Day 7 of the 7-Day Mini Course

[Adina P]

Lesson 7 is: Backchaining

Backchaining is an important concept in training so that you can create complex behaviors or behaviors with multiple parts. Examples could be fetching because there are several parts: go to ball, pick up ball, hold ball in mouth while returning and then dropping ball at owner's feet. Sounds simple, but not all dogs do this naturally. It also is how you can train a dog to put away his toys and many other useful things!

I believe LucyR used backchaining and shaping to create this:

Another video where the dog is learning to do a whole routine on the cue of "Bedtime"

THIS one is also really cool!

Backchaining is a technique used a lot in clicker training and helps breaks down complex behaviors into small steps and teaches you how to put the steps together. The full training course goes into greater detail.

Please discuss the concept and your experience as well as questions here.