Applying engineering design to dog training

By Margo Bowerman

I've been doing a new type of training with my dog, Orri. Technically, the training activities help with impulse control (you’ll see it called ItsYerChoice or Doggie Zen), but I see it as a problem-solving activity.

Problem-solving activities for dogs allow them to make choices without feedback from the trainer until they make the right choice. Orri is pretty smart, so I was disappointed that as we progressed to more complicated tasks, he couldn’t figure it out. In fact, he stopped trying. As I reflected on that, it reminded me of my work with youth in the 4-H engineering design program. I wondered what I had learned from teaching problem-solving skills to youth that I could use with Orri. In other words, what are the critical elements necessary to teach problem solving?

1. A system

By definition, engineering is a systematic way to design solutions to problems. Our 4-H engineering design programs give youth ways to develop problem-solving skills. We start by piquing their interest and finding ways for them to succeed. Facilitators give an overview of the process of engineering design, present them with a problem and materials to solve the problem. Participants spend most of their time in the engineering design process. Throughout, I ask them questions to make them think critically about their design, like, “What’s working well?” “What isn’t?” “What can you do to make it work better?”

These questions build problem-solving systems in the learner:

1. Learners gain confidence as they apply their own knowledge.
2. They discover that some design components don’t work as well as hoped but can be modified to improve results (productive failure).
3. Learners break down the problem into small problems (subproblems and successive refinements).

2. Feedback

Many times, learners succeed early in the engineering design process but fail later. When they do, I acknowledge it and challenge them to improve by asking “how can you make it better?” Some learners get stuck on a certain feature. By asking them “How can you fix it?” they modify their solutions. This helps them to develop a "mental habit of persistence" and highlights how they are solving the problem.

Feedback can also be just to recognize the work they’re doing to think through these problems. It’s training their brains to problem solve, just as you would train a muscle. Brain plasticity and the ability to process positive information is greater in the adolescent brain.

3. Time

Teaching problem-solving skills takes more time than showing the learner how to solve the problem. It may require breaking a problem into chunks that the learner is capable of solving.

4. Team

Study after study shows that developing problem-solving skills in a group environment not only results in better solutions but in better problem-solving skills for the individuals.

So, how can these elements be applied to developing problem solving skills in my dog, when I don’t have the tool of strategic questioning? This requires me to apply problem solving to my problem-solving teaching!

System: I re-examined the problem from Orri’s point of view. For the first seven years of his training, I had made the choices for him by telling him when he was doing right and when he was doing wrong. So I broke down the complicated tasks into small pieces.

Feedback: The simpler tasks allow me to give him feedback sooner so that he succeeds sooner and sees a benefit to keep trying.

Time: As he finds success sooner, he is willing to keep trying new things. I’m also allowing more time for training on the smaller tasks.

Team: When I get stuck on particular task, I consult other trainers for help.

It was a sad epiphany for me was when I realized that because I hadn't been allowing Orri to make choices, he had been giving up when the activity got complicated. By taking short cuts or completely skipping elements that develop problem solving, I hadn't developed his capacity to keep trying different solutions. The great relief came when I realized if I changed my thinking and way of training, his brain has the plasticity to change. As a result, he has learned a complicated new trick. Success! So you can teach an old dog new tricks. Even me!

-- Margo Bowerman, Extension educator

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