The first lesson of Unit One started well. Some of it was review; what is clicker training and how does it work? Luckily, my 4 semesters of behavior that I studied in Tech School comes in handy there as we did learn a lot about the basic concepts of clicker training. I found I made it through the lesson in good time and was the first student in my group to do the written assignment (what a brown noser).
The first lesson had some exercises I had to do, but it was more to improve my clicker skills and didn't involve Buster or any other animal. So those exercises were relatively easy to complete, since I have some clicker savvy to work with.
The next lesson started introducing assignments for me and my KPA dog (which I have decided will be Buster...explain more in a later blog). Our first task was for me to 'capture' a natural behavior that Buster does on his own, and put it 'on cue'. Let me explain: Capturing is the art of taking a behavior the dog naturally does and marking that behavior (with my clicker of course). By marking that behavior consistenly and reinforcing it, the hope is that the dog will soon figure out that "Ah, she is clicking every time I lick my lips (in this case), so I am going to do that more to get more treats."
At first Buster didn't really get the concept. He licks his lips a lot (for any of you that know Buster, he is a lip 'smacker' when he gets excited...really weird), so I found myself reinforcing a lot...yet I did not feel that Buster understood what he was being reinforced for. So, after many sessions, tons of treats, and training in various locations, we finally found what worked. After the advice of my marvelous obedience instructor, I put Buster up on our bed. That way I could visualize his movements better and he couldn't bump me with his nose or paw my leg to try and get a treat. This worked brilliantly! Buster had his wonderful "Ahaaa!" moment where he realized that 'Holy crap, this lady is giving me a treat when I lick my lips. How simple is that!' After that moment we were on a role.
So, next I had to add in a cue. The cue I chose was "Yummy" - cute hey, I say 'Yummy!' and Buster licks his lips (must be thinking about one of my dinners....just call me Martha!). So to add the cue, you have to introduce it right before the dog offers the behavior. Easier said than done. Have fun predicting when your dog is going to lick his lips in time to say 'Yummy' before he starts licking; it's tough!
After much work, on my observational skills, I finally was able to predict when Buster was about to perform the behavior.
Our cueing is going well, and Buster is getting tons of treats. But now, we raise the bar a bit higher. Now, I have to give the cue, have Buster perform the behavior, then WAIT before giving the cue for the behavior again. This is the test to see if Buster is actually hearing the cue and waiting for it before licking his lips. Well, we quickly figured out he was NOT! I would predict his first lip lick, say the cue and he would lick. Then, while I paused for the required few seconds, he would lick again....and again....and again....and then start barking at me as if to say 'You idiot, I'm licking why aren't you clicking me for it?' This is where our capturing assignment currently stands. Buster will lick his lips till the cows come home, but getting it reliably on cue has proven to be quite challenging for us!
This cute behavior that sounded so fun is turning out to be a real pain in the.....
Will I get Buster to master the 'Lip Lick' before I lose my mind?
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