Interviewed for Bark magazine, Dr Nicholas Dodman said.
"I think that the direct punishment-based techniques are outmoded, a thing of the past, and should be avoided. Nobel Prize winners Lorenz, Tinbergen and Von Frisch might have disagreed on some points, but the three of them were all in agreement that punishment teaches a dog nothing except how to avoid the punishment."
"I work on the theory that if you can train a killer whale to launch itself out of a swimming pool, roll on its side and urinate into a small plastic cup, given only a whistle and a bucket of fish, without a choke chain, then you don’t need those confrontational techniques with dogs."
September 17, 2007
September 16, 2007
Virtual Clicker Training
The US PBS network's program Pet Tech featured Duncan, a virtual sheep dog who looks after a virtual flock. Created by a team at MIT's Media Lab, Duncan has a mind of his own and can learn to respond to verbal commands. Like a real dog, however, Duncan's performance often depends on the skill of his human master.
With advice from Gary Wilkes, they used a clicker to teach him a range of commands.
You can watch episodes of Pet Tech online.
With advice from Gary Wilkes, they used a clicker to teach him a range of commands.
You can watch episodes of Pet Tech online.
September 08, 2007
Basic skills of clicker training
What: Criteria
Before you start a training session, decide exactly what you are going to reinforce. Unless you know what you want, you’re unlikely to get it! Remember to teach in tiny increments, rather than expecting the whole finished behaviour all at once. The smaller the increments the more successful your dog will be at working the behaviour out for himself – and that produces the best learning.
When: Timing
The click marks exactly the moment that the dog performs the desired behaviour. It tells the dog “That’s what I want. That’ll get you a reward” You will find that you have to anticipate the dog’s action so as to click on time. It is better to click too soon than too late.
Where: Placement
While the clicker is the primary marker, everything that happens between the click and the treat is being reinforced. If you click a sit then your dog gets up for the treat, getting up without a cue is being reinforced. So where possible, reward the dog in position, or use the delivery of the treat to reinforce the behaviour. Eg click backing up, and toss the treat under the dog’s belly so she has to back up to get it.
How Much: Rate of Reinforcement
Keep the rate of reinforcement high, particularly in the early stages of teaching a new behaviour. Your dog knows how to sit. What you are teaching him is that it is worth his while to sit when you give the cue – so make it worth his while! As you raise the criteria you will be demanding more of your dog for less frequent reinforcement.
Before you start a training session, decide exactly what you are going to reinforce. Unless you know what you want, you’re unlikely to get it! Remember to teach in tiny increments, rather than expecting the whole finished behaviour all at once. The smaller the increments the more successful your dog will be at working the behaviour out for himself – and that produces the best learning.
When: Timing
The click marks exactly the moment that the dog performs the desired behaviour. It tells the dog “That’s what I want. That’ll get you a reward” You will find that you have to anticipate the dog’s action so as to click on time. It is better to click too soon than too late.
Where: Placement
While the clicker is the primary marker, everything that happens between the click and the treat is being reinforced. If you click a sit then your dog gets up for the treat, getting up without a cue is being reinforced. So where possible, reward the dog in position, or use the delivery of the treat to reinforce the behaviour. Eg click backing up, and toss the treat under the dog’s belly so she has to back up to get it.
How Much: Rate of Reinforcement
Keep the rate of reinforcement high, particularly in the early stages of teaching a new behaviour. Your dog knows how to sit. What you are teaching him is that it is worth his while to sit when you give the cue – so make it worth his while! As you raise the criteria you will be demanding more of your dog for less frequent reinforcement.
Intro to clicker training
Notes for a workshop I gave at the ADAA Camp. They came from Bob Baily via Dani Weinberg and Helix Fairweather.
How to Teach a New Behaviour
1. Get yourself organized
Prepare small, soft, easily delivered treats or decide on another reward. Practice clicking and delivering the treat until you can do it smoothly and quickly.
2. Warmup
Start each training sessions with a few rounds of Clicking Attention. Just click and treat if your dog is new to clicker training, or ask for a few simple well known behaviours that you can click and treat.
3. Get the behaviour
Capture – Watch your dog and click and treat if your dog offers the behaviour.
