Building Blocks by Dr. Miles Arakaki
Recently discharged off active service, living in a tiny studio, and bored off my rockers, I adopted a young male Golden Retriever from the local animal shelter as a companion animal. There was no background on post-adolescent Remo except that he had been found wandering the parking lot of a local mall, but one thing was certain from his wild behavior; he had received little, if any, obedience training in his past. After borrowing a dog training manual from the public library, Remo and I began the process of reeling in his youthful exuberance at a nearby park. Every day, we would Forest Gump our way through the exercises outlined in the book.
We started out simple; the SIT. I would say the command, and either pull up on his lead or press down on his hind end to coax him into position (negative reinforcement). As soon as his butt hit the ground, I would give him a “Good Boy” in a high pitched tone and pet his head (positive reinforcement). Remo, being an eager to please Golden, was the ideal subject to learn to train and he picked up on the task quickly.
Fluency in a behavior is all about repetition, and one way I built repetitions was to incorporate the SIT into all aspects of his day, not just during the dedicated training sessions. I made him SIT prior to going through doorways, getting in and out of the car, before being released at the dog park, and waiting to be fed. The feeding bit took the longest time for him to learn. The sight, sound, and smell of the food bowl was a big distraction for him, and my lower back paid for it bending up and down repeatedly pulling the food away whenever he broke the SIT (negative punishment). The first day of food/SIT training was a little frustrating, but the idea seemed to sink in overnight, and I was pleasantly surprised by his performance the second day.
Encouraged by the noticeable progress, I looked forward to our daily training sessions at the park. I began to do variable reward schedules by delaying the time between the SIT and the praise, which helped transition to a STAY command. I also added a little distraction by walking away and around him while expecting him to hold the SIT. By the end of the first week, Remo’s behavior was significantly different from when he first bailed from the shelter. He would not be winning any obedience trials, but he had progressed enough not to be a nuisance.
In manufacturing circles, the term “Kaizen” is used to describe small incremental process improvements leading to decreased defects, increased efficiency, and a higher quality end-product over the long haul. The pros of the Kaizen approach are that the inputs require less effort and are more manageable, while still resulting in an acceptable end state. Focusing on only the SIT was manageable for Remo at his stage of learning, and required less from me, as a new inexperienced trainer. At the end of each day, the small successes we both achieved laid the foundation for future training, and certainly left me feeling warm and fuzzy about our progress. At that time, I had little expectations of Remo other than being a mild-mannered couch potato, so I was not frustrated by the slow pace. Unrealistic expectations results in trying to do too much too fast. I have seen trainers try to do SIT, DOWN, and STAY, with heavy distraction on day one, and then they get frustrated when the dog under performs. Frustration leads to over-correction, potential fear, and can cause neurotic behaviors in the dog. The first building block a trainer needs is patience.
By the end of the second week, Remo had progressed to training the DOWN and off-leash obedience. We would head off into the fields and I would practice moving him with voice and hand signals only. I soon discovered a distraction so powerful Remo was unable to resist, and I was unable to control at that time. A jackrabbit bolted from cover, and he shot after it like a missile unresponsive to my verbal recalls and admonishments. There was nothing about this in my borrowed library book and I unsuccessfully tried different techniques and devices to corral that behavior. I eventually went two steps back to basic obedience while controlling the level of distraction in a gradual progression. In the process, I learned to better manage my reinforcements in shaping the desired responses.
Whether it’s an ancient Roman working his herding dog, a police officer building up a German Shepherd for duty, some TV personality fixing a Chihuahua, or a trainer prepping a dolphin for a show, they are all doing some form of operant conditioning. THE key building block any trainer needs is a solid understanding of operant conditioning. Anything else is muddling about in the dark. The shaping tools of operant conditioning are positive and negative reinforcements or punishments. I am big into recognizing what reinforcement or punishment I am applying and whether it is appropriate for the individual dog at the specific time. This application is not an exact science (I still make mistakes), and depends on a variety of factors, but proficiency in this “art” does not develop overnight and comes with time and experience. The “Kaizen” approach still applies.
