From the Bird-Click mailing list comes a fabulous breakdown of clicker basics. A new trainer wanted to know if she was capturing the right information in her training journal. The thread that followed provided not only a critique of the information she recorded, but made an in-depth examination of how she could maximize her training sessions.
Some of the tips the list members gave included:
- Define and record what you're going to click before beginning your session.
- Review your prior session before starting a new one. Expect your bird to start a little behind where you ended the previous session.
- A "bored" bird is likely telling you that your criteria is too high or your rate of reinforcement is too low.
One list member presented a "mock" journal example of how she might teach a dog to lie down. She illustrated the importance of rate of reinforcement in her example, pointing out that many times the reason professional trainers seem to get "magical" results is simply because they know how to maintain a really high rate of reinforcement.
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