Lure – Coax your dog into performing the behaviour with a strategically positioned treat. Only lure two or three times then let your dog figure it out.
Shape – Click and treat ever closer approximations to the behaviour. First step might be look at the target, then move towards it, touch with nose, press nose against it.
4. Change the picture
Start helping your dog generalize by changing your position, orientation, distance. Sit, stand, turn sideways …
5. Give it a name
When your dog is doing the behaviour intentionally and predictably, give the cue while the behaviour is happening. Then gradually give the cue earlier, until you can give it before the behaviour starts.
If your dog offers any behaviour other than the one you asked for, do nothing. Wait for your dog to figure it out, then click and treat when your dog gets it right.
Once you have built up an association between the cue and the behaviour, if your dog offers the behaviour when you haven’t cued it, ignore! Then immediately give the cue and click and treat the repeated behaviour.
6. Make it harder
Start delaying the click and treat, one second at a time, to build duration.
Raise your standards and only click and treat those instances of the behaviour that meet your new standard. You might ask for faster, further, longer, straighter … Work on one criterion at a time.
Go back a step if necessary to keep the dog’s success rate high.
7. Take it on the road
Ask for the behaviour in new parts of the house, garden, street, suburb … Practice in increasingly distracting locations, and introduce distractions to familiar locations.
How to Teach a New Behaviour
1. Get yourself organized
Prepare small, soft, easily delivered treats or decide on another reward. Practice clicking and delivering the treat until you can do it smoothly and quickly.
2. Warmup
Start each training sessions with a few rounds of Clicking Attention. Just click and treat if your dog is new to clicker training, or ask for a few simple well known behaviours that you can click and treat.
3. Get the behaviour
Capture – Watch your dog and click and treat if your dog offers the behaviour.
Lure – Coax your dog into performing the behaviour with a strategically positioned treat. Only lure two or three times then let your dog figure it out.
Shape – Click and treat ever closer approximations to the behaviour. First step might be look at the target, then move towards it, touch with nose, press nose against it.
4. Change the picture
Start helping your dog generalize by changing your position, orientation, distance. Sit, stand, turn sideways …
5. Give it a name
When your dog is doing the behaviour intentionally and predictably, give the cue while the behaviour is happening. Then gradually give the cue earlier, until you can give it before the behaviour starts.
If your dog offers any behaviour other than the one you asked for, do nothing. Wait for your dog to figure it out, then click and treat when your dog gets it right.
Once you have built up an association between the cue and the behaviour, if your dog offers the behaviour when you haven’t cued it, ignore! Then immediately give the cue and click and treat the repeated behaviour.
6. Make it harder
Start delaying the click and treat, one second at a time, to build duration.
Raise your standards and only click and treat those instances of the behaviour that meet your new standard. You might ask for faster, further, longer, straighter … Work on one criterion at a time.
Go back a step if necessary to keep the dog’s success rate high.
7. Take it on the road
Ask for the behaviour in new parts of the house, garden, street, suburb … Practice in increasingly distracting locations, and introduce distractions to familiar locations.
September 06, 2007
Sapper Merlin killed on duty
Sapper Merlin watches as Sapper Peter Lawlis eats a biscuit.
An Australian Cattle Dog cross from Brisbane he was working as a bomb detection dog in Afghanistan, when he was run over while sleeping in the shade of a vehicle.
August 25, 2007
Which mixed breeds?
Reggies owner thinks he is part cattle dog and part fox terrier, however tests on the market in the US could let him know Reggies breed heritage for sure.
The Wisdom Panel MX Mixed Breed Analysis requires a blood sample and is done in a veterinarian's office. The results come back in two to three weeks. The test is based on DNA samples from 3,200 dogs, covering 134 breeds and is expected to cost about $130.
The Canine Heritage Breed Test is a do-it-yourself kit from MMI Genomics. Owners swab the inside of their dog's cheek, and then mail it to the company. This test covers 38 breeds, costs $71.95 and takes four to six weeks.
These services join the American Kennel Club's DNA testing to confirm parentage using a cheek swab. The AKC maintains a DNA library of over 450,000 individual dogs which is used to protect and investigate pedigree claims.
