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Shaping Behaviors Cleanly
Many years ago, I had a pit bull mix named Sparrow. She was a very bright super-athlete. It was fun teaching her active behaviors like flip spins, barrel rolling, targeted crawling, and skateboarding, and she learned everything so quickly.
Then one day I decided I wanted to teach her how to walk backwards in a straight line to make contact with a target (an Alley Oop free-standing target stick) with her back end, and she was a hot mess of wiggles and big movements! It didn’t matter if she actually made contact with the target because she was doing SO MUCH ELSE at the same time and would have no way of knowing which behavior was correct.
I learned a lot from Sparrow, including how to set her up for success when smaller, more precise behaviors were desired.
How would you approach the training task above, creating do-able steps to help a dog like Sparrow learn to walk backward calmly until touching her back end to a target?
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5 Replies
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Your story reminds me of a little mini horse I worked with when I was consulting for a zoo’s educational animals program. This little dude knew a LOT of tricks but had ZERO pause and no stimulus control whatsoever. You’d enter his enclosure and he’d just start PERFORMING. It was actually a little risky for anyone coming in for simple cleaning and feeding!
Top of my training recommendations: Teach a PAUSE. Getting an animal to stop for a moment, to actually think before they act is an important step that novice trainers frequently skip. There are lots of ways to begin. For this little horse we used a station – a wood block – where he could stand and always get rewarded. Then we could loop into some othe behavior, then back to the block for an easy win. You can use this station as a “reset” once the learner has some fluency…
Anyway, I know you’re talking more about specific shaping techniques, but that’s where my brain went, thinking about all the frenetic energy that comes with highly motivated, excited learners.
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I like where your brain went, @catherine ! Thanks for sharing this excellent story.
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Sometimes the behavior we want is the absence of behavior! Just. Stand. There. lol
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I’m not sure I understand the criteria correctly: she needs to walk backwards in a straight line to target a target stick with her back end?
I understand how wiggly pups might have trouble. Does she already know how to back up on cue? How far is she going to need to move backwards?
Sorry for all the Q’s! But first, I would start in a quiet area of narrow space(like a hallway) and stand with her between me and the wall. Put a treat on her nose and walk backwards in a heel first. Just a step or two. Add steps as she is comfortable and then put on cue. Being beside her might keep that back and from wiggling too much…
Then I would change my position to standing in front of her and do similar process. Keep the distance only as comfortable.
Those are just a couple steps, but I’m not clear on the targeting with rear end and what other criteria are…
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Thanks for your input, @bernerlabreclectus !
Yes, the goal behavior was a straight line of backing up until she made contact with the target with her back end.Like Catherine was saying, I found it absolutely vital to first teach Sparrow how to remain still in a standing position. OMG, was this hard for her! But once she learned that, it was easy to begin looking for tiny backward leanings that caused immediate contact with a closely placed target, then one teeny step back, and on from there. The placement of the target was extended farther from her stationary/standing position in small increments.
I love your idea of creating a narrow corridor to help set a dog up for easier success with their backward steps, along with the treat moving into their space to inspire backward movement. ????I’ve seen a lot of people teach back-up to their dogs but without necessarily getting a nice straight line.
I recall, too, that another common mistake with teaching back up is clicking/marking for end of movement vs clicking while the dog is still in motion.
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