Let's start with this: we know that dogs learn by making associations. People do, too. If we give a visual sign for sit, and reward dog when dog sits, and we do this little practice repeatedly, dog  starts to associate visual cue -->-- dog sits -->-- dog gets reward. Later, owner/handler teaches the verbal cue "Sit" and tries to help dog make the same association, etc. People have been teaching this  way for a long time. I still call it "teaching" because owner is  helping dog to make associations. However, this is command-based  training: the dog is to perform the behavior in response to verbal cue. I began to favor it far less when I recognize that dogs are not so much auditory learners as they are visual learners. And here I had been expecting my dogs to learn from my spoken cues. Sad.

Unfortunately, as well, oftentimes, there may be a compulsion aspect to command-based training.  What occurs if dog chooses the *wrong* behavior in that instance? Is dog rewarded? No. Does owner administer a *correction* to inform dog that he chose the wrong behavior?  Sometimes.

Now, let's look at a different way of teaching and learning. We may look at it from both the teacher's point of view and the student's point of view. To begin, let's consider a dog's behaviors as value free. They're just behaviors. Dogs have many behaviors.

Using the principles of learning, particularly the principle that "Behaviors which are reinforced will be repeated," we realize that we have choices in planning. We may pick out some behaviors that we really like and that we wish to encourage the dog to perform more often. Those are the ones we'll consciously choose to reward. Notice that the focus now is on the behaviors that we want, the behaviors we want to develop to make stronger, rather than on the behaviors that we don't like.

First, we need to "get" the behavior. Essentially, there are three ways to get the behavior. We may lure the dog to perform it. We may observe to note when the dog offers it freely. Or we may use shaping by successive approximations, particularly to get more complex behaviors.

We don't even have to give a visual cue or a verbal cue. We may wait and watch with our peripheral vision until the dog offers the behavior freely on its own. And then we *mark* that behavior with a signal to the dog.  We're using the clicker, a little plastic device like a child's toy, for that. We use the click sound to mark the instant, within 1.5 seconds, that the desired behavior occurs, and then we give the dog a tasty food morsel as a reward. This part is called operant conditioning with a reward marker. The common name is clicker teaching.

Has the dog made the association yet that its behavior -- sit -- predicts the reward? No. It was a coincidence getting the food treat. Dog may guess, "Maybe Mom just felt like giving me a treat." or "I get a treat when I'm in the kitchen." Dog does not yet associate the reward consequences from its own offered behaviors, but rather it may think that treat/rewards are contingent upon the trainer's mood or the location where the lesson is occurring.

When I begin this type of click/treat teaching, I don't start with the sit.  The sit is a behavior that many dogs do not offer freely initially. Down is a natural thing for a dog to do; perhaps you'd like to start with the dog offering the down. Looking up at owner is a natural thing for a dog to do. 

I decided that looking up at me was a behavior from the dog that I wanted to reinforce so that it would be repeated. Why was looking up at me important to reward?  Because once I have a dog attentive to me, then I can begin to teach it. So I observed with my peripheral vision and when my dog offered the behavior look, then I clicked once, and gave a food treat.  I wandered about the room slowly a bit, and observed again with my peripheral vision. The dog looked again. I clicked and gave another food treat. Dog immediately looked again, I c/t again. Again, and c/t again.

What was happening? Notice this fact: the dog was not looking at me in response to my first making eye contact, for I didn't. Dog was beginning to make the association that her behavior could have a particular result. It could result in me making a click sound and giving her the treat. All of this is the first lesson, with no prior conditioning of the dog to the click sound. 

I took this practice lesson into the yard. Attached a very light long line to dog's collar and we just wandered about as dog sniffed. I didn't pay any attention to the dog. I didn't call her or ask her to do anything.  I just waited. The dog, after sniffing for chipmunks a bit, looked at me. Immediately I clicked and then walked over to the dog to give her a little tasty food treat. Again, we just ambled about. Then dog looked up at me, I clicked, and dog ran to me to get food treat. As dog arrived, I gave her a food treat and I also turned one-quarter turn to my right, placing dog at my left side in heel position and took three steps forward. Dog stayed at my side looking up, c/t.

We walked some more, dog looked up and stayed at my side on the loose lead, c/t some more.  What do we have here? In about 13 seconds from beginning the first teaching with a clicker then going outdoors, we have a dog attentive to the owner, walking calmly in heel position on a loose lead. No verbal command, and no compulsion involved. That was my little Meggie, the affenpincher I had rescued from the highway, the first dog with which I had tried clicker training.

