At Zoospensefull we constantly try to find ways of training that work best for both the trainer and animal. It often comes down to how strong you want the history of the behaviour to be. Do you want the behaviour occurring just once or every day, week or month? Knowing this will tell you if moving forward you are shaping a behaviour or simply distracting the animal. When ever we train we always try to work towards an ABC system and the problem with distracting is it doesn’t really fit in that system.
Structure Your Session
When looking at behaviour try to establish a clear ABC “Antecedent – Behaviour – Consequence” system.
Before we start our programme, the animals we work with have to understand the signals related to our training system. A start of session signal that lets the animal know you are starting, a communication tool (such as a bridge), that tells the animal the behaviour is terminated and sometimes an end of session signal, letting them know no more reinforcement is coming. These three signals will help your training sessions as the animal will start to understand your training system structure which is reinforcing on its own.
Why Do We Use Distraction?
In our consulting we have come to the conclusion that a lot of trainers use distraction over shaping. Which begs the question: are we afraid of the more challenging approximations like duration or are we too focused on getting to the goal as quickly as possible? For example blood samples, injections or even nail trims. Using distraction the trainer is feeding the animal nonstop to make sure the animal stays in position. The animals are told “please stay, don’t leave”. Instead we should teach the animal to stay comfortably.
The more rewarding an activity is deemed, the more likely the organism is to remember it well and repeat it.
Ocean Embassy 2009
If we continuously feed the animal we miss the more rewarding activity because there is no difference between “good job” and “amazing job” for the animal we are training.
History of the Behaviour
Our belief is that when training an animal for particular behaviours that the history is more important than the goal itself. When the behaviour breaks down, it is a lot easier to take a step back. Also having your animals not knowing what the reinforcement will be, gives them another motivational aspect to their engagement in the session. The whole idea is that animals will perform behaviours not only for the same reinforcer but will do it for other motivators as well.
Let’s put it this way, distracting an animal should be part of your approximation plan but shouldn’t be the end. It can help you counter conditioning or desesensitising a device or scenario but we should not get comfortable with this technique to a point that we always have to use it. A possible solution would be a keep on going signal. Especially when you find it difficult to shape the duration. But even choosing this strategy you should think about the pros and cons. These articles will help you to guide you through this:
Keep on Going Signal
Training for Duration
Pros of Distraction:
- Reinforcement balance is very high
- Goals can be reached very quickly
- Trainer doesn’t need a huge amount of skills to apply the technique
Cons of Distraction:
- The history of the behaviour is very low
- If the animal is satiated you can’t preform the behaviour
- There is no applied variation in the consequences
- Motivation can be effected drastically
- Stuck with your reinforcer
- Introduction to other trainers is a lot harder
Pros of Shaping:
- Animal is more motivated to engage in the sessions
- The animal understands the communication due to the structured system
- Trainer will become more skilled
- You are not stuck with one reinforcer
- You develop a strong history of the behaviour
- Behaviour can be asked on a daily base
- Introductions to other trainers are easier
- Clear criteria to each behaviour
Cons of Shaping:
- It takes time
- Trainer needs a specific skillset
The most important part in animal training is that the animal should understand the link between why it is reinforced and what behaviour was connected to the reinforcement. Communication is the biggest challenge when working with animals.
In our latest webinar we will teach you about the concept of the marker or the bridge stimulus. There is more to it than you think. How do we maintain a behaviour while using a marker? Is it terminal or continuous? The start and end of session signal are two signals that every trainer should have an understanding of. These signals are common in the training world but never really thought of properly. These signals can have a huge impact on the success of your training sessions and you can learn about all of these in more detail in our latest webinar Common Training Signals starting Wednesday 22 at 8pm CET. Click HERE to get your tickets!
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