What is 'training'?
Short Version
Trainers use visual or verbal signals to help their animals learn to perform desired behaviours on request - a 'behaviour' being any action that an animal is physically capable of doing.
A puppy already knows how to 'sit'! What we want to happen is for him to always do so first time when requested to do so, whenever & wherever asked & whatever the level of distraction.
We can try to do this in the conventional way of saying a 'command' word & at the same time pushing at one end of the body &/or pulling at the other. Alternatively, rather than manipulating the body we can influence what is going on inside the head to obtain a behaviour that is offered voluntarily.
There is no question that both training methods are successful. It is the approach to learning, the enjoyment or otherwise of the training process & the philosophy & vocabulary that are different. 'Command' & 'obedience' become 'cue' & 'good manners', while 'correct' & 'dominate' change to 'show' & 'motivate'.
Modern ways are based on the scientific laws of learning and involve no physical pressure, force or pain - however mild. The dog, whether a police dog, a guide dog or a family pet dog, has a choice. He thinks for himself as to which one is the correct decision to make. He is encouraged to use his initiative and is not fearful to experiment and be corrected for a mistake. He becomes a willing and involved trainee who, through trial and error, learns quickly. He soon does reliably what is wanted of him because he understands and because he too wants to, not because he has to.
Long Version
Intentionally or unintentionally we are training our dogs every day, simply by the way we interact & communicate with them. We teach either good things or undesired things. Many dogs are often in charge (pulling on a lead, demanding food or attention, & ignoring their owners) and have taught their people well.
Good teachers know that optimal learning only takes place when there is 1) a desire to learn 2) an ability to teach effectively & efficiently and 3) good two way communication. For our dogs to even begin to understand us this communication (whether verbally or by hand signals) should always be clear, confident, concise, consistent and calm.
What happens before, during and after the behaviour is entirely dependent on good communication. Our ability as communicators will quickly determine how quickly (if at all) our dogs are able to learn what we are trying to teach.
All animals, humans included, learn as a direct result of the consequences of their behaviour - i.e. what happens immediately after they have behaved in a particular way.
A "reward" increases the chances of that behaviour being repeated voluntarily. Once a desired behaviour is understood it can be developed and refined so that it becomes an ingrained habit that is performed on request - automatically, always and anywhere.
"Punishment" decreases the chance that a given behaviour will be repeated but it is often accompanied by unforeseen and undesired side effects. While punishment - even if properly timed - might temporarily suppress or reduce undesirable behaviours it doesn't actually help our dogs understand what we do want them to do instead.
Training Methods
1. Traditional Training
Humans grow up with correction and punishment as the norm: "if you do this or don't do that something unpleasant will happen to you! " - e.g.being smacked, beaten, shouted at, told we will go to hell instead of heaven, fined, sent to prison, whipped, tortured or - the final punishment - hanged.
It is no wonder that generation after generation of animal owners all over the world, who know no other way, have for centuries used similar 'training' methods to train their beasts of burden and their domestic pets. Many people will continue to do so. Why?
For several reasons:
- It is instinctive, and therefore much easier, for human beings to use brawn rather than brain
- Being reactive rather than proactive is how most of us behave - as seen when we hit our thumb with a hammer.
- Forceful and/or corrective training techniques often seem to produce rapid results.
- These sometimes almost miraculous results are therefore thought of as being 'successful' - without reference to how the animal feels about the methods and its long term behaviour.
- TV stations frequently show skilfully edited before-and-after parts of quick fix methods foreceful methods (e.g flooding with stimuli) & people think 'Wow!' - that was amazing so it must be the right way to do it!'
Some effective training methods, however, are harsh and others are unbelievably cruel: as for instance with the techniques that have been used for over 4000 years with elephants. To this day a 'breaking in' programme is still often used by some elephant trainers to break the spirit & achieve the young animal's total submission to the will of man. (See www.captiveanimals.org/elephants/epp.htm > summary of elephant training.)
