Clean Run Magazine - August 2008 - 54

NAG Nags about ReiNfoRciNg YouR Dog Reward your dog. To set up for this tag point, you would explain to the student exactly how you want her to reward the dog; for example, you may want the student to toss a toy after the dog completes the third jump. The explanation needs to come before you develop the tag point. The tag point is, “Third jump, toss the toy!”When she tosses her toy after the dog does the third jump, she gets tagged. Play with your dog—for real! Instructors want handlers to be sincere in their play and interaction with their dogs. But what does “for real” mean to your students? It would be clearer to give the handler a tag point that reflects her connection and sincerity in playing with her dog; for example, “Play with ‘happy eyes’.” “Happy eyes” is a nickname for a specific facial expression. You and the student would need to explore what the student’s face looks like with happy eyes so that both of you understand when the student meets the criterion. give “bad handler” treats. Avoid using jargon. Coach the student in what you want her to do and why. In this case, the simple explanation is that the dog should be reinforced for playing the game, especially when the human makes a mistake. The tag point is, “Mistake, stop and reinforce.” Or, maybe the handler is not generous enough with reinforcement. For this handler you explain that you would like her to treat with a stream of treats following a mistake. The tag point could be, “One right after the other.” The essence of this tag point is classically conditioning the dog that human mistakes pay off big for him. It can help your learner keep from moaning, looking upset, berating herself, or showing disappointment. Our disappointment impacts the dog’s attitude. We’ve given this learner what is called a “value-added tag.” Not only does she get information on what to do, the dog also gets an associative learning piece. chaNge a Nag to a tag I solicited the AgileTeach Yahoo discussion list for behaviors that agility instructors typically nag their students about. The list of phrases I received was overwhelming. When I read through it, I was struck by how many of the comments I would not be able to execute as a student. The nags have no clear information and, as I read and considered each one, much of the time I was left thinking, “I don’t know what the instructor wants.” Let’s look at some of the typical agility nags and convert them to tag points so that they are clearer to your students. stop and treat.” Have the student and dog walk down the line of “soccer dots.” As the student approaches each dot, you, the instructor, click; and the student stops and rewards the dog. This game can demonstrate a rate of reinforcement on the order of one click/treat every 4 seconds or fewer. The student’s drive to do the whole line without rewarding is harnessed by you being the one to click. In addition, the student is being tagged for stopping to reinforce the dog. After a few times down the line of dots, people usually say, “Oh! That’s what you mean by a high rate of reinforcement!” Nags about cRiteRia Let’s make some more agility nags into tag points. These nags all have to do with criteria. It was both heartening and striking to see so much emphasis on the clarity of criteria with the dogs and yet the lack of clarity with the criteria for the humans. Tag points to the rescue! Maintain your criteria. Many times your handlers do not know what their criterion is for their dog at that moment. As a teacher, you can help your learners become clearer on this point by having them state out loud what they will reinforce for. Working on a tunnel, the tag point might be, “Click as he exits” or “Click the head turn.” This could be a case where your learner catches on quickly as to when to click the dog, but you now notice the reinforcement delivery needs improvement. TAG, don’t nag! Set a new tag point that describes exactly what you want the learner to do with the reinforcer. What if your learner is not a clicker trainer and uses praise as cheerleading rather than as specific information? The tag point is, “Quiet until he commits.” After earning five tags for that, you can raise your learner’s criterion. The new tag point is, “Big whoopee at the exit.” Notice how this can shape the learner out of cheerleading and into using praise and celebration for specific behaviors. TAG! Your rate of reinforcement needs to be higher. You want to encourage the student to have a higher rate of reinforcement, but most handlers I work with have a hard time grasping what I mean when I ask them to have a “high rate of reinforcement.” You need to find a way to explain this concept and then develop a tag point. A high rate of reinforcement can mean a click/treat given very frequently. To illustrate this I like to set up an exercise that is separate from the agility task where I can help the student hear a high rate of reinforcement. Karen Pryor has a nifty little game for this called “Connect the Dots.” It’s about teaching loose-leash walking, but I find it works great for demonstrating a high rate of reinforcement. Lay out a line of soccer cones (the flat, dome kind) spaced about 3' apart. The tag point for the student is, “Click means 54 Clean Run | August 08

Clean Run Magazine - August 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - August 2008