Chasing Squirrels: Distractions as Reinforcers

In April of 2007, there was a discussion amongst clicker trainers about squirrel chasing. It became a hot topic, generating many opinions. I responded to the ruckus with this post. -KP

Ignoring the reinforcer

Thank you all for this fruitful discussion about squirrel chasing (and herding and similar behaviors). 

You can view something your learner wants to do very badly as “competition” for the treats you carry, a behavior flouting your level of control. That would be the intuitive and historical way. Or you can view it as a powerful potential reinforcer and set things up so that your learner gets paid with a chance to enjoy that reinforcer for behavior that you want—which may in fact include ignoring that reinforcer. That’s the science of it. 

Imagining what’s possible

The crossover trainer—and I am one, too, after all—often comes to clicker training with a background where success has included correction. For years, in seminars and classrooms I have been faced with the telling phrase, “I don’t see how you could possibly …” followed by an example, often drawn from extensive expert experience. 

“I don’t see how you could possibly train x to do y under circumstance z, without punishment,” the person says. The declaration is often made as a kind of ultimatum or challenge. “There! See that? There’s no clicker answer to that!” 

The key is not in the x-y-z of the example, but in the opening phrase, “I don’t see how …” 

The person really doesn’t see how another way is possible, and that’s the only issue here. Nor should the person be expected to; it took Skinner et al. a long time to come up with the underlying principles of operant conditioning, and it has taken all of us dog trainers a decade or more to devise, use, and teach how to apply the principles effectively in challenging situations. 

Meanwhile, the challenger deserves empathy. This situation, when new information is replacing old information, resembles the process called extinction, in which previously reinforced behavior is no longer reinforced. Extinction is a very unpleasant process for any organism. 

A squirrelly reward? 

On the ClickerExpo list, you have been doing the “clickerly” thing—helping people through the extinction curve by explaining and teaching the shaping/cueing approach to managing behavior around strong attractions. One does this, of course, by incorporating the attractions into the shaping plan. The example someone gave of the collie with sparrows in the barn was super! (Learn other ways to train with distractions in this article.)

Going from that collie to terriers in the woods is just a shaping staircase; if you want to do it, it can be done, but it involves a lot of steps. For me, that’s too much like work. My practical solution is a mix of training and management. The backyard is fenced, and there the dogs can bark and chase squirrels all they want. Outside the front door, on the sidewalk, we enjoy a shaped behavior of stalking squirrels, with an occasional brief “chase” reinforcer. In the woods, my poodle, whose lust for squirrels is mitigated by his general timidity, can be off-leash, because he was quite easily shaped to come when called, even from squirrels. My 17-year-old border terrier, however, stays on-leash in the woods. From her standpoint, it’s a lot better than no woods at all. 

Please note this article was originally published on 07/17/2007 and last reviewed on 09/29/2025. We regularly review our content to ensure that the principles and techniques remain valuable and relevant. However, best practices continue to evolve. If you notice anything that may need updating, please feel free to contact us at editor@clickertraining.com.