Been working on some tricks this week - here is Pratchett learning to crawl (using a target wand to lure the weight shift)
What is the difference between Reinforcement and a Reinforcement Strategy?
Reinforcement is using something your dog enjoys as a reward to build a behaviour. For example, if you sit I will give you a cookie.
When we talk about a reinforcement strategy, it could still mean sit to get a cookie. But it often also means that you have considered things like what treat is most likely to produce a good sit, is that treat enough of a reward for that behaviour in the environment I am in, where/how will I deliver that treat, etc.
Reinforcement strategies often take into account not just the behaviour you are seeking, but also the antecedents and contexts surrounding our request, as well as the consequences of that reinforcer to our learner. Going back to the idea of SIT - where are you asking for the sit and what is going on in the environment may change what reinforcer you choose, similarly the effect of that reinforcer on your dog will also effect your choice (if I want a calm sit I may decide that a toy is not a great idea, for example).
With my newest puppy, Pratchett, I have been playing with combining Control Unleashed pattern games with Reinforcement Strategies to help him build stillness into some of his basic behaviours. One of my current favourites is to use 1,2,3 pattern as a pattern for treat delivery. He has learned to expect 3 treats in succession when working on positions followed by 1 reset treat. If he leaves the behaviour early he still gets the reset, but may not get all 3 expected treats. What i like about this pattern is it makes it very easy to increase duration by simply slowing down the 3 treats. I should note that we don’t use this pattern for everything- depending on what I am teaching (or where) I may opt for a different reinforcement strategy. But that’s the thing about thinking about reinforcement as a strategy rather than singular event: it causes you to be more mindful of how you are building behaviours.
Here is Pratchett on his
LeGuin has always had a bit of mixed feelings about disc. It took a long time for her to feel comfortable with hard discs, catching at a distance and playing the toss and fetch format. While she finds value chasing things, especially rollers, it has taken a while for her to drive for a toss. To help build and maintain that drive we’ve been playing very short sessions after dinner (when she is most playful) - initially it was just rollers, with maybe 1 short toss, then a few rollers (all less than 1 min of training time). Slowly we have built up to more tosses, with lots of tug reward. Finally, this week we have started to back chain in a bit of a start-line routine with the end goal of waiting, then walking to the line and waiting again, then play (to mimic competition as it is the waiting that often causes our disconnect). This was tonight’s session - forgive the other knuckle-heads, they are not used to being shut inside (but their presence outside is too much of a distraction right now)
LeGuin is in the final stages of LLW- a reminder every so often to keep a loose leash and the occasional stop and wait for her to adjust herself (and of course she still gets treats if beside me, but forward motion is her biggest reward)
LeGuin update: as some of you know I had a lot of difficulty with focus and instinct to chase when I first started group classes with LeGuin. Her desire to chase was so strong she could barely function- so we took a break and focused on Control Unleashed games. (That training plan eventually became my Chasers Anonymous workshop). Every class we start with taking a breath on station and look at that. Then we move to our work area and play LAT again, ask for simple behaviours (starting with just eating) then go to work on agility. This morning not only did LeGuin keep focus through 4 stations, but when her friend came to visit she was able to get back to work fairly quickly (although you can see me quickly run through take a breath, look at that and some cue testing BEFORE attempting agility again). I could not be more pleased with my young girl! #controlunleashed #chasersanonymous #agilitykelpie
Kwisy loving life with The Official SuperDogs
Update on the training for fence fighting: here we are lying in the sun, no treats, no stations, just checking in with me to make sure its all good. Edited to add: about 10 mins after posting, kwisy got fed up of being barked at and ran to the fence to engage... i did get up and calmly asked him to go back to lying down and he did... but don’t want you thinking we’re perfect or don’t have hiccups!
Almost done the training!
I will still continue to work stations, bowls, snuffles and free snuffles to maintain the response i want from my dogs; but now it doesn’t need to be EVERY TIME.
The next goal is for my dogs to chill while the neighbour dog continues and I am inside.
I also have an update on the fence fighting neighbour dog- my dogs have been able to progress from using the clarity of Control Unleashed pattern games and snuffle stations to learn how to ignore the distraction to now using the entire yard as a snuffle mat when the barking begins.
Each time the barking starts I distribute kibble in the grass- not very much really- the goal being to take them from “fight or flight” into “hunting, eating mode” and eventually into completely ignoring the distraction as I fade the reinforcement
It looks boring - and that is great- because my goal IS boring! I don’t want more excitement here, I want relaxed dogs.
(Incidentally this set me up to work on discrimination later in the afternoon when we did some NW container searching on this grass)
And here is Kwis getting his eye meds- all thanks to Deb Jones’ Cooperative Care protocols
Kwis getting eye drops:
My dogs know some pretty cool tricks... wanna see the coolest of all?!?
Ok, they may not be the flashiest or sexiest tricks... but they are essential to our daily routine- taking medication!!
It took me a while to train these two “tricks”: the first was inspired by Kathy Sado’s Happy Pills workshop
Rue taking his pills:
