clicker training Archives

The 3 things you need for positive reinforcement training

05•07•15

For the May Positive Reinforcement Pet Training Week blog hop, the theme is reviewing products that we use in positive reinforcement training. As you guys know, I’m a pet products junkie. I love testing stuff and figuring out what’s best for my guys. It helps that I write two articles a month for Pet Age Magazine about just that – the best products and trends for dogs – but I really love scoping out pet products.

Well, in my experience, when it comes to positive reinforcement training, simple is best!

Cooper and clicker training — “OK, lady. I brought you my treats and your clicker. Let’s get training!”

In fact, I think one of the misconceptions with this type of work is that it requires some secret set of scientific skills and equipment that mere dog owners can’t master. Which, of course, it doesn’t. You really only need three things.

You need a reward, whatever appeals to your dog – typically food or toys. Use what you already have in your fridge: cheese, hot dogs, lunch meat, bits of scrambled egg, whatever motivates your dog. You really don’t need to buy expensive refrigerated logs of training foods or specialty “training treats” if your dog can be motivated by inexpensive stuff you already have. Since Cooper is allergic to nearly everything, we make most of his treats, though we did get these in last month’s BarkBox* that are 100% lamb. They’re stinky and easy to break into bits, making them the perfect training treat. As you can see, the bag is nearly empty. (We’ve been working on a super fun game…)

You also need a marker, something to tell the dog YEP! That’s right! The clicker is obviously the most widely used and for lots of good reasons. It’s a novel sound. It can be crazy precise. They’re inexpensive(ish – there are expensive ones on the market, but you can usually even get one for free if you ask at a big box pet store – or I’m happy to send you one). But, frankly, a clicker isn’t mandatory. You can use a word or a cluck of your tongue or whatever. Sure, it’s likely to be less precise, but most dogs catch on whether you purchase the equipment or use your own sound/word. We use both the clicker and “yes” because training happens everywhere. All the time. Literally. We are constantly training, and we don’t necessarily have a clicker with us all the time. The “yes” is a conditioned backup plan for us.

Finally, you need a sense of humor. I do worry that the severity of some trainers’ attitudes turns people off from even attempting to train their dog positively. Training should be fun! It should be rewarding for you and your dog. Keeping a lighthearted, positive attitude will help you and your dog feel comfortable.

There are some amazing resources on the internet for how to get started and how to teach specific behaviors. If you’re trying to use positive reinforcement to troubleshoot a problem behavior – first off, good for you! – but you might want to consult with a trainer before implementing a plan.

Otherwise, training your dog positively doesn’t have to cost you a dime! Just an investment in quality time spent with your pup!

*I’m a BarkBox affiliate, which means if you click that link and buy something, you won’t pay more – in fact, you get a 10% discount on a subscription and if you spend $10 in the BarkShop you get a free bully stick – but we get a small commission. I always forget to post about this, but writing about these treats triggered my memory!

We’re joining Positive Reinforcement Pet Training Week blog hop. It begins on the first Monday of every month (though I’ve never gotten my post done that early!) and runs all week long. The hop is hosted by Cascadian Nomads, Tenacious Little Terrier, and Rubicon Days. Please visit them as well as other blogs through the links below for more positive pet training tips.

How to partner with your dog (hint: it doesn’t involve an e-collar)

10•14•14

Recently, I heard a woman speak about training dogs with e-collars. She does call herself a trainer and runs a dog training school, though – in a sorely unregulated industry** – her background is as a vet tech.

Before I get into her talk, I will say this: I love PetSafe. I hate that they sell these products. They are an incredible company dedicated to doing good – heck, they have a remarkable guy whose sole job is to give away money. But I just want to be clear up front that I was on an expenses-paid trip out there, which was wonderful with the exception of the session with this woman.

In the opening bit of her talk, the trainer was mentioning other types of training and started to go into positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment… and then she said, “But I don’t really care about the science.”

That right there.

See, the thing is, I do care about the science. I care passionately and (somewhat) obsessively about the science.

And the science – all the studies, data, and results that have been peer reviewed and published in scholarly journals – discounts every single thing she said.

For example, she said that e-collar training does not cause distress but rather stress. And, she continued, stress is good for a learning environment. Unfortunately, a recent study showed that electronic collars do cause distress. Ah, but the trainer argued, the study showed “yawning” as a sign of distress, and perhaps the dogs were tired or bored? Except her dismissal flies in the face of countless anxiety studies that show yawning is, in fact, a sign of stress in dogs (and, actually, in people, too).

Her talk continued along that thread, essentially saying, “Here’s the science, but since I don’t believe it, I’ll continue to promote these collars.” Her schtick was to have e-collars on set to level 1 on her neck and 3 on her ankles, and if you wanted to ask her a question, you had to shock her. (I wanted to ask her to set the neck one to a 3, but I refrained…)

She then did a demonstration using the collar on her dog, asking her to do a whole series of tricks. The dog did the tricks almost perfectly. Did it look like she was being abused? Not in the slightest. Did it look like she was having fun? Well, not so much. Not to me, anyway. She kept trying to return to her bed – she was yawning and, according to this woman, that probably indicated she was tired.

