Reinforcement Strategies

Developing a clear and consistent system of communication is something that I am very passionate about as a trainer.

Having this system has multiple benefits, including:
 - Less stress and frustration
 - Managing arousal levels
 - being able to teach skills faster

Let's say you ask me to come to your house and help you with the gardens. At the end of the afternoon, you say "thank you" and hand me $50. The next weekend you ask me to come again and at the end of the afternoon say 'thank you" and hand me a block of chocolate. Yes, I like chocolate, but I would rather have the $50! And I'm going to be a little confused, and maybe a little grumpy about it! And you know what? I might say no next time you ask me again.

Think of markers as a clicker that mark behaviour. But different clicks, that indicate that 'payment' or delivery of reinforcement will come in a different way.

Having markers that indicate different reinforcement, comes in different ways, not only means there will be less confusion and frustration for your dog, but it will also allow you to manage arousal and match it to your end product, and teach skills faster. For example, when I am wanting still duration behaviours like sitting on a platform, I use my 'yes' marker, which means that I deliver food to the dog's mouth. This allows me to reward in position, and the dog knows that the food will come to them. Food is also lower in associated arousal. Say I tried to reward a sit wait on a platform with a toy, my dog is likely going to break out of position to play (so not reinforce the position), and have high arousal associated with the toy.... not really what I'm going for in a calm duration still behavior!

While teaching Agility we often want to use toys, because dogs associate these with fast movement and high arousal. But when I'm teaching a brand new behavior, I actually don't want my dog amping up like a shaken coke bottle! I want a calm but high energy coffee. So I'm going to switch to food, to help with this. Later after my dog has an understanding of the skill I might then switch to a toy, to purposely up the arousal, and likely speed, of this behavior.

The other useful thing about having markers is that you can use different markers to make a loop of reinforcement. For example one where the dog is feed in position, and another to move them out of position, so you can start the loop again. Loopy training is super cool, and really can be done with only two markers, if you are smart about it!

So what markers should you start with, and how do you teach them? 

I go by Sarah Brueske's rule of 'you teach the markers as you need them'. I start all of my dogs with two food markers - YES meaning stay there, the treat is delivered to your mouth, and FIND IT one treat is thrown away.  If you have a toy motivated dog, I would have two toy markers - I use TAKE for grab and play tug with the toy in my hand, and GET IT for throwing a toy onto the ground. I've taught different dogs different amounts of markers depending on the dog, and their needs.

To help me remember the markers, and play small training sessions (and what markers to use) I keep these listed on a whiteboard marker in the training shed.

Here's some videos of the markers, and using them to make a reinforcement loop:

Evo and Flori markers

Flori learning front feet targetting with a loop of two markers. 

Evo using toy and food to make a loop for disc vault work

So have a think... are you currently being clear in your communication with your dog, or could you use markers to make it clearer and more consistent?

Interested in learning more about the awesome dog geekery of markers? See https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com - that's where I learnt all this stuff!