To click or not to click?
March 31st 2011
I’m fairly new to the whole concept of dog training with only about 3 years worth of experience under my belt so by no means am I an expert but I grasp concepts fairly well. I started my dog training experience with Progressive Traditional methods. Eventually, I ended up adopting some positive reinforcement concepts and even using the clicker.
Now I’ll be the first to tell you, I hate a dog clicker. That is the single most obnoxious noise on the face of the planet. I cannot tell you how much I loathe that sound. Its high-pitched, screech and thud makes me nuts. How dogs handle it, I don’t know. I have one. Just one, clicker in my entire house and it stays locked away 99.9% of the time. That is not to say I think they are ineffective. They work extremely well and I have used a clicker. Only once though.
Why? To shape a minute and detailed behavior. Simply put, I wanted Eko to “bow” on command. So out came the clicker.
This is just an example of what it looked like. In the early stages, my clicking was more appropriate and better synchronized with her movements. This video was for demonstration purposes as she already knows the behavior.
While training this particular behavior, I used more luring than free shaping. The behavior is such a specific one that I wanted to direct her to the exact position I wanted her in. For other behaviors, I used free shaping rather than lure or clicker.
As in the example below, I wanted to place a remarkably high value on the disc. Eko is a low-medium drive dog with the game so I wanted to make the disc as high value as possible. So I free shaped a retrieval.
Once again, the video above is just an example of the end product. How did I go about doing this? Simple. I placed a single disc on the floor and any time she sniffed, pawed, looked at the disc, I marked and rewarded. Then, as the game progressed, I raised the criteria and wanted her to pick the disc up and eventually place it in my hand. I didn’t use a clicker here, simply a verbal “yes” marker. I like to use a positive marker as opposed to a clicker because it leaves my hands free to heavily reward a behavior and keeps me from constantly digging into my cookie bag. This takes focus off the bag and places it on the behavior and on to me. When Eko does this behavior, I don’t want her to think that the bag is the source of the cookies, while it is, I’m the one in control of the reward and not the bag. So, in short, don’t do the behavior simply because I have the cookie bag, do the behavior because I’m your source of reward. The cookie bag is obsolete.
Now comes the idea of lure training. Again, the behavior dictates the form of training I choose. If its a mundane, simple behavior I’m looking for, free shaping is my preferred method. If I’m looking for a behavior that requires a little more skill and proper timing, I tend to go with luring.
An example of this behavior is the concept of “roll over.” I want to add a roll behavior into Brick’s repertoire as an additional trick for possible use in a disc routine. Even if this behavior is never utilized in that context, it can still be used as a focus exercise because he will be looking to me for direction.
This was only our second attempt at this behavior. The only time he got a heavy reward was when he completed the behavior I was leading him through. If he rolled out of it early and in the wrong direction, no reward. I didn’t want a half ass effort. I wanted the full roll. There were inconsistencies in my marking the behavior as I didn’t constantly mark when he would turn his head towards his hips. I did a few times, but not enough to fully engrain the behavior into him. He’s a cattle dog and with their level of intelligence, this behavior should only take a handful of sessions before he completely gets the concept.
Where should I have marked? In the initial learning stages of the behavior, I should be marking when his head reaches his hip, when he is on his back, and when he completes the behavior. The reason for this is to tell him that where he is at in that particular stage of the behavior is correct. It will build his confidence in the behavior and add to the speed in which he is learning the behavior.
In conclusion, there are multiple methods of training and no one method is appropriate for each individual dog or behavior. I’ve used many of the most popular and it breaks down to 3 things:
• What kind of emotion do you want portrayed to the dog (positive, negative, neutral, etc.)
• Where do you intend to use the behavior and for what reason (disc routine, musical freestyle, daily behavior, etc.)
• How much time do you have to dedicate to training the behavior
These may seem like common sense things but look at it like this, praise/correction training may not work for a game like disc where its all about FUN, where as positive reinforcement may not work for a dog that is highly reactive. Seek out the appropriate training technique for the behavior you’re trying to mold.
