Weekly Tidbits - June 23, 2021
On my mind this week and random things from around the web on dogs, behaviour and training.
We don’t choose the cues
Let me tell you a little story. This week I am working with my younger dog, Ashe. He will be 1 year old in a couple of weeks and we’ve trained with him using Mark & Reward since he was 8 weeks old. Yesterday, I decided that our sessions would be “free shaping” training. By that I mean that I didn’t have any set criteria in mind and would mark and reward anything he offered me.
That might sound like a pretty pointless exercise but stick with me for a minute. This kind of training actually does two things. First, it rewards my dog for creativity. I give him no prompting or luring. I just sit still and wait for him to offer me any kind of behaviour. Then it’s “Yes!” and the treat is delivered. He quickly got into the game and began offering me a sit, a down, a back up - all well known behaviours. I also marked him a few times for head turns.
I guess because he had been napping before our session, he suddenly did a stretch that looks like a “bow” behaviour. “Yes” and reward! As we continued the “bow” behaviour or versions of it were getting included more and more often. After a few more offered behaviours I realized that the “bow” was not random. Ashe was not just throwing it in. So we took a pause for a little play break.
I thought back over the previous few minutes and realized that Ashe was offering the “bow” when I sat with my hands in a particular position. If I sat any other way, he would offer me something else. When we started our session up again, I paid careful attention to how I was holding my hands. Sure enough, Ashe had decided that this one hand position was his cue to offer the bow.
It was a good reminder that we don’t decide what our cues for individual behaviours are going to be, our dog decides. Of course we have a tremendous power to influence that decision and we’re successful most of the time. But this session with Ashe was a good reminder that our dogs are always looking for connections. They watch for signs and signals all the time so they can understand how the world works. Our cues are just one piece of that but we should pay attention to what our dog is deciding. Sometimes there are extras we don’t expect.
To continue with my little training story, once I realized that Ashe had decided on a cue for his “bow” behaviour, I thought it would be a good time to add a verbal cue. There is a process for doing this. If I held my hands a certain way, Ashe would bow. If I started to say “bow” as I put my hands in that position, Ashe would eventually notice that the sound I was making was also connected to the bow behaviour and his reward. The next step was to say “bow” and not put my hands in the cue position to see if he would respond to just the verbal cue “bow.” That took a few more repetitions but we got there.
The lesson here is to pay attention to the dog. Noticing that Ashe found my hand position to be a signal to offer a bow gave me a starting point to teach a new behaviour that Ashe didn’t know yet. But there is a flip side to this too. Many times we will do something out of habit along with a verbal cue and that becomes part of the behaviour. Don’t believe me? Next time you are with a friends dog (or try it with your own dog), with your hand in front of you, bend at the waist towards your dog. Most dogs will sit when you do this. Why? Because people bend at the waist as they say sit to deliver a cookie or pet the dog as a reward. It’s not intended as a cue but in most cases it’s there!
Now back to that second benefit from this “free shaping” training session. The rewards come fast! Remember, I’m marking and rewarding virtually anything Ashe is offering me. That means his reinforcement rate is way up there - he’s probably earning 25 or 30 treats each minute (Note: before you freak out, we cut our treats really small for these sessions, about the size of a pea). For Ashe, that means two things - the rewards are easy to earn and they happen as fast as he can offer me a behaviour.
So these “free shaping” sessions are very motivating for my dogs. They are fun, fast, and full of rewards. The great side benefit is that, if you are observant, you can teach a new behaviour or even sharpen up known behaviours. There is a real benefit to working quickly with your dog as I talked about in a previous TidBits segment - Quickly Quickly Teachy Doggy (just scroll down a bit). There is also value in practicing my training mechanics and these sessions are also great for that!
How you deliver your rewards matters!
This week I came across this great video by trainer Michelle Pouliot. Michelle worked with Guide Dogs for the Blind for over 40 years, is an avid dog sports competitor, and has particularly distinguished herself in Musical Freestyle. If you haven’t seen Michelle’s work, you are missing out on a real treat!
In this video, Michelle discusses the importance of how we deliver our rewards while training our dogs. Treat delivery can be used in several ways to assist our dogs to learn more effectively as well as to avoid or correct problems with placement. The video is just over 7 minutes but contains a wealth of great ideas to get you thinking about how and where you pay your dog while teaching.
Responsibility
Training our dogs is as much a responsibility as it is a necessity. To be sure, not everyone will have the same set of requirements for their dog. Not every dog must learn to heel. Not every dog must stay off of the furniture. Not every dog must be capable of competing successfully in dog sports or competitions. But every family dogs and farm dogs have a need for development and mental stimulation. Author and veterinarian Dr. Michael Fox puts this into context in this important quote
Understanding your dog and knowing how to control him, develop his potentials, and resolve behavior problems, emotional conflicts and frustrations are no less essential than love and respect.
- Dr. Michael W. Fox, DVM
It’s not just about getting what we want from our dogs. It is also about giving our dogs what they need to be happy, healthy, and successful members of our family.
Have a great week and have fun with your dogs!