[Cagdu] FW: USA: Clicker Training and Guide Dogs

Sun Apr 1 12:34:11 PDT 2007

Subject: USA: Clicker Training and Guide Dogs

Posted with permission:

This article appeared in the Spring, 2007 issue of
Alumni News, produced by Guide Dogs for the Blind,
Inc. 

"Click On This!"

By Michele Pouliot, Director of Research and
Development
A huge buzz this year surrounding GDB is the exciting
addition of an extraordinary training tool into our
formal training program. This powerful tool is
the training method called "Clicker training." Many of
our clients and staff have already been involved with
these contemporary training techniques and
are very excited about our results so far. For those
of you either not familiar with "Clicker training" or
those of you who have heard the term but do
not understand much about it, here is a quick
overview.

Karen Pryor is one of the leading experts in the
development of clicker training methods and
responsible for providing an enormous amount of
educational
materials about clicker training. The following is an
excerpt from Karen Pryor's website,
www.clickertraining.com.

"Clicker training is the popular term for the training
or teaching method based on what we know about how
living organisms learn. Research has shown that
any creature-whether a dog, cat, dolphin, parrot,
fish, horse, llama, or person-is more likely to learn
and repeat actions that result in consequences
it desires and enjoys. So clicker trainers provide
consequences desired by their animal in exchange for
actions or behaviors desired by their trainers.
We call these consequences 'rewards' and the process
is called 'reinforcement.' Clicker training,
therefore, is a positive-reinforcement-based system of
training. The essential difference between clicker
training and other reward-based training is that the
animal is told exactly which behavior earned it
a reward. This information is communicated with a
distinct and unique sound, a click, which occurs at
the same time as the desired behavior. The reward
follows."

How does this apply to guide dog training? Clicker
training techniques allow us to very precisely
communicate to the dogs what behaviors we want them to
do and gain enthusiastic responses from them when they
perform those behaviors.

Traditional guide dog training utilizes praise to
inform the dog of what behavior we want them to
continue to perform. It relies on using a verbal word
or phrase ("Good dog!", "Atta boy") immediately when
the dog performs in order to tell the dog it has done
well. Although this clearly works, it is not
nearly as precise as communicating with an audible
event marker like a clicker. The clicker's sound has
meaning to the dog because the trainer first
conditions
the dog to expect high value reward following the
sound of the click. So the first advantage is the
preciseness the clicker's brief sound has in marking
the moment the dog does a behavior. The second huge
advantage is the immediate emotion the dog feels upon
hearing the click. Because the dog has been
conditioned
that high value reward follows every "click", the dog
is very happy when it hears the click and will
initiate performing in order to get the handler to
click. Think of it as empowering the dog to take part
in its education, teaching it to try harder and harder
to cause the handler to click.

Could you use a verbal word, like "Yes", as an event
marker? Sure you could, but it would not be as precise
as the clicker. Besides not being as brief a
sound, how many times in a day do you say the word
"Yes" in conversation? How many different inflections
of "Yes" are there in your voice? The clicker
is simply a very effective "audible marker" tool. It
is a very brief, distinct sound that always sounds the
same.

Food reward training without using a clicker is also
very effective and motivating to dogs. It certainly
adds a high value to the dog in hearing praise
and then receiving a food reward. The essential
difference between clicker training and reward
training without the clicker is that the dog is
precisely
told which behavior earned a reward. The exact moment
in time the behavior happened is communicated with the
distinct 'click'. Think of a 'click' like
taking a still photo of a moment in time. That frozen
moment is captured in the dogs mind and they remember
that moment as the reason they are getting
the food reward. Although the actual food reward
follows the click a couple of seconds later, the dog
fully understands what exact behavior is being
rewarded.
In more scientific terms, the audible click connects
the behavior to its reward, and is called both a
"bridging signal" and an "event marker".

Guide Dogs for the Blind began experimenting and
researching clicker training techniques in 2000, by
using the methods to problem solve negative behaviors
in particular dogs. In 2001, we began to apply some
use of general food reward in our formal training
program and with our graduates. Most everyone is
aware of the historical reluctance to use food rewards
in guide dog work due to the fact that guide dogs have
to constantly work around food in the environment.
Although we were not yet using clicker methods, the
experience we gained in developing effective ways to
use food rewards, without creating problem behaviors
around environmental food, was invaluable. The methods
we designed for using food reward in a guide dog
program were successful and prevented any of the
problems that skeptics predicted.

