One thing that I have been very grateful to find in ready supply from my own local community and the vast resources on the internet, is information on Positive Training and/or Clicker Training. I have been fortunate enough to work with Kate Wilson, Jane Wolff and Zeke Askew through their Canine Information & Workshop group. This was something I came into the seminar, already having a grasp on, but to ensure that we were all on the same page, Inga covered the basics of positive training and the nuts and bolts of what we would need for work that weekend.
First we covered rewards and the importance of thinking of them in terms of not just food rewards, but also affection, play, “life rewards” (which refers to the act of hunting, and certain other behaviors are self rewarding, I have a lot more to learn about this: Premack Principle). We were instructed to make and keep a running list of as many things as we could that would be rewarding for our particular dogs. Each dog is different and so will have a different list. Ideally we will end up with upwards of 20-30 rewards for each dog we train.
Here are Pippie’s Top Ten Rewards (right now, these things change):
10 - Retrieving a bumper from water
9 - Verbal Praise: “Good Girl” with Eye Contact
8 - Costco Hot Dogs
7 - Tug O’ War
6 - Ear/Shoulder/Butt Rubs or Scratches
5 - Big Knuckle Bone
4 - Bully Stick
3 - Any Opportunity to Play with another Dog
2 - Poached Chicken
1 - Deli Roast Beef
Pippie with one of her giant meaty knuckle bones
Inga covered the use of clickers or marker words and their function as a promise of reward to come. Clickers have been used in animal training for a long time, in the training of marine mammals for shows and with horses, big cats, etc. The interesting thing to me about them, is that, when paired closely with a reward, they are able to bridge a communication gap with animals in a way that virtually nothing else can. With dogs in particular I have noticed that it only takes about 3 clicks directly followed by rewards for (what appears to be) the light bulb coming on in the animal’s mind, suggesting that they understand that the sound of a click means good things are about to happen. This may sound simple, but it is really a very powerful tool.
Ultimately clicker training can look a little like this: Say you want your dog to touch your hand with her nose, you offer your hand (maybe you rub a little roast beef on there before hand to give her a head start) and click/reward when she offers any motion toward your hand (or even just a look if your dog is a bit shy), after repeating this a few times, your dog will begin to do the action that elicited the click and then look to you in anticipation of a reward, if you wait to click until she offers better and better examples of the behavior you are looking for, soon your dog will offer a little more here and there looking to you to see if it was enough… And this is where the real surge of excitement comes for me, it really feels like I am talking to her in a language she truly understands, in a way I never could before! It is an amazing feeling! One that I think it is worthwhile for anyone to try, whether they want to be a trainer or not… with their dog, cat, chicken, whatever… it is such a thrilling thing to experience first hand. It is very difficult to describe with words, but one trainer that Inga referenced (and local positive trainers also referenced), Donna Hill has a great video showing how shaping works with a dog learning to flip a light switch, linked here.
My favorite clicker and treat bag
In relationship to clickers we did an exercise with each other that illustrated just how critical timing is to the use of a clicker. We were asked to partner off with the other humans in the class and use the clickers to “Free Shape” each other to a predetermined behavior. We were not permitted to speak, gesture or make noises other than the click of the clicker. We were permitted to use eye contact and glance to offer a clue about the direction we wanted the other person to go. We quickly discovered how frustrating it can be from the trainee’s perspective if the timing is off at all. If you click just before or just after a behavior occurs, you are rewarding the exact position or behavior the dog was in/doing when you clicked and this can quickly lead to confusion as to what you are actually wanting the dog to do. I did learn that I could certainly use some practice on my timing. Often training problems originate with the trainer & not the trainee. To help us develop better timing, we were taught an exercise where we tried to click each time a tennis ball hit the ground, while this sounds simple, it is rather difficult and helped us all realize just how much work we needed.
A lot of what I learned from this seminar overlapped things I had been learning from the positive trainers locally and from various sources online. In reviewing the things we covered, there was not a huge amount of new knowledge added, but the emphasis on attitude and reasonable expectations, especially coming from a source that was interested in the same final outcome as me, went a very long way to setting my mind at ease. In the US a huge emphasis is placed on getting dogs into the field, on live birds as young as possible.., but the positive gun dog community is more in line with the European model of training for very strong obedience prior to introducing dogs to the field and live birds. Since Pippie and I are still very much working on obedience skills and I have been a bit reluctant to hit the fields just yet, it was comforting to know that there are others out there doing it the same way and having success at later stages. One of the members of my sportsman’s club has one of Pippie’s sisters and has had her out in the field already and she is hunting just fine, for such a young pup. This news left me feeling a little sheepish about being so far “behind” until it dawned on me that they had been working together for much longer than Pippie and I, and may be using aversive methods. Sometimes you think you are going 14 hours away to learn new skills and really what you needed was an attitude adjustment. New skills were learned, but the most valuable thing for me was getting my expectations in line with reality.
In my next post I’ll go over the process of Training a Chain of Behaviors for Retrieving and Scent Work. ‘Til then, keep calm and click on!
Here Pippie is playing with a Springer Spaniel friend at the seminar
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