Clean Run - October 2011 - 13

More Questions About Reinforcers
Q: What types of reinforcers do you use in your dog’s training? A: Food and toys (some people also include praise). Q: What rewards are available to your dog in the ring? A: None, you can’t take food or toys into the ring. Verbal praise is allowed. Occasionally, the handler may say that the dog’s being allowed to continue to play agility is his reward in the ring. I think that the draw of the next obstacle is why the dogs don’t want to stop; and although it appears they enjoy verbal praise, it is not what the dogs are working for. They want to keep going!

Training Using the Power of Premack
Many pet dog owners can teach their dogs to sit and wait for their dinner. Yes, it involves food but in reality isn’t the full food bowl and the activity of eating it just a more desirable behavior and the sit-stay a less desirable behavior? I know of several dogs that will stay waiting to be released to work sheep but cannot stay on an agility start line. Working sheep is the highly desirable behavior, while the stay is the less desirable behavior, but the stay is the means by which the dog gets to chase sheep. If the dog breaks to work sheep an attempt is made to block the dog from the sheep and the dog is therefore prevented from playing. As trainers we need to use agility equipment in the same way

• If you sit at the start line until you are released you will get
to play on the agility equipment.

Daily Life with the Dog
My next set of questions relate to the dog’s daily life. I believe if we look at our day-to-day interactions with our dogs we can identify many of our ring behavior problems and can work at correcting the problems 24/7, not just at agility class or competition. Q: Do you ask the dog to sit or wait while you remove his leash, open a door, a crate, or an ex-pen? A: Yes. Q: Do you reward this behavior with food or toys? A: No. (Now the handler often smiles as the light bulb begins to glow.) Q: What is the consequence if the dog bursts out of the door/crate/ex-pen? A: I bring the dog back to proof the behavior and release cue a little and then release the dog. Q: What is the reward when the dog stays? A: He gets to be free or to go outside. Q: Did you feed the dog a treat? A: No. Well, when he was a puppy I did but not now because he knows what he should do. Q: Why do you feel the need to reward with food and toys nearly all contact behaviors in training after the dog is proficient at the behavior? Can’t the same rules apply for contacts, tables, and start lines as going outside through a door, getting out of a crate or ex-pen, or removing a leash? A: I’m not sure except I’ve never thought about it like that!

• The faster you get to your two-on/two-off position, the
released to more equipment.

quicker you will get to play with the rest of the equipment.

• If you get onto and lie down on the table you will get to be
The release cue and permission to continue becomes the reinforcer for the less desirable behavior, that is, stopping on the table or contact obstacle, just as it is in the competition ring. When I start to introduce “more desirable” agility activities as reinforcers for the previous “less desirable” behaviors of stopping on a contact, stopping/down on the table, and staying at the start line, I use obstacles that the dog enjoys and is successful on: tunnels and jumps; and for some dogs, a short set of weave poles. When working on the dogwalk or teeter I start with the dogwalk, often just putting the dog in the end position. Then I run out and release the dog to the tunnel or jumps. I may do this several times in a row until the dog is either perfect or releases himself to the other obstacles. If he self-releases, I verbally mark the error and replace the dog back onto the contact. I follow with some basic proofing of what constitutes the release cue. I often give an unknown cue such as Break or Free. Sometimes I use other words or phrases while using one of my other dog’s names. I show excitement in my approach to this, because my goal is not to bore the dog but to have him twitching in anticipation of the release. Editors’ Note: To see a video of Rachel demonstrating this training, go to the Magazine Forum at www.cleanrun.com and select Videos: www.cleanrun.com/index. cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_id=175.

October 11

| Clean Run

http://www.cleanrun.com http://www.cleanrun.com http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_id=175 http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_id=175

Clean Run - October 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - October 2011