In traditional dog training the 'command' word always comes first, then a physical prompt or a correction. Once the required position is achieved it is followed by praise and then by lots of drills and repetitions.
The 1963 edition of "The Police Dogs Training and Care Manual' from the United Kingdom states:
"Complete control is the groundwork on which all succeeding training is based. The successful training of obedience is brought about by a series of repetitive habit-forming exercises. From the very first day of training the dog must never be allowed to ignore a command or fail to complete one when given. Disobedience must be met with firmness. At the commencement of training the word or command may be accompanied by physical influence."
The trainer is the 'alpha wolf' of the wolf pack, the 'boss', giving instructions in gruff to harsh voice tones and establishing dominance - often physically through neck scruffs or 'alpha roll overs' - to obtain a dog's submission. S/he demands the behaviour and, if necessary, physically pressures the dog into position. Moving into the right position, to avoid something aversive or unpleasant is rewarded with praise in a happy voice, or a tickle under the chin or by patting.
2. Positive Reinforcement Training
Since the 1960s, and especially In the last twenty years, there have been quantum leaps in what we know about animal psychology and the structure of the nervous system and how it works. Biologists, neurobiologists, zoologists and ethologists - who study animal behaviour, what motivates them and how they learn - have all radically changed how we are able to break down the communication barrier between people and animals of all species.
The way people these days train horses has changed considerably from the days of the old fashioned 'horse breaker' - thanks to the likes of Pat Pirelli, Monty Roberts and many others.
Birds no longer have to have their wings clipped to keep them in zoos. Steve Martin from Florida, one of the world's leading bird trainers, has trained over 700 birds of 100 different species for free flight bird shows around the globe and has never had one bird choose to fly away. (Click here to see notes from a Steve Martin seminar at the University of Queensland in 2005.)
In dog training many outdated theories have been discredited. Modern training has changed considerably from the "your-chihuhua-is-descended-from-a-wolf-and-therefore-must-be-treated-just-like-a-wolf-treats-other-wolves" mindset that evolved from the 1947 study by Schenkel of captive wolves in a Swiss zoo. (Click here to see 'The Alpha Theory: based on a misguided premise' by Debra Millikan.)
People have always resisted change - for instance it took centuries for most people to agree that the earth is not flat. However, some people in the western world still disagree: the Flat Earth Society has a website and over 3000 members!
In animal training too - particularly in dog training - there has been much skepticism and resistance to new ideas and methods. But an increasing number of people worldwide - whether they are teaching a dog or a dolphin, a pig or a parrot - have questioned whether the beliefs and ways of their fathers and grandfathers are necessarily the best methods.
Over the last few decades there have been incredible advances in education that have equalled the progress in areas such as medicine and communications. Times and attitudes are changing slowly but surely and in dog training many trainers now have a different philosophy and use techniques far removed from the choker/check chain so long synonymous with traditional "dog obedience training".
They have been able to develop alternative strategies that are just as efficient and effective and where the training sessions are enjoyable for both trainer and trainee and the learning curve is steep.
One of the pioneers of positive reinforcement training was the late John Fisher from the UK, author of several books including 'Dogwise: The Natural Way To Train Your Dog' (1992). He points out that confusion between what we are trying to teach the dog and what the dog is actually learning lies at the heart of many problems.
He and a young policeman - who had lost his previous police dog - rescued a 10 month old out-of control German Shepherd from the Battersea pound in London who was on death row if not adopted. The policeman and 'Major' had several intensive daily training sessions at John Fisher's home and orchard in Kent.
They were both willing and eager students who thrived on John Fisher's philosophy and positive reinforcement training methods which, to some people at that time in England, were almost heretical. The skeptics were dumbfounded when twelve (12) weeks later Major received a 95.5 % pass mark in all the required disciplines (obedience, agility, tracking etc) from two London Police force assessors when qualifying as a working police dog. (Click HERE to read a summary of the main training points in 'Dogwise: The Natural Way To Train Your Dog'.)
