These three commonly-used terms are very important when training animals.
Lumping
Most people naturally lump when they train. What this means is that they are asking for several different parts of a behavior at once or several behaviors at once.
If the animal they are training cannot succeed at learning a given behavior (barring other environmental reasons), it is usually because of lumping. The trainer asks for too much, too soon. Asking for the horse to follow a target stick for 10 feet when he can’t yet do 2 feet consistently is lumping. Asking for a horse to step backward out of the trainer’s way as a default when the horse does not know how to back a few steps on cue is lumping. Asking for a horse to accept the weight of a rider when he is not yet comfortable with the saddle or a bareback rider is lumping.
Splitting
All successful clicker trainers are good splitters. They look at a finished behavior and can quickly identify what smaller parts of the behavior make up the complete one. These small parts ore called ‘criteria’. Good trainers know that if their horse cannot be successful with the smaller behavior they are currently training, they need to break it into smaller, more achievable criteria for their horse. That might mean they only ask for the horse to take a half step towards them, or simply turns their head towards them. Maybe instead of a minute duration, they go back to 10 seconds. They go to whatever level their horse needs to succeed and build each criteria from there.
The Importance of Criteria
This is where an examination of the criteria is needed. Criteria are the smaller parts of each behavior that build on each other for the behavior to be complete and the horse to be able to perform it reliably.
There are many criteria that need to be taught separately to horses and vary depending on the behavior being trained and the location where it is trained. Here are some common ones:
Distance- how many steps the horse can do the behavior, how far way the handler is from the horse when the horse does a behavior, how far away the horse is from a distraction etc.
Duration-length of time a behavior is performed
Degree of Difficulty-how complex is the behavior, how much is being asked of the horse
Degree of Pressure or force (needed by the horse-for example-nose pushing a ball)
Distractions-sounds, sights, smells, tactile, taste etc.
Direction-of travel, orientation etc
Position of the horse- in relation to something else: handler, cart, fence etc
Number of Repetitions of a part of the behavior-needed by the horse to complete a behavior
Height-of a jump or leg lift, for example
Cuing-what types of cues are needed (visual, physical or verbal)
Value of Rewards-matching the value with the difficulty or level of distractions
Number of Behaviors needed in a chain (retrieving is actually a complex chain of at least 7 smaller behaviors)
Proficiency of a behavior-percentage of times a horse can reliably perform a learned behavior in a given training session
Latency-the time between when the cue is given and the horse performs the behavior
Speed-the speed that a horse performs a behavior: does he walk to a distant target or trot to the target? Does he slowly come to a ‘whoa’ or does he stop suddenly? (Think of reining competitions for both speed and latency)
Enthusiasm-for performing a behavior
Arousal level
Level of Stress experienced by horse
Endurance
And many others!
Clicker Training is generally more successful than other types of training because trainers are aware of, plan for and train the different criteria separately before they pair them in various combinations. Then they add the criteria together in threes etc. At each step, the horse is successful and the trainer can build on this success. By the time the horse has been trained for all criteria, he is confident and ready to offer any behavior on cue and all ‘kinks’ have been worked through.
Lumping
Lumping, however, can be useful when making a shaping plan for a behavior or teaching a horse to learn a concept.
By looking at the whole behavior and other similar behaviors, the trainer knows exactly what criteria are needed to train the behavior. They have a final goal behavior in mind and know what they are training towards. Any smaller behavior that leads to that final behavior can be focused on as training criteria and be rewarded.
In knowing that complete behavior of a equestrian sidepass is for the horse to
-move both front and back end in tandem,
-with the front feet crossing each other
-lifted at least 12 inches off the ground
-and back feet crossing each other
-lifted at least 12 inches off the ground
-for 10 steps
-in both left and right directions
-on verbal cue
-with trainer on the ground
-in front of the horse
will allow the trainer to select for and shape any movement that leads to the final behavior.
For example: any movement to one side by the front legs and feet, then by the back legs and feet.