The time spent messing around with Remo in the park years ago laid the foundations for future learning, especially when faced with more difficult dogs training for more complex tasks. “Harder” personalities with names like Bunker, Karel, Elvis, and Obi pushed the training game to a new level. Ignoring the principles of operant conditioning sometimes led to shoot from the hip trials, often ending in some hard lessons involving the shedding of blood (mine). But lessons were learned, and progress made. . . in small incremental, bite-sized, manageable chunks.
We started out simple; the SIT. I would say the command, and either pull up on his lead or press down on his hind end to coax him into position (negative reinforcement). As soon as his butt hit the ground, I would give him a “Good Boy” in a high pitched tone and pet his head (positive reinforcement). Remo, being an eager to please Golden, was the ideal subject to learn to train and he picked up on the task quickly.
Fluency in a behavior is all about repetition, and one way I built repetitions was to incorporate the SIT into all aspects of his day, not just during the dedicated training sessions. I made him SIT prior to going through doorways, getting in and out of the car, before being released at the dog park, and waiting to be fed. The feeding bit took the longest time for him to learn. The sight, sound, and smell of the food bowl was a big distraction for him, and my lower back paid for it bending up and down repeatedly pulling the food away whenever he broke the SIT (negative punishment). The first day of food/SIT training was a little frustrating, but the idea seemed to sink in overnight, and I was pleasantly surprised by his performance the second day.
Encouraged by the noticeable progress, I looked forward to our daily training sessions at the park. I began to do variable reward schedules by delaying the time between the SIT and the praise, which helped transition to a STAY command. I also added a little distraction by walking away and around him while expecting him to hold the SIT. By the end of the first week, Remo’s behavior was significantly different from when he first bailed from the shelter. He would not be winning any obedience trials, but he had progressed enough not to be a nuisance.
In manufacturing circles, the term “Kaizen” is used to describe small incremental process improvements leading to decreased defects, increased efficiency, and a higher quality end-product over the long haul. The pros of the Kaizen approach are that the inputs require less effort and are more manageable, while still resulting in an acceptable end state. Focusing on only the SIT was manageable for Remo at his stage of learning, and required less from me, as a new inexperienced trainer. At the end of each day, the small successes we both achieved laid the foundation for future training, and certainly left me feeling warm and fuzzy about our progress. At that time, I had little expectations of Remo other than being a mild-mannered couch potato, so I was not frustrated by the slow pace. Unrealistic expectations results in trying to do too much too fast. I have seen trainers try to do SIT, DOWN, and STAY, with heavy distraction on day one, and then they get frustrated when the dog under performs. Frustration leads to over-correction, potential fear, and can cause neurotic behaviors in the dog. The first building block a trainer needs is patience.
By the end of the second week, Remo had progressed to training the DOWN and off-leash obedience. We would head off into the fields and I would practice moving him with voice and hand signals only. I soon discovered a distraction so powerful Remo was unable to resist, and I was unable to control at that time. A jackrabbit bolted from cover, and he shot after it like a missile unresponsive to my verbal recalls and admonishments. There was nothing about this in my borrowed library book and I unsuccessfully tried different techniques and devices to corral that behavior. I eventually went two steps back to basic obedience while controlling the level of distraction in a gradual progression. In the process, I learned to better manage my reinforcements in shaping the desired responses.
Whether it’s an ancient Roman working his herding dog, a police officer building up a German Shepherd for duty, some TV personality fixing a Chihuahua, or a trainer prepping a dolphin for a show, they are all doing some form of operant conditioning. THE key building block any trainer needs is a solid understanding of operant conditioning. Anything else is muddling about in the dark. The shaping tools of operant conditioning are positive and negative reinforcements or punishments. I am big into recognizing what reinforcement or punishment I am applying and whether it is appropriate for the individual dog at the specific time. This application is not an exact science (I still make mistakes), and depends on a variety of factors, but proficiency in this “art” does not develop overnight and comes with time and experience. The “Kaizen” approach still applies.
The time spent messing around with Remo in the park years ago laid the foundations for future learning, especially when faced with more difficult dogs training for more complex tasks. “Harder” personalities with names like Bunker, Karel, Elvis, and Obi pushed the training game to a new level. Ignoring the principles of operant conditioning sometimes led to shoot from the hip trials, often ending in some hard lessons involving the shedding of blood (mine). But lessons were learned, and progress made. . . in small incremental, bite-sized, manageable chunks.