Let's change focus for a second and figure out how we could use the concept of dogs learning by making associations to help the dogs learn how to respond to the owner in other settings.

Pet owner comment: "Oh, you mean taking the dog out in public? Well, I really have to work hard to make my dog mind when other people and other dogs are about."

Why is that? Because we've changed the setting to one that is more mentally stimulating for dogs, distracting. The dogs may get a bit excited. Let's still try to think.  Let's still try to remember that dogs learn by associations. What do we want the dog to learn when other people and other dogs are about?"

Here's where owner planning comes in.  Let's think what we want our dogs to learn by associations. Do we want the dog to learn that they "must" obey the owner?  That t when other people/other dogs are about, that predicts that it will experience a leash-jerk correction to its neck???  Or do we want the dogsto learn that it will be able to have a great time when other people and other dogs are about? We are the ones that control the variables, so we are the ones who will most likely determine the outcome: what the dog learns by associations in that setting.

Let's think about what behaviors we could reward in such a setting amid distractions. Could we click/treat reward dog looking at owner just the same as we did in the yard to teach loose-lead walking?  Why not try it? Let's start with "look" = click (which predicts) treat. Dog remembers that one from home, where dog received a good reinforcement history for look.

Then let's try owner taking a few steps with dog at his side. Dog looks and walks. Let's click/treat reward for that. Good dog.There is no need to change the teaching because the theory still holds. Reward the dog for the behaviors you wish to reinforce.

Well, what about punishment, then?  Do not reward the dog for the behaviors you do not wish to reinforce. That human behavior is called negative punishment: the owner does not give the dog some reward that was expected.

 Practice more behaviors at home until the dog becomes consistent and learns what to do. Then practice in other settings of low to moderate distraction first several times before exposing the dog to high-powered distractions. If ywithin a few weeks you need to work in some settings of higher-powered distraction, then work with your dog at some distance from the distraction first. 

This distance factor is an important consideration if the dog is highly reactive around other dogs/other people.

We need to try to help desensitize the dog to such situations, and it seems to help if we start first at some distance away, the distance at which the dog is still comfortable, relaxed, not tense.  Simply do your regular practice walking a few steps, reward the dog for making eye contact with you even though other dogs and other dogs are in view at a distance.

What association will our dog make then? That it may work with you on this clickeer game for eye contact no matter the location. The purpose of that exercise is to help prevent the dog's tensions from rising. Meanwhile, it also helps to build in a little reinforcement history in the presence of these distractions. As the dog has more and more pleasurable experiences in the presence of other dogs, then the dog we are teaching begins to gain greater confidence in you and in your relationship.

If the student dog should seem to be a bit flustered, then move the dog a greater distance from the others. There in that position, help the dog to relax and be calm. Then start to hand-feed the student dog little tiny tidbit treats not contingent upon its behavior, but simply for being there with you while other people/other dogs are within view.

This part, an introduction to counter conditioning, helps the dog build up some positive feelings (emotional responses) toward the provocative stimuli around it, and those positive feelings then lead to less arousal, fewer tensions, calmer behaviors. When on such occasions the owner hand feeds little food treats, luscious high-value food treats to this student dog while it's in the presence of other dogs, then the student dog begins to behave calmly more and more often when other people/other dogs are within view.  While it is doing so, the dog beghins to mentally associate the good feelings it receives first from "Seeing other dogs in view" = (means) "food treats for me."

We want to help the dog make that new mental association, but this association is not at first a part of the dog's cognitive awareness. This mental association occurs first on a subconscious level of the dog's brain, an emotional part of the dog's brain, through classical conditioning. The dog has no conscious choice in the matter. It occurs without any action from the student dog.

I've been talking about dogs, but you'll see that this is actually similar to the experience of a child going to play school for the first time, having pleasurable experiences there.  If we want to help our youngsters learn and want to help our dogs learn, it's useful to remember that they learn by making associations.

Command-based training and compulsion training deny the opportunity for the dog to make choices in its behaviors. That may give some owners confidence that they "have the dog under control." But at what cost, considering that there are other ways to achieve that desired outcome?

For people who are new to this concept, I'd suggest to you that it's worth exploring. The outcomes are often quite remarkable.

See the article here called “Introduction to Clicker Training.” There are books and videos and web sites to help you in your effort.  See the Resources section at this web site.

© August 30, 2000, revised January 30, 2008. Barbara D. Brill, 302 Meadow Farm  N., North Chili, NY 14514 All rights reserved.
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