Positive reinforcement training - as practised by John Fisher and countless trainers since his day - is sometimes referred to as simply 'reward training' where desired behaviours are rewarded by the trainer through positive consequences.
[Scientifically speaking - and for the technically inclined - positive reinforcement training is but one of the four quadrants within the 'operant conditioning' framework. All trainers and indeed all dog owners, even if they are unfamiliar with the language or don't realise that they are doing so train by using either one or more of 1) positive reinforcement, 2) negative reinforcement, 3) positive punishment and 4) negative punishment methods. In operant conditioning, a term originally coined by Professor B.F.Skinner from Harvard in the 1930's, the animal is the operator in its environment and has a choice to operate how it likes in order to obtain something pleasurable or to avoid something undesirable.]
In the initial stages the consequence, or result, of a correctly performed behaviour is usually food. Why? Food is immediate, easy to give, quick to digest, necessary for survival and usually highly desired and therefore highly motivating. But a consequence can be with anything the dog finds pleasurable and rewarding. Some dogs are more highly motivated by, say, a frisbee than they are by food. Provided the dog likes them and finds them rewarding then praise, attention, pats, a tennis ball, toys, games, playing or just going for a walk or a ride in the car should all be used, after the event, as payment for a job well done.
The payment is a reward - whether it be verbal praise, a pat, a piece of dried liver or part of the day's daily meal - for a correct response to a 'stimulus' such as a hand or verbal signal. The reinforcement is the effect of the reward: strengthening (reinforcing as with steel rods in concrete) the behaviour and making it more likely to be repeated in the future.
If the 'good dog', or the pat on the head or the dried liver do not influence future behaviour and make it more likely to happen again then they are not a reinforcer. The praise and the enthusiastic pat have served no useful purpose and the praise soon becomes white background noise. With the food it's just feeding the dog inappropriately.
Behaviours that are broken into small parts and correctly reinforced with good timing are easily learned. Instead of trying to get the whole behaviour in one, our dogs should always succeed - crawl, walk and then run - and learn one step at a time before moving to the next step. If we don't try and go too fast in no time s/he will soon understand and be able to do the entire behaviour voluntarily and enthusiastically.
Properly taught behaviours that are then rewarded/reinforced on a random and unpredictable basis are performed with ever increasing confidence and precision. Undesired behaviours that are not rewarded, but simply ignored, usually soon extinguish and quickly disappear.
2a. Clicker Training
This method is 100% positive reward/reinforcement training - 'teaching' is a more appropriate word - with an additional teaching aid in the form of a 'clicker'. The 'click' is a marker signal that is used to identify desired behaviour while the behaviour is happening. It explains to our dog that what s/he is doing now (at this split second in time rather than several moments later) is right and that as a result something good will shortly follow. After a few repetitions the dog quickly learns to associate its behaviour with the click and the subsequent reward.
Once the behaviour has been established and is strong then a 'cue' word should be introduced. The cue is not an 'order' or a traditional 'command' - which implies 'do it or else!' It is information that, through pleasant associations, has become meaningful to the dog as to what behaviour is needed. The cue - which is quite different to a command - can, and indeed should, be said quietly and clearly. As the behaviour happens promptly and willingly there is no need for a loud voice, threatening tone or frequent repetitions.
Many dog owners - from service dogs to competition dogs to the faithful family pooch - have found that using a 'marker' signal (such as a "Yes!", a clicker, or a dolphin trainer's whistle) during the behaviour considerably reduces the amount of time they need to spend in basic training. Behaviours are learned faster and more permanently, so a greater amount of time is available to help a dog to perform at a level often thought impossible by many people.