The Wisdom Panel MX Mixed Breed Analysis requires a blood sample and is done in a veterinarian's office. The results come back in two to three weeks. The test is based on DNA samples from 3,200 dogs, covering 134 breeds and is expected to cost about $130.
The Canine Heritage Breed Test is a do-it-yourself kit from MMI Genomics. Owners swab the inside of their dog's cheek, and then mail it to the company. This test covers 38 breeds, costs $71.95 and takes four to six weeks.
These services join the American Kennel Club's DNA testing to confirm parentage using a cheek swab. The AKC maintains a DNA library of over 450,000 individual dogs which is used to protect and investigate pedigree claims.
August 18, 2007
August 13, 2007
ACD Pedigree Database
Pedigree of Ikenheel Diamonds N Dust (Dusty) Her lines can be traced back to Little Logic through Wooleston Blue Jack
"Sydney exhibitors saw Little Logic offspring, for the first time, among entrants at the Sydney Royal of 1947. These exhibits, and their sires' show record, created immediate demand for Little Logic's lineage. By the end of the 1950s, there were few Australian Cattle Dogs whelped that were not Little Logic descendants. The convergence on Little Logic continued into the next generation when Little Logic's best known son, Logic Return, also attained prominence in the show ring and popularity at stud.
The prominence of Little Logic and Logic Return in the pedigrees of modern Australian Cattle Dogs was perpetuated by Wooleston Kennels. Whelped in 1965, Wooleston Blue Jack was line bred to Little Logic and Logic Return, and Wooleston Kennels subsequently line bred to Wooleston Blue Jack, himself. For some twenty years, Wooleston supplied foundation and supplementary breeding stock to breeders in Australia, North America and Continental Europe. As a result, Wooleston Blue Jack is ancestral to most, if not all, Australian Cattle Dogs whelped since 1990 in any country." ACD Breed History Noreen Clark
"Sydney exhibitors saw Little Logic offspring, for the first time, among entrants at the Sydney Royal of 1947. These exhibits, and their sires' show record, created immediate demand for Little Logic's lineage. By the end of the 1950s, there were few Australian Cattle Dogs whelped that were not Little Logic descendants. The convergence on Little Logic continued into the next generation when Little Logic's best known son, Logic Return, also attained prominence in the show ring and popularity at stud.
The prominence of Little Logic and Logic Return in the pedigrees of modern Australian Cattle Dogs was perpetuated by Wooleston Kennels. Whelped in 1965, Wooleston Blue Jack was line bred to Little Logic and Logic Return, and Wooleston Kennels subsequently line bred to Wooleston Blue Jack, himself. For some twenty years, Wooleston supplied foundation and supplementary breeding stock to breeders in Australia, North America and Continental Europe. As a result, Wooleston Blue Jack is ancestral to most, if not all, Australian Cattle Dogs whelped since 1990 in any country." ACD Breed History Noreen Clark
August 04, 2007
Dog Diet
Thommo has put on some weight - a combination of the sore feet, winter, and my being away. So he's going back onto Chris Zink's pumpkin diet.
"Take 1/3 of your dog's regular dinner away and replace it with 2/3 canned pumpkin. It only has 40 calories per cup so you can really increase it quiet a bit and still not be adding much. If after a week or two of weighing your dog on the same day at the same time, you don't begin to see a weight loss....increase the pumpkin and the lower the kibble until you start to see a steady loss at 1-2 pounds a week. Just like people, any more per week is unhealthy. Keep the dog on this level until the desired weight is reached then slowly decrease the pumpkin until you are left with the regular dinner. At this point you may need to increase your kibble some, but by weighing every week...it's readily apparent if you dog is still losing or starting to creep up again."
"Take 1/3 of your dog's regular dinner away and replace it with 2/3 canned pumpkin. It only has 40 calories per cup so you can really increase it quiet a bit and still not be adding much. If after a week or two of weighing your dog on the same day at the same time, you don't begin to see a weight loss....increase the pumpkin and the lower the kibble until you start to see a steady loss at 1-2 pounds a week. Just like people, any more per week is unhealthy. Keep the dog on this level until the desired weight is reached then slowly decrease the pumpkin until you are left with the regular dinner. At this point you may need to increase your kibble some, but by weighing every week...it's readily apparent if you dog is still losing or starting to creep up again."
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