This also allows them to look even smaller at tightening of muscles on the shoulder and haunches that indicate the horse is leaning or preparing to move to one side if their horse doesn’t understand the larger lump that sideways movement is wanted. Any movement indicating forward or backward movement would be ignored.
What other criteria could you select for in this behavior?
Showing posts with label shaping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shaping. Show all posts
Monday, November 8, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
24. Targeting Level 1
Nose Targeting: a Very Useful Foundation Skill
Goal: Horse nose targets one object on 2 cues (the object is one cue)
Targeting is a useful tool for her horse to know. You can use it to lead him around, teach him to move his body in ways he never though possible, teach him tricks such as bowing, send him ahead of you through gates and into stalls and trailers, pick up his feet, stand stationary, retrieve objects off the ground while you are in saddle, come when called and much more! We typically start with teaching a horse to nose target our hand and a stick, but once he understands the more common target points, he can learn to target with other parts of his body as well, such as feet, shoulder, hips, rump etc.
Targeting can also be used to help train him not to be fearful of specific objects.
In Post 5, you learned how to shape a nose target to your fist. Here’s how to do it a little differently with an object.
Nose Targeting An Object
Many people start training this behavior with a traffic cone or similar sized object such as a plastic milk jug, inverted plant pot or an old soccer or basketball.
Ideally, if you start with an object that is new to him, you will have his interest and it makes your job easier. If he has cones in his pen, remove them for a few days before trying this with him. Otherwise use a milk jug or other object.
Make sure you do not progress too quickly (do too few repetitions at each level) or you will find the behavior falls apart (he misses it, mouths or bites it etc) when the horse is more excited or with higher level of distractions. If you find this does occur, go back to the start and retrain and do more repetitions until he is confident and focused enough to do the behavior correctly.
If this is the first object you have ever encouraged him to actively touch, you will need to shape the nose touch. This ‘touch’ is the beginning of him being able to explore novel objects and the beginning of shaping many other behaviors so it will become a ‘default’ behavior for when he is presented with new objects, especially if he has not been taught many other behaviors with the clicker.
Be ready with your treats in a pouch, clicker in one hand, and object (cone) in the other hand. Timing is important when your horse is first learning what you want. With your horse standing in front of you just at the edge of arm distance (or your and his personal space), and off to the side slightly so he can see it, present the cone by bringing it from behind you. You want to mark and reward any small behavior that will end up with him gently touching the object with his nose. As soon as your horse looks at it, sniffs it or even touches it gently with his nose, c/t. Remove the cone from his sight and try again. The first few times, he may only sniff it, or he may lick it etc. Click only those behaviors that lead to his nose making contact with the cone.
He’s Biting the Cone!
If he bites at it, do not click and remove the object from his sight. Try again. This may be an indication he is excited about the object, be generally aroused or later on in training, he may think you are wanting him to offer a different behavior (such as biting it) if you are withholding the click after he touches it. If he continues to bite it, end the session and try again later when he is calm.
If he persists in biting it, you need to present the cone in such as way that he can only lightly graze it with his nose and make sure you c/t before he bites it. You may have to present it at an angle so just the tip is available, present the wider bottom end so it is too wide to bite or maybe present it from a direction (above, or to the side) where he is less likely to bite at it. Experiment with your horse to see what works.
If at any time, he gets excited and starts biting the cone, remove it, calm him down and try again. Go back to basics if he keeps biting it.
Once he is confidently nose touching the cone, you can start presenting it in slightly different directions. A useful tool here is to ‘work the clock’ in a small circle in front of your horse. Start with the cone at 9 on the clock face and work your way to 10, 11, 12, 1, 2 and around to nine. Using this method, you have tried all possible directions he may be asked to reach in later training sessions.
Next time around, make the circle a little bigger diameter so he has to reach a little. Again, a little bigger.
Keep working your way out from a center point (his nose) until your arm is stretch out straight as you present the cone.
