Luring and Reinforcing in dog training....

I have been slacking lately blogging because I have been spending everyday teaching dog training to students attending our Professional Dog Trainer's School. They are dog savvy people with either knowledge or experience or both. However we are teaching them a lot and they say they are learning a lot!

One of the things I noticed while training, and I see this quite often when working with others, is how many people have difficulty transitioning from luring the dog for behavior vs reinforcing a correct behavior. The basic definition of luring is using some sort of enticement to prompt a behavior. For example - we hold a cookie over the dog's nose and guide the nose/body into sit position. Is luring bad or evil - some will tell you it is and call it bribery. I prefer to think of it as a way to shape or teach the behavior that I want. Getting the dog's body into a place that I want to be. That said, I don't always use luring to train, it depends on what behavior I am trying to get.

The problem with luring is that it is easy to continue to use it, creating a dog that only responds to the prompt in front of his nose. This makes sense, while some dogs will anticipate the action or think you have the lure when you don't, we can't always expect this to be the case.  The problem that I often see is that people lure for too long. They then stop it altogether and wonder why they don't continue to get a correct behavior. They then discount rewarding the dog and start correcting the incorrect behavior.  The goal from the beginning should be to phase the luring out as soon as necessary (this will vary depending on your goals). An important transition, which is often shortcutted, is to phase out the luring and start reinforcing the behavior when it occurs. If you start reinforcing correct behavior or position at a high rate then you can decrease the rate and continue to see the behavior that you want.  Correctly done this can often be done quickly and the dog will stay engaged for a long period of time. However people often, because they have the prompt (food for example) still in their hands, continue to use it as a lure even though there intention is to use it for reinforcement. Been there and done that....

A simple distinction to ask yourself (at least it works for me) is:

am I using the food/toy/treat to create a behavior I want (luring)
or am I using it to reward a behavior I am seeing (reinforcement)

Both have their uses, we just need to clear which one we are doing and why.

Tomorrow I will introduce "TruckStop" the wanna be sitcom dog!!

Habits are hard to break

For the past 10+ years my address has been PO Box 85. Now it is PO Box 574. I have moved a lot. In the past 10 years I have moved 5 times. Never has it been such a challenge to write down my new address. Three months later more than half the time I am writing PO Box 85 Bondville VT 05340. I don't just get the box number wrong, I get the whole thing wrong. Often.

Why? Because the first part, the "PO Box" triggers an automatic behavior. One I write PO Box I stop thinking and muscle memory takes over. I bet if my new address was something like 123 Main Street getting the new address correct would be less of a challenge.

Those who have trained with me, especially people working on changing a behavior in their dogs, have heard the following reminder:

"It is much easier to create a new behavior than it is to get the old behavior to stop."

Whether you are fixing an exercise for competition or trying to change a household manners behavior, it is often more effective if the new behavior is totally incompatible with the old behavior. At least at first. If we can break into that automatic, rote behavior that has been rehearsed over and over again before it starts then we are more likely to change or modify the event. Try to make the exercise or event have a whole new context rather than make it look similar to the old way. Remember that every time the exercise is done wrong the old way is being rehearsed and solidified. This is true often regardless of whether we reinforce the behavior or not.If you are trying to fix something try to arrange things so that the opportunity to rehearse the old behavior is not there.

I however, lacking that option, think I will just get pre-printed address labels. Maybe after a year or so I will have forgotten my old behavior/address. Maybe.....

The advantages of letting the dog teach himself

My being involved in a wide variety of dog training venues - obedience agility police dog training SAR dog training tracking etc etc gives me the opportunity to watch a wide variety of trainers demonstrate and explain techniques. Sometimes I learn something new however most of the time I just learn ways to tweak what I am already doing to make it more effective. A lot of the time however I see stuff that makes me roll my eyes. Most of the time it is because people seem to think that dogs are stupid they are grossly underestimate how little the dog needs their help while learning. This is true for people who utilize negative training methods but, and this is always a surprise to me, it seems to be even more common with positive training methods.  In order for the dog to learn the task needs to be broken down into progressive steps for the dog to learn. However we also have to have patience and shut up and give the dog a chance to figure things out on their own.

One reason for this is that things that the dog self teaches appear to be more "hard wired". I can give a cue and hand guide the dog through an exercise many many times and they will learn. However if I manipulate the environment in some manner so that the dog offers the behavior and I reward it, my training time is much much less. The light bulb just seems to go on faster. The dog also learns to perform independently of me right from the beginning without some body language cue or encouragement or prompting also being necessary in addition to the command. The dog ignores me and just offers the behavior because I have never been a source of help. Or at least not that he would notice - one of my most repeated mantras is "if you are going to help the dog don't get caught helping". In most of my training I don't want the dog to know I have the answer to the problem. If I have made the exercise too hard then I need to make it simpler in a way he does not notice. I do NOT step in a show him or help him, especially while he is still working and trying to solve the puzzle.

