Conflicting behaviors are behaviors where reinforcement for one behavior comes when doing almost the opposite of what brings reinforcement for another. An example is rewarding a puppy for looking away from food when training one behavior and then rewarding the puppy for looking at the food when training another behavior. Conflicting behaviors present a challenge that must be overcome.
One of the first behaviors we teach our puppies is to look away from food and give us eye contact. The puppy is heavily reinforced for looking away from food when we teach them to sit with eye contact. Shortly after teaching this behavior, we teach the puppy to be lured into a down, a behavior that clearly requires the puppy to do just the opposite: look at and focus on the food.
Another example of two conflicting behaviors is the down/stay and moving in heel position. Staying still is heavily reinforced in the down/stay which we teach when puppies are barely six weeks old. Then, less than a week later, we add heeling to the mix of learned behaviors and begin reinforcing movement.
Introducing a new behavior that conflicts with an old one almost always creates some confusion. When luring is introduced after a puppy has been taught to look away from the food, suddenly the game has changed drastically. When moving at heel is taught after sitting still has been heavily reinforced for almost a week, most puppies will be hesitant to move. So what do you do to minimize the confusion and facilitate learning new behaviors that conflict with old ones?
We’ve tried several methods for reducing confusion and compared the results.
1. We’ve trained one behavior until it was rock solid before introducing the second behavior.
2. We’ve trained the two behaviors concurrently with the same trainer.
3. We’ve trained the two behaviors on the same day with one behavior being trained by one trainer while the second behavior was trained by a different trainer. Then once the behaviors were solid with the respective trainers, both trainers began working with the puppies on both behaviors.
4. We’ve trained one behavior until it was reasonably well trained (but not rock solid) and then began training the second behavior.
What we’ve found works best is option #4. Here is why.
When we trained with option #1, training the first behavior until it is rock-solid, there was a big problem with introducing the second behavior. If a single behavior is practiced too heavily without mixing in other behaviors, habit and muscle memory can take over. To some extent, some puppies might quit using their minds because the exercise becomes too easy and can be done with habit and muscle memory alone. Then when the new behavior is introduced, the dog must do more than just learn the new behavior. He must also break the habit of performing the first behavior by muscle memory alone without thinking. In addition, to some degree, the dog will also need to re-learn to use his mind again.
When training with option #2, training the two behaviors concurrently, we had a different set of problems. When two opposing behaviors are trained at the same time, there is too much confusion. The puppy gets reinforced for one thing one minute and for the opposite the next. Neither behavior ends up being trained well. The puppy gets frustrated and can lose motivation to work. His confidence is often eroded. This was the worst of the four options.
Training with option #3, initially using a different trainer for each behavior, the results were a mixed bag. As a general rule, though, more puppies tended to use context so well that the initially trained behavior became habitual with the trainer that initially trained it. With this option, most puppies had considerable difficulty when both trainers began training both behaviors.
Option #4 worked best. With this option, we trained the puppies fairly well to the first behavior before introducing the second. However, we didn’t practice the first behavior so much that the work became too easy. We introduced the second behavior before puppies began working off habit and gained much muscle memory with the first behavior. The second behavior was still more difficult to train than the first. However, there was less difficulty than with either of the other options.
Learning two behaviors that in the dog’s mind seem to contradict one another presents three added layers of difficulty. As has already been discussed, the second behavior will be more difficult to learn because of the learning already done with the first behavior. Secondly, understanding of the first behavior will diminish as the dog learns the second behavior. The dog has to come to an understanding of the fact that a new behavior does not affect old behaviors and that learning the new behavior does not un-do the expectations of the first behavior. Thirdly, the dog will have to learn to be able to distinguish between when he’s supposed to perform one behavior verses the other.
Step For Creating Clarity and Reducing Confusion When Training Conflicting Behaviors
1. Train the first behavior to a reasonable level.
2. Introduce the second behavior.
3. Train the second behavior to a reasonable level without working the first behavior.
4. Work with the puppy on both behaviors in the same training session. At this stage, practice the first behavior the first half of the session and the second behavior the second half.
5. Randomly alternate between the two behaviors during the same session.
This five-step process creates clarity in the first behavior. Then it creates clarity in the second. The puppy never gets to the point of not using his mind for either. Then, by practicing the two behaviors separately during the same training session, there is some intermingling of the two behaviors without it becoming overwhelming. Once the puppy can differentiate between when to perform which behavior when the trainer is focusing on only one of the behaviors at a time, he is ready to start having the behaviors randomly mixed up.
Initially, we’ll teach the puppy to know which behavior we’re asking for by the context of the situation. He’ll need to take note of his position with relation to ours, how we are moving, how we are holding the food, and by our hand signals. Eventually, we’ll add verbal cues.
Reading context is easier for a dog than differentiating between verbal cues. Verbal cues add an even larger layer of difficulty when physical cues and movement are taken away.