After 4 years of successfully using general food
rewards, in 2005 the training department took another
giant leap in adopting clicker training techniques
into the formal training program of all dogs. This has
been a huge project over the past 2 years that
continues to expand and be modified. The first task
was to educate and coach over 70 instructor staff at
two campuses in new training techniques that were
totally foreign to most of them. Although we had
a few capable clicker trainers on staff, we hired a
professional expert as our ongoing consultant. We
could not have chosen a more skilled and motivational
consultant than Kathy Sdao (pronounced Sa De O), who
is located close to our campus. Kathy continues to
work with us each year in modifying and expanding
our use of clicker techniques to ensure we gain the
best results possible for our program. We could not be
happier with the results in our formal training
program and certainly attribute our impressive success
rates, in part, to adopting clicker training.

Two years into our clicker training program, we are
now expanding instruction into client programs. The
fact that all graduating guide dogs are now
clickerwise,
opens the ability for our graduates to make use of
this powerful tool. This year's main clicker project
for clients is to provide clicker training instruction
during class training. This project has been in
development for over a year as the techniques must be
modified for use by a blind handler. Clicker training
is very reliant on the trainer's observation of the
dogs' behavior, which demanded modifications to enable
visually impaired handlers to effectively clicker
train their guides. What types of behaviors would a
client train their guide dog to perform? Targeting
specific locations like finding empty chairs,
pedestrian
crossing buttons, bus stops, specific doorways, to
mention just a few. The first GDB student clicker
workshop took place during one of our February classes
and was very well received by a very enthusiastic
group of students. Although the workshop was optional,
every student in class attended and thoroughly
enjoyed the experience.

This past July, Lori Brown and Michele Pouliot gave an
in depth presentation on our clicker training program
at the International Guide Dog Federation Seminar
in New York City. The majority of guide dog schools
around the world, including within the USA, have paid
little attention to this method of training.
The room was standing room only for the GDB clicker
presentation, with over a dozen people poking their
heads in from the hallways trying to see the video
screen. Most of the audience was guide dog trainers
from around the world with a few guide dog users
present. The room was a mix of those just curious,
those very interested, and several genuine skeptics.
The response to the presentation was phenomenal. Two
overseas guide dog schools voiced immediately
wanting to adopt clicker techniques and requested our
assistance. Over 12 other guide dog schools requested
copies of our presentation with the intent
of sharing it with their staff for possible
implementation. Even a few of the skeptics commended
GDB for our innovation and devotion to excellence in
guide dog work. Since the July presentation, we have
responded to a total of 18 requests from other guide
dog schools for information on our clicker training
program. Needless to say, we are very proud.

Here is another notable experience to share with you
about recognition over our clicker program. Each year,
Karen Pryor puts on educational conferences
across the US to teach and improve trainers' skills
with clicker training. These events are called Clicker
Expos and are attended largely by trainers of
pet dogs and instructors of clients with pets. An
incredible faculty of clicker experts give
presentations and demonstrations over a full 3-day
conference,
including our own consultant Kathy Sdao. Six GDB staff
attended the recent Clicker Expo in Los Angeles to
learn more from these skilled clicker experts.
During the final general session, Kathy Sdao shared
some video footage of GDB's clicker program to the
audience and the other faculty members, and spoke
of our adoption of clicker. We are proud to report the
reactions to these video clips were nothing short of
fantastic. Following the general session, we
were overwhelmed with flattering remarks over what we
have accomplished in our guide dog program. Several of
the Clicker Expo faculty members commented
on how impressed and how inspired they were to see
clicker training being used in such a noble field of
dog work. We are also very pleased to report that
Karen Pryor has invited Michele Pouliot to present on
guide dog training at the 2008 Clicker Expos. To quote
Karen, "I think people would be VERY interested
in clicker training guide dogs. Lots of people have
misconceptions and the behaviors in general are quite
a challenge. You are doing some extremely innovative
things."

These are true compliments to the work Guide Dogs for
the Blind has accomplished through openness to change
while maintaining the highest quality. We continue
to learn more about this remarkable training method
called clicker training and will be researching other
ways it can enrich any of our programs. One thing
you can count on, you have not hear the last "click".

Want to learn more about clicker training? Visit
Karen Pryor's website at
www.clickertraining.com
where you will find an abundance of information.

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