This will be a quick post but I wanted to answer some questions and respond to a few comments that I've received about treating during training. To start, if you listen to the video I posted of Marley laying down, you can faintly hear the sound of the clicker I use, called the "bridge", as it bridges the behavior and the reward. Marley knows that if he hears that sound, he has done something correctly. Immediately after I bridge a few times, Marley starts nickering, a lot! He knows he is going to get rewarded, but there is also something else going on here.
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| Photo by Katherine Payne Photography |
I do not treat every time I train. I use random interrupted reinforcement, which means that Marley never knows if he is going to get a small amount of grain, his favorite carrots, or a pat and "good boy". He also never knows the amount of reward, as I vary it. This keeps Marley from
expecting a reward, or only wanting to work for larger rewards. It is the same system used for gambling, if you sit at a slot machine you never know what you'll get, how much you'll win, or when you will win. This keeps people sitting for hours, because when you do win, even a little bit, it is rewarding and you want to stay for more. In this particular video I have given Marley a "bingo" or "jackpot" reward. This is especially effective when training a new behavior, which Marley's "lay down" is. I essentially gave him everything I had in my pouch for laying down, letting me sit on him, and then staying down until I asked him to stand up. Marley usually nickers a lot, but the reason Marley continues to nicker and look back at me in this video for rewards is because I continue to reward my entire allotment of grain and carrots for that particular session. He is not expecting a reward until he knows he is getting one, which is marked by the bridge. I end the session here because I want that to be the last thing Marley remembers about training that day.
One more thing, I do not feed cookies as a reward. I use his daily ration of grain spread out over the day, and I'll add some carrots into the mix to give him occasionally to keep him interested. Many times, especially in dog training, trainers will treat a behavior every time. I have found though that the random reinforcement schedules we used with the dolphins is much more effective, fun for the animal, and you will generally keep their attention for a longer period of time..
When I said that thing about the cookies/grain/carrots/treats I was joking. It was just cute how he knew that he had done something good. Don't take offence.
ReplyDeleteSome people call grain used as a reward, and carrots 'cookies'. That might be why some people said that you were feeding him cookies. Either way, you are doing a great job Lauren!
ReplyDeleteI have a clicker question... My dog Fred is 3, I want to introduce clicker traing to him and attempt to teach him tricks that are a little more complex. I have gone as far as buying the clicker...I have clicker block. What I have seen so far for "introducing " the clicker is wait until I get see the desired behavior, lets say, "sit" without acutally saying "sit" just wait for him to sit then click then treat. My problem is Fred goes through his whole reprotoire sit, laydown, shake, otherhand, laydown again etc.. and gets himself so worked up we both end up getting frustrated before I can even catch him in the "act" without saying what act I want, this doesn't sound right to me. So bottom line, how would you suggest I introduce the clicker to Fred? He is eager to please and seems to be very "food motivated", I just want to start off on the right foot here and appreciate your feed back. No rush, I know you're getting ready to go out of town, if you want you can just e-mail me at mhauser0817 at comcast dot net. When you have time.
ReplyDeleteSuper informative! Reading about the progress you've made with Marley and his clicker training, and also the experience you've had clicker training dolphins has encouraged me to attempt to begin clicker training (and random interrupted reinforcement) with my cat. I'll let you know how it goes. x)
ReplyDeleteVery informative and full of good points. I love the way you think.
ReplyDeleteI wish more people praised and petted and rewarded their horses. I am always yelling at students "PAT HIM _ NOW!!!" So many riders nag and spur and pull when the horse is wrong and never mention anything to him when he does it right. You create an animal that works to avoid punishment and not one bit more. This is a personal rant of mine!
ReplyDeleteAnd as for dogs - I trained professionally for 35 years, working dogs and competition dogs and I have seen hundreds of pros train and most use treats sparingly. Dogs trained with a stream of treats behave like trained seals. Most dogs work hard for a pat, the treats are for the really difficult stuff.
I think you are doing an awesome job with Marley, his trust in you is outstanding.
Excellent! You are doing such a fantastic job. I think it is obvious that the emotional rewards are more important to Marley. Your relationship has never appeared to be treat based to me. :)
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