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Hey folks as you’re at Shield K9 so Today I’m going to talk a little bit About marking rewards versus just giving The dog the reward and I actually like To do both in my training I think There’s a time and a place for both and Both of those things have a benefit but They also have some downside so let’s Talk about that let’s Elevate our Collective understanding of Possibilities when it comes to rewarding The dog a lot of people think of Rewarding as just giving something I’m Just gonna give my dog food I’m just Gonna give my dog his ball but there’s a Lot more to it than that it’s how the Dog takes the reward and it’s also how You deliver the reward so let’s talk About marketing okay so the vast Majority of trainers use a marker to tie A behavior to the consequence of a Reward basically it’s a bridge between The reward and the positive cons sorry The behavior and the positive Consequence all right a lot of Traders Use the clicker so they like to click The behaviors they like and deliver the Reward and a lot of trainers like myself Use voice markers so for instance for me I go And my dog knows when he hears that Noise he’s getting something good right Are you down out okay so once again down The utility of that is that you’re able
To bridge the gap between a desirable Behavior and the reward okay now I don’t always do that a lot of time Especially with more experienced dogs When they’re doing something desirable I Will actually just deliver the reward For the desirable Behavior so for Instance Boost Healing all right so my dog’s healing He’s showing good energy all right I Like it things are going well I can just give him the reward for doing That all right so let’s talk first about Marking down Why do I like to Mark behaviors okay so I like to use marking a lot in the Teaching process so if my dog doesn’t Really know how to do something and I’m Teaching him something brand spanking You a brand new concept I like to use Voice markers to incrementally work his Way help him work his way into the Desirable Behavior so for instance if I Was teaching him to play dead right First I would help him lie down and I Would reward him for lying down Mark and Reward then I turn his head to the left That Mark can reward that then I’d keep Turning his head to the left until he Rolled over on a hip I’d Mark and reward That then I keep doing it until he Rolled all the way over on his side and Mark can reward that and that marking
For the the instant that he created that He offers a desirable behavior that I’m Looking for even if it’s not the Finished end product helps him work his Way and helps us work our way to the Desired end where we want the dog to be Okay now that’s really useful in the Learning process it helps the dog you Know like I said learn new Concepts and Of course I’ll also use it with a dog Who’s already experienced right for uh The desirable Behavior now I like to use The marker when my reward is not where I Want the dog to look so I’ll show you Okay now I’m gonna hold the ball in my Right hand now I’m gonna hold the ball In my right hand Now Foose my dog’s healing I don’t want Him to look at my right side right so What I’m going to do here is I actually Like to use an intermediate bridge where I go spin Right and what I’m going to do there is I’m going to bridge with it down down I’m going to bridge with the spin and Then I’m gonna finish it with the Terminal marker of Chip okay so my dog Here and he knows it’s a good thing it’s A positive thing all right now Now Needless to say these are good examples Of when I like to use the Mark if the The reward is not somewhere where I want The dog to look but why would sometimes
I just deliver the reward out so for Some dogs Yeah like Gage who have a lot of prey Drive Foose and I’m using a prey type Reward where you know I’m using like a Ball or a tug or something like this Just delivering the reward actually can Create more focus and fixation he looks Up a lot because he’s thinking the Reward is some he can’t quite see it Because of where it is but it’s up there And it’s going to come down and it’s Going to hit me I got to be ready I got To be ready whereas if I was marking he Wouldn’t maybe have to pay the same Amount of attention he’d wait till he Heard the mark to pay that level of Attention so here he stays in a high State of fixation because he’s never Quite sure when it’s just going to Reward him right so for dogs like Gage And you guys might notice down that my Dog is tired this is the fourth time I Tried to film this video The Sound got Screwed up every single time it was Unbelievable finally had to get rid of The boom mic and we’re just filming with The internal mic so I really hope this Turns out because if it doesn’t turn out I don’t think this video is ever going To come out Wow okay so down out All right that’s all Direct rewards the benefit of directly
Rewarding the dog is it keeps the dog in That higher state of fixation he’s never Quite sure when and where the reward is Going to come especially if you’re a Smart trainer and you vary it so he pays On just a little bit more attention so For specific behaviors like healing Where we want a lot of the dog’s power Upwards that reward delivery from up Down down right really helps the dog Keep their energy up especially for dogs That maybe learned the wrong way healing Okay so like I’ve had my last dog Onyx He had terrible healing okay he looked Down and that’s how he learned and even Though I shaped a new Behavior his Default after a while right he got tired He got hot was he started to drop his Head so what really fixed it was Oftentimes delivering the ball from high Up down okay and and and creating that Behavior where he’s always nine times Out of ten expecting the reward to come From up so of course higher prey dog he Looks up more okay so this is where I Like to use it now of course you can Also use it right when when you’re doing Positions for instance so you can get The dog You can get the dog down to track the Ball right and use his prey drive in his Pursuit to get it get him to track the Toy and then just deliver the toy and That the that him down him expecting you
To just deliver the toy creates again A little bit more driving intensity in The dog because again he’s not quite Sure he just knows he’s got to pay Attention to the toy right because it’s Gonna or he’s got to pay attention to Whatever part of you has the toy on you Or is holding the toy because it’s just Gonna it’s just gonna happen and if he Doesn’t pay attention he might miss the Instant in which the toy becomes Available to him now let’s talk about The downsides of training like this okay So I’m going to start first with the Downsides of markers the reason why I Don’t exclusively train always marking Every positive behavior is because like Anything habituation All right down habituation creates A little bit too much it lowers the Drive he’s just he hears like a hundred Marks a day right and you see a lot of Trainers especially if you train your Dog a lot he’s going to hear that marker Multiple times throughout the day and It’s going to become less meaningful the Dopamine Rush he gets out of that is Going to become less versus sometimes if You’re just directly delivering the Reward and sometimes if you’re marking Now the mark becomes actually a little Bit more valuable to him and he gets a Higher level of dopamine because it’s Part of the variability that makes