Next work down towards the ground, In small increments, lower the cone towards the ground so your horse has to lean down to touch it. Eventually you can place it on the ground. Now you can add distance place the cone one step in front of your horse. Can he move to it and touch it? Move it 2 steps etc.
How about Nose Targeting a Ball?
Video from modrono's channel on youtube.com
What Else Can We Do?
A follow-up nose targeting behavior (or some teach this first if their horse is gentle with his mouth and calm with food so there is no risk of getting bitten) is to teach a nose touch of your hand so you don’t have to carry a target stick for training short-reach behaviors such as leading. Use your hand for the target and repeat the same procedure as nose targeting an object. Your horse will likely learn it more quickly as once he realizes that your hand is just another object to touch, all the same ‘rules’ apply. Just be sure to not use the fist or palm-up open hand cue you used for ‘food Zen’ or your horse will be confused and not want to touch your hand. A vertical palm facing the horse and fingers pointing to the ground is different enough that your horse will notice.
Targeting Helps Overcome FearsThe process of interacting with unfamiliar objects can change fears into confidence with some practice. The horse is focussed on doing a behavior (nose targeting) with the object, instead of being fearful of it and stays in operant mode. Start with nose targeting other objects near the object of fear. If there is nothing to target, use your hand as the target object. Move closer until the target is touching the fearful object. Eventually you can directly nose target the object of fear.
In this video, the riders target other objects such as trees and stumps as they apporach the scarey vehicle. Eventually the horse nose targets the vehicle itself.
Video from markkcpt's channel on youtube.com
Goal: Horse nose targets one object on 2 cues (the object is one cue)
Targeting is a useful tool for her horse to know. You can use it to lead him around, teach him to move his body in ways he never though possible, teach him tricks such as bowing, send him ahead of you through gates and into stalls and trailers, pick up his feet, stand stationary, retrieve objects off the ground while you are in saddle, come when called and much more! We typically start with teaching a horse to nose target our hand and a stick, but once he understands the more common target points, he can learn to target with other parts of his body as well, such as feet, shoulder, hips, rump etc.
Targeting can also be used to help train him not to be fearful of specific objects.
In Post 5, you learned how to shape a nose target to your fist. Here’s how to do it a little differently with an object.
Nose Targeting An Object
Many people start training this behavior with a traffic cone or similar sized object such as a plastic milk jug, inverted plant pot or an old soccer or basketball.
Ideally, if you start with an object that is new to him, you will have his interest and it makes your job easier. If he has cones in his pen, remove them for a few days before trying this with him. Otherwise use a milk jug or other object.
Make sure you do not progress too quickly (do too few repetitions at each level) or you will find the behavior falls apart (he misses it, mouths or bites it etc) when the horse is more excited or with higher level of distractions. If you find this does occur, go back to the start and retrain and do more repetitions until he is confident and focused enough to do the behavior correctly.
If this is the first object you have ever encouraged him to actively touch, you will need to shape the nose touch. This ‘touch’ is the beginning of him being able to explore novel objects and the beginning of shaping many other behaviors so it will become a ‘default’ behavior for when he is presented with new objects, especially if he has not been taught many other behaviors with the clicker.
Be ready with your treats in a pouch, clicker in one hand, and object (cone) in the other hand. Timing is important when your horse is first learning what you want. With your horse standing in front of you just at the edge of arm distance (or your and his personal space), and off to the side slightly so he can see it, present the cone by bringing it from behind you. You want to mark and reward any small behavior that will end up with him gently touching the object with his nose. As soon as your horse looks at it, sniffs it or even touches it gently with his nose, c/t. Remove the cone from his sight and try again. The first few times, he may only sniff it, or he may lick it etc. Click only those behaviors that lead to his nose making contact with the cone.
He’s Biting the Cone!
If he bites at it, do not click and remove the object from his sight. Try again. This may be an indication he is excited about the object, be generally aroused or later on in training, he may think you are wanting him to offer a different behavior (such as biting it) if you are withholding the click after he touches it. If he continues to bite it, end the session and try again later when he is calm.
