It is a beautiful thing when you observe a shy dog go from showing avoidance or submissive behaviors when asked to do something, to showing lots of eye contact and doing behaviors quickly with ears perked up and an upright tail wagging. I got to see that this week and it made my day both times….using
With Decoy, when we began, he was rolling over onto his belly as if to say, “I surrender”, each time he was asked to lay down but when we began using a clicker and teaching him that he had the power to cause the noise to happen, which was followed by a treat, his body language changed in a big way. He began offering behaviors, more and more quickly. Really within a short training session, he was no longer rolling over but laying down with his head held up and his muscles relaxed. It was really a neat thing to see him wanting to offer behaviors, wanting to keep trying, wanting to learn.
With the other dog, he was looking or moving away when I first began teaching him. Some of his past experience with training taught him that unpleasant things happened to him when he didn’t make correct decisions and that can cause a dog to want to avoid contact. (Please click here to read about a research study.)
To help him gain a positive association with training, I began by looking for simple behaviors to mark (with a Good! Or Yes!) and then gave him a tasty treat. As he was staying engaged, having relaxed muscles (even wagging his tail), I began teaching him to sit by first using a food lure, then marking him as soon as he sat, and giving him a treat; and quickly moving away from having food in my hand to get the behavior, then marking and reinforcing him. He was giving me such a smile to see him wanting to be in the lesson.
My point that I wanted to make in this post is that dog training (and other pet training) in this way…by marking and reinforcing the behavior has so many positive effects. What I described above is a big part of it. Training with positive reinforcement, when done effectively, tends to create engaged learners who are motivated to want to keep trying. They have more eye contact with their teacher. They show less (even no) submissive behaviors. Their training is enrichment.
What exactly is marker training?
A marker is simply a distinct way of telling the learner that at that split second, what was done, was just what the teacher was looking for. Often it is a sound – a click of a clicker, or a verbal word such as ‘Yes!’ or even ‘Click!’ – but it can also be a hand signal or something else. It also acts as a bridge, meaning it indicates that after the marker, a reinforcer will follow. And, with good timing and trainer mechanics, it speeds up the learning process because it is much more precise than simply delivering a reinforcer. The quicker that a consequence occurs after a behavior, the quicker an association is formed between the behavior and its consequence; and you can say ‘Yes!’ or make a click much faster than you can deliver food (or toss a toy).
It is a super fun way to teach as students come to learn that the absence of a marker means they need to try something else, and I love seeing that ‘lightbulb’ moment when the student figures it out.
Here are a few ways you can strengthen your marker effectiveness.
Practice. Practice. Practice your timing….without your dog. You can do this by watching a video online and choosing something to click or verbally mark (seeing a dog turn its head for example) or having a friend do something like touching a finger to a table and marking the instant the finger touches. Also practice your treat delivery, following the mark.
The marker should occur as the behavior is happening, not after.
Most effective markers are short and distinct so that the learner can easily perceive it is a unique sound from the environment. Effective markers also do not have any prior negative associations.
Remember, the marker is a conditioned reinforcer and its value comes from its pairing with something of value to the learner – either food or an activity such as playing tug or fetching a ball. The marker should always (or at least the majority of the time) be followed by another reinforcer to maintain its effectiveness.
