{"id":1729,"date":"2016-09-12T11:46:48","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T09:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/?p=1729"},"modified":"2025-09-20T11:19:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T09:19:32","slug":"7-ways-to-get-behaviour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/7-ways-to-get-behaviour\/","title":{"rendered":"7 ways to get behaviour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Revised May 2024. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two important question to ask before teaching an animal a new skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another blog post, I discussed the first question, one that is extremely basic but often overlooked: \u201cwhat is the cost\/benefit of the behaviour?\u201d <\/em>Is it useful, useless, abuse or an ethical dilemma?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a behaviour has been found to be useful, it\u2019s time to consider how to best go about teaching it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this brings us to the second question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is the best technique to teach the animal how to perform a new skill?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know the old saying \u201cAll roads lead to Rome\u201d..?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With regards to animal training, the same is true. There are many ways to teach animals what you want them to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many ways to “get” behaviour, as it were.<\/p>\n\n\n

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There are many techniques to “get” behaviour.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Some trainers may say: \u201cthis is how you train your dog to sit.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or your horse to load in the trailer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or your parrot to step up.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many novice trainers don\u2019t realize that what their guru is teaching is but one way out of several.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And perhaps it\u2019s the best way. The most efficient. The fastest. The one that facilitates future learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or perhaps it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps it\u2019s just what that particular trainer was taught. And that trainer\u2019s predecessor. And so on.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Where does your knowledge come from?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

What bothers me with this way of learning about animal training is not that inefficient<\/em> techniques get maintained. That\u2019s unfortunate, but not alarming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me, it\u2019s the fact that unethical<\/em> techniques get perpetuated that\u2019s really disturbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the use of prong collars for dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"prong-collar\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Doesn\u2019t that look a bit like The Collar in \u201c26 Medieval Torture Devices to Haunt Your Nightmares\u201d<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I have a problem with this type of collar? Yes, I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will I go on a rant? No, I won\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll stay detached. Though I did write a blog post about the dangers of dog collars<\/a> at one time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I won\u2019t rant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now. But beware of ranting below \u2013 I\u2019ll give fair warning though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the prong collar. This device was designed to keep dogs from pulling on the leash. It accomplishes this by providing discomfort and pain when the leash is taut. So, pressure on the leash is uncomfortable or painful, and the dog will avoid it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, as long as he\u2019s doing anything but pulling the leash taut,<\/em> he should be \u201csafe\u201d \u2013 whatever prong collars feel like when pressure isn\u2019t applied. Don\u2019t know, I\u2019ve never tried one of those \u2013 they\u2019re forbidden in Sweden. But Grisha Stewart tested one in this video<\/a>, and said that to her they were uncomfortable \/ painful even when there\u2019s no pressure on them \u2013 and that the presence of fur probably wouldn’t reduce the discomfort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a walk, the dog might be behind, in front of, to the left or to the right of the person. As long as the person doesn\u2019t jerk on the leash, all these positions would be equally acceptable to the dog<\/em> \u2013 and the dog would have no further information about whether any of these positions would be preferable to the person<\/em> walking the dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the dog performs an undesired behaviour, something nasty happens, so the dog stops doing the unwanted behaviour in order to avoid the aversive stimulus. In other words, when the dog pulls on leash wearing a prong collar, the leash becomes taught, causing pain – so the dog stops pulling in order to avoid the pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is actually the modern definition of punishment. In semi-technical terms, pulling is punished.<\/em> In fully-technical terms, pulling is positively<\/em> punished. Incidentally, walking-on-a-loose-leash is also negatively reinforced. More on this later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Punishment is a useless way to get<\/strong> behaviour<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Punishment is a lousy way to teach desired behaviour.<\/em> By definition, it only teaches the animal what not to do<\/em> \u2013 any number of different behaviours can stop the aversive stimulus. Punishment has a huge list of unwanted side effects too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I have a problem with punishment? Yes, I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will I go on a rant? No, not yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll just drop this topic for today. Though I did write about the 20 problems with punishment here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You want the dog to walk nicely by your side when you go for a walk?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You need to communicate<\/em> this to your pooch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t use punishment when he doesn\u2019t do what you want. As counterintuitive and strange as it may sound, \u201cstop pulling\u201d is not what you should be communicating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather, reward him when he does what you want. \u201cWalk next to me\u201d is the message you want to convey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get desirable behaviour, we need to focus on reinforcement.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wanna get behaviour? Use reinforcement!<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

There are several ways of getting behaviour through the process of reinforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key to reinforcement is giving the animal something he values \u2013 contingent on the desired behaviour. You reinforce when the criterion for that behaviour is met. He will then repeat that behaviour in order to get more of whatever you\u2019re offering that\u2019s valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, say you want your\u2026 cow-dog\u2026 to lie down on a towel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reward her for doing it \u2013and she\u2019ll do it more. This is what reinforcement is all about. It renders behaviour more forceful. Re-enforces it. Behaviour becomes stronger, more intense, more frequent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, technically, we\u2019re not giving rewards, we\u2019re giving reinforcers \u2013 because of the effect that reinforcers have on behaviour: the animal works to get more of them. Rewards may sometimes reinforce behaviour, but sometimes not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re not seeing behaviour change, you are, by definition, not using reinforcement. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"goal-behaviour\"<\/a>
Lying on a towel is the goal behaviour \u2013 and will be achieved through reinforcement<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

OK, great \u2013 but let\u2019s say that the cow-dog isn\u2019t on the towel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do I get her there so I can reinforce her in the first place?<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"starting-point\"<\/a>
What if this is the current behaviour \u2013 if you reinforce that, you\u2019ll get more of something you don\u2019t want!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

So, how do you get from what-you-have<\/em> to what-you-want<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, there are a bunch of different ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, don\u2019t punish your cow-dog for not doing what you want.<\/em> Rather, communicate what you want using one of the 7 techniques discussed below. As you\u2019ll see, I like some better than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven ways of getting behaviour.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Generally, it\u2019s important to choose a good, comfortable learning environment and set it up so that it\u2019s easy for the animal to learn the intended response. Minimize distractions. Make sure there are no scary things around. Choose reinforcers carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below you’ll find an extremely condensed summary of how to use the main operant techniques. Some techniques work well in some contexts but not in others \u2013 and may be used in different ways than what\u2019s described here. It\u2019s beyond the scope of this blog post to go into the details, but I have an online course<\/a> that does all that – and more..! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, in this post I\u2019m just discussing how to \u201cget\u201d the behaviour to the point of the animal offering it, not how to maintain it or put it on cue (more about how to teach cues here<\/a>, though). That needs to be considered too\u2026!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaping:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shaping.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n