'Geordie' is a German Shepherd cross from the Police Dog Squad in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
His handler changed over from traditional training to clicker training and wrote on his website (now discontinued): " I learned a lot from the head marine mammal trainer at Sea World ... that there is no need for force or punishment in dog training. Once I had discovered Operant Conditioning and the clicker I threw the check chain out of the window and really picked up control and polish."
In 1999 'Geordie' beat every other traditionally trained police dog to easily win the bi-annual Australian/New Zealand Police Dog Championships held that year in Melbourne.
"Spinner" (above, left) is a Golden Retriever from Perth, Western Australia. In dog obedience competitions he achieved multiple firsts in Novice, Open and Utility Dog classes. In 2000 he obtained his Obedience Champion title - before he was three! He has subsequently had an incredible eight perfect scores (including two on the same day) of 200/200, equivalent to an Olympic 10/10.
Western Australia's Canine Association awarded "Spinner" their title of 'Top Obedience Dog' for 2003, ahead of another positively trained dog - a Standard Poodle named "Kiri" (above, right, with owner/trainer Gina O'Keefe) - that had held the title for the previous three years.
Spinner's owner, Sue Hogben wrote:
"I don't believe Spinner would have come nearly as far without clicker training. I think the positive approach (he has never had a collar correction or voice correction in his training) combined with the precision of knowing what the reward was for has built his confidence and attitude. He does not stress out at all on any exercises and if he makes a mistake, who cares! He is my 8th Utility Dog (the highest class in obedience competition) and the one who 'understands' his work better than the others who were all trained with some correction in the 'proofing' stage" (perfecting a behaviour in different locations and with many different distractions).
An inspiring leader earns respect and willing cooperation. S/he is always calmly in control, has a good understanding of learning theory and principles, realises the importance of controlling everything that our dog wants and exchanging them for what we want the dog to do first, knows what to expect next, never has unrealistic expectations or tries to go too fast. S/he has a step-by-step training plan. Dogs look forward eagerly to training sessions from such a true and trusted teacher and leader!
Places to train
1. At home
Learning takes place from the moment that a puppy or a new adult dog first enters a house. It continues for the rest of his or her life, so at home is clearly where most of the dog's real training for every-day life will take place.
If the well-meaning owners don't train the dog properly - which is the case if they don't have a plan and know how to do so - the dog will self-train 24 hours a day. If there is no management, no relationship and no education, little puppies - through no fault of their own - can soon change from adorable pets to boisterous and even feral teenage pests.
At C.L.E.A.R Dog Training Puppy school
They will, naturally enough, be confused and not understand what is expected of them. People will think of them as being 'disobedient' or 'naughty' for behaving perfectly naturally when they have an accident on the carpet, nip, chew or jump up and lick. Some people think that their puppies should immediately understand our human language, especially if the words are said sternly or shouted LOUDLY.
The obvious fact is that puppies are not mind readers, nor do they understand English - any more than they do, say, Latin or Swahili. What they will learn through many repetitions is that certain sounds (in any of our 10.000 human languages and dialects) are associated with the actions currently being performed.
If a family is to live peacefully, with a happy dog sharing their house and not banished outside or surrendered to a pound or the RSPCA [to be euthanized if not re-homed] three essential owner behaviours are necessary:
- Manage: e.g. pick up valuables, shut doors, build adequate fences, provide appropriate chew toys, feed properly, and ensure daily mental stimulation and physical exercise.
- Establish a good relationship: be a pleasant, reliable, consistent, safe and interesting person that our dogs trust and want to be around. The relationship should, particularly for young dogs, be one of parent to child, teacher to student - rather than sergeant major to raw recruit!
- Train: after 1 and 2 are in place say "Yes! Good dog!" and systematically and properly teach a few useful behaviours reliably, step by step, such as 'come', 'sit' and 'stay'. The dog will soon come to learn the human words (in whatever language) and the hand signals associated with each behaviour.
