How to reinforce a continuous behavior? (e.g. ignore nearby dogs and walk with me)

[lenno]

I've had a lot of success using clicker-like training, marking and treating behaviors to reinforce, but I don't know how best to reinforce continuous actions, aka something I want the dog to do for an extended period of time.

For example, my dog gets easily distracted and agitated by other dogs. He knows commands like "look at me" and "walk with me" that I can use to draw his attention away from them, but the problem is, as soon as I give him a treat, he thinks he's done and starts to divert towards the other dogs again.

How do I teach him: "Yes, good job looking at me and walking beside me, this is correct - now keep doing it"?

 

[gdssldier]

@lenno There's a couple of possibilities here.

The first is that, if you're dealing with a high-distraction environment, it may not be possible for your dog to offer a duration behaviour like this in the first place. You will need to train it in a calm, low distraction environment to a much higher level first and then work on building it up in this context anew.

In terms of actually teaching it, you could:

1) hold out for more duration before the click, the click ends the behaviour (inherent duration)

2) provide the food reinforcers in such a way that he is inadvertently maintaining the behaviour during eating, making it more likely that you can capture and click for still doing the behaviour for 0.5 seconds after he finishes eating and hence string a series of shorter behaviours together (behavioural loops that give a higher rate of reinforcement for restarting the behaviour immediately without an additional cue rather than interrupting for looking away in between)

3) give more information to your dog about when you want him to continue looking at you with some kind of active keep going signal

 

[dvcochran]

@gdssldier To follow up with tip 2... soft, malleable treats you can squish between two fingers and slowly feed are great for this

 

[decmberluv]

@dvcochran It’s pretty gross but a squished hunk of peanut butter in your hand makes it so he gets the treat by licking instead of chewing. You don’t have to reload the treat. Just let him take a lick and pull your hand back up. Less practical for a longer walk but good for short training sessions where you don’t mind one hand being mucky the whole time.

 

[thecoming2k]

@decmberluv I picked up some silicone travel toiletry bottles and they work brilliantly for this. They're food safe and dishwasher friendly on the top rack. Originally I was putting straight peanut butter in them and recently I started mixing peanut butter with pumpkin (easier to squeeze continuously). I keep them in the fridge before and after walks and have a few so they're easy to wash every other day or so.

I use a hands free leash so it's easy to just squeeze the bottle for her as we walk past other dogs/people/deer. It's worked so well that she consistently looks up at me as soon as she sees anyone out on a walk and follows along with the bottle as we pass.

 

[decmberluv]

@thecoming2k My hands thank you. This is such a great idea!

 

[chickenlittle]

@decmberluv There are dog brands that make Peanut butter squeeze pouches!

 

[quillow]

@decmberluv Maybe consider putting your squishy stuff into a plastic syringe, then squeeze it directly into your dog's mouth. I do this with cream cheese. (You can also use the individual foil cream cheese packets this way, just slit a tiny hole to dispense.)

 

[joyfulnoiseginnifer]

@lenno Sounds like the problem you want to address is that your dog tunes out immediately after the reward (correct me if I'm wrong). It helps to think of the reward like a mini reward event. Sometimes my dog gets a piece of food, other times I give three or even 5 pieces of food in quick succession. When going for duration I then randomly mark and reward again after a random length of time (sometimes after a long time, other times I'll throw in one or two mark and reward events very quickly).

 

[lenno]

@joyfulnoiseginnifer You are correct about the problem, but I don't understand your explanation at the end, about going for duration?

 

[wilaywaly]

@lenno I think the idea is to continue rewarding sporadically after the dog shifts focus. It'll have him always partially focusing on you and anticipating a reward. Give him a reward just because he's behaving and not because you had to shift his attention. Especially if he's treat motivated. He might get the treat and then go back to what he was doing because that's the way to get another redirect and another reward.

 

[junipermints]

@lenno In this case I think it is better to realise that while you want a long continuous ignoring of stimuli, the reality for the dog is they DO notice what is going on, and what you really want to teach is repeated disengagement until the dog does it on their own without needing a cue. It's not realistic, or even desirable to teach them to totally focus only on you all the time, for two reasons. One, that makes life kinda suck, because the world is there and an interesting place. And if you only teach that and the dog has no experience with disengaging then when something completely surprises you, a loose dog running out of the bushes right near you, for example, then you have no chance in hell of dealing with it.

A better approach is to learn what distance your dog CAN disengage from other dogs at, and then maintain that distance while you BOTH notice the other dog, and your dogs knows you are also seeing it, and then reward the disengagement. Then over time you can each point things out to the other and then disengage. And eventually start closing the distance and building that skill. When the dog realises they can disengage from other dogs at will at any distance then those other dogs become less of a distraction and your dog will just naturally focus on them less. And it is the focus on them less that you want, not focus on you. At least, in my book I prefer for a dog to enjoy walks actively engagement with the world, but in a controlled and intentional way. And I want that control and intent to be THEIRS. That way I don't need to be hyper aware of everything I need to ask them to disengage from. Think of it like picking up crap to eat. Which is better, dropping it when I ask them to, so long as I see they have something, or just not bothering to pick up at all?