If he persists in biting it, you need to present the cone in such as way that he can only lightly graze it with his nose and make sure you c/t before he bites it. You may have to present it at an angle so just the tip is available, present the wider bottom end so it is too wide to bite or maybe present it from a direction (above, or to the side) where he is less likely to bite at it. Experiment with your horse to see what works.
If at any time, he gets excited and starts biting the cone, remove it, calm him down and try again. Go back to basics if he keeps biting it.
Once he is confidently nose touching the cone, you can start presenting it in slightly different directions. A useful tool here is to ‘work the clock’ in a small circle in front of your horse. Start with the cone at 9 on the clock face and work your way to 10, 11, 12, 1, 2 and around to nine. Using this method, you have tried all possible directions he may be asked to reach in later training sessions.
Next time around, make the circle a little bigger diameter so he has to reach a little. Again, a little bigger.
Keep working your way out from a center point (his nose) until your arm is stretch out straight as you present the cone.
Next work down towards the ground, In small increments, lower the cone towards the ground so your horse has to lean down to touch it. Eventually you can place it on the ground. Now you can add distance place the cone one step in front of your horse. Can he move to it and touch it? Move it 2 steps etc.
How about Nose Targeting a Ball?
Video from modrono's channel on youtube.com
What Else Can We Do?
A follow-up nose targeting behavior (or some teach this first if their horse is gentle with his mouth and calm with food so there is no risk of getting bitten) is to teach a nose touch of your hand so you don’t have to carry a target stick for training short-reach behaviors such as leading. Use your hand for the target and repeat the same procedure as nose targeting an object. Your horse will likely learn it more quickly as once he realizes that your hand is just another object to touch, all the same ‘rules’ apply. Just be sure to not use the fist or palm-up open hand cue you used for ‘food Zen’ or your horse will be confused and not want to touch your hand. A vertical palm facing the horse and fingers pointing to the ground is different enough that your horse will notice.
Targeting Helps Overcome FearsThe process of interacting with unfamiliar objects can change fears into confidence with some practice. The horse is focussed on doing a behavior (nose targeting) with the object, instead of being fearful of it and stays in operant mode. Start with nose targeting other objects near the object of fear. If there is nothing to target, use your hand as the target object. Move closer until the target is touching the fearful object. Eventually you can directly nose target the object of fear.
In this video, the riders target other objects such as trees and stumps as they apporach the scarey vehicle. Eventually the horse nose targets the vehicle itself.
Video from markkcpt's channel on youtube.com
Sunday, October 24, 2010
20. Four Ways to Teach Behaviors
The first four are the most commonly used in Clicker Training
1. Luring-this involves having the horse follow a food or toy reward to move through the physical motion you want to get him to do. You want to fade the lure as quickly as possible so the horse does not start to rely on it as a cue to the do the behavior and also becaseu it is a primary reinforcer-that is the horse doesn't need to be conditioned (or trained to know what it is) and therefore it becomes much more difficult to remove once the horse ecpects it as part of the cue for the behavior.
2. Targeting-this involves teaching the horse to target a hand, stick or other object as a way to focus him on the spot or to move him or as the beginning of a more complex chained behavior such as a retrieve. Different parts of the body can be taught as the target: nose, foot, shoulder, hip, butt, chin etc. It can be used to have a horse follow (as in luring but requires more thouhgt from the horse), to send the horse away from you, to stand still on a spot, to load into a trailer, turn around and much more.
3.Capturing-This is an easy way to get any behaviors that your horse does naturally. It involves catching your horse doing a behavior you want to have control over (add a cue to). Standing, moving, stopping, sniffing things, snorting, calling, lip curling, laying down, turning are examples etc. It can take some patience to use this method as you have to set up the situation and then wait for the desired behavior, but if your horse understands how the clicker works, it might also be the easiest way to get a complex behavior on cue.