This approach is much fairer to a puppy than scolding it for not being a mind reader and complying with an as yet meaningless word or, even worse, getting cross and shouting "No! Bad dog! No!" to hundreds of potentially bad (from a human viewpoint) behaviours.
2. Dog clubs
The first dog clubs in Australia started in the early 1960s using traditional correction methods. They were run by groups of enthusiastic volunteers and mainly geared, with great success for some of their members, to gain titles and trophies at obedience competitions.
Some inexperienced or sensitive dogs, whose first experience is in a large class at a conventional obedience club using corrections as the preferred method of training, are so excited or stressed that no useful learning takes place.
One or two bad experiences can easily teach a dog the wrong behaviour, cause mistrust, fear and aggression, damage relationships and take a long time to undo. In these situations compulsion can be quite confusing and interfere with learning.
In recent years a few obedience clubs have gradually been able to change over to positive reinforcement training methods only. See the article by Dr Cyn D.Fisher, Professor of Management at Bond University and Chief Instuctor (Obedience) at the Gold Coast Dog Club entitled 'Producing Change in Obedience Clubs', in the training articles section.
What exactly does 'positive reinforcement methods only mean' ? Bluntly and in a nutshell it means that CHECK CHAINS ARE BANNED on the training grounds of these clubs.
[For a more detailed explanation see the articles in the' Training Articles' section by Leandra Ford from Adelaide, "What is Positive Reinforcement Training?" and by Karin Bridge, part owner of Get S.M.A.R.T Dog Training in Sydney and President of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia entitled 'Postive training: what it is & what it is not!'
3. Private Training Schools
Many trainers still use traditional correction methods of training, while others have changed over to - or have entirely grown up with the newer techniques. Training schools offer three options: live-in training, individual lessons or group classes.
a. Live-in Kennels
Dogs are sent away as boarders for several weeks and are 'obedience' trained every day, by somebody else. Usually they live in concrete kennels housing several other dogs and are trained with traditional methods. At the end of the course, before the dog goes home, the owners are shown the 'commands' and how to enforce discipline.
C.L.E.A.R Dog Training does not advocate or provide this type of training.
b. Individual lessons
At C.L.E.A.R Dog Training, individual attention is given to the relationship between you and your dog in your own home. Often this relationship is out of balance, with a dog in charge! Lessons usually run for an hour and a half to two hours.
An experienced instructor will observe how you and your family communicate and how well your dog understands you. He or she will find out what your goals are and what new behaviours you want your dog to learn - or what current behaviours you would like to modify.
You will be shown how to teach your dog basic control ('obedience') with hand signals first and then by voice. As there are no disruptions, you and your dog can concentrate, learn faster and achieve your goals sooner. Weekly training plans are made available should you wish to practice - highly recommended! - in between lessons.
c. Group Classes
At C.L.E.A.R Dog Training - Sunday afternoon beginner's class
Knowing how to 'sit' in the kitchen before a meal is an excellent and necessary first step. However, it is a quite different behaviour to 'sitting' for five seconds with several other dogs nearby! Sitting before crossing a road, or sitting for one minute on wet grass at a competition, or - more usefully perhaps - sitting automatically and politely to greet people at the front door are again totally new behaviours.
This process is much easier for them if their owners have already acquired a basic understanding of dog behaviour, how dogs learn and how best to teach new behaviours.
At classes there will be obvious distractions, but with competent instructors always attuned to what is happening and with owners who have been shown how to read accurately their dog's body language, controlled socialisation provides an excellent learning opportunity. Your dog will put into practice what s/he has already learned in a quiet home environment and the desired behaviours will become more reliable.
Our small groups provide an ideal place for dogs of all ages and levels of training to perfect known behaviours in a more distracting environment. Your dog will learn how to act confidently and calmly around unfamiliar dogs and strangers, to be calm and polite and have good manners and to respond first time to your hand or verbal signals.
Lessons are normally about an hour in length and run over several weeks. At the end of each lesson home training sheets are provided should you wish to practice - again highly recommended! - between weekly lessons.