So, short story. You don't train continuous disengagement. You train repeated disengagements until the thing being disengaged from stops being so interesting, and you get (mostly) continuous disengagement naturally.

 

[sarahtoo]

@lenno Have a look at marker training and terminal markers Vs continuation markers. Its very simlilar to the clicker training you've already been doing but you condition one sound to mean thats right keep going and another to mean good job we are done with that now. I use the words yes and free but it can be any words or sounds you like.

You basically get them sitting focused on you then use the continuation marker and a half second later deliver a reward directly to their mouth. For the terminal you give the reward so they have to come and take it from you getting up from the sit.

You can find videos about it on youtube. I'd link to a video but I am never sure whats allowed in various training subs and have had warnings for linking to unapproved trainers before. (maybe not here but I am already banned from half of them)

 

[mariahhgrim]

@lenno You need to raise the reinforcement rate.

So, your dog is looking at you and walking beside you. You reward them. Then immediately, before they can leave you, you reward again. It's essentially rewarding in quick succession.

The other thing to do is to teach both a break word (as in this command is over) and a release word (as in this session is over). The break word means, get the treat but stay with me cause you're gonna get another command ASAP, the release word means, okay, we're all done, go be a dog until I call you for the next thing.

I recommend that the break word release the dog to you instead of you coming to the dog. So you stand there, mark, say the break word, then show the dog the treat in your hand and they themselves break position to get out to the reward. It makes the distinction between what's the command and what's not the command easier to distinguish for the dog.

 

[juliekl]

@lenno The best method I’ve ever used for this type of behavior is a simple turn around. The second the dog pulls or lunges, calmly and quietly (without yanking) turn them to walk in the opposite direction for about 10 feet. Turn them back around and ask for a sit. Then continue moving forward. Your pup will start to understand that if he wants to keep moving forward, he must walk nicely on the leash. Also, it might help to do some neutral response training so that he learns to ignore these distractions.

 

[hysterical]

@lenno I have two types of marker works to mark a behavior to be rewarded: “yes” (reward and release) and “good” (reward and continue)

Your body language and tonality can help guide the dog in figuring out what is expected from you.

My reward-and-release marker is a quick and excited “yes!”.

My reward-and-continue marker is a slow and calm “gooood…”.

It will likely take a few attempts when teaching a continuation marker so be patient until your dog starts to understand it. In the beginning of learning this, move slow when rewarding to reduce the possibility of your dog losing focus.

And as with any behavior training, make the task easy to accomplish and add difficulty slowly. For example:

“sit”…”good”……”ok!” to release (repeat a few times)

Then:
“sit”…”good”……”good”……”ok!” to release (repeat a few times)

and so on

btw, the reward and release marker word (“yes!”) in my case serves the exact same purpose as a clicker. The main benefit is that you don’t need to carry and manage a clicker which gives you another hand free to manage a lease or treats.

There’s a lot of nuance in how you use your marker words, and how you can use your body language to help dogs understand what you expect of them. I’d be happy to elaborate more on any specific command.

 

[deecruz]

@lenno It seems like your dog's reactivity is not the root issue. Instead of focusing on giving commands when your dog is overstimulated, which only reinforces the reactivity, it's essential to address the underlying insecurity that your dog may have.

Here are a few suggestions to help your dog:

• Socialize your dog: You can take your dog to places like Home Depot to help them socialize.
• Help build your dog's confidence by creating an agility-esque platform or staircase that your dog can use. Initially, it might make your dog feel a bit uneasy, but with time and proper conditioning, your dog will overcome their fear and feel more confident. Also, you will be a part or the solution building trust.
• Work on your dog's leash skills and practice calmly walking your dog without stopping or reacting to people or other dogs.

 

[rachel24]

@lenno I use "yes" for my marker word yours would be the sound of the click, and I use "good" for I like whay you're doing but keep doing it. So when I say "yes" my dog knows that behavior is done and they're ready for a reward but "good" means keep going. For heeling past other distractions I would tell her "good" a few times and then "yes" when we're past and say "okay" which is my release to a non food reward and let her sniff for a second.

 

[onlyheknows]

@lenno With this one you'll want to start with a lower amount of distractions, maybe just a neighbor he can see from the yard and work your way up over time.
Get his absolut favorite treat and call for his attention once. As long as you have it, continue giving him one every few seconds. If he looks away, wait until he looks back on his own, and immediately start rewarding. As he gets better with it, up the distractions (slowly) then gradually space out how often you give his a treat. I did this with my last service dog and my firends reactive dog, and it worked amazingly

 

[coder]

@lenno I would increase the length of time before you mark and reward. Do this slowly, overtime, and once you get more duration, keep the durations random. You will need to start small, and most likely in a less distracted environment. For example if you mark and reward instantly, try waiting 1 second. Then go back and forth between instantly and 1 second. Then, try adding 2 seconds of duration, and repeat, gradually increasing over time.
If the above doesn’t work ( might not with look at me) try getting your dog doing something physical with their body. Like put them in a heel. Something where they need to move away from the distraction and focus entirely on you.