In my work with kids I use a lot of positive reenforcement techniques, and am really excited to see how the ideas I've learned in clicker training can make learning more fun for everyone. However I do find myself sometimes stumped about how operant conditioning really works. For example, I would like to teach my dog to rub his face with his paw, a behaviour he does fairly regularly anyway (he is a small white dog and we are treating his runny eyes). If I put it on cue, will I be discouraging him from rubbing his face if he needs/wants to? I don't want to do that!
Shaping naturally occurring behaviours?
By littledoginabigworld on 04/06/2011
Filed in
Does shaping naturally occurring behaviors lessen behavior
In my experience shaping naturally occurring behaviors does not lessen the frequency of the natural behavior just because you have it on cue. I had to capture the sit behavior in my adult rescue JRT because luring her just caused her to leap up. Now that the behavior is on cue, she still sits whenever she wants to -- I can just now get her to do it when I ask as well. You may see that they will use this behavior to try to get a reward, however, this is true of all behaviors that you reward.
Adding a cue
Great question about cueing! Thankfully, your dog will still rub his face with his paw even if you haven't cued it. Just like your dog will still sit or lie down even if you have the behavior on cue, but haven't given the cue. In their "off time," dogs (just like people) are free to do whatever they'd like to do, whether cued or not. The nice thing about cues is that they allow you to get the behavior whenever you need it, not just when the dog is doing it.
Happy Training!
Laurie
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Laurie Luck
For Clickertraining.com
Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner
See my profile and contact information at
http://karenpryoracademy.com/Luck_Laurie
Thanks for your clear explanation! So simple when you explain it that way. Clicker training seems like such a powerful tool that I don't want to get it wrong, but i guess that's the great thing about it, you can't really mess up too badly!