You may have noticed that this blog also often serves as my own training journal. I am starting to try to tape as many sessions as I can. I find that it 1) helps motivate me when I can look back and see that we really have made progress; and 2) let’s me review the sessions. In this case, though my rates aren’t as high as I’d like, Gitta was more focused than I had thought she was at the time.
I had three sessions of 1 minute where I tracked how many clicks Gitta got in that 1 minute interval. Between each session I had a quick play session. I was using kibble and this time we were at a hotel (for the Clicker Expo!). I had her in a extra tall xpen and I think that affected our treat delivery.
And here are the results. Our goal was 10 clicks per minute for Session 1 and 15 CPM for Sessions 2 and 3.
Session 1: 8 CPM
Session 2: 12 CPM
Session 3: 12 CPM
She had done so well previously, I tried dropping the treat between her feet for the first session (Feeding Scheme C in Helix’s course). This really didn’t work too well. I think the treats were hard to find on the patterned carpet. We only got 8CPM when our goal was 10 CPM. Also – since this was a new place – I really should have started with the easiest scheme (treat to mouth) and only made it harder once she was doing well in the new location. However, a review of the session shows that she really came back to give eye contact quite well. The slow time was more a function of finding the treat.
The next two sessions I fed her directly. After having treats dropped on the floor – she still seemed convinced there might be some down there. But again, it looked better on tape than it felt at the time. She got off track a few times looking for the treat, but came back quite readily.
So all in all – not great but not bad. I think at least half of the drop-off in rate of reinforcement had to do with awkward treat delivery, rather than lack of understanding or motivation on the dogs part. But what I REALLY learned was that a split second lapse in concentration feels like forever and even for a simple behavior like this, video really helps you see how you are really doing.
?