Release cue or stay cue

Release cue or stay cue by Kay Laurence | Key Skills and Training Is "staying" is something you ADD to a behaviour, or ASSUME in a behaviour? Continue reading when you have time without disruptions. If this confuses us then it certainly makes it harder for the dogs. We owe them more clarity. Release cue or Stay cue? It comes down to which avenue you wish to travel and this choice needs to be made before you travel, rather than avenue-hopping part way along. Many of us begin with teaching a sit or a down, and this commonly passes to our clients as their earliest experience of training with reinforcement. From this point forward we are setting a pattern for both people and dogs in their view of training and use of reinforcement. It needs questions to be answered before we embark. Is the sit, or down, going to be a terminal behaviour, or a temporary position? A terminal behaviour will mean that the behaviour maintains through the practice of marking, then reinforcing IN the position. Why would the dog want to move? Food is breakfast in bed, if you leave the position, no more food. A temporary behaviour will mean the behaviour is marked and the dog is then free to move to where the food is placed or offered. When reinforcement patterns are predictable and consistent it will affect the way the behaviours are carried out. The dog will begin to anticipate either resting for room service or chasing and collecting. This is the significant difference between muscles that have relaxed in position and muscles that are poised for activity. This difference can shape the way the behaviour is performed and what it looks like. Both sit and down have a great variety of possibilities from relaxed, with an open spread of the limbs, to a tight, controlled spring. From these two branches you can then make an additional step: Terminal Sit + Breakfast in Bed will require a release cue for the dog to get out of bed. And sometimes that may not be worthwhile. The learning bias is in responding to the cue and then resting. More reinforcement is delivered for resting rather than adopting. It becomes a two behaviour chain: sit AND rest, rest gets reinforced more than the action of sitting. Sitting only gets reinforced after resting. Temporary Sit + Go Collect will require an additional cue for holding position. “Stay” or “wait”, are the usual favourites. The learning bias is in the adopting of the position, the motor skills. There is no chain, the action of moving into the sit is reinforced. Staying in the position is trained as a separate exercise. (A small aside here. When I first

worked in aviation British Airways was a merge of two different airlines: BEA (European flights) and BOAC (Inter-continental). Pilots had loyalties to their familiar fleets and regarded the opposition with some contempt. The BEA pilots would often practise landing 2/3 times every shift and only fly short flights. The BOAC crew would land maybe 2/3 times a month and fly for long haul, often 12 hour flights. Which were the “better” pilots? Well neither, they just had different skill sets for different tasks. But there was a culture of clean, smooth landing being regarded as a mark of good technique. A fair amount of ribbing was common.) We can see that each style of training is suited to specific outcomes. You can decide the value to you and your training program. Terminal sit is an excellent protocol where control is a high priority. Ideal for managing dogs in arousing environments, as a cue to interact with people. Temporary sit is ideal for the position as a short moment before moving onto another activity. Ideal for sports dogs that are frequently required to demonstrate fast movement and position adoption, but keep alert for the subsequence behaviour, such as setting off in heelwork. As the trainer who makes the decision on which avenue to travel you need to look to the future and decide before you begin training as this can become seriously confusing for the dog. Both of these avenues have their advantages and disadvantages, neither better, neither bad. A crucial element in making your choice will come if you enjoy shaping: the conditioned response to the position when it is adopted can prevent the dog offering behaviours. If you lean to the Geek-Trainer interests this is followed in greater detail as a Project in Setters – welcome to join there are LOTS of questions to ask! A Road to Nowhere When familiarity is stripped away we seek recognisable signposts that will take us back to comfort and security. This is survival instinct. It is worth listening to as it keeps us alive. Read More Be-toothed Learning Machines The thing they don’t tell you is that raising a puppy is DANGED HARD WORK. Biting everything, peeing everywhere, eating anything; not for the faint hearted. Read More The Experienced Dog Knowing your dog has receive sufficient preparation does not mean every eventuality, but a range of different conditions so that when the unexpected happens they will draw on their skills and solve the issue. Read More Obnoxious Puppy The delight of your new puppy is probably going to last a few weeks, maybe four if you are lucky. When 12 weeks old hits, an

d you will feel a slam, the Delight is going to demonstrate ungrateful, obnoxious traits. Read More Surprising Puppy Surprising Puppy. With obnoxious moments. After introducing the obnoxious puppy as a youngster I am knocked over by the Delightful Young Man he is turning into…… Read More It’s Not Training A carefully planned learning pathway, paced to suit that particular learner for their life ahead. Read More One dog’s trick is another dog’s lifeskill We cannot teach something just for fun, it can never be just a trick, ride a bike for fun? – it is only a trick. Read More The Table Game Coming up to 20 years since I designed this game for my college students in computing – to improve communication! Who knew it would become a future piece of technology for world of training and behaviour analysis? … and cruises of course! Read More Isolation hell or solitude heaven? Strange times often give birth to new insights and understanding. Certainly a new aspect of empathy as we experience social situations that may not be of our choice. Read More Are you coasting? Are we coasting or are we improving? Is time so precious that we cannot invest in doing better? Looking at “Leave it” protocols, which are just another way of saying “no”. If we focus our training around what we don’t want the dog will focus on what to avoid. Focus on what we do want. Read More What is important … ? … when your dog is sick and fearful? If you have a dog who is sick and fearful you can feel lost and alone. The weight of opinion, expectation and information can be overwhelming. What is right? What is true? What is best? Throughout this journey I have allowed my ethics to guide me. The individual who is Merlin is at the heart of every choice I make. Read More Wheat or Chaff? What is the purpose of this video? To sell a product, to instruct or to inspire? It should be clear from the first viewing. Often we are seeing an unhealthy blend of talking head, dripping treats into bored dog, convincing you of their innate expertise. Read More 3 Comments Julie van Schie on 18th October 2018 at 9:34 pm Even a “simple” sit is so multidimensional! Thanks Kay. Reply Julie van Schie on 18th October 2018 at 10:40 pm Oh dear! My computer told me that these replies had timed out! Sorry for the duplication. Reply K Laurence on 21st October 2018 at 9:55 am SUCH a long way for your comments to arrive! There are some slow responses, as with paying for anything, avoid hitting that “submit” button more than once! You can delete your comments if you want – just use the (Edit) button Reply Submit a Comment Cancel

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