At C.L.E.A.R Dog Training - Sunday morning puppy school
Training Goals
The aims of all animal trainers are similar: to eliminate existing undesired behaviours or to establish new ones and have their animal instantly perform desired behaviours on request. Some people unfortunately go to great lengths to belittle other trainers or other training techniques and claim that they and thier unique method is the only one that works. The simple fact is that results can, without question, be achieved with all training methods.
It is the approach to learning, the enjoyment or otherwise of the training process and the philosophy and vocabulary that are different. 'Command' and 'obedience' become 'cue' and 'good manners', while 'correct' and 'dominate' change to 'show' and 'motivate'.
Traditional trainers - whether of porpoises, pigs, horses, parrots or dogs - instantly correct and punish mistakes whereas positive reinforcement and clicker trainers welcome them as a learning opportunity. They ignore errors and concentrate on setting an animal up for success and helping it to improve, step by step, on what it can do right.
Many zoos worldwide have changed to positive reinforcement techniques. They no longer have to use force or sedate their elephants and other exotic animals when clipping toenails, giving injections or collecting blood.
The polar bears at Sea World on Queensland's Gold Coast, for instance, quickly learned a range of behaviours from the head marine mammal trainer, Kerrie Haynes-Lovell: sit, lie down, station (for weighing), present paw, mouth open, teeth clean, and 'shift' - to move from one place to another. No force was ever involved and they were trained with a marker signal, and an occasional reward, to follow a target stick.
[For many years Kerrie has been a lecturer at the Delta Society Australia's Canine Good Citizen instructor's course (click here for details). She has helped and mentored hundreds of trainers in Australasia who share her belief that positive reinforcement training works as equally well for dogs and donkeys as it does for dolphins, killer whales or her beloved polar bears.]
"Geordie" from the Dog Squad on the Sunshine Coast, whose owner was influenced by Kerrie Haynes-Lovell's techniques, easily won the Australian/New Zealand Police Dog Championships. Clicker trained dogs, like "Spinner" and "Kiri", are obtaining spectacular results at obedience and agility competitions around Australia. Service and mobility assistance dogs in many countries are increasingly being trained with positive reinforcement + a clicker.
"Peek", a 3.5-kilo Papillon, is an assistance dog for a double leg amputee in a wheelchair. He can put clothes into a washing machine, make the bed, fetch the phone and TV remote controls, open and shut cupboard doors, flush the lavatory, tug clothing off his owners body, and activate power door openers, push buttons in a lift (below) and operate light switches.
His owner/trainer Debi Davis from Tucson, Arizona, says, "Peek was close to euthanasia when he came into my life at 3 months, with a host of behavioural problems."
So she joined a traditional training class where, "the more I pushed, pulled and corrected the more Peek postured, growled and challenged. Classes were a war of wills. He hated wearing the check chain and hid when I tried to put it on him." They both found it "too stressful" and when she was told to use an ear pinch to teach holding the dumbbell Debi finally quit.
Soon afterwards she discovered a clicker class that accepted small dogs for service work. A few years later, after thousands of "short, happy, proactive learning sessions", Peek became the first 'toy' breed to win the prestigious 'Service Dog of the Year' Award at the 1999 Delta Societys annual conference. He was also the first 'clicker-trained' dog ever to do so.
However, most dog owners just want an ordinary 'family dog' that behaves properly inside the house, is safe around children and doesn't jump up on visitors or pull or lunge and bark frantically at other dogs when out for a walk. By using these same training methods many people have dogs that are fun, polite and can be taken anywhere.
These owners have found that the new ways are just as effective, if not much more so, than training with force, compulsion or fear. They have also found them very much more efficient, easy and enjoyable - at both ends of the lead. They have welcomed the accelerated learning that comes when their dogs have learned quickly because they WANT TO - not because they HAVE TO!
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