A major cause of failure with positive reinforcement training is lack of clear communication between the dog and the trainer. A dog must understand exactly what behavior a trainer is reinforcing in order for real learning to take place. Marker training is one of the most important elements of successful positive reinforcement training.
Timing is Difficult Without a Marker
Reinforcing correct behavior without marker training is difficult primarily because of timing issues. Dogs need to be rewarded within 2-3 seconds of the behavior in order to remember what it is they are being rewarded for. More importantly, a dog can change what he is doing in an instant causing the wrong behavior to be reinforced.
I’ll explain with an example. A trainer who does not use marker training wants to train a dog to give eye contact. After waiting for some time, the dog eventually glances at the trainer and gives momentary eye contact. The handler takes a treat out of his treat bag and gives it to the dog.
This scenario might sound like a good one. However, there is a problem with it. By the time the trainer gets the treat out of the bag, the eye contact with the trainer is gone. Instead, the dog has been focusing on watching the trainer get the treat out of the bag for at least two seconds.
Therefore, there is a big misunderstanding. Clear communication has not taken place. The dog associates the reward with his focus on the treat bag; not on the eye contact. This is not what the trainer intended. The trainer’s intent was to tell the dog, “Here is a reward for looking at me”. The dog’s understanding of the situation was “If I stare hard enough at that treat bag, my trainer will give me a piece of food out of it”. The dog has no idea that his momentary glance at his trainer had any connection whatsoever with his attaining the food.
This trainer is reinforcing the dog’s staring at the treats. The trainer failed to reinforce the eye contact. Now the dog is going to be more inclined to repeat the staring at the food and less inclined to look at the handler again.
Clear Communication Results with a Marker Because Timing is Accurate
Now, let’s look at what happens with the dog who has been classically conditioned to have an emotional response to the sound of his trainer saying “yes”.
This dog’s trainer is also training the dog to establish and maintain eye contact. The dog glances at the trainer for less than a second. The trainer immediately says “yes”. The dog gets a rush of dopamine as he realizes that he did something good. The “yes” was spoken before the dog had an opportunity to look away. Therefore, the dog was able to connect the behavior of establishing eye contact with the sound of the marker word (“yes”). There was clear communication. The dog understood what behavior brought him the “yes”.
After the behavior is marked, the trainer will pull out the treat. The dog is free to focus on obtaining his reward knowing that his work is done and he was successful. Eye contact was reinforced. Therefore, the dog is more likely to repeat the eye contact because he understands that this is what brought the “yes”. The trainer who used marker training did indeed provide clear communication.
To be clear, the food is a reward. However, the sound of the “yes” is also very reinforcing to the dog if he has been classically conditioned to it.
