Transition From Teaching - Training Phase?

[tigger000]

Hey all!

As most of you know, i have been using my Dally to do an assisstance skill and scent detection. He is doing wonders and i am in the final stages of proofing both skills.

My question is...with his assisstance skill (picking up rubbish and placing it in the bin) when does it transfer from teaching phase to training phase?

I have been using the training processes of shaping (to get him to pick up the rubbish and place in the bin) and backward chaining (to move the rubbish further away from the bin - approx 10 metres).

As far as i am aware, you move into training phase when the dog has developed word association etc. So...in this case...would it move into training phase once the dog was picking up the rubbish and placing it in the bin on cue?....and then training phase would be when the rubbish is gradually moved further from the bin?

Ugh...im so confused...and sorry if i have confused you all too!!

[Staranais]

Depends what you mean by teaching phase & training phase.

I'd call it a training phase once you had created the completed behaviour just as you wanted it, & were now just practicing it in different situations/locations.

If you're still working on developing the behaviour you want, then you're still teaching, IMO.

[tigger000]

Depends what you mean by teaching phase & training phase.

I'd call it a training phase once you had created the completed behaviour just as you wanted it, & were now just practicing it in different situations/locations.

If you're still working on developing the behaviour you want, then you're still teaching, IMO.

From what i have been taught from the course i am doing:

Teaching phase is where the dog is learning what is required to receive the reward and develops word association

Training phase is were the dog learns the consequences of its behaviour if it does or doesnt comply with the known command

Proofing phase is where you start adding distractions and taking the dog to different locations to perform the skill/behaviour.

[animalia]

Tigger000 thats what I have been taught too

The training phase is when the dog understands the desired behaviour, the cue for the desired behaviour and the consequences there after. So you move on from the teaching phase onto the training phase if your dog understands the cue (verbal cue- rubbish?), desired behaviour(picking up rubbish and placing in bin) and consequences(if correct, treat), you now need to move onto the training stage and perfecting it. So now moving from a continuous scheduled of reinforcement onto an intermittent and then to perfect it going through successive approximation, this is all in the training stage. Once perfected, you move onto the proofing stage by changing the context, distractions and undertaken in different locations.

Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong with anything from above, it's been awhile since I have learnt this.

Edited April 3, 2011 by animalia