When I started writing this post, my goal was to pull every study under the sun* about how positive reinforcement is more effective than using aversive stimuli (shocks.), but then I realized that, when it comes down to it, the bottom line for me isn’t the science. While I love studying the data, my bottom line is that my dogs have fun when we’re working together.

I want them to enjoy training with me. I want to use training to develop and strengthen our bond. And if you see the boys doggy dancing with John – done entirely with a clicker and treats – or you see them out with me playing our variation of “follow the leader” – you know they’re having fun. They’re not yawning or licking their lips or averting their eyes or trying to avoid us. They’re wagging with open mouths. They’re looking us in the eye, waiting to see what fun thing happens next.

In the abstract of the e-collar paper, the authors conclude, “These findings suggest that there is no consistent benefit to be gained from e-collar training but greater welfare concerns compared with positive reward based training.”

The importance of that point can’t be discounted. According to the trainer, students who come through her school aren’t interesting in high-level zapping but, rather, attention-getting “sensations.” I hope that’s true (but… on a side note… why are the collars even manufactured with those high levels built in? If, as this woman says, dogs pay attention at a 1-3 level, why even make a level 10 and risk that possibility? But, I digress…..)

E-collars and their kin do not serve to build your bond with your dog.

I do not want to “master” my dogs.

I want to partner with them. I want to work with them.

I want them to trust me – not fear me and my little button.

Luckily, when I started pulling all those peer-reviewed papers, it’s clear that the science is pushing us in that direction. And, in truth, PetSafe manufactures a ton of positive reinforcement products, too. (Check out the Train ‘n Praise. I am in love. I’ll have a post and giveaway soon.)

Thankfully, unlike this woman, many trainers do care about the science of behavior. And that science is demonstrating that humane methods of training surpass antiquated, aversive methods.

**I write about this stuff all the time, though I’m not a trainer. Yet. I’ve decided to enroll in the Karen Pryor Academy next year so I can back this stuff up with credentials.

*If you want to read a summary of one study I found interesting, check it out here.

Found opportunities for dog training

04•07•11

Dog training so often is a set up. I grab a bag of training treats and the clicker, and the boys know it’s training time. While it’s great to get any work in, when I set them up to know, “Oh, it’s training time,” they tend to be on their best behavior.

So last Saturday, when we awoke to a half marathon running past our house, we took advantage of the unexpected training opportunity.

Lucas and Cooper both bark at people and dogs who have the NERVE to walk past our house. We’ve been working on building up positive associations – staying quiet with someone going past means TREATS! – but the challenge has been catching it before they can bark because we’re not always next to the same window as the dogs.

With the half marathon, we had tons of prolonged opportunities. The first few runners were waaaay ahead of the next bunch. Throughout the morning there were big bunches followed by gaps, a couple stragglers, then another big bunch.

John took the boys out on the balcony one at a time and fed them treats for a “watch me” as the runners went past. All three were excellent one-on-one.

Then he tried Emmett and Lucas together because Emmett doesn’t react at anything. (I took this pic from indoors because I didn’t want to disrupt; hence, the screen blurs the image.)

As you can see, Emmett is at complete attention. He couldn’t care less about the runners because he knows if he stares at John, John will rain treats. Lucas was a little anxious, whipping his head back and forth. Ultimately, though, he was able to maintain focus to get lots and lots of rewards.

The last step was to have all three of them out at the same time. At that point, they had all received lots of rewards and performed their “watch mes” almost perfectly.

In a group… well, the attention wandered.

Even though as a group they didn’t maintain their individual focus as well, no one barked or reacted in any way.

Overall, a successful spontaneous mission!

What random opportunities for dog training have you found? How do you keep your training mixed up so they don’t start to predict the “oh, NOW it’s time for me to behave” thing?

Clicker training, agility, and Lucas saw his first horse!

11•24•09

Emmett and Lucas had a big day today. A service-dog trainer from Utah is visiting our town, and we signed the boys up for a two-day session of clicker training, agility, and advanced obedience. The training was held on a farm – the first time the boys had ever been to a farm! It was wonderful to have a wide-open, fully fenced-in space for them to run and play with the other dogs. In the pasture beyond the fence, a horse trotted around, but as soon as Lucas got a whiff of that big boy, he ran over barking his little head off. The poor horse retreated behind the barn, and throughout the rest of the day, whenever he tried to make an appearance, Lucas and two other dogs that he apparently recruited, dashed over to bark the horse back behind the barn.

The agenda mixed work and play – three minutes of focused work followed by five minutes of play – from 10 to 4. We started with some basic clicker exercises and worked on shaping a new behavior. Lucas learned “back up” while Emmett worked on “crawl.” We worked pretty extensively with hula-hoops, encouraging the dogs to walk around, through, and over. Last was agility, something the boys have never really had much opportunity to try. They both LOVED the tunnel. In fact, we struggled to get them to stop running through the tunnel! They even ran through it together, side-by-side, several times. The weave poles proved to be a bigger challenge, though they both mastered the table.

I, of course, forgot my camera, but toward the end of the day, I got out my phone and snapped a few pics of the boys doing agility work.

I lead Emmett over a jump while the trainer observes.

John works on the hula-hoops with Lucas.

When we got home, Emmett and Lucas crawled into their beds and haven’t moved in nearly four hours. Tomorrow we’re working on additional tricks – we were instructed to bring shoe boxes. Hmmm. Wonder what we’ll do with those?