Behavior Chains

John asks me in the morning how he can best teach Rio to jump from a “pretty” position. A pretty position is a dog sitting on her hind legs with the torso erect. As you can appreciate, this requires quite a bit of core strength and stability. I give John a few pointers - mostly what not to do :) and I leave it at that.

A few days later he shows me the progress with Rio, who is more than happy to oblige. A true case of me doing most of the feedings, the training, the care and the worry, and John being the one that gets lots of goo-goo eyes from Rio.

What John has taught Rio is a perfect example of a behavior chain. A behavior(s) chain is a number of behaviors that are executed in the exact order one after the other. The interesting thing about behavior chains is that the behavior to follow is a reinforcer for the previous.

Behavior chains happen often. Sometimes unbeknownst, people train their dogs to perform a behavior chain. One that they wish not to have in the first place. So let’s look at when we want behavior chains and when we don’t!

We want to train behavior chains when we have a specific and desirable goal in mind, like John’s. When each of the behaviors in the chain are taught to fluency (the dog can perform the behavior in a myriad of situations and has proven to understand the cue with no guessing on the part of the dog) they are then put into the “chain” or order of events. There is more to this technique than I am describing here, but for now this suffices.

Great examples of chains are the ones found in agility. The dog has learned, and is also aided by the handler, to perform one obstacle after the next. During trials since neither food nor toys are allowed while the team is running the obstacle field, it is the engagement with following the obstacle that will provide the reinforcer for the dog to continue working with no other motivation at hand. This can be achieved by teaching the dog, while training, to tackle each one of these obstacles without fear and enjoyment. Of course, running full speed is highly reinforcing for most dogs so this might be another component in motivating the dog to run the agility field.

Now, for behavior chains that are not so desirable abound. Here are some examples: Dog is taught to sit after jumping on someone. Now, the dog jump/sits! Dog demand barks. Owner treats the dog the nanosecond the dog stops barking, the dog resumes barking, the owner treats the dog immediately after the dog stops barking, dog resumes barking… and around, around we go… And my favorite one (not!)

Dog pulls on leash, dog release the taught leash to come back to owner’s side; dog pulls again to self-correct into a loose leash. This is called the “yo-yo” effect.

What is the trick to NOT end with an unwanted behavior chain as described above? First, observe what the dog is actually doing: jumping, barking or pulling, then decide what we want the dog to do instead. Now, with these specifics we now separate the reinforcer (treat, game, etc.) from the first action, so that it only serves as a reinforcer for the behavior we want – the second one.

If I want the dog to sit when saying “hi” instead of jumping and sitting, I wait until the dog has remained in a sit for at least 2-3 seconds and then I pay. So the question is: what am I paying the dog for? Sitting! And not jump/sit.

This is where the fact of consequences having to be pretty immediate after the behavior we want to increase helps us out.

Once a behavior chain is established, it might take a while for the dog to learn the new routine. Be patient with your dog, since after all, you probably taught the behavior chain in the first place.

Do sharpen your observation skills and the timing of reinforcing, and in no time your pup will be executing behaviors you actually want.

Are we bribing our dogs with food?

I am working with a client and her dog with recall (come when called). My client calls her dog and seconds later produces a treat for the dog. The dog meanwhile remains motionless down the hallway of the home.

I tell my client that it's best not to bribe the dog. She looks at me puzzled. 'What do you mean by bribing her?' She asks me. I explain to her that there is a big difference with the use of food as a reinforcer and the use of food as a bribe.

A reinforcer is a consequence and something desirable by the dog. It appears after the dog has performed the behavior we are after – not before. That is a bribe! This is an important distinction because consequences are what drives behavior.

If there is an area of contention in positive training, commonly known as reward-based training, is the use of food. People agonize over to use food for training the world over. I am sure every single trainer has heard the same from their clients: Why use food? For how long must I use food? Etc.
There are scientific reasons why we work with food. First off, food is what we called a Primary reinforcer. That simply means that dogs (or any animal for that matter) not only needs food to survive but wants food, likes food, and will work for food.

If you think of it, why would we not use one of the most powerful reinforcers on the planet to teach and maintain behavior? Not doing so is what is crazy!

The second conflict people have about the use of food for training is the how long must they use the food part. The answer is that it depends. It depends on several things: For example, is the behavior we are interested in teaching new “material” for the dog? Is he just learning this?