This brings up my most important reason for letting the dog self teach:

Because it is more fun for the dog!!

Dogs love puzzles. Not only are they capable of solving complex problems on their own, many of them like to and are pleased with themselves when they do. Of course, just as with people, this varies between individuals but a lot of dogs are never given the chance. With our egos, we think that all the information needs to come from us and don't realize how much problem solving and self teaching the dogs can do in the right environment and with the right motivation.

I took these clips of Steel just prior to moving. I regret that I didn't make more of an effort to get better quality and more detailed video of him doing this - rather than sitting there giggling at him. There was no training involved in this, just me at first leaving his beloved planet earth ball on top of his kennel. Then of course I started putting it there just to watch the show.  The interesting part was not the accomplishment, it was watching him experiment with behaviors and then watch what happened. He quickly learned to push it to the right rather than to the left! Then later on he determined just how far to the right it had to go before he could reach it from the outside.

During the learning process....

"I got this all figured out...."

Why I run....

I run to stay healthy and to manage my weight. Every once in a while I enter a race. To call them "races" is a little bit inaccurate however since to most people a "race" implies trying to run faster than other people. That would never happen in my case. I am a slow and methodical runner. Entering a race just gives me a training focus and an added motivation to get myself out and running regularly. Jill also helps with that.

I saw this on facebook recently and I just about hurt myself laughing. So totally me! Even Jill speeds up a little bit when faster runners pass us. I know she is wishing for a faster partner.

Being the first day of the year I felt obligated to get in a long run today. It didn't hurt that it was beautiful sunny, low 60's with a breeze through the trees while I ran. Lots of people were exercising probably for the same reasons. When I run my mind usually wanders in many directions.  Rarely does my schedule or my to do list enter my head, usually just random thoughts. Being New Year's Day and the first day of 2012 my thoughts were more philosophical today.

This area is relatively flat. Especially compared to Vermont. I always found training program that called for "hill days" as humorous. For a Vermont runner every day is hill day! The bike path that I run has a few places with gradual rolling hills. On the out portion of my out-and-back route I found myself grinding my way up a long hill. On the way up the hill I was wishing I had eaten fewer cookies over Christmas. I was also telling myself how nice it would be when I came back and got to run down that rolling hill.

However on the way back I realized that I had not noticed the easier portion of the run. Then I got to thinking about dog training (what a surprise right?!) and life in general. We notice when life is a struggle and when things are not going right. But during the moments when things are going well we don't notice it and blow right through it, focused on our goal.  I think I am a fair and patient trainer, experience has taught me how much more effective and enjoyable it is to be so. However the scientist in me tends to focus probably too much on a goal and over analyze my dog's performance and especially my own performance. Every year a large group of us that belong to an online dog forum post our dog goals for the year. Usually sports related goals involving getting certain conformation and performance titles with their dogs. There is nothing wrong with that in itself and I also have goals for what I want to accomplish. However more importantly, here are my goals for the year:

To try to do a better job noticing the downhill, easy portions of running, dog training and life. I'll see how I do.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Coping with the environment

I am currently in the process of flying across the eastern half of the country towards New Hampshire. As if any has to ask, of course I hated leaving the dogs in Mississippi! I left a substantial amount of instructions regarding their care and, while I am sure that everything won’t be completely according to my directions and plan, I am sure that they will survive until Tuesday morning. The big question is going to be what will Steel be like with basically FOUR days of not doing anything. It is a scary thought as that has never happened before.  Calix will be fine as he will feel more important than ever, with the weight and entire responsibility of the house resting on his broad german shepherd shoulders. Or maybe it will be relaxing for him; he won’t have to keep track of me for four days. I am sure I am out of site/out of mind to him right now as all of his german shepherding skills appear to be visual – I don’t think my being gone bothers him as much as my coming and going and moving in seemingly random directions.

At any rate, as I was making my way through airports I got to thinking about what a challenging dog I would be right now for a trainer. First of all I don’t fly often; the last time I flew (and left a dog overnight for that matter) was when Dugan and I went to California for SAR training. That was in 2006. So I am not exactly a well seasoned traveler. I can get through the airport, because they are relatively idiot proofed, but I have to think my way through the process.