4. Shaping-This is the best use of the clicker. Think of shaping as capturing little tiny bits of a behavior in steps until the horse is able to do the entire behavior. Or that you take a picture of each tiny step that makes up a more complex behavior. Look back at Teach the Food Zen or 'not mugging' behavior in post 8. This was a process of shaping. Once your horse understands the process of how to shape, he can learn behaviors very quickly. It takes a little time to develop the skill of shaping in both you and your horse, but is well-worth it later on when you can get behaviors very quickly than other training methods.
5. Modeling-This could also be called 'learning by observation'. Some animals learn easily by watching another of its kind do a behavior. When stuck at any point, I use this with my dogs and they usually can do the behavior after seeing the other dogs do it. It is most effective to use it for social behavior as that is its most common application.
6. Molding -This involves physically manipulating an animal to do a behavior. Lifting a horse's foot to teach him a foot lift is a good example. With a large animal for gross movement behaviors, this can be difficult and dangerous unless the horse is already trained to be comfortable with you manipulating his body.
7. Allelomimetic Behavior/Social Facilitation: This involves using behavioral activities of a herd or group of animals that have strong components of social facilitation, imitation, and group coordination. (How the herd turns together when faced with a threat etc.) This type of learning is naturally exhibited in horses and other social animals like dogs & deer but can be used to teach skittish animals to accept humans or other things that are fearful of.
1. Luring-this involves having the horse follow a food or toy reward to move through the physical motion you want to get him to do. You want to fade the lure as quickly as possible so the horse does not start to rely on it as a cue to the do the behavior and also becaseu it is a primary reinforcer-that is the horse doesn't need to be conditioned (or trained to know what it is) and therefore it becomes much more difficult to remove once the horse ecpects it as part of the cue for the behavior.
2. Targeting-this involves teaching the horse to target a hand, stick or other object as a way to focus him on the spot or to move him or as the beginning of a more complex chained behavior such as a retrieve. Different parts of the body can be taught as the target: nose, foot, shoulder, hip, butt, chin etc. It can be used to have a horse follow (as in luring but requires more thouhgt from the horse), to send the horse away from you, to stand still on a spot, to load into a trailer, turn around and much more.
3.Capturing-This is an easy way to get any behaviors that your horse does naturally. It involves catching your horse doing a behavior you want to have control over (add a cue to). Standing, moving, stopping, sniffing things, snorting, calling, lip curling, laying down, turning are examples etc. It can take some patience to use this method as you have to set up the situation and then wait for the desired behavior, but if your horse understands how the clicker works, it might also be the easiest way to get a complex behavior on cue.
4. Shaping-This is the best use of the clicker. Think of shaping as capturing little tiny bits of a behavior in steps until the horse is able to do the entire behavior. Or that you take a picture of each tiny step that makes up a more complex behavior. Look back at Teach the Food Zen or 'not mugging' behavior in post 8. This was a process of shaping. Once your horse understands the process of how to shape, he can learn behaviors very quickly. It takes a little time to develop the skill of shaping in both you and your horse, but is well-worth it later on when you can get behaviors very quickly than other training methods.
5. Modeling-This could also be called 'learning by observation'. Some animals learn easily by watching another of its kind do a behavior. When stuck at any point, I use this with my dogs and they usually can do the behavior after seeing the other dogs do it. It is most effective to use it for social behavior as that is its most common application.
6. Molding -This involves physically manipulating an animal to do a behavior. Lifting a horse's foot to teach him a foot lift is a good example. With a large animal for gross movement behaviors, this can be difficult and dangerous unless the horse is already trained to be comfortable with you manipulating his body.
7. Allelomimetic Behavior/Social Facilitation: This involves using behavioral activities of a herd or group of animals that have strong components of social facilitation, imitation, and group coordination. (How the herd turns together when faced with a threat etc.) This type of learning is naturally exhibited in horses and other social animals like dogs & deer but can be used to teach skittish animals to accept humans or other things that are fearful of.
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