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Common myths about clickers and
positive reinforcement training:
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But the dog has eventually has to know the bottom
line, and who's boss:
This method is based upon scientifically
proven learning theory that applies to all animals, no matter what instinctive
social system a species of animal has. This method has been used
successfully to train animals from hermit crabs, fish, chickens, and mice
(remember the movie "Mouse Hunt"?), to killer whales, lions, panthers and
grizzly bears. Can you imagine showing a killer whale "who's boss"?
Or, a hermit crab, for that matter? Successful training does depend on
knowing the basic innate behavior of a species and using it to advantage, but
success does not depend upon inserting yourself into another species's
social hierarchy with misconceptions about their dominance system. For
example, wolves (from which dogs are immediately descended) kill each other so
often in vying for dominance in a pack that the genetic structure of wolf
populations differs radically from that of other social canids such as African
wild dogs. Now, who would like to emulate that reality of wolves (and
dogs) in a training method?
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I can't have food with me all the time!!
ANSWER
1: It's not about food. It's about controlling the dog's reinforcements
and having them all come through you. You are the gatekeeper (credit
to Rachel Sanders). You have a lot of reinforcements to control
and food is only one. Reinforcements include: food (and different
kinds of food), toys (and different kinds of toys), access to walks, access to
the couch, access to the back yard, access to YOU...anything and everything
that the dog wants can be a reinforcement. And they should all be meted out
by you in a way that reinforces desirable behaviors in your dog.
ANSWER 2. So, why can't you have food on you all the time?
I walk around always with some kibble in a pocket. I have stashes of kibble in
little plastic containers (margarine dishes, whatever) all around the house.
When I go for a walk, I need a ...coat, shoes, leashes for the dogs, poop
bags...so what's the big deal about remembering to grab a handful of kibble
and cram in my pocket or in my pack with the poop bags?
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I can't manage the clicker, food, leash, and dog
all at the same time. ANSWER 1: It's not about a little
plastic box that makes a noise any more than it's about food. The
longer I train with this method, the less I use the clicker. I use the
clicker only for teaching a new behavior and primarily for the beginning part
of the learning curve. The clicker is really only a marker for a desired
behavior. The reinforcement strategy is the big picture and the event marker
is a little piece of it. This method is a mindset about how to interact
and communicate with your dog. The clicker is a tool that you use only
under some circumstances. That is why the label of "clicker training" is
misleading. ANSWER 2: As Bob Bailey and others have
explained, clicker training is a mechanical skill. So is jerking on the
leash. In fact, the jerk-and-praise (or Koehler) method is at
least as difficult to master correctly as the clicker, and you can do a lot
more damage with that method if done poorly than using a clicker ineptly.
I have found that the timing and insight required to use jerk-and-praise is so
difficult to master than very few people can do it correctly, as Koehler (who
was a master trainer) intended. Rather, clicker training is forgiving
in that it can't cause physical harm or long term adverse effects as
positive punishment can.
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But eventually I'll want to dispense with the
food, toys, or whatever and that's not possible with this method. So,
you think clicker training is DIFFERENT in this way than other methods?
Your relationship with your dog and your dog's behavior is a reflection of all
the reinforcement history that has gone before it, no matter which training
method you use. Variants of this excuse include statements like "I can't
take a clicker in the ring with me" So I'd like to see what happens if
you pop your dog with the leash in the ring right in front of the judge.
I would rather go into a ring with a strong history of positive reinforcement
than of negative reinforcement. Another amusing variant was presented to
me on a herding list, something along the lines of not wanting to face off a
Brahma bull with a dog that needed a hot dog to work. First of all, I
wouldn't want to face off a Brahma bull with nothing but a dog, and I wouldn't
really wish that on a dog anyway. Second, the statement shows the deep
misunderstanding of what constitutes a reinforcement for a dog. A dog
bred with strong prey drive to hunt or herd would find the presence of prey or
stock to be so infinitely more reinforcing than a piece of measly food that
the use of food makes no sense whatsoever in that training context.
Again, it's not about food, it's about managing the dog's reinforcements and
the dog alone decides what those are.
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Clicker training is a fad; it'll be gone soon
enough. This method of training is a technological breakthrough,
like fire, the wheel, the horseless carriage, electricity, air travel.
I'm personally happy to move forward to the 21st century and not stay stuck in
the medieval ages.
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