Is the context, person working with the dog, the setting where the dog is supposed to perform the behavior also a novelty? Any change in the context in which the dog is expected to perform is perceived, as a “novelty” scenario for the dog and in such cases food should remain part of the picture until the dog has learned the behavior in this specific context.

Another important factor to consider is that if we want any behavior (from any species) to remain strong that behavior must be reinforced. Period! If it is not reinforced in some way the behavior will become less frequent until it becomes extinct.

Third conflict some people bring to the table when using food as a reinforcer is based on the expectation that the dog should do what he is told either out of love for us, respect or because he simply should. We humans are so comical at times; this being one of those times. LOL.

Here is my best analogy to explain how our way of thinking is not in line with the theory of learning. Imagine that your boss expects you to show up to work because you should either:

A. Like your boss, or worse - do it out of love for your boss. In essence, you should show up to work without the expectation of any other reinforcer just for the love for your boss… right! Let’s see how long this lasts…

B. Your job should be intrinsically reinforcing enough to you so that you do not need to get paid for it with money that is, which is highly reinforcing (and a need in most circumstances) for people.

C. Because you SHOULD… there is clearly a moral tone to the “should” and even though people are moral beings, dogs are not! So should really never enters in the decision making process of any dog.

What I hope is for people to truly understand the scientific principles behind the use of food as a powerful way to teach and maintain behavior. When they don’t, and as a result they fall short on using it wisely, everyone loses. And life is way too short to make things more difficult for everyone. Stay tune for more in depth “discussion” on food as well as other salient reinforcers.

Help with Dog eating other dog's “poop”

Question:

My question is regarding Tibault’s nasty habit of eating other dog's poops, which makes me have to be hyper-vigilant on our walks.

Anything I can do to train him not to eat poop?

Answer:

Hi Gita,

Sure, a nasty habit indeed but depending on whom you ask! Right?

Dogs can eat their own excrement or that of other dogs for a variety of reasons. The “truth” is that we really don’t know why they do this. Perhaps the dog did not have enough access to food at some point in his life – literally there was some nutritional deficiency so the dog resorted to getting some “nutrition” by eating what was available to him. Now the dog has enough tasty food available, but his consuming of excrement has become a habit. And you know the thing about habits… they are hard to break.

A second possible reason why Tibault is eating dog poop is that he simply likes it. Period. Remember dogs are scavengers. This is hard-wired. An animal that is a scavenger will take any opportunity to eat what they find - sometimes better for them and sometimes not.

There might be other possible reasons, of course, behind his consuming habit.

You are correct that being hyper-vigilant to prevent him from eating other dog’s poop is definitively a choice. In addition, I’ll say that I would not only stop him (I am not sure how you deal with the stopping him from eating the poop while on walks) but also ask him to do something else instead of bee-lining to a poop pile. In other words, you substitute the behavior that he finds reinforcing (something he wants) for something else he would also want as strongly.

One very easy way of doing this while on walks is to always walk him when hungry. Carry with you some really tasty treats that you will offer him when you see him just starting to get interest in the poop.

You must continue to be vigilant of course – no talking on the cell phone or walking with your latte. Timing is everything here. If you time it correctly - that is before he is engaging with eating the poop you call him to you for the treat, it is very likely that after a few trials you can in fact use the sight of the poop as a visual cue for his reinforcer: the tasty treats. Here is where you bring the hamburger meat, salmon skin, etc. you get the idea. Do not be stingy on delivering reinforcer for leaving the “nasties” behind. And in the event that you are wondering if you will always have to walk with tasty treats and a hungry dog I will say this: The answer is…. Yes! However, in time you should be able to redirect him more readily and just slip him a treat once in a while not as you had to do at the beginning of the training supplying him one reinforcement per behavior.

The reality is this: If reinforcing of (ANY) behavior ends (this goes for any species BTW) the behavior will also subside or completely stop. In other words: Reinforce for what you want to see more of … Tibault moving away from poop and coming over to you for a better meal choice so that you have some sort of guarantee that his eating of poop will subside or perhaps even stop because it is not getting reinforced.

You did not say if he is eating his own poop at home/yard. Here management (management - poop gets picked up very regularly,) is also a good option but in a pinch you can practice as above.