How to train Pets ^~^

Helloooo Everyone !
Atlast! no more exams. =))

Here are some tips on how to train your pets.

When training pets- do I have to

reward the behavior every time?

If a behavior is never reinforced, it will decrease and eventually stop. That is called extinction in psychology. When your pet does any activity, the behavior either has a reward of its own (like digging a delicious hole in your garden or barking for the sheer joy of it) or it offers a hope of a reward from you.

While you’re training your pet to perform a new behavior, you want to reinforce the behavior every time your pet performs it. As we’ve said before, that may involve a clike a clicker or other sound to bridge the gap between the behavior and the rewards.

Obviously you don’t want to have to reward your pet every time he does the new behavior, and there’s good news: After the pet knows the new behavior, maintenance of that new behavior can be done by a variable ratio of behaviors to rewards. Instead of rewarding the behavior every time it happens, reward it after a number of occurances. Don’t use the same number of “skipped” rewards every time though! A variable number has been shown to be the most effective. So one time reward your pet after the third time he does the behavior, and maybe next time just skip two times – or maybe four. You don’t want your pet to learn that he can do a “set” of what you want him to do then “take a break” until he wants to do another “set.” Pets are smart and figure us out very quickly!

What Is Clicker Training?

Clicker training is a method of animal training that uses a sound—a click—to tell an animal when he does something right. The clicker is a tiny plastic box held in the palm of your hand, with a metal tongue that you push quickly to make the sound. Most people who’ve heard of the clicker know that it’s a popular tool for dog trainers, but clickers can be used to train all kinds of animals, wild and domestic—from lions to elephants to household cats, birds and rats!

How Does the Clicker Work?

The clicker creates an efficient language between a human trainer and an animal trainee. First, a trainer teaches an animal that every time he hears the clicking sound, he gets a treat. Once the animal understands that clicks are always followed by treats, the click becomes as powerful a reward to the animal as money is to people. When this happens, the trainer can use the click to mark (identify for the animal) the instant the animal performs the right behavior. For example, if a trainer wants to teach a dog to sit, she’ll click the instant his rump hits the floor and then deliver a tasty treat. With repetition, the dog learns that sitting earns rewards.

Three Ways to Get Behavior

Catching

“Catching” means that you catch your pet in the act of doing the behavior you want. It’s the perfect method for training behaviors that your pet already does on his own, like sitting, lying down and maybe rolling over on grass. For example, if you wan t to train your dog to lie down, you can stand in your living r oom with your dog and just wait. After a little while, your dog will probably decide to lie down and get comfortable. The instant his body hits the floor, click and toss a treat on the gro und a few feet in front of him. He’ll have to stand up to take the treat, so after he eats it you’ll be ready to start over again. Continue the sequence of waiting for your dog to lie down on his own, and the n clicking and tossing a treat the moment he does. With repetition, your dog will eventually look at you and throw himself to the ground to earn his treat.

Shaping

With “shaping,” you gradually bu ild a new behavior by clicking and rewarding a series of small steps towa rd it. Shaping is a good method for training new behaviors (or a series of behaviors called a “chain”) that your pet doesn’t already do on his own naturally—like raising a paw in the air, retrieving a ball or going to a specific spot to lie down. You start by rewarding the first small behavior that begins your pet on his journey toward the complete behavior. When he’s mastered that first step, you ask a little more of him—require him to do the next smal l step to earn his click and treat. For example, to get a dog to raise his paw, you might start by clicking and treating when he shifts his weight off one paw slightly. Once he’s shifting his weight smoothly over several repetitions, you delay clicking until you see him lift his front paw off the floor just one inch. When he’s good at tiny paw raises, delay your click again and require him to ra ise his paw another inch or two higher to earn his click and treat. By reinforcing each tiny step as if it were the ultimate goal, your dog will think that learning is fun and will soon be performing the goal behavior with en thusiasm.

Luring

“Luring” involves using a treat like a magnet or guide to get your pet into a desired position. The food lure (a small piece of tasty food) is held right in front of your pet’s nose and then moved while he follows it. For example, to lure a dog into a down position, hold a piece of food in front of his nose and then slowly draw it straight down in front of his chest to the floor. The food will work like a magnet, drawing your dog’s nose and then his body downward. As his elbows touch the floor, click and treat for the down. After some practice, you can just use the hand motion to prompt your dog to lie down. Make the same movement as before, but with no treat in your hand. Over many repetitions, you can gradually make this hand signal smaller and shorter. Eventually, your dog will lie down when you point to the ground. Lure-and-reward training is often quicker and more efficient than catching or shaping to get and reward certain behaviors.

Quote of the day :

If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans" ~ James Herriot