Training so fun the key is to not be Predictable in a in a in a non-stressful Way right and I like being very Unpredictable in my reward delivery Because the dogs always anticipating He’s always like I’m not sure how the Reward’s gonna come I’m pretty sure it’s Going to come but I got to pay such Close attention because it’s gonna come It’s gonna come in a way that I’m not Predicting right and that lack of Predictability keeps him on the higher End of his his drive and anticipation And arousal for the desired Behavior Okay so the the the the downside of too Much marking is the dog kind of gets a Little bored with it right and you can Lose a little bit of the intensity and The fixation especially if you want the Dog to look somewhere specifically like In healing I want them up here you can See sometimes over time the dog becomes A little bit lazy with where he puts his Eyes right if the reward is always Marked right because he doesn’t have to Pay as close attention oh there’s my Mark now I pay attention right now of Course that’s not always true for every Dog but again we’re speaking in Generalities and again we want to Maintain the maximal dopamine response From the dog when he hears that so now When I’m training if I mark It’s like a double bonus I’m I’m gonna
Show you something else All right I’m going to show you Something so let’s say Hot pots Right what Way plus [Music] It’s all there I marked twice but I Actually didn’t rope down I marked twice But I did not reward but I guarantee you My dog got like if you had measured his Dopamine response he got the same dopa B Response from hearing that Mark and Getting to think that the reward was Coming As if I actually delivered the reward he Got the same thing out of it now Obviously it’s like anything in dog Training if I go to that well too many Times I’m going to start to lose that Same optimal dopamine response to that Mark but I do that from time to time I Can just Mark and I’ll get more in a Trial hypothetically okay I could be Working with my dog and I could see he’s A little bit flat I could just mark And all of a sudden you’ll see a a much You know the dog might break the Position but you’ll see that spike in His behavior that spike in his arousal Down out one more little thing I want to Share with you guys down about You sink down direct rewards Foose Damn that was not nice I don’t like that
Foose That’s better good Foose Good job okay so let’s say I’m trialing All right and my dog’s super used to Having rewards come from up high Let’s just say I take a basic position Okay he’s getting a little flat he’s a Little tired maybe the judge isn’t Looking Look at that now all of a sudden ah There’s an itch over here on my The back of my neck right just doing That Foose Increases the drive It’s been Nope spin Nope spin All right so you guys get the idea down Right direct rewarding you can Utilize you can replace holding the ball With just kind of maybe reaching towards Where he thinks the ball is because the Ball has been there a lot or the tug or Whatever it is you’re using right now The downside out The downside to direct rewards if you do It too much and I see this a lot right Is people rewarding from places where They don’t want the dog to look okay so Let’s say I’m holding the ball in my Right hand and I’m healing now the Desired behavior is that he’s looking up But if I’m just delivering the ball from
My right hand over time I don’t care how You shaped it his head’s gonna drop and He’s going to start looking across your Body and crowding you because he’s Expecting the ball from the right side Right or even if it’s in my right hand Pocket he’s going to look across my body To the right hand pump because he knows They’re always reaching there to give Him the reward right so if I don’t want Them to look here Right Then I can’t just give him the reward From the bad place I need to use the Mark to communicate to him that this was The desired behavior and thus he can Take the reward from wherever it happens To be including my right side Foose spin Right so I hope this makes con sense to you now Quick summary down the benefit of Directly rewarding the dog right it’s Variable so it’s it’s exciting it Increases intensity and drive especially In certain dogs because they’re never Quite sure where the reward is going to Come from okay and Um it allow it just gives you another Way to deliver the reward to your dog to Maintain you know Peak dopamine levels When you’re training Peak levels of Arousal and excitement now the downside If you’re delivering the reward from bad Places it can create a situation where
The dog starts to offer undesirable Behaviors like forging and crowding and Dropping his head so on and so forth now The positive side of marking is really Great for shaping new behaviors you can Really Mark your way into a new Behavior It’s a great way to train the dog and The downside is if you do it too much Habituation can create lower drive and Lower intensity in the training right so Using both of these you know either Delivering the reward directly or Actually marking and rewarding can give You more excitement and variability in Your training and it also gives you Different tools to use at different Times out Now see I just told them to let go and Then I gave them the re the the Permission out Lots Hey good job I gave him the permission To take the ball right and obviously Down I couldn’t do that directly because He’s over there and the ball is over There right so sometimes direct Sometimes we use a bridge Direct all right guys thanks for Watching I hope this helps you check out Our online training if you’re interested In the way that we train shield k9.ca And feel free Um to also check out our sponsor Eric Outdoor USA they have some fantastic
Training pants uh all the pants that I Wear come from Eric outdoor USA Um just check them out And they also provide vests and sweaters And all that type of stuff check out our Website shieldk9.ca our online store Should be live so the vest that I use in My training the balls the magnets all The stuff that I like to use should be Available now on our website so give That a check out shieldk9.ca like Subscribe comment below yada yada yada I’ll see you guys next time [Applause]