ClickerExpo Session Details 2014 - Bromley Cross, Lancashire

You're in Great Shape Understanding & Applying Shaping
Eva Bertilsson, Emeilie Johnson-Vegh

• You're in Great Shape: Understanding & Applying Shaping In Action

Shaping behavior by reinforcing small steps toward a future goal is one of the core processes of clicker training, and is the key to creative and limitless training. It is often hard for trainers to make the shift from luring, prompting, or leading animals through the desired movements to letting animals discover what works on their own. The benefits of this shift are enormous to both trainer and animal.

Shaping builds the trainer’s observation and mechanical skills, and is the foundation of teaching complex behaviors. Shaping also makes training fun for the animal and strengthens the relationship between animal and trainer. Without an understanding of shaping, trainers will not experience the full power of clicker training.

Shaping depends on good observation and timely use of the clicker as a tool for communicating a movement as it is happening. In this Session, you will learn what shaping is—and isn’t—and how it differs from other ways of “getting behavior.” Eva and Emelie will demonstrate shaping techniques and discuss how to overcome common obstacles. If you’ve been frustrated in your attempts to try shaping, you’ll be inspired to try again.

This Session will include PowerPoint slides and videos.

You're in Great Shape Understanding & Applying Shaping In Action
Eva Bertilsson, Emelie Johnson-Vegh

Prerequisite:

• You’re in Great Shape! Understanding and Applying Shaping (Learning Session)

Participant notes:
All Levels welcome. In this Learning Lab we will have approximately 15 dog/handler teams. Dogs should already understand the click/treat relationship and should be able to work in close quarters with other dogs. Handlers should be able to work independently to click and give reinforcers. You may participate with your dog or you may attend as an observer. To participate in any Lab, you are expected to attend the prerequisite Learning Session. Observers should not bring their dogs to the Lab.

This Learning Lab is designed for those new to shaping or uncertain about whether they're on the right track with their shaping skills, including people who have trained dogs primarily with lure/reward techniques but want to transition from luring to shaping.

In this Lab, you'll learn basic shaping skills, such as how to structure individual shaping sessions. This Lab will also explain how to choose criteria to ensure success and how to maintain a high rate of reinforcement. We will also work on improving observational skills. If needed, we will explore exercises for "loosening up" dogs that are used to waiting for guidance from their handler rather than offering behaviors.

Training exercises include: establishing routines for the training session, shaping a movement (such as head drop or back up), and shaping an interaction with an object (like a chair, a box, or a mat).

This Learning Lab provides the opportunity to practice what was learned in the Learning Session (a prerequisite to this Lab). Participating dog/handler teams will practice with their own dogs the core techniques used in the Learning Session.

Cues & Cueing
Kay Laurence

• Cues & Cueing:

For the learner, the real excitement in clicker training is not only the treat, but the opportunity to get you to click—power in the hands of your learner. This is a cue: an opportunity to earn reinforcement. Cues are not commands. A cue doesn’t make the behavior happen; it gives the animal information about how to get good things to happen. Your learner is seeking cues from the environment (that may be you), that tell the learner how to get you to click and provide more good things.

Understanding cues impacts your training significantly, no matter what your application may be. In this Session, Kay will discuss the nuts and bolts of building sound, clean cues from the very first behavior you teach. You will learn how to put a behavior on cue, how to single out the relevant cue from every other stimulus in the environment, and how to add a performance cue when the behavior is ready for prime time. Learn how to avoid careless and accidental movements that may confuse your animal or override your intended cue. Discover that cues can be powerful reinforcers in their own right, and learn how to make positive use of that fact instead of accidentally rewarding the very behaviors you are trying to avoid. Cues are just as important for good-quality pet training as they are for high-level competition training. Don’t be casual; be responsible with your cues!

This Session is followed by a Learning Lab about cueing to help bring the principles from concept to actual use in your hands. This Session is critical to setting a proper foundation for clicker training skills, but anyone working (or struggling!) with cues and cueing will benefit enormously from this Session.

Cues & Cueing In Action
Kay Laurence

Prerequisite:

• Cues and Cueing(Learning Session)

Participant notes:
Dogs should already understand the click/treat relationship, be comfortable with normal handling, and able to work in close quarters with other dogs. Handlers should have some experience with shaping. You may participate with your dog or you may attend as an observer. Observers should not bring their dogs to the Lab. To participate in this Lab, you are expected to attend the prerequisite Learning Session Cues and Cueing.

In this Lab, Kay Laurence will demonstrate and share the principles involved in building clear cues. Exercises will include self observation and examining what the dog selects as the relevant cue. What is the dog really attending to—the wiggle of the eyebrows or the sound from your mouth?

Learn how to build a consistent cue and consistent response. Learning to deliver with reliability will build reliability in response. The more competent we are in these essential communication skills, the higher the chance of success for our dogs. This course is critical to setting a proper foundation for clicker training skills. Trainers who are already experienced with cueing also benefit enormously from practicing these skills from the ground up again.