"when reporting the effects of (re)training programmes including clicker training, we have the honesty and bravery to report any and all of the stumbling blocks we have encountered. This, I believe, will prove to be of tremendous benefit to other handlers and therefore ultimately for the horses themselves."
Do you remember this from Paul McGreevy's post some weeks ago? I was going to put this on Louise's head lowering thread but then decided I was hijacking the thread unfairly, so I've started another one. I can't believe I actually made all these mistakes (you would not believe how much I am cringing right now) but I learned from them so hopefully other people will too!
One of my learning experiences in Canada was to do with head lowering and bridling. I was asked to work with a horse that had bridling issues - nothing major he just would lift his head and resist a little when presented with his bridle. I knew that the dentist had recently visited so I wasn't worried about his teeth. Anyway, I started with approaching with the bridle, and c/t for leaving his head down, progressing to putting reins over head, approaching with headpiece etc.
Unfortunately because the person I was working for wasn't really convinced by CT I allowed myself to feel pressurised. When a couple of sessions didn't produce enough of a result to satisfy him, I then changed my approach and moved onto targetting the bit. Again, this worked for a while but my enthusiasm was far greater than my knowledge and I soon ran out of answers to the question of 'what next'. This resulted in my changing my approach *again*(!) - can't remember to what, but it was no more effective. Eventually, having confused the poor horse completely, I got the message and left him alone. Luckily I hadn't made the problem any worse, but I certainly hadn't made the problem any better.
The biggest lesson I got from this issue was to think through exactly what you want to teach, and how you want to teach it. Decide on an approach to take and stick to it. The horse may offer something that seems more valuable in the midst of it all, but think very carefully before changing whatever you're already working with. (I'm not saying you shouldn't change your plan if necessary, but trying 3 different ideas in space of as many sessions, to deal with the same issue is probably not very smart!)
I have also learned to resist pressure from others, and I am still learning that you cannot force people to learn about something that doesn't interest them. This is a hard one for me, because I am so enthusiastic about +R. However in the long run, I have found that if you try to teach people who don't want to know, you run the risk not only of them learning completely the wrong things, but shutting down any future learning before it gets a chance to take place.
Of course I would now handle such a situation completely differently, and in that situation I would probably not use CT at all (but that's another thread that I'll get round to at some point!). Although the horse had been seen by a qualified EDT, I could not be certain that he didn't have some pain somewhere - what I should have been looking at was not how to fix his bridling issues, but why he had them in the first place.
Right, yet again I've waffled on forever! It's hard to admit to making these kind of mistakes (although I'm confident I'm not the only person to make them!) but hopefully reading about my mistakes might help someone else not to make the same ones.
Definitely food for thought! I think that it is so so important to be able to take a step away from a situation and be objective about the progress that is being made and be able to note whether a technique requires perseverance or change. I am currently in a situation where I don't feel as though I'm floundering (yet!) but would love another pair of eyes to see what signs I am missing that would make our CT sessions much more effective. I have so little experience I am anxious not to get it all completely wrong, so on purpose I'm not even attempting anything other than "simple" things! I think I tend towards altering my approach if I feel that the message is getting lost, rather than perseverance, whereas there are situations where I should have persevered with a particular tactic.
Sam came and saw Alma and I last weekend and we disccuseed introducing variable reinforcement. I decided to use the flag target ( it's a black handle aabout 18inches long with a gold and yellow flag about 9 inches square attached - something very visible ! ) and go back to the first exercise I used of standing by Alma's head alternating sides so that she touches the target and then can turn to me for the treat.
Alma had her 1st session on variable reinforcement on Tuesday - it was interesting to watch her work out what had changed and she displayed mugging behaviour which is understandable as I had moved the goal posts and shut the vending machine. We had a 20 minute session in total and we were alternating in a range of 1 to 4 clicks.
My Mistake..........
I discovered that I had fallen into a habit of putting the target in the same place inside her stable as when I moved it to another place she kept going and standing by the original spot with her nose touching the wall. So where I thought I had been C/T for touching the target Alma thought she was getting C/T for touching that particular spot !!!
Now as a human with blinkers you wouldn't think she would ignore that big flag so I'm humbled ( and amused ) and my horse has shown me a different perception of what we have been doing :0) Obviously I have now been placing the flag in different parts of the stable during the exercise.
What what I saying the other day to Sam - be careful what you train Tee Hee !!!!
Louise that made me chuckle...I did a similar thing with Crunch.
I taught him to Spanish walk by touching a ball on the end of the stick. We only did to at stand and I seemed to fall into the trap of standing in front of him when I cued it. Well little did I know, but indirectly I taught Crunchie to target my leg! I stoped doing it at this point but I intend to retrain it so that I am stood at the side of him as if I stand at the side of him at the moment he will reposition himself infront of me before attempting the extension. This was fine until the extensions got big and I had to start wearing padding!!!!
....the tool of extinction to easily deal with our mistakes :0) I had to chuckle at your story as I pictured Cruchie goose stepping around a menage accurately striking your knees LOL
You'll see the flag I use on Sunday's field trip so will understand why I was amused - you can't exactly miss it. Last night Alma ignored that section of the stable during the C/T session. On thinking more about it I've noticed her standing at that place in her stable before and she's probably trying to train me to commence the sessions ie she's ready and waiting for her treats!
How many times have I said to people "are you training what you think you are training?".....
Jak and I have done quite a lot of walking over poles with clicker work and I thought that we had poles sussed. But yesterday when I did our first pole session for over 6 months it was really obvious he wasn't sure what I was asking. I put the pole right in front of him, stood by one end of it and waited for him to step over it - he kept trying to come to me and/or touch the pole with his nose. Then he would revert to his current default behaviour which is backing up.
It occurred to me that this is the first time I've asked him to step over the pole but not come to me in the process. Previously we have done "follow Catherine over the pole" and "walk over pole to meet Catherine" but never "walk over pole, passing Catherine on the way". But we can do that one now as he soon worked it out. I guess next we have to do "walk away from Catherine and over pole" which presumably will be a "new behaviour" as well!
