PDTE 2013 Winter Newsletter

treat and then suddenly throwing it.
This gives Tomte an opportunity to
“go hunting“ for the treat. Thus, he can
finish the behaviour pattern he has
begun, though not with the cat. I have
used a motivation-oriented reward.
TOP 20
I regularly write down a Top Twenty
list of possible rewards and evaluate
them for Tomte and for myself. There
are some highly valuable rewards for
Tomte that I don’t like to use, such
as rolling in unspeakable stuff. Thus, I
regularly consider what I want to use
as a reward and which reward might
become a reinforcer in which situation.
Because Tomte used to be a stray,
food is a very valuable reward for him
in many situations. But he likes it even
better if I make the food more exciting
by hiding or throwing it.
JOINT VENTURE
Searching games like a lost retrieve are
often good reinforcers when Tomte
has seen a rabbit and does not give
chase. I know where we are likely to
encounter rabbits and drop his toy
before we get there. If he only looks
at the rabbits and orients to me, I mark
this and send him away from the rabbit
on a lost retrieve, back on our trail.
This allows him to relieve his tension
through movement on a task he loves.
Important rewards for him are also
little tricks that operate on Premack’s
principle. David Premack is a psychologist
and behaviourist. In 1962 he defined
Premack’s principle, stating that a
reinforcer need not necessarily satisfy
a biological or inherent need like food,
but that any behaviour with higher
spontaneous occurrence than another
reinforces this other behaviour.
Something that Tomte has learned in
an exclusively positive context is great
fun for him, and he offers those behaviours
spontaneously, for example a
nose touch to my hand or a paw touch
to my foot.
I can use both as reinforcers for a
desired behaviour. These are reward
options that require neither food nor
space, time nor equipment. All that
matters is that these behaviours are
requested and highly reinforced in
between, i.e. “recharged“.
SHOWING AND NAMING
Then I learned about the concept of
“showing and naming“. I was astonished
at how quickly Tomte’s behaviour
towards cars and people changed.
Showing and naming is originally part
of Kayce Cover’s work. She calls this
“teaching concepts“. The dog is made
aware of objects, people or situations
in his environment and the relevant
trigger is named. Looking at these triggers
is reinforced. Over time the dog
will look at the trigger for longer and
expect a reward from his human. Dr
Blaschke-Berthold has modified this
concept. The dog is marked for orienting
toward the trigger and rewarded
with food or play, whereas Kayce
Cover only rewards with verbal praise.
The reward is presented in a way that
makes the dog orient back to the human.
This behaviour is marked, as well,
and in Ute Blaschke-Bertholds modified
version, the human now suggests
an alternate behaviour. This alternate
behaviour should also be a functional
reinforcer. When this sequence is associated
thoroughly enough, the dog will
show a distinctly positive emotional
reaction and look at the trigger longer
and longer while waiting for the positive
feedback from his human. He will
then execute the alternate behaviour
of his own accord.
So much for the theory. Now for my
practice with Tomte.
At the beginning of our training there
were very few situations in which I
was able to reward Tomte for calmly
looking at a trigger. He reacted most
severely to lorries, which, unfortunately,
we encounter every day. His
strong fear manifested itself in highly
aroused barking and attacks. Though
this was hard for me to do at first, I
learned to click into this high arousal.
My fear that I was spoiling my work
with the clicker or reinforcing this
unwanted behaviour dissolved when I
understood what was really happening
at that moment.
There are three important points that I
can address only briefly and in a highly
simplified manner in this brief space.
Firstly, at such a level of arousal, cognitive
learning processes are severely
restricted. As proven by a number of
studies, an arousal level that is too
high or, actually, to low, impedes or
even inhibits learning.
Secondly, in such a stressful situation
barking and snapping are part
of a reflexive reaction, and therefore
unconscious. This means that it is not
possible to reinforce this behaviour by
clicking it.
Thirdly, the positively conditioned and
solidly associated sound of the clicker
causes a release of dopamine in the
brain. Just like fear, this is controlled
by processes in the limbic system. It is
impossible to influence these processes
deliberately. Dopamine is an
antagonist to cortisol, adrenaline and
noradrenaline, the neurotransmitters
of fear and stress. Thanks to the dopamine
release caused by the clicker,
Tomte became responsive again more
quickly every time and was soon able
to remain calm for a few moments.
This was my chance to reward his
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