
In the last blog about conditioned reinforcers we looked at what they were and some ways to use them sensibly.
I guarantee that any ball crazy dog is looking for the movement of your hand that indicates you are about to toss a ball. If you don't pay attention to that when you use a ball in training, you could be marking some very random behaviors. On the other hand, if you do pay attention to things like that you can use it deliberately to train some really cool behaviors that you do want.
Similarly, if you keep treats in your pocket you will inevitably set up your hand going into your pocket as a conditioned reinforcer. This is another conditioned reinforcer which could cause problems by reinforcing pieces of behavior that you don't want to reinforce. Using a clicker and keeping your hand loaded up with food most of the time should solve that problem by keeping your dog working for the click.
Don't be too obvious with your clicker. Don't hold it like a remote or make exaggerated movements with your hand when you use it. Again, the reliable, predictable signal should be the click sound.
Aim for a clear connection between behavior>click>treat with as little in between as possible.
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