Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 10

By Pamela Reid, PhD Over the holidays I spent a week with family and whenever it came time for “The Price Is Right,” I retreated to a corner of the room to read a good book. Yet, when the show was over, I always had a sense of how many people were wildly overjoyed with their newly acquired merchandise and how many departed the stage as losers. Why? Because it was impossible to drown out the wild flashing lights, bells, and whistles that accompanied a win and the demoralizing klaxon that signalled defeat. That loser horn is a classic example of a no reward mark (NRM), the term animal trainers use for a signal that marks an unreinforced behavior. The NRM is distinct from a conditioned punisher—no one takes the losing contestant back stage for a spanking—she simply misses out on the prize. Likewise, when the dog makes an error, the trainer uses a NRM to let the dog know that he’s missed out on his reward. Gary Wilkes first popularized the notion of providing both positive and negative feedback to dogs while playing the “shaping game.” Using both a clicker and the word Wrong, he demonstrated how his Cattle Dog Meg could progress rapidly through successive approximations to a target behavior, rarely repeating any behaviors that resulted in his NRM. Wilkes argued that dogs benefit from information about the accuracy of their behavior in much the same way as we regulate our choices during a game of “Hot and Cold.” In typical human style, many trainers decided that if a little is good, a lot must be better; so for a time, the use of Wrong was all the rage. Eavesdropping on a training session in those days was a disheartening affair, with a barrage of Wrong interspersed with the occasional 10 click. In a shaping game, there are many more incorrect options than correct ones, and dogs that constantly heard about their wrong choices got fed up and quit offering behaviors altogether. As usual, dogs are our best teachers. Even though Wrong fell by the wayside, NRMs didn’t disappear completely. Instead, they transformed into the less jarring alternatives, Too Bad, Oops, and Try Again. But are we fooling ourselves into thinking that these are any different? We know dogs learn more efficiently when a trainer uses a conditioned reinforcer, also known as a reward mark. But is training also enhanced by the use of NRMs? No Reward Marks in Pavlov’s Laboratory In 1927 Pavlov first described what he labeled “conditioned inhibition.” In the context of his standard bell-food experiment, he added a second stimulus: a ticking metronome. Pavlov repeatedly presented the metronome in the absence of food. His dogs produced 18 drops of saliva when they heard the bell (the CS+), which had consistently preceded food. But when they heard the ticking metronome (the CS-), the dogs drooled not a drop. Pavlov argued that conditioned stimuli can have either excitatory (rewarding) or inhibitory (punishing) properties, depending on whether the stimulus predicts the presence of the unconditioned stimulus (food) or its absence. Hence the notions of reward marks and no reward marks were born. Surprisingly, it wasn’t until the 1960s that researchers looked at the CS- more closely. At first blush, the concept appeared simple, but closer examination revealed a more complex story. To acquire inhibitory properties, a stimulus has to be conditioned in a particular way. To acquire true inhibition, a CS- must occur without the unconditioned stimulus (US) when that US is otherwise expected. In other words, a stimulus can only come to function as a NRM if the animal is expecting the reward. So presenting a stimulus without food is not sufficient; it has to happen when the animal is anticipating food. Like Pavlov’s early illustration, most researchers established their NRMs by intermixing trials in which one stimulus (the CS+) preceded food, while another stimulus (the CS-) conspicuously produced nothing. How do you know if a CS- is truly inhibitory? Pavlov had drops of drool to compare, but this is indirect evidence. The animal is doing nothing when it hears the CS-, which is exactly the same as Clean Run | April 09

Clean Run Magazine - April 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - April 2009

Clean Run Magazine - April 2009
Contents
Editorializing: For Our Dogs’ Sake: Concerns about Weave Pole Spacing
Tip of the Month
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Agility…
Backyard Dogs
When the Price Isn’t Right
Handling Your Dog in Awesome Style, Part 12: Advanced Skills
My Favorite Course
K9 Kudos: Canines Competing for Charity
The Impact of Footing on the Jumping Dog
When the Magic Is Missing: Managing the Unbalanced Class
Skill of the Month
Tricks for Agility: The Shrinking Dog
A New Twist on Training with 2 x 2 Weaves
Can You Handle It?
The Pieces that Finish the Puzzle
Comparing the Derrett and Mecklenburg Handling Systems, Part 2: Lead-out Push versus Lead-out Pivot
Changing Consequences: Controlling Toy Reinforcement
Relationship and Motivation: Jenny’s Guide to Successful Teamwork
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Clean Run Magazine - April 2009
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 2
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Contents
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 4
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Editorializing: For Our Dogs’ Sake: Concerns about Weave Pole Spacing
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Tip of the Month
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Agility…
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Backyard Dogs
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 9
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - When the Price Isn’t Right
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 11
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 12
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 13
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 14
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Handling Your Dog in Awesome Style, Part 12: Advanced Skills
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 16
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 17
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 18
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 19
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 20
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 21
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 22
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 23
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 24
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 25
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - My Favorite Course
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 27
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - K9 Kudos: Canines Competing for Charity
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 29
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 30
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - The Impact of Footing on the Jumping Dog
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 32
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 33
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 34
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 35
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - When the Magic Is Missing: Managing the Unbalanced Class
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 37
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 38
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Skill of the Month
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 40
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 41
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 42
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Tricks for Agility: The Shrinking Dog
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 44
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 45
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 46
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - A New Twist on Training with 2 x 2 Weaves
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 48
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 49
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 50
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 51
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 52
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Can You Handle It?
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 54
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 55
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 56
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - The Pieces that Finish the Puzzle
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 58
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 59
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Comparing the Derrett and Mecklenburg Handling Systems, Part 2: Lead-out Push versus Lead-out Pivot
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 61
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 62
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 63
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 64
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 65
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 66
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Changing Consequences: Controlling Toy Reinforcement
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 68
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 69
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 70
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 71
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 72
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 73
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 74
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - Relationship and Motivation: Jenny’s Guide to Successful Teamwork
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 76
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 77
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 78
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 83
Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 84
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