I am also not a big fan of flying.  I once was in an airplane in a thunderstorm (with a tornado nearby but the pilot didn’t tell us that until he had given up trying to land and diverted to another airport). It is not a disabling fear and I know all the stats, safer than driving etc etc, but if I could get from point A to point B WITHOUT being 35,000 feet off the ground I would be happy.

I am also traveling two days before Christmas. I have never left most of dogs overnight before so it was a project getting that organized. Plus doing last minute baking and then stuffing gifts and food into my suitcase (no way does that baby weigh 50 pounds!). So far things have gone smoothly (wishing I could take that thought back as soon as I wrote it, talk about jinxing yourself) however it is crowded. There are a lot of people. Many “festively” dressed (and I use the term loosely). Lots of people traveling with small children.  And lots of people wandering aimlessly around on their smartphones. The guy in the seat next to me actually called someone TWICE after our plane touched down – once to tell them he was on the ground and then again to tell them that we were at the gate.

So here I am, in an unfamiliar chaotic environment, moderately stressed, slightly nervous and trying to use a barely honed unfamiliar skill set. Hmmmm…I wonder why my mind drifts to dog training? I even arrived in the Chicago airport at lunchtime, not having eaten much for breakfast, and found my stomach turning at all the options at the food court. Good luck trying to reinforce me with food!  I feel perfectly normal, I just feel as though I have less brain cells, like I can't focus. I keep feeling I am going to set something down and forget it, like I did with my boarding pass in the Jackson airport. I had big plans to do some educational reading during the trip and even brought paper to take notes. However my brain could barely manage the reader’s digest I bought in the airport giftshop. I even had to bail on Sudoku, as it seemed to require too much mental effort.

If I were a dog I was training I would be suggesting that the trainer either lower the skill set required so I could be successful in the current environment, or move me further away from the stress/distraction or expect a lower than normal level of performance. I guess we are going to have to settle for the third option which would be my last choice for dog training!

Jill's First Obedience Ribbons

Jilly Bean showing off her ribbons from the weekend:





Introduction to Obedience Competition Part Three

And finally the Sunday results.....

Sunday I did some more experimenting with Steel. Again he is manageable and other than breaking his stay on Friday everything has been solid. However I am still working on bringing out the flashy animated and attentive heeling I know that he is capable of doing. This time I brought him into the building in the morning, let him look around and then put him away for a bit. We were showing earlier so I had about a two plus hour wait.

About an hour before our class started I did some training in a moderately busy area outside (inside would have been better but I didn't really want to push the limits of the "no intensive training at the show" rule!). I asked him for attention (I have a cue word for this) and then did a short sequence of heeling. However I was pretty firm about the glancing and when I lost attention I would say "no" in a neutral tone and with my left hand move his head back into position. Once I got the duration I wanted I would then treat and release him and allow him a few seconds to look at the world (cue word for that as well). What I was trying to do was to make it very black and white when he could and could not break attention on me but I wanted to do it in such a way that I did not diminish his animation and enthusiasm.  I would rather not do this at all than create a "robot" dog or one who looks worried about making a mistake.  This seemed to work pretty well, at first all I got was attention but then his animation and enthusiasm improved as we worked.

I admit that I did not do as much Sunday with Jill, because she had been so good the previous two days. This was a bit of an error on my part, even though she had worked very well she is still very green and needs more foundation work. Which I knew. I had done very little work on teaching her to sit automatically when I stopped during heeling. This is because her heeling training is still progressing and I wanted to get impulsion and drive for the heeling and then add the sit. I felt, with her eagerness to please, that she would be anticipating the sit and it would inhibit her heeling. So for the sake of the trial, during the warmups I did a bunch of automatic sits for food right before going into the ring. Except for Sunday, when I forgot!. She came to a perfect stop both during her heeling pattern and during the figure 8 and looked at me with her usual adoring expression. Qualifying score but no placement for her!

Then it was Steel's turn. This time I didn't do much with him prior to going into the ring. Just a very brief, treat heavy, warmup near his crate and we went straight in. There was an Open class next to mine and they were all filing by for their sits and downs.  Yikes. Perfect "Steel TV". I got him in position for the heeling pattern and gave him his attention cue word and he snapped to attention. Holy crap! He did the heeling pattern almost perfectly. I lost him a bit on the figure 8 and then the rest of the exercises were excellent. He not only qualified but also managed to squeeze out a fourth place in a pretty competitive class.

Overall, taking into account the newness of it all and where we are in our training for this venue, I was pleased with the performance of each dog. I have a long list of what we will work on if we progress further but I met or exceeded all of my goals for the weekend.