Factors that Affect Learning

Factors That Affect Learning New Skills in Dogs

By: LukEli K-9, Dog Training and Behavior Modification Professionals 

If you have been following along this month, you will remember a few blogs back we talked about the four stages of learning: Acquisition, Fluency, Generalization, and Maintenance. If you haven’t read that blog yet I strongly recommend reading it before diving into this blog topic. As I’m sure you’ll recall, (because you are all such great listeners) each stage of learning must be completed with at least 80% accuracy before moving onto the next stage.

Gracie is super focused during her agility training session.

How quickly or thoroughly a new behavior is acquired (acquisition and fluency stages) and how easily or long term the behavior is retained (generalization and maintenance stage) can affect the learning process, both positively and negatively. In order to ensure both you and your dog quickly and efficiently move through the four stages of learning, lets discuss some of the factors that affect learning.

Deprivation Level

When scheduling a training session with clients or before attending a group class, many times (especially for those dogs hard to keep focused), we recommend not feeding them their meal before the training session. By doing this we have altered their deprivation level. It should be of no surprise that a hungry dog works much harder for a treat then one who has just had a meal. I am, by no means, suggesting that you not feed your dog. I am suggesting that you hold off on a meal, have your training session, then offer them their meal (or the remainder of it if you used a portion of their meal for training as we recommend) once your session is complete.

The opposite can be said for dogs who are highly food motivated. Sometimes it is in your finger’s best interest to feed your dog before training so as to not lose a hand when rewarding them for a job well done.

Deprivation level does not just include food. Withholding play or free time will have the same affect if using a functional reward type system. For some dogs, high drive working dogs in particular, spending longer times in a crate than most pet dogs do will increase their focus and learning capabilities in the same way withholding food from food motivated dogs will. Beware if you choose to limit play; your dog will be very highly stimulated when you decide to work with them. Make sure to use it to your advantage for increased learning potential.  Many other types of things can be withheld to motivate an animal, from water to social interaction. With the exception of food as described above, I do not recommend the use of deprivation of these life essentials except under the guidance of a trained professional.

Quality of Reward

When training a new behavior or sharpening a behavior your dog already knows, it is important to take in to account the quality of the reward you are using. I know that I am much more willing to comply with something if there is a big juicy steak waiting on me as opposed to a dry, tasteless cracker.

The same is true of your dog. In laboratory tests using mice in a maze scientists theorized that the rate at which the mouse completed the maze was exponentially dependent upon the reward at the end. These tests required the mouse to run the maze multiple times. The mice that found cheese at the end of the race, as compared to the ones finding mouse kibble, ran the maze at top speed.

The experiment was also used to test Deprivation Level performance by using mice who had been deprived a meal before running the maze. One mouse was rewarded with cheese at the end the other with kibble, both the mouse finding cheese and the one finding kibble ran the maze at the same speed, when deprivation levels were effected.

Other factors to consider when taking inventory of the quality of the rewards offered are; Contrast Effects, Jackpots, and Reinforcer Samplings. These three things tend to sound really complicated on paper, but I assure you if you make it through the next few paragraphs to the example, the world will seem right again.

What is Contrast Effects and how do we use it to our advantage?

The simplest way to explain it is this; a good reward is considered a really excellent one if the dog was last given a mediocre one. Likewise, a mediocre reward is seen as pretty insignificant one if he just received a good one. For example: if you normally use kibble for training your dog and then one day decide to use liver instead your dog will work even harder to get the reward, this is a positive behavioral contrast. If you always use liver and run out of it one day and decide to use kibble instead for training your dog will be less than thrilled with this option as a reward. This is a negative behavioral contrast.

Does Jackpot mean I play the lottery with my dog?

Not exactly. In the human world, the use of the word jackpot brings up the image of a slot machine pouring money everywhere. Jackpots, when used for dog training, are the same idea; lots of small pieces of a reward given at the same time. In studies using chimps, it was found that animal’s logic when it comes to the amount of food is different than ours. When offered the choice between one big, whole reward versus the same amount divided into tiny pieces, the chimps picked the reward that was in pieces. From this scientist proved that animals find a lot of small pieces more rewarding than one big piece.

Using this to your advantage is recommended when training a dog for recall. When your dog comes running to you instead of giving him one piece of cheese, give him one piece of cheese divided into multiple pieces. The dog feels as though he has gotten a monumental reward for coming when called, when you know its one piece of cheese you broke apart a few times.

Reinforcer Sampling: Is that like a taste test?

Gracie practicing her down/stay in Walmart.

Yes it is! Many times dogs will work much harder for a reward when they know the reward is worth working for. Often times when training a new service or therapy dog in public, the amount of distractions is sometimes too much to bear for dogs in the first two stages of learning. To help combat this I will show them whatever tasty treat I brought with me and offer them a freebie treat. In most cases that is all it takes to get our training session back on track.

This is not a bribery tool. This is merely assuring the dog that I do have something of value to offer for his time, focus, and obedience. Who wants to go to work and not know what kind of currency we are getting paid in?

So how does your brain feel after all that scientific learning jargon? Don’t worry, learning theory can be difficult to wrap your head around, especially when you are not used to thinking in that manner when discussing dogs or animals in general.

The most important thing to remember, even if you didn’t understand a word I said after the title is this; The quality or palatability of a food reward along with the use of deprivation levels in your dogs can and will greatly influence the amount of learning achieved in each training session. Oh, and remember not to worry about bribery or an overweight dog because a blog on how to integrate Reinforcement Schedules is just around the corner. Stay tuned!