Clicker training isolated muscle movements can be great for improving your shaping skills. One behavior that ginger and I have been working on using clicker training is teaching her to lower her head. With shaping, we don’t try and teach the whole behavior at once. Instead, we split the behavior into small approximations toward the final goal.
We’ve had several short sessions so far. Here’s where we are now:
Watch me clicker training head lowering on youtube
I started by asking for her to lie down and then waiting for any small movements of her head. When her head went down even a fraction, I clicked! We repeated this until she started to get the idea that head movements were earning her the clicks.
Then I started withholding my clicks and waiting for a bit more movement. Clicker training is great because it teaches our animals to be problem solvers. They learn that when they offer behavior and try different things, they get rewarded.
However, shaping can be difficult because we have to make sure we still set the animal up for success. When clicker training and shaping, it’s good to be generous at the beginning. Click for any small approximations to your final goal and the dog or horse will be willing to offer more. If we are too stingy and withhold our clicks for too long while waiting for a closer approximation to the final behavior, it’s easy to make the animal frustrated.
Clicker training the heads down has been interesting so far. I’m getting very discrete movements of the head. She drops her head an inch, waits a second (probably looking for a click) and then drops her head another inch. It ends up looking a little choppy. I assume that the choppiness will fade out as we go along, but it will be interesting to see!
shaping requires several things to be in place (as does any training really), a plan, patience and more patience, the ability to change the plan if you see no results or results you had not anticipated.
Great points, Holly!
You are so right about the patience. Sometimes change is small or gradual and a good trainer is able to see this and continue toward the final goal.
Mary
Hey Mary, I just found your site and I love the training discussions! I’m a marine mammal and dog trainer so we have some critters in common:) Love the capturing video. What do you think of the tongue flick as the head lowers…superstitious behavior? Great site.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the comment!
I’m not sure about the tongue, as this was the only session I videoed.
We were actually discussing this on facebook–here’s a bit of the conversations:
“I was getting a lot of strange mouth and tongue movements, which I don’t think were happening in previous sessions. (But can’t be sure, as I didn’t tape them.)
I was also using cheese, which I almost never use, so I wonder if that had something to do with it? She likes it, but (in some of the earlier parts that I cut out) seemed to be having issues taking it and also chewing/eating it.”
I had one friend wonder if
“maybe if it took longer for her to eat it or she was licking more while eating it in the earlier sessions then that behavior may have been going on in the next trial? maybe some kind of superstitious thing?”
And another suppose “Maybe because it is oily, it sticks to her teeth more than the treats you usually use? Also, she could be salivating more if she really likes it.”
If it has become superstitious behavior, I assume it will remain even if I switch back to other treats. It will be interesting to see!
I’d love to hear more about your marine mammal training!
Do you have a blog?
Mary
Hey Mary,
I do have a blog http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/dog-saving-network/ pls pardon the obvious lack of technical skills on my part:) Great points about the type of reinforcer. You can still get rid of it even if it turns out to be accidental reinforcement. Ginger looks like she’s a smart pup:)
Thanks for the link!
I am heading over right now to check out your blog. 🙂
Mary