The Homo sapiens I live with has recently been talking about processes (a set of steps that leads a team towards its goals).
Gunner (and Rosco) knows some pretty awesome life skills, and several very entertaining tricks, and those teaching processes I remember and understand how to teach, probably well enough to explain to at least a fellow earthling, and more importantly, repeat with another dog. The juxtaposition of a new dog into the family against the established dogs has highlighted that Gunner seemingly speaks English, offering behaviors that I want when I want them, apparently without conscience cue on my part. Which is pretty cool, but, how did I get there?
Of course the answer is patience, and time. Repeating and practicing a skill without mistake strengthens and improves the skill, and we know mental practice can create a blueprint in your head that becomes a guide to performing a skill. Take care though, if you’re visualizing a skill incorrectly, your performance will be diminished.
When I drill down into the processes of animal training however, I have to ask what is the process that generates the kind of relationship with an animal that produces flawless communication between animal and handler? In agility jargon, these processes are know as foundation skills. Teaching a dog to touch a target with its nose or paw for example, or teaching a dog to wrap tightly around a jump standard before teaching the dog to jump.
Jackie already knows several helpful behaviors including “wait” before going through a door, “kennel up” to go in her crate, and the “shwshh” noise to send her running. The past day or two I’ve been working with Jackie to establish “sit,” "down," and "wait."
In dressage, with each new horse the training seems to get easier and faster, when in actuality the trainer (by trainer I mean me, the rider) has become more efficient, and thereby more effective. So with Jackie’s clean slate I am experimenting with capturing (waiting for the behavior to happen, then rewarding when it does) basic behaviors more often than luring (putting a cookie on her nose and using it to guide her into the desired position such as sitting).
The thing about training horses is that when I or my coach are with my horses for a couple-few hours daily, I am focused on their training and it is easy for nothing to get by as slack. Then I go away from them. With dogs on the other hand, I am almost constantly with them, and I know training is taking place at all times. But dogs live in my house so any moment I am not on top of the training game can have the potential to be slack.
I’ve captured enough sit behavior to begin putting it on a combined verbal and hand signal. After previously having two completely deaf dogs, I’ve developed the habit of teaching a hand signal as well as a verbal signal, and teach using the signals either together or independently, as the situation requires. This has proven to be a good practice with Rosco since he is now going toward age-related deafness; he already knows our sign language of all his basic obedience and house manners.
(I started teaching my own version of sign language to Prissy after she went deaf, and I even put a hand signal that means “release oxytocin” or, if you were speaking to a person it would mean “I love you.” If Pavlov can put secreting saliva on a cue, I can put secreting oxytocin on a cue.)
Now that “sit” is reliable, prompt, and repeatable, I started today capturing for what will become “down.” I stand next to Jackie, and wait until she lies down then give her marker word “yes!” and then a cookie. As soon as Jackie came into the household I began capturing good potty habits, making eye contact with me while walking, and coming to me.
A solid, reliable-in-the-face-of-distractions recall is a must-have behavior. Gunner’s recall has been tested in the face of some very reinforcing distractions and he still comes. For me one of the biggest distractions can be the independent mind of a Border collie. He’ll recall promptly when the stakes are high and there’s another animal or something I know to be potentially dangerous, but Gunner can be a bit sluggish in his recall if he is just casual-around-the-house.
Can dogs distinguish when “the stakes are high” versus “it’s just a casual day at home?” I would say no, they cannot, yet I admit to allowing this training style because Gunner is such a velcro dog it allows me to cheat. I make every reasonable effort to always reinforce the behaviors I want, and to be intentional at all times with my dogs’ training. I may come to regret the occasional slack in training later at an agility trial, for example. I don’t want a dog robot, so I don’t train that way, but I do value good training and realize the training is always ongoing.
Time will tell what happens when I want to cross over to show-ring agility. Primary reinforcers should be used judiciously, there is a definitive difference between using food in their meal for enrichment and reinforcing desired behavior, versus you only get food and what you need to stay alive if-and-while you work for it. There is a difference between using play or running as a reinforcer, versus your life is a sterile kennel unless you are working for the privilege of doing something enriching like running agility. That style of training may be efficacious, but it’s wrong.
(The reason I know robot-dog is a training style is what my friend refers to as “the Border collie dark web.” There are many good trainers, but there have been the odd dreadful “trainers” unfortunately.)
Video clip of Gunner displaying the classic play bow behavior, and Jackie not exactly sure if she wants to engage. At the end of the clip I use the “shwsh” sound to get Jackie to jump up and run.
Pearls:
- One is always learning, even when it is a skill previously learned, it’s either getting better or not
- Capturing (waiting for a behavior to happen, then rewarding when it does) seems to be producing desired results more rapidly than luring (holding a treat to the dog’s nose then moving it around to get them to move the way you want) has in the past
- A side benefit to capturing vs luring is that I get to spend a lot of time staring into Jackie’s eyes and vice versa, which seems like a good thing to me (benefits of teaching eye contact include giving Jackie a break from looking at something stressful in her environment [she can look at me instead of the stressor], and letting my dog know everything is safe by looking in my face and seeing I am calm)
- Luring is used when it is reasonable and beneficial to do so, and for certain situations like getting a dog onto a new substrate or platform for example; this time around I’m experimenting by beginning with capturing instead of beginning with luring
- Prompt, repeatable, strong behaviors on cue are desirable, but Robot-dog is not; my priority remains having a great relationship with a companion dog
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