This post is part of a series of several posts on cues. When teaching a new behavior, we have control over when we introduce the cue. Many clicker trainers advocate getting the behavior before ever introducing the cue. Here’s a bit about each teaching method. (more…)
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What’s the best way to train an animal? What about the best way to teach a human to train an animal? How can we use the science of behavior and learning to develop better training practices? In this section you’ll find lots of articles and information about the science of animal training, research that has been done on animal learning and behavior, and information about teaching people.
Training is a Mechanical Skill
Much of training is an art. However, mechanical skills are a huge part of training and can make the different between a decent trainer and a great trainer. It’s tough to be a great trainer if you’re still struggling with basic mechanics. Holding a lead rope or leash while trying to manage a clicker and […]
Check Your Verbal Cues
This is part of a series of several posts on cues. I wrote last week a bit about what a cue is and common stimuli that can be used as cues. Often, we try and teach our pets verbal cues. But how well does your dog (or cat, parrot or pony) recognize your verbal cue […]
What is a cue?
This post is part of a series of several posts on cues. I recently posted about putting cues under stimulus control. (Read that post here.) However, I realize now that perhaps I should have started with a discussion of what exactly constitutes a cue. A cue (sometimes called a discriminative stimulus, or SD) is an […]
Do You Have a Clue about Cues?
How do we teach behaviors when training animals and how do we associate cues with these behaviors? How does a dog or horse (or cat, goldfish, parrot, roommate, child, employee, etc.) learn a cue for a behavior? What’s the best way to create a solid association between a behavior and a cue, even when distractions […]
Anticipation and Announced Rewards
Animals like knowing that something good is coming. Think about how excited children get when they know a reward is coming–the kid squirming in his chair 5 minutes before the final school bell rings or the anxious child 2 days before Christmas. Expectations and anticipation can make rewards even more exciting than they might be […]