Clickers, Whistles, marker words, reinforcers!

WHY USE A BRIDGE OR REINFORCER?
WHAT IS THAT YOU ASK?
To help to mark the moment the desired behaviour occurs.  I call it a bridge.  The behaviour occurs ——>  your reinforce it ———>  then comes a reward.

Clicker Training, or operant conditioned training, is based on the concept that the consequences of a behaviour (the event that immediately follows it) determine whether or not that behaviour is repeated.

For example if I ask you to come here and then I hit you, are you likely to repeat the behaviour?

What if I ask you to come up here and give you $5?

The same concept applies to dogs. Ask the dog to do something, and then yell at it, it is less likely to come next time you call. However, if you reward the dog using praise, by feeding it or playing with their favourite toy, it is more likely to come next time.

Clicker training is the use of positive reinforcement to teach your dog desirable behaviours. We use a “clicker” primarily because it is unemotional – it rewards the dog in the same way every time, without letting frustration colour its tone.

Clicker Training or, more correctly, operant conditioning, is found in many areas of animal training. The most common of these is Dolphin Training. Can you imagine trying to “compel” a Dolphin to jump out of the water and touch a ball? I can’t!
If you doubt the effectiveness of Clicker Training ?

Some other examples that you may have seen:  
Ever watched Taronga Zoo on TV?  The Zoo trainers condition the animals to have procedures performed.  They do blood draws on Chimpanzee, take ultrasounds of Rhino to check for pregnancy and to monitor the baby until it’s birth. They train  animals to open their mouth for dental checks and for cleaning.  

Many many many more uses.

 
WHAT ARE THEY IN POOCH TRAINING?
 
So, now You have heard about using clickers, verbal markers like ‘YES’, treats, toys and games in dog training. When used to strengthen behaviours we want to see by definition those are all reinforcers because a reinforcer is a consequence that increases the rate of behaviour.
 
But, do you know the difference between secondary (also known as conditioned) and primary (also known as unconditioned) reinforcers?
 
Understanding Reinforcers
A primary reinforcer is: something that automatically causes an animal to increase the rate of behaviour. Its value does not need to be learned and is not dependent on other reinforcers. Food, water, sleep, and sex are examples because they fulfill biological needs for survival. When you are giving your dog a piece of food to increase the frequency of a behaviour, you are using a primary reinforcer.
 
A secondary reinforcer is: something that acquires its value after repeated associations with primary reinforcers. The word ‘YES’ or sound of a click are both secondary reinforcers. When presented to a learner without any prior history of hearing them, those sounds do not have meaning. They come to elicit an accelerated heart rate, alertness, salivation or other response after repetitions of those sounds coming just before the presentation of other valued stimulus.
 
It’s important to understand that timing matters. The less time there is between two stimulus, or a behaviour and a consequence, the quicker and easier it is for the learner to build a relationship between those two. In other words, after you click or say YES, that treat should be delivered quickly afterwards.
 
Okay, so another logical question to ask then is if those secondary reinforcers can eventually be used without being paired with another reinforcer. The answer is yes…at least some of the time. If you stop pairing a secondary reinforcer with another reinforcer all together, eventually it may come to lose value.
 
But here is the awesome thing. You can (and should) continually create new reinforcers by pairing different valued stimulus together. The more variety you have to choose from in reinforcers, the more fun and enriching you make the lesson for your student.