Marking
Behavior with Primary Reinforcer
The
K-9 BSD's solenoid produces an audible click which serves
as marking stimulus to the animal that the primary reinforcer
(reward)
is immediately available, for the preceding behavior. This
makes
it very useful to accurately mark active behaviors.
Other
benefits include marking behavior when device is not visible
to the animal (such as hidden in blind or some other cover)
and serving as directional training aid for exercises
(such as blind search, send out, or broad jumps).
The device is audible from 400 feet with no background noise,
the
same distance as the maximum range of the transmitter and
receiver.
Marking Behavior with Secondary Reinforcer
(Verbal Release Command)
The
K-9 BSD will produce a very high state of arousal after
training active behaviors in an animal; therefore, making
it too
distracting
for some types of training or more passive behaviors.
For example, attempting to heel with the device setup in
view of
animal will cause crowding and other sign tracking to develop.
Because a large percentage of the animal's focus is on the
release
of reward (primary reinforcer), instead of on heeling. As
a result, it
is very beneficial to train and use a verbal release command
to
mark behavior (such as yes, ok, etc.) at the instant the
animal is
performing desired behavior. You can then delay release
of reward
by a few seconds and allow the animal time to react to presentation
of reward. This keeps the animal's attention to stay more
focused
on heeling. The release command is a bridge, a stimulus
that
closes the gap in time between the marker and presentation
of
the primary reinforcer, and makes the timing of reward irrelevant.
Marking
Behavior with Secondary Reinforcer
(Remote Controlled Release Command)
In other specialized training such as off lead search and
odor detection a secondary reinforcer may be trained with
use of a beeper collar. This allows use of standard device
K-9 BSD-1 to be separated from odor source, while being
able to mark correct behavior and then eject reward to the
odor source. It also eliminates any possibility of device
becoming odor prompt. A second benefit is dog can stay focused
on odor alert indication
with out trying to anticipate when and where reward will
become available.
Marking Behavior with Verbal NRM
(No Reward Marker)
Use
of a no reward marker teaches the animal that its behavior
will not gain a reward. A lot of trainers use “Uh-Uh!”
“Nope” or
“Too Bad” as the NRM. The purpose of a NRM is
to get the animal
to try something different. It is not a conditioned punisher
and should
not be used when animal does something you don’t want
it to ever do. It is used when the animal's behavior might
be
correct in different circumstance, but not the one you are
teaching.
See
an example of NRM being used in the Blind Search Video.
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