit, lie down or stay should have a start, a middle and an end. Commands therefore apply until the dog is released or given the next command.
For example “sit” should not mean “touch down and take off again”. I teach “sit” in three stages:
1.    go into the sit position
2.    go on sitting for longer
3.    don’t get up until released
Usually a dog is released either:
•    from a command, e.g. from a sit or lie down ( “up you get”), from a recall (“off you go”), or
•    from one level of control to another, e.g. from a formal exercise (e.g. “heel”) to informal control (e.g. relax and lie down).

What it means to traditional dog trainers

Conventional dog training neglects the release. People often give the dog a command, then then leave the dog hanging - the dog sits for a while, is not praised or acknowledged, then eventually wanders off. There is no noticable consequence of the dog’s action and no real end to the exercise.

The release should not be confused with the traditional formal obedience “end of exercise”. The effect of this can be that the dog is browbeaten and corrected (or anticipates correction) - or is just plain bored - during the exercise, but is razzed up with a mixture of joy and relief after it is all over.

What message does “end of exercise” give to the dog? That training is unpleasant, and all the good stuff happens afterwards. By contrast, the motivational release means the “good stuff” happens within the training session, not when it’s all over.

Release words

People tend to release their dog with casual words such as “OK”. The disadvantage of this is that you tend to say “OK” a lot in everyday life, so it’s value as a signal to your dog gets eroded. The release should be special word or phrase. It will become very important to your dog because release from control can be rewarding in its own right.

I used to take classes in the middle of an oval, while my two German Shepherds, River and Vally, lay down on the sidelines, apparently asleep. However, they were tuned in to release cues. So when I started to say “well, let’s leave it at that for today ...” they would be up and thundering towards me. I had to keep changing what I said, but they always picked up on “end of lesson” cues.

The opportunity to seek out rewarding activities

The release can be a way of giving “environmental rewards” to your dog on cue. For example, if your dog comes to you when called, you can use praise, food or play as a reward. However the release means “here is the opportunity to go and do your favourite thing” - such as sniffing the ground on the other side of the park, rolling in something foul, jumping into the creek, going back to play with another dog, or simply running around. These are “jackpot rewards”. It’s interesting to reflect though, that in the case of River and Vally, described above, their release cue allowed them to come to me, not go away from me.

Types of release

There are many kinds of release, and these should reflect the level of control as well as specific commands.
A simple release can mean that a control command is over - the dog that was asked to sit or lie down may now get up, but remains under informal control. So when you are practicing down, you can release your dog to get up, but this does not mean she is released from the training session.

A different release word can be used to release the dog from informal control to “autopilot”, meaning go off and be a dog, run around, have a sniff,  pee on trees and so on. “Autopilot” means in effect, do what you like, as long as you stay in sight, don’t do anything antisocial, and come back when you’re called”.
Permission to eat is a specific release which should have a word of its own - such as “take it”.  “OK” is too general, especially if you mean “OK, you can run around in the park, but don’t eat the chicken leftovers on the ground.”

For example, as part of the heel exercise, you can use various forms of release.

1. Release on lead.

After heeling your dog and maintaining a short burst of high attentiveness, with a upbeat “off you go”, sprint  forward a few steps then relax your dog. This is a good tension reliever after close heeling, especially when working in a group. It is used to provide a break in between blocks of heeling. Note this is a release from formal heeling to informal control, not a release to go and play.

2. Motivational release.

The “motivational release” is a special form of release in which the dog is motivated to work by means of controlled play used as a reward. It is very upbeat and energising, giving your dog the motivation to continue responding to you with great attentiveness and enthusiasm.

The intense concentration of the heel exercise takes the form of coiled up energy, a build up of tension leading to an anticipated reward. 

The ordinary rewards used to reinforce the dog for heeling are praise and food. Food is used primarily to teach the dog correct position. Praise is used to lift the dog’s mood a little and give occasional feedback in between food rewards.

The motivational release usually involves the use of a toy. The motivational release is a form of reward, which reinforces the dog for concentrating during the heel exercise and gives an outlet for the build up of tension.

I would normally use a sprint forward for a few steps and whip out a tug toy, initiating a tug game. The advantage of this is that is keeps the dog with you, unlike a game of fetch. Make the game brief and as upbeat as possible, followed by a quick “off”, and go back into formal heeling. Some of the motivation your dog gains from the tug game will be incorporated into the heel exercise as a result of this type of reinforcement.

The main points about the motivational release are:

1. it is a very high level of reinforcement, and
2. it is given within the exercise, not at the end of it.

The other point I would make is that in motivational training you should use a variety of rewards. At the informal level, much use of made of every day life rewards. In formal training you should pay attention to the ratio between various rewards - so for example, in a formal exercise, depending on the dog’s preferences, I would use the motivational release sparingly, use several food rewards for every motivational release, and praise in between food rewards. This reflects the value of the various rewards for the dog. Of course individual dogs will vary in their references. Use the high level motivational release less often than other rewards.

3. Boring release to informal control (relax) at the end of the exercise.

At the end of an exercise or burst of formal training, release your dog in a low key way. You want the dog’s motivation to come from within training, not when it’s all over. So in contrast to the motivational release, the end of exercise release is a boring release to go and lie down doing nothing in particular.

Uses of the release

One way to give your dog rewards that are not under your immediate control is to use The Release to give your dog access to the potential reward, i.e. to give your dog the opportunity to do what he will find rewarding. It’s interesting that when released my dogs chose to come to me, but generally when I did this  exercise with a client, their dog would choose to go to the other dogs. It’s up to the dog to choose. If you are using every day life rewards (such as a run in the park), you need a release cue, which allows you to turn a distraction into a reward. The Release allows you to reinforce your dog for coming when called.
You can’t put the park in your pocket but you can have the same effect by releasing your dog on cue.