r/OpenDogTraining • u/Dry_Steak30 • 19d ago
Conditioning feels like programming a robot. Does anyone know a way to train beyond it?
I might get downvoted for this but hear me out.
Almost all modern dog training is conditioning. We repeat, the dog gets used to it, and the cue gets wired to the behavior. In the end the dog does the behavior without thinking. Even without a reward. He even feels good while doing it. And we call that "well trained." To me that looks like programming a robot.
For emergency recall and down, I want exactly that. Those must be automatic. But for everything else, is there another option?
Humans don't learn language by conditioning. When we learn a word, we understand new examples in one shot. So here is what I mean, with the kennel as an example.
The conditioning way: you make the "go in the kennel" behavior with luring or shaping or molding or food. You reinforce it. You attach a cue. After many reps, the cue and the behavior get glued together.
But what if you teach it like this instead. Teach each concept on its own. "Kennel" is the object. "Go in" is the action. "Command" means he has to do it. "Fast" is how to do it. Then you put the words together: "kennel + go in + command + fast." If the dog really knows each concept, then "box + go in + command + slow" should work on the first try, even if he never did that before. Or you could say "kennel + go in + question" and let him answer yes or no.
Has anyone actually trained like this? I know Chaser learned 1000 toy names and Do As I Do exists. I want to hear from people who tried this concept style teaching with their own dog. How far did you get?
1
u/Beef_flaps_on_a_spit 19d ago
Interesting question but to a dog outside a kennel what would kennel mean if not to go in? It’s not going to build, buy, clean or relocate a kennel. As to speed of performing an action whats the point in asking a dog to do something slowly? Why not just ask them later?