Have you ever seen a dog perform a complicated trick, like finding all of their toys and putting them in their toy box? Have you ever wondered how it is done?
Some people would start at the beginning, by showing the dog a toy and encouraging them to mouth it. They might structure teaching the dog to do the trick in this way:
- Show the dog the toy on the floor.
- Teach the dog to pick it up.
- Teach the dog to hold the toy.
- Teach the dog to carry the toy.
- Teach the dog to drop it in the box.
This is called Forward Chaining in fancy dog trainer lingo, and it’s not a bad way to teach the dog. Each segment of the trick is taught in sections, with each piece a link in the ‘chain’ of actions being taught.
Back chaining is training the last part of the sequence first. You would start with teaching the dog to take the toy directly over the basket. Then to drop the toy into the basket from learning the take. The dog quickly learns drops in the basket are worth snacks, and drops outside the basket aren’t worth much.
When you move the toy a few inches away from the basket, it makes sense for your dog to walk it over to drop it in, and at later stages, to go find it and put it in the basket.
With forward chaining, your dog has no clue the end goal is to get it in the basket, so while they may dutifully perform each task as it is handed to them, they may not be able to predict you want it in the basket and act on their own.
The result is that a dog who is back chained will likely perform the trick faster and learn ‘quicker’. It’s not that one dog is smarter than the other, it’s that one type of training allows them to foresee the end event, while the other leaves them in the dark.
Is Back Chaining the Best Training Method?
Back chaining is a wonderful training method to keep in your arsenal, but it’s not a solution for every training problem. It may not be useful if you don’t know what the end result will be, or for simple, short tricks that don’t require a sequence of events.
If you want to back chain your dog, it’s best to form a plan, figure out what the steps will be, and decide for yourself if back chaining is a sensible solution, or if other